5 Common Mistakes Affiliates Make

Avoiding some of the common mistakes made by affiliate marketers
should quickly and easily improve your chances of making affiliate
sales. Here are five of the top mistakes:

Common Mistake #1:

Not researching the affiliate program before your start promoting it
- it really is amazing just how many affiliates grab the first
affiliate program that comes along or signup simply because it has a
high commission rate or promote it because every other marketer is
also promoting it. If the program does not complement the overall
theme of your site, you may find it difficult to convince your
subscribers to purchase the product if it does not have anything to
do with the area you are targeting.

Common Mistake #2:

Not using your signature file correctly - many affiliates will add a
signature file to all of their out-going email messages and message
board posts that is totally inappropriate. Twenty lines of text full
of affiliate links, is not considered a signature file - it's usually
considered 'spam.' Try keeping your signature file under five lines
with an attention grabbing or intriguing first line.

Common Mistake #3:

Not writing your own ad copy - there's nothing worse than seeing the
same advert all over the Net or in an email message from ten
different marketers. How much perceived value will your message have
when it arrives and the reader is seeing it for the tenth time? Take
the time to tweak the ad to suit your target area and readership
before sending it out. Personalize it; make the ad your own.

Common Mistake #4:

Not paying for your own domain name and hosting account - yuck,
nobody wants to visit a site that looks like
www.somefreeserver.com/thisavenue/overhere/mysite.html with a contact
email address of bobsnetbiz@somefreeemail.com. It's very
unprofessional and suggests to your subscribers that you haven't made
any money on-line because you don't know what you're doing and are
too stingy to spend any money on setting up your business properly.
$8.95 a year for a domain name at GoDaddy.com and around $4 per month
for a small hosting account won't break the bank; it may just help to
add to the bank in the long run.

Common Mistake #5:

Not capturing your leads before you send them through to the
affiliate product site - if you can actually get someone to click on
one of your affiliate links and they leave the product site without
purchasing, what have you gained? Nothing! Nothing that is, except
the expense and/or time to get that one click-through in the first
place. Set up a squeeze page so you can capture your lead's email
address before you send them onto the product site. That way, if they
don't buy, you can follow up with them later and try again (and again
and again and again). Priceless!

Avoid My Pitfalls; Make Money Online

So you want to get into the internet game. The first questions are
where do I start with this business, how do I start with this
business. There are hundreds of different possibilities in existence
to generate income on the internet.

You can start with a reseller site, you can buy a poker site, you
can purchase an adsense site, you can even buy survey sites. So where
do you start.

First ask yourself what are you good at? Are you a Great Author, a
Problem Solver, an Artist, a Do-it-Your-Selfer, a Mechanic, or just a
General Joe. Do you like research, games, colors, words. No matter
the vocation the internet contains a spot for you to make money.

Don't be afraid to ask those around you, many times it is hard to
formulate an opinion about one's self. Once this little item is out
of the way it is time to start your search for a money making
opportunity

Now armed with an idea of what your personality directs you too.
Start your searches in the likely spots, E-Bay, Yahoo, Google. Review
all the sites that are for sale. Look closely at what each of these
sites promises and requires of you. Do not purchase a site at this
point. Keep reading and you will see the traps that I managed to fall
into before accidentally finding my internet spot.

Anything that seems like it is too good, is too good. If a site says
"Make Thousands per Month" then run, run away quickly. Look for sites
that give you "100% money back" if unsatisfied. Review a sellers
rating and make sure that it is 99.5% or better. Never sign up for
services that you generally cannot use. Never fall into the re-seller
mode if you don't have experience selling goods.

Don't pay for monthly services for wholesale sites, it will cost you
$5000 to get into a reseller program there are no cheap wholesalers.
Don't fall for the e-books ploys, everyone sells e-books and most are
free anyway if you simply Google the title. Don't fall for the old
Adsense trick of this or that word makes $25.00 a click. How many
people are actually looking for this or that word. How many other
people have fallen for the same tactic already and have sites already
ahead of yours.

Now for the do's. Visit sites like
http://www.affliatedwebsitedesign.com for information and
consultation. Search for forums with caring friendly people that will
give you honest feedback on your ideas. Look at sites like
http://www.bridalblog.info as examples of great moneymaking websites.
Make a decision on a site style and have a professional design your
first site.

Have it designed with familiarity in mind (see what your good at and
are interested in from the first paragraph). And no I have no vested
interest in designing websites, I am a talker and marketer. Get an
adsense account and a Yahoo marketing account.

Now start the marketing plan. Come back to
http://www.affliatewebsitedesign.com forum for suggestions. Visit
Blogs and other Forums to post on a frequent basis. This should be
simple at this point as you have a website you are interested in and
are familiar with as the content interests you. Start posting and
watch the linkbacks start to accrue.

If at this point you have followed the suggestions you should have
found the AutoBlogger sites as designed by Chuck Crawford resembling
http://www.bridalblog.info. The site will autopopulate with RSS feeds
allowing you time to market your site. Marketing the site is key,
within 6 months the site should be on the positive side of your
ledger.

Simple and direct instructions, just avoid the pitfalls that I
landed in and move forward with your future internet career. Had I
heeded the advice I would be $750 richer at this point.

By: Charles Cater

Make Money Online