I have a little question here but first I want to share my past experience in affiliate marketing. I was introduced to affiliate marketing few years ago by a friend and I thought it was the easiest way to make money online. The first few months I started went bad (a very big lose) because I invested a huge amout of money thinking I will make a lot out of it. I took a break to carry out a little research on affiliate marking and discovered what it takes to become successful in affiliate marketing. I did not back down because I wanted to regain the money i’ve lost.

Over the past 2yrs I have earned some money through my experience but I am not satisfied with my result. The problem I have is that, “my communication skills is not that good but I know what it takes.

My question is, If I improve on my communication skills, will it be the key to my success or could it be I have not discovered what works and what doesn’t?

This question is also directed to anyone who has the answer. Please I need your answer.
Thanks..

THANKS for pointing that out.

I’ll have to try to figure it out.

When it comes to conversion rates there are several specifics to check for on the merchants’ sites:

1) An improved search function: search for several words related to their products and make sure you get relevant results. No results or page after page of results that are not specific will cost them sales and you commissions. Most will make one search and leave if they don’t find what they’re seeking. Use a color plus the product, or material plus product, or brand name and product name, etc.

2) Make sure shipping costs are easy to find; the earlier they are displayed during the shopping process the better. Free shipping increases conversions more than any other factor because high shipping costs (even when they aren’t) is the number one complaint of online buyers.

3) If the site requires potential buyers to register or create an account before they can shop don’t bother promoting that site. Conversions will be dismal. If they require registering or creating an account prior to checkout but after putting items into the cart that is still bad but will not depress sales nearly as much as not even being able to shop first. Buyers will give you personal information AFTER they’ve decided to buy – but rarely before. Most will just leave.

4) So many common shopping cart solutions don’t work consistently that I started accepting only stores built at Yahoo! Stores, Volusion or ProStores or using Google checkout. If they use anything else you need to know how to test the shopping cart – it won’t matter how well you pre-sell or advertise if good sales are rejected because the merchant account has fraud controls that are set too aggressively or the cart returns errors the buyer can not figure out how to fix!

5) If the merchant has a wish list function or suggests related products or has an obvious mailing list those are all beneficial for increasing sales.

I write about all of these specifics and actively send traffic to quality publishers who cross my path AND my blog is Dofollow with both CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed. I hope affiliates will come by and comment to their benefit.

Whenever someone comments in my blog they get an incoming link and I share their best or recent quality content at StumbleUpon, Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook and Delicious and will probably expand on that list shortly. I also manage an affiliate program for a great gift store I would love to share with anyone seeking an opportunity that comes with a full time Internet Strategist to send you traffic for your efforts and offer free expert advice.

Thanks for your insights and Merry Christmas!

A couple of other things are learning about comparing the EPCs, plus actually talking with the affiliate manager and negotiating a better deal after you prove yourself.

I first learned PPC; now I do some ad spend. Tip: there are cheaper ways to go than Google.

I have yet to try it, as i’m not versed well enough to do it. If i did it now, it would just be burning money.

I’m just slowly but surely getting into AM and so far so good with results. Nothing amazing, but definitely a solid start.

Enjoyed the article. Thank you.

Missy.

I know Adsense hardly works now days. I am looking forward to personal branding as the next business model. Hey, you may not even be able to monetize it today. But your brand name and your Social Media network foot print has value, no matter what you do in life!

So if you want to get into affiliate marketing, first do your homework, then sign up to a good affiliate network, go thought the offers they have, pick something you think you can promote (don’t pick offer in saturated niches like dating, credit, diet), and set aside at least $1000 to get started.

Gagan

>>>And what questions do I ask to determine the conversion rate?

You ask them what their conversion rate is – if they won’t tell you, then you’ll simply need to test it on your own site.

Thank you for sharing such great information

In fact I copied Rae’s post there too. It’s a sticky.

I’m still a noob, and what’s confounding for me is trying to get specific micro *details* of what to do, specifically choosing a good offer, and what specific coding details to go into a landing page.

As an example of trying to find details, from the post:

“But then you contact both merchants and find out that Merchant A has a 4 percent conversion rate on their main site while Merchant B has a 1 percent conversion rate.”

WHAT? I’m supposed to contact the merchant? And what questions do I ask to determine the conversion rate?

It’s finding little micro details like that which are the biggest hump to overcome.

Thanks so much!

When I was doing PPC, I sometimes went with a slightly lower payout and conversion, due to faster payment terms.

Also there is a risk of actions / sales being disqualified or refunded, and with private affiliate programs there is a risk of never being paid at all even for sales that completed.