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AFFILIATE MARKETING AT FULL THROTTLE
copyright (c) Pavel Lenshin Affiliate marketing consists of two crucial definitions: "affiliate" and "marketing". The synergy of these terms creates new sub-form of marketing activity that more or less differs from well-known "conventional marketing". Taking closer look at affiliate marketing or, should I say, marketing with affiliates gives us new understanding of the fact that your marketing takes place in the field of many affiliates promoting the same product/service, what by itself creates direct competitive business field. Furthermore, this affiliate marketing takes place in the Internet, where, as we all know, one should not take a round-trip train or plane ticket to get the same product from other merchant. Such surrounding may be beneficial for customer and technological progress, but becomes a nightmare for an unestablished entrepreneur. This is, no doubt, the toughest competition ever existed from the advent of economics as a science, because you sell exact same thing for often the exact same price at "the same street" to the same "targeted customers". As the result, all your struggle and efforts will be rewarded in 20-50% of the sales price only, so, at best case of 50% sharing affiliate program, you will need to persuade customer to pay, say, $50 in order to earn $25 only without ability to profit from "back-end" sales stream and other. Yes, you can subscribe this customer to your ezine and advertise your other offers, but this is not "back-end" sales for one simple reason - this customer is not yours, but the affiliate product owner's. If you want me to continue, let me add to this affiliate marketing "picture" one final touch - you as an affiliate will compete not with just one, but with hundreds or even thousands of affiliates. The more powerful and beneficial your affiliated product is the more competition you will get, so, to some extent, and, as strange as it may seem, marketing unknown and even mediocre-quality products may be more lucrative for your short-term affiliate marketing success, simply because of weak competition. This picture was designed on purpose to revolutionize your view of doing affiliate marketing and mobilize your efforts to drive at the full throttle, otherwise you are doomed to occupy the 90% share of no-sales affiliates that is common statistic for any affiliate program owner. First you need a powerful engine that can move your affiliate marketing vehicle at full speed and under any "alien environment". Your engine is your promotional materials, that whether or not: a) have built-in viral marketing engine, popularizing your offer beyond your marketing horizon; b) efficiently pre-sell your affiliated product; c) provoke reader's desire to further deal with you. If your affiliate marketing engine implies viral marketing strategies, efficiently pre-sell and encourage readers to subscribe for your email list, bookmark your page and refer to you in future as a reliable source of information then you have about 300 horse power engine capable of driving you off the "toughest crisis pit", where others "low-power" marketers would stuck for good and simply go bankrupt with their affiliate promotions. Second vital engine part is fuel supply and injection system. Reassure you have constant flow or, at least, access to enough gas supply or you risk to stuck somewhere "in the middle of the desert" with no hope of getting out. In other words, you need to have the sources of targeted traffic and make your offers exposed to your niche market. Needless to say, no matter how good your marketing engine or promotional materials are, without fuel or traffic you will move nowhere. Keep an eye on all machine parts working smooth without breakdowns, some of them are out of your control to fix like problems with "weather" around your 3rd party hosting server, but the most of them are related to proper functioning of your site, customer service etc. and are totally your responsibility. Keep your head up and drive your affiliate marketing fast, but watch for pitfalls. Pavel Lenshin is the devoted Internet entrepreneur, web-developer and marketer, founder of the entrepreneurship portal, where you can find discounted Internet services, FREE ebooks http://ASBONE.com/ebooks/, FREE reports http://ASBONE.com/reports/, and finally uncover innovative business strategies through FREE "NET Business Magazine".
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