Free affiliate marketing e-book to help you to learn more about affiliate marketing and how it can grow your business.

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2. Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Chapter 1....................................................................................................................................................... 5
Why You Need Affiliate Marketing ........................................................................................................... 5
Strategies for Making the Most of Affiliate Marketing ............................................................................ 6
1. Build Your Lists ................................................................................................................................. 6
2. Make the Most of Your Lists............................................................................................................. 6
3. Put Quality Content Out There......................................................................................................... 6
4. Target the Right People .................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Why You Need Social Networking ............................................................................................................ 8
Strategies for Succeeding with Social Networking ................................................................................... 8
1. Become a Web Presence .................................................................................................................. 9
2. Network with Groups ....................................................................................................................... 9
3. Create Viral Marketing ..................................................................................................................... 9
4. Stay Up to Date .............................................................................................................................. 10
Chapter 3..................................................................................................................................................... 11
Strategies for Integrating Social Networking and Affiliate Marketing to Increase Your Business and
Revenue .................................................................................................................................................. 11
1. Use Social Networks to Build Your Brand....................................................................................... 11
2. Don’t Neglect Facebook’s Advertising Feature .............................................................................. 12
3. Use SEO in Your Posts..................................................................................................................... 12
4. Link Your Page to Your Blog ........................................................................................................... 12
5. Increase the Benefit of Your Articles.............................................................................................. 12
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3. 6. Forget the Hard Sell........................................................................................................................ 13
7. Keep It Personal.............................................................................................................................. 13
8. Engage and Offer Value .................................................................................................................. 13
Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 14
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4. Introduction
As a business owner in today’s tech driven world, you need to have a solid strategy and business plan if
you want to get ahead. No matter what product or service you offer, you will find that there is always
competition. The World Wide Web has made it easy for people to create and market businesses, and
while this is extremely beneficial in terms of increasing your potential customer base, it also means that
you have competition from all over the globe.
As a web based business, you need a plan that will help you reach the most prospective customers or
clients possible. Thankfully, the social networking trend presents the perfect opportunity. When you
make use of websites such as Twitter and Facebook, you can reach thousands or even millions of
prospective clients. In this book, we will teach you the best strategies for making use of social
networking to ensure that your business sees the most benefit possible.
We will also take a look at affiliate marketing and how it can be used to help you grow your business and
increase your profits. Most importantly, we will offer a wide range of strategies that will help you
combine affiliate marketing and social media to get the biggest boost to your revenue. These strategies
can work for any type of business, and once you understand how to make the power of social
networking effective for you, the potential for a major profit increase will become crystal clear.
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5. Chapter 1
Why You Need Affiliate Marketing
When you are selling a product or service, visibility is
everything. The more times a consumer sees your
product or name, the more brand recognition you
are creating. When a web user sees your product or
service everywhere, it creates a sense of trust in the
brand. Affiliate marketing allows you to have other
people sell your product or service for you.
When you set up affiliate marketing software, you
are giving regular computer users the chance to create their own businesses around your product or
service. Depending on your affiliate software program, you may even be able to provide your affiliates
with the tools they need to best promote your business, including banner and text links and even their
own version of your product website. Each affiliate’s links, banners, and sites use a unique ID that helps
you track their total sales, and you will distribute a portion of your sales or traffic profits to the affiliate
that generated them.
Affiliate marketing is a win-win scenario for you and your affiliates. You can end up with significantly
greater profits by having a variety of sites and ads that you do not have to directly maintain, while your
affiliates have the tools they need to effectively market your product and make an easy profit. An
added benefit is that your affiliates are all unique, which means that while you may have a number of
ideas for where to place ads or links, your affiliates will find markets of their own, greatly increasing your
overall visibility.
If you are questioning whether affiliate marketing is right for you, consider this. No matter what you
sell, there are numerous people out there that sell the same thing or something that meets the same
need. Gaining affiliates helps increase your presence in the market, making it much easier for you to
ensure that you are reaching as many prospective clients as possible. The leading affiliate marketing
software can be found here http://www.osiaffiliate.com.
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6. Strategies for Making the Most of Affiliate Marketing
1. Build Your Lists
The simple fact is that you are not going to gain a lot of affiliates on your very first contact. Getting
someone to come to your page and see what you have to offer is great, but you want to really be able to
show them what you have to offer. The average person is on a website for less than two minutes, and
you need to make the most of that time. The best way to do this- offer them something in exchange for
their email address. It can be a free eBook, the ability to view an article that answers an important
question, or the chance to win a prize. Do what you need to give them something they want in
exchange for what you want- their email address.
2. Make the Most of Your Lists
Now that you have started collecting email addresses, you need to know what to do with them. A long
email list can be great, but only if you can convert a number of the people who sign up into affiliates.
How do you do this? Effective emailing. You need subjects that get people to open your messages.
Consider strong, inviting language, such as “Ten ways that you can ….” Or “Learn the secret to
achieving….”, and consider software that lets you personalize each message with the recipient’s first
name. Email frequently enough to ensure that people remember who you are, but absolutely do not
spam or email too often. Consider using email tracking software to determine which emails get opened
the most and to determine what keywords seem to be most effective for you.
3. Put Quality Content Out There
In order to gain affiliates, you are going to have to make a name for yourself. This means giving people
information that they need and can rely on. There are two simple ways to do this- article writing and
blogging. Using article directories to create straight to the point, informative articles that answer
common questions can be a great way to establish yourself as an expert in the industry without using
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7. hard sell tactics. People will read the articles, click the link in your bio, and learn more about your
company. If you do things right, you can get them to sign up for your emails. With a blog, you can use a
bit more advertisement in your content, though you still need content that fills a need or answers a
question.
4. Target the Right People
This tip may be the absolute most important of
all when it comes to trying to gain affiliates. So
many companies see little success with their
affiliate programs because they simply do not
understand that you cannot market to
everyone. Figure out who is responding to your
emails, blog posts, and articles and what they
have in common. Find out where your core
demographic lies and start targeting it.
Whether it is forty year old soccer moms or
twenty year old skaters, you need to know who believes in your product enough to sell it and start
targeting them specifically. If you try to keep it vague enough to appeal to everyone, the chances are
good that you will appeal to no one.
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8. Chapter 2
Why You Need Social Networking
As a business owner, and as previously mentioned, you need to be reaching as many people as possible
at all times. In today’s world, few websites are as popular as the two major social networks: Twitter and
Facebook. These sites get more visits daily than virtually any non-search engine site. Many people even
have their social networking pages linked directly to their mobile phones and other devices. Simply put,
these networks are huge and are packed with prospective clients.
When you make use of social networking, you can reach a vast number of people. If your content is
engaging or provides some value, others who follow your page can easily share or retweet your posts,
sending it in turn to all of their friends or followers. This makes it possible to reach vast numbers of
people with only a few simple words or a simple link or video.
In a world where business competition is still and people are more conscious than ever about what they
are doing with their money, brand recognition and reach are critical. Social networking gives you a
chance to actually connect with prospective customers, a key step in helping them feel an emotional tie
to your brand or company. This is certainly a step that no business owner can afford to ignore, no
matter how large or small their company might be.
Today’s consumers want to feel like they matter to the companies they buy from. People are looking for
alternatives to nameless, faceless corporations, and they want to know that they matter and that they
have an input. Social networking is an easy way to start conversations with your clients and to really let
them know that your company is interested and listening. There is really no way to emphasize strongly
enough just how beneficial this can be to your business.
Strategies for Succeeding with Social Networking
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9. 1. Become a Web Presence
We have already stressed the importance of branding your business, and social networking can be an
essential part of this. Facebook is likely the best way to do this, as the “Like” feature allows people to
share with their friends what interests them, while the Facebook suggestions feature suggests that
people also “Like” the same things as others who share their interests. Get enough people in your
target demographic to “Like” your page, and your brand starts showing up on thousands of home pages
every single day.
2. Network with Groups
Facebook has a feature known as “Groups”, and there are
groups for just about every hobby, activity, belief, and
interest under the sun. Start looking for groups that relate
to your business as well as to your target demographic and
join them. Post a hello message and make sure that you
add something to conversations, answer questions, or
even pose questions of your own now and then. Engage
people in conversation and get them to want to know
more about your business. A great idea is to create a
group of your own. If you sell eBooks about caring for
puppies, for example, you can create a group for people
who love or raise puppies. Don’t make it a group all about your company, but rather about the interest
or need that your company caters to.
3. Create Viral Marketing
These days, anything that is really funny, intelligent, or intriguing has the potential to go viral. Take a
look at the average Facebook wall and note how many statuses are reposts of something clever, funny,
or inspiring. Consider how many common phrases today stem from home videos that were posted to
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10. YouTube and ended up getting millions of visitors. Consider how many Tweets have been reposted by
millions across the globe. While you may not be the next Keenan Cahill, posting a video, status, or
Tweet that makes people laugh hysterically or spend a moment in deep thought can be enough to get
your words and your link into the deepest and most populated parts of cyberspace.
4. Stay Up to Date
One thing you have to know when trying to make the most of social networking is people on these
networks are always up to date. This means that you need to be as well. Follow the latest news
pertaining to your niche or market, and follow the latest celeb and political news as well. Look for ways
to integrate the latest and most high-trending topics into your posts and Tweets. This will keep them
showing up in Google’s real-time search and will help drive you much higher in search rankings.
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11. Chapter 3
Strategies for Integrating Social Networking and Affiliate
Marketing to Increase Your Business and Revenue
While social networking and affiliate marketing are
both very effective tools for building a business,
there is little doubt that the most effective strategy is
a combination of both of these things. Affiliate
marketing can certainly be boosted by social
networking, allowing you a nearly endless pool of
potential new leads and affiliates. Likewise, social
networking efforts to boost sales can be greatly
increased when people visiting your page are also
given the option to become affiliates. The bottom line is that the two strategies, working in tandem, will
certainly be your best bet in terms of increasing revenues.
1. Use Social Networks to Build Your Brand
Before you can start getting a large number of affiliates, you are going to need to establish yourself.
While there are always some people who are willing to sign on with a completely unknown company,
the fact is that the more name recognition you have, the more people will want to work with you.
Create a username that will be the same for both Twitter and Facebook, making you easy to find. Once
you do this, make sure you are producing content fairly regularly without bombarding people. Start
following people on Twitter who may be interested in your products and you will find that many will
follow you back. Likewise, look for people on Facebook who are in your area or whose hobbies and
interests fit well with your niche.
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12. 2. Don’t Neglect Facebook’s Advertising Feature
You will notice that Facebook now has the option for you to advertise your company. Believe it or not,
the algorithms that the network uses are actually quite complex and accurate. If you give the right
keywords related to your product or service, Facebook can recommend your program only to people
who are likely to be interested in becoming affiliates. This can help to greatly reduce your overall
advertising cost and can help to greatly increase your return on investment.
3. Use SEO in Your Posts
These days, Google and other top search engines are more advanced than ever. You will find that
today’s Google searches not only scan websites, but social networks as well. Why not link the keywords
most related to your site and content in your posts, ensuring that your profile pages come up when
people type those words into search engines. It can be a great way to gain new followers and likes for
your pages as well as to find new affiliates.
4. Link Your Page to Your Blog
If you are really working to make your affiliate networking program successful, then you likely already
have a blog. You should already know to keep your blog updated frequently with content that readers
will find both interesting and relevant. Most of today’s blogs have built in features that let you link them
to your social networking pages. By enabling this feature, every new blog post will automatically post to
your social networking pages as well, helping to keep affiliates and potential affiliates alike abreast of
your latest entries.
5. Increase the Benefit of Your Articles
Another common marketing strategy for many companies that utilize affiliate marketing is the use of
article directories. With these, a company publishes articles that answer common questions or address
common concerns about their industry. The articles themselves do not advertise the company or
service, but the biography at the bottom will contain a link to the company. Why not post your articles
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13. on your Facebook page or add the links to your Twitter feed. This will, in turn, create more backlinks
that lead to your page and help to increase your overall ranking within the search engines.
6. Forget the Hard Sell
One of the most common mistakes companies
make when trying to blend social networking
and affiliate marketing is trying to hard sell
their program. People using social networks
are most likely checking their pages during
work or during a break and are looking for a
few seconds of laughter, thought, or relief from
stress. If you are bombarding them with sales
pitches and advertisements, they are going to
“unlike this page” before you have time to blink. Instead, you need to post relevant content that gives
them what they are seeking and work instead to slowly suggest that they visit your page. Let your
followers come to you, don’t try to force them to click your links.
7. Keep It Personal
For some companies, the word social in social networking seems to get overlooked or ignored. There is
a reason that the people you add to a personal page are listed as friends, and there is a reason why
people choose to follow your Tweets. They are looking for a personal exchange. Social networking is
not about connecting with the market, it is about connecting with individuals. Keep this fact in mind and
you will absolutely see more benefit and a higher conversion rate.
8. Engage and Offer Value
If you want to gain the most benefit for your affiliate program through the use of social media, you will
find that you need to do two simple but important things. You need to engage your prospective clients
in conversation and you need to offer them value for their time. Engaging can be as simple as answering
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14. questions on your wall or posting questions to your wall or Twitter feed and then responding to the
answers you receive. Give your friends and followers value, even if it is just in the form of a laugh, and
work hard to keep them engaged in contact and conversation with you.
Summary
The bottom line is that affiliate marketing and social networking are two of the most powerful tools
available for businesses today. Creating an online presence is hard work, but with the right strategies, it
can pay off in ways that you may never have imagined. Take the time to really understand your
demographic and their interests and to tailor your online presence around these individuals. When you
are able to cater to your specific market and to really engage with people who believe in your product,
you can not only increase the number of affiliates you gain, but the overall success of their marketing as
well. The simple fact is this- by targeting people who genuinely believe in your product, you are going to
gain people who are capable of actually selling it.
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