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Allan Gardyne-top affiliate marketers
Allan is one of the top affiliate marketers on the Net today. He left journalism to pursue his ever so popular Associate Programs.Com web site and is also considered an expert on affiliate programs…
Allan’s main sites are:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com
http://www.PayPerClickSearchEngines.com
http://www.LifetimeCommissions.com
http://www.LifetimeCustomers.com
How much do you approximately make monthly promoting affiliate programs?
My wife, Joanna and I are more interested in quality of life than earning a lot of money. We earn more than we used to as journalists.
We live about half the year in Australia – in a pole house by the beach: (http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/search/us.shtml )
and half in New Zealand, where we have friends and family.
We love the way our business has given us the freedom to travel and work wherever we like. That’s priceless.
How did you start affiliate marketing?
On a free-hosted web site, I was earning the occasional $10 commission from Jim Daniels’ revenue sharing program, selling his introduction to marketing on the Net, "Insider Internet Marketing". He has since launched a much better book. I really WAS earning money while I was walking on the beach (I had time for that in those days) or while I slept, because I was in Australia and most of my customers were in the U.S.
I wanted to join more such programs and hunted in all the main search engines for a directory of them. I was surprised that no one appeared to have started one. (I found out later that James Marciano had launched his directory late in 1997, just before mine.) I reckoned that lots of people like me would be searching for a directory of such programs, so I started one, AssociatePrograms.com.
What are some of the key points you look for when choosing an affiliate program to promote?
-A site that has a high conversion rate – or looks as though it has.
- An excellent product that will appeal to my niche market.
- A high commission, preferably 40% to 50%.
- It’s a nice bonus if the program also pays residual
income or lifetime commissions – the sort reviewed at www.lifetimecommissions.com
Do you suggest a potential affiliate becomes familiar with a product before they promote it? Please explain.
Absolutely. I like to study and use the products I’m promoting.
You can choose from thousands of affiliate merchants So you ought to be able to find some products you can be genuinely enthusiastic about. If you do, your enthusiasm will shine through in your writing, helping you achieve more sales. You’ll also have the good feeling that comes with knowing that you’re promoting an excellent, useful product.
Occasionally, I’ll promote a product without trying it because it’s produced by a company I’ve learned to trust.
Of course, if you’re running an online shopping mall, you can’t possibly have in-depth knowledge on all the products you promote.
If someone is on a tight budget, what are some of the first steps they absolutely need to take to get started on becoming a top affiliate?
Some people make money without a memorable domain name and web site, but I think they’re essential to give you credibility and to help people remember you.
In the early days of my business I attracted a lot of free traffic simply by participating in online forums. If you’re doing that, see if you figure out a way to HELPFULLY include a link to an article on your site in the middle of your message. Don’t just rely on using a signature.
Learn how the free search engines work.
Capturing e-mail addresses for your own opt-in list or newsletter is very useful because it gives you the opportunity for repeat sales, but it’s not absolutely essential.
How do you suggest promoting affiliate programs?
(i.e.: Do you suggest using the web sites, ads, URL’s provided or doing your own unique promotion?)
There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of ways to promote affiliate products. Keep your mind open to new possibilities.
By the way, I recommend you promote the PRODUCT, not the program. That way you rely on your own skills to make a sale.
I think the most important thing to do is to assess your own skills and interests. Use your strengths.
Don’t assume that a technique that is best for one affiliate will automatically be best for you.
For example, I like writing so I quickly launched a newsletter. I contribute to online forums and I spend far too much time answering e-mails. For me, that works.
In total contrast, some successful affiliates DON’T even put their e-mail address or a contact form on their web site, because they want to do as little writing as possible.
If you’re good at creating ezine ads, you can do that, and link them to a free report which you’ve split into a series of articles and placed on an auto responder, promoting affiliate products.
If you have only a few hours a week to spare, you can build a small web site, and perhaps aim to add one new article to it every week, or every month. Owning a small web site has the major benefit that you’re free to spend 95% of your time on marketing.
If you have more technical strengths, you might want to figure out how to build sites which take a slice of the earnings of pay-per-click search engines.
If you already have your own products, you can use affiliate products for back-end sales. Someone who has just bought from you is likely to be in the mood to buy again.
If you’re a real details person, you can build networks of dozens or hundreds of small, linked sites which are designed to be found in search engines.
In "Network of mini-sites earns $5,000 a month" -http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/search/newsletter193.shtml -
I describe how Shawn Campbell has network of poster sites. Some affiliates do this sort of thing on a much larger scale.
Some successful affiliates concentrate on traffic from pay-per-click search engines, often earning commissions from leads rather than sales. This is a task for a true specialist. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll spend too much on advertising.
Once you have acquired some affiliate selling skills, you might want to concentrate on two-tier programs. You can coach other affiliates in how to succeed and earn a percentage of their earnings. I recommend some good two-tier programs at http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/search/two-tier.shtml .
If you create software or a web-based service, you can give it away, with your affiliate links imbedded in it.
Eventually, you may even want to do what I do, hire other people to run affiliate-driven web sites for you.
What would you say is the one most important thing you have learned as a top marketing affiliate?
Earning trust and credibility are extremely important. I’ve received several e-mails from people who have told me they’ve
bought a product because I recommended it in my newsletter. I love that and I work hard to deserve their trust.
What do you feel is the #1 most important thing you are doing to stay a successful top marketing affiliate?
That’s difficult to answer. What works for me won’t necessarily work best for everyone.
I put a lot of time into trying to help affiliates succeed. That works for me. I aim to keep a fairly high profile in the affiliate marketing industry.
In contrast, some super affiliates who concentrate on conquering the search engines often fly below the radar. They’re not interested in getting their names out there.
The most important thing they do is keep up-to-date with every little tweak of the algorithms the search engines make.
What information do you wish you had when first starting out?
I wish I’d understood what a time trap creating a large web site can be. I spent
far too much time fiddling about, experimenting and learning technical stuff
and not enough time on marketing. Keep it simple!
I wish I’d understood that affiliate selling can be done in so many different ways. I would have chosen a different route. Running an affiliate directory like AssociatePrograms.com is very time-consuming.
What is the difference between you (The Top Affiliate) and all of the other affiliates promoting the same programs?
In some cases, not much. I have very good rankings in some search engines. I’ve worked hard to earn people’s trust. Lots of people have also done that. However, that doesn’t matter because the Internet is HUGE. There are massive opportunities for all of us.
What traffic generating techniques do you use to advertise affiliate programs? Do you advertise at all? If not, explain.
I spend thousands of dollars a month on pay-per-click search engines because I believe it’s highly targeted, effective advertising. However, there’s no use doing that unless your web site is designed to achieve sales.
I’ve spent quite a while studying the main search engines because I like free traffic.
I have used message boards and discussion forums, but I don’t do that as much as I used to.
I maintain friendships with people all over the Net. We help each other. Attending Internet marketing conferences is a great way of cementing friendships.
These days, I answer a lot of questions in interviews!
What are some ways you do NOT recommend when promoting your web site or affiliate programs?
Don’t use Spam. Ignorant, selfish oafs use Spam.
Don’t waste time on free-for-all (FFA) sites. They used to work, a long time ago.
Don’t bombard message boards with blatant advertisements.
You’ll just annoy people and ruin any reputation you have. DO offer useful, helpful advice.
What do you think is the biggest mistake new affiliates make?
They join too many affiliate programs and hop from one to another without really putting in the necessary effort to make one work.
They build amateurish looking web sites without any credibility, trying to tell other people how to make money on the Net when it’s obvious they don’t know how themselves. They’d be better off choosing a less competitive niche.
Please donate 1-2 of your favorite and most helpful resource links.
I spend so much time these days answering e-mail I almost never go anywhere on the Net except my own Associate Programs Message Board – http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus .
I usually check in there each day and do my best to answer people’s questions. Instead of e-mailing me personally, it makes much more sense to ask your question on the message board. That way, you can often get helpful answers from several people who have different backgrounds and experience.
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