Learning comes before anything if we are serious about acquiring a set of marketable skills. And, affiliate marketing is no exception in this regard. We need to learn it, to become literate in it — just as we become literate by going to school — notice, that primary and secondary education alone take some 12 years. And, then if we want take this further there is tertiary education — university or college — to become engineers, doctors, academics and what have we.
For most practical enterprises such as affiliate marketing, however, there may not be a formalised educational institution such as a school or university in the traditional sense — this is because our education system has not caught up yet with the practicalities of generating an income, except through trades and professions. That, however, does not mean that we can not learn affiliate marketing. On the contrary, affiliate marketing is proliferating in the digital environment — its actual home. Okay enough background already . . .
Now to get to the main question . . .
The best way to become an affiliate marketer is through an affiliate marketing program. That word “program” signifies a number of things at once. It refers to the structured learning regime (course) and the material produced (lessons) offered by a registered affiliate marketing digital company. Take, for example, Wealthy Affiliate. There are others, too.
Program can also refer to the digital platform itself on which all these features are offered to the subscribers. Actually, affiliate marketing programs assert their presence through their platforms.
Some of the best affiliate marketing platforms, in my opinion, are those which offer access to some of their resources without charge as an introductory subscription level for their own marketing. It generates free publicity for the. Moreover, a free subscription level is also a mark of their confidence in their own products and services (I am coming to that next). Grab one and experiment.
And, this in short is how you learn affiliate marketing.
One further issue, these platforms also function as affiliate marketing networks bringing together not only not only expertise immediately within their own area of knowledge but also related areas. Some of these are in-house experts. But some may be invited experts for special sessions. Exposure to them provides one of the best affiliate marketing training you can get. These platforms have their own native online communities, too, which provide continuing support to fellow travellers. Working within a supportive community is invaluable. A lot of the queries are crowdsourced from within.
What Does A Good Platform Offer?
The question might as well be: what do you need to run an affiliate marketing business? The answer: a website, keyword research, content generation.
This is where the concept of the platform is most relevant. If those three things — apart from the knowledgebase in the form of lessons — are not available, you cannot do the job. Simple as that. Let me break these down individually. Starting, first, with . . .
Knowledgebase
Successful affiliate marketing experience becomes a knowledgebase — a marketable knowledgebase — for its providers. This is the repository of what actually works — the best part, none of this is theoretical. Successful affiliate marketers want to teach you only what works. This is the gold standard. The raison d’etre of affiliate marketing programs is their knowledgebase. This how they generate revenue. Naturally, the quality of this knowledgebase has to be of a high standard — if they are serious about the sustained value of their digital asset. In other words, if they are and have been in business for a while, you can rest assured that you are getting actionable information. Happy hunting.
Website
Affiliate marketing platforms will almost always come with their own website building software. (This business model is also called software as a service, SaaS). Where this is not available, they will outsource it. Domain name (digital name) and hosting are two other associated requirements for your website. In the digital world entities are known by their digital name — yours could be mycompany.com, for example, provide that it is available. Next it will have to be hosted — that is presented to the web as a searchable address. Companies such as GoDaddy specialise in this service. A good platform will offer these services in-house as a part of your subscription. Personally, I prefer this to going out on my own to find domain names and hosting. It makes it seamless.
Your website is your digital asset. Many websites are sold for a profit. So, developing your website is developing your digital asset for future sale — should you so wish — further down the road.
Keyword Research
If the website is the face of your business (yes, you need to start thinking of it that way), then keyword research is its backbone. In the digital world every word has a certain value — how popular it is in search queries? how many people search for it (search volume)? how often (frequency)? from which part of the country or the world (geo location). Relevance is the issue. For example, if you are in the exercise niche, words such as cardio, muscle, jogging, squats and so forth would be natural choices. Platforms will often come with their own proprietary keyword tools. Jaaxy within Wealthy Affiliate is an example. QUCIK NOTE: Do your keyword research, generate high volume, low competition keywords, first, and then build your content around it. This is one of the most efficient ways of generating content I have found.
Content Creation
Last but not the least . . . Without quality content you cannot rank — a subject I have also covered at some length in previous posts. And, to produce quality content, first, you need a relevant topic. What issues are there in your chosen niche? How are other people solving these problems? What is your individual opinion? You can take a variety of sources and come to a conclusion of your own based on those sources. Not only is this a legitimate use of sources but also allows you to create your own authority on the subject. It is very important to demonstrate to your audience how and why you come to certain conclusions. Naturally, if you use authoritative sources, your conclusions will be authoritative, provided of course that you do not go overboard.
Two techniques you can use to cite sources are: direct quotations or paraphrase. Please note though, do not use them as padding. (Years of reading student assignment has taught me how to spot padding at a thousand paces). Tell your audience what point the source illustrates, how, why. Inject your own commentary — signal agreement or disagreement, take a stance, a position, on the cited material as opposed to leaving it suspended. The answer is not hanging in the air (sorry, Bob Dylan). You gotta answer it as the writer.
This is both citation and originality at the same time — a double benefit. Needless to say that it immediately creates transparency and trust when you cite sources in this manner. I am a great believer in human consciousness. Your own insights, your views, your voice — these are what make for originality — even if you feel that writing is not your forte.
Write in plain English, using what are called simple declaratives: “Apples are wholesome; “Personalised medicine is the next frontier”; “AI could be the fifth industrial revolution.”
Edit. Edit. Edit. Cut out the dead wood to make it easy for your reader.
And Finally
The best affiliate marketing program, if you ask me, is one that provides all these features just discussed. First, do a Google search and then explore a few. Look around. Some may be more advanced than others. Some may be more geared to beginners. Always check for free levels to try out the platform. Make a decision. Commit. Keep moving. Never stop.
And, when you get o the other side, drop us a post card.
~ Ciao