Five Approaches to Affiliate Marketing

As a new affiliate, one of the first things you'll want to know where and how to promote your affiliate link. Today we'll cover several options and discuss the merits of each method.

1. Direct Links via PPC Advertising

If you use PPC advertising, you can embed your affiliate to the ad and send the prospect directly to the merchant's site. This is a really lazy to do things, though. You might make a few sales, but it's far better to approach the process as outlined in tactic #2.

2. Linking to Your Site via PPC Advertising

Place ads for your target keywords and direct the prospects to greet them with an invitation to subscribe to your newsletter. Once you've collected a prospect's email address, they are yours to market to on a repeat basis.

3. Build Content Focused Sites

This approach aims for long term traffic through search engine optimization. You’ll need to publish content related to the type of product you're trying to sell. Searchers will be drawn in by informative articles. You’re affiliate links will be sprinkled discreetly across the site.

4. Advertise in E-Zines

This is a good method to use if you can find targeted lists for your product. E-zine ads can be purchased in most cases, and in other cases you can snatch them up for free by bartering with the list owner.

5. Purchase text link or banner advertising on high traffic sites

This type of advertising isn't quite as popular as it used to be. It is most effective when you can find high traffic sites for smaller niche subjects. These sites tend to focus heavily on content and run only a handful of ads on site. Space is limited and rates are likely to be at a premium.