How To Start In Affiliate Marketing For Beginners – Part 0

Let’s face it. Everyone needs to start from somewhere. It’s no shame to be a newbie in the affiliate marketing world. I was a newbie a few years ago, and have worked hard for everything that I have learned through trials and costly errors. But the good thing about affiliate marketing is that the industry is dynamic and that levels the playing field among most affiliates. It’s true that the super affiliates who have developed a set of best practices that works for them every time are less affected by these changes. But almost everyone else is. So if you are thinking of becoming a full time affiliate you should know that affiliate marketing is not for people who want to be lazy. In fact there is nothing lazy about being an affiliate. It’s hard work people!

Affiliate marketing is not about putting a couple of banners on a ugly web page and hoping for people to click on it. You need to constantly research ways to drive traffic to your site through various channels. You need to have a good design with sales in mind, and you need to provide some real value. Putting a banner up or writing a couple of sentences about how good a product is does not do it.

So before even starting to think about the whole affiliate marketing thing, sit down and try to envision yourself as an affiliate in the future. Do you enjoy analyzing data? Do you enjoy working with Pay-Per-Click services? Do you enjoy researching keywords? Do you enjoy testing, testing, and testing all the time? If the answer is no, then maybe you should try something else. There are many ways to make money on the Internet than affiliate marketing, so make sure you got the right idea before getting into the industry.

But if you are ready to get started in affiliate marketing, the look for the next part of this series.

CanAffco Affiliate Boot Camp – September 27th

If you are hoping to enter the Internet gaming industry as an affiliate, then you should definitely not miss CanAffco Affiliate Boot Camp. It is a niche market where not many can figure out what do from the start. When you are trying to enter such markets, I strongly recommend going to one of these types of events to figure out how top affiliates in your niche approach this market. It will be in Barcelona, so get those Passports ready!

LunarPages Web Hosting Joins PepperJam

LunarPages has just joined PepperJam network. I know that 1&1 was part of the Pepperjam Network, but LunarPages is another major hosting company joining the network. Good news for those of you working with PN.

Google Knol Launched, Another Avenue for Marketers?

Google Knol’s social knowledge network is finally open to public. You can basically use your gmail user and password and login. Then you can write a Knol (article), and you are even allowed to use adsense ads on your pages. I do like Aaron Wall’s talke on the whole issue, but I still feel that many of us affiliate marketers will use Knol just like Squidoo to increase our income. I believe as long as people don’t spam Knol and write truly useful articles, using it as an avenue for promoting other’s items is completely acceptable.

Are you ready for 30 Day Affiliate Challenge?

Are you ready for a 30 day affiliate challenge? These good folks have put up a site dedicated to taking your hands in the next 30 days and showing you how to make money on the Internet through affiliate marketing. I think it’s worth using. I would stay on the safe side and use a peripheral email address, but other than that, it will be a good training for those of us new to affiliate marketing.

Advanta Releases Kiva Business Credit Card To Their Affiliate Program

Advanta finally launches their green Kiva credit card to their affiliate program. Advanta used to have only 3 mentionable products for the past few years, but the release of Kiva credit card to their affiliate program shows that they are willing to diversify. You can still make $65 – $85 with this credit card.

Here is a portion of the message:

Dear Affiliates:

This spring, Advanta launched a new offering – The Kiva BusinessCard!

It is our VERY BEST OFFER + a philanthropic twist, designed for your customers that are interested in social responsibility AND looking for a great business credit card.

What is in it for Affiliates? All the great benefits of Advanta’s current affiliate program including…

As an Advanta Affiliate marketing the Kiva BusinessCard, you have the opportunity to make $65-$85 per booked account.

Plus… for every approved application for the Kiva BusinessCard through the affiliate program, Advanta will make a $25 donation to Kiva in your name!

Credit Card Affiliates To Suffer Due to the State of Economy

Credit Card industry has always been a very attractive market for affiliates. People are always looking for credit cards and the pay outs are very good. The market is pretty much saturated in a sense that there are just too many sites competing against each other. Having said that, most affiliates have tried the credit card market at least once in their lives.

But the news is not good if you are in this market. Advanta, which in my book, has the best converting affiliate program has just announced that affiliates can expect to take a hit in approvals due to a change in underwriting. The reason for change? The state of economy! Basically it means that if your CPA is $140, you can expect it to go to $200 or more depending on how tough the new underwriting will be. First the NY State Fiasco and now this. Not a good couple of months for affiliates. Here is an excerpt from Advanta’s e-mail:

As you know, the current economic environment has forced a number of issuers to establish stricter lending criteria. To date Advanta has chosen not to do the same as our focus on high credit quality small business customers has allowed us to maintain the same underwriting standards in recent years. However, as a result of a recent analysis we have decided to make minor underwriting adjustments at this time. The impact of these changes on overall account approval results should be minimal and consistent with typical month-to-month fluctuations.

Performics Gets a New Google Look

Google has finally decided to give Performics the interface makeover that we have all been waiting for. Here is the note that I received this morning from Google:

Google Affiliate Network, formerly DoubleClick Performics, is pleased to unveil a refreshed ConnectCommerce user interface. We have made improvements to overall navigation and usability and have updated colors and styles to reflect the new Google Affiliate Network brand. This update should leave the interface simpler to understand and navigate. Please note that we are not currently integrated with Google Accounts and you must continue to use your ConnectCommerce username and password to log in.

Google is dedicated to providing the best possible user experience. This release is another step toward our goal of improving user experience and delivering value for our partners.

So how does the new interface look?

It’s very Googlish. The first time I saw it I immediately thought of Google Notebook. I personally find it easier to navigate and the information is presented in a much better way. This should really help affiliates who have had numerous issues with the performics’ interface. I am sure Google will make more changes as they go along, but for now I think the new interface is refreshing.