jmarbach.com

This post is the first post in a series of posts that will go into further detail of the ten bite-sized affiliate marketing tips published on the MediaTrust blog in late July.

As with any profession or expertise, in order to prepare yourself to succeed at a higher level, you must know the fundamental basics. On the web the fundamental programming language is HTML. Even though it’s the most basic and easy to use code language, most affiliates still use HTML and CSS to create their landing pages.  This is mostly because HTML is simple and can be learned literally within a couple days, which makes it the easiest to edit and optimize. This is important because any successful affiliate knows that in order to increase or maintain profit margins, constant testing and editing of new landing page variations is necessary. A Google search of “learn HTML and CSS” will give you more than enough information to learn the language quickly for free.

Now remember I specifically mentioned “familiarity” because its not essential to know how to completely code and design the landing pages you make; the most effective styles and designs will likely come from the web designers that create unique pages on a daily basis. So, it is still important that you understand the page if there is a small error that you need to fix, and of course to place a conversion pixel in order to test which of your pages performs the best. Once you have an understanding of HTML, it will become much easier for you to optimize your site with whichever tracking tool(s) that you chose to use. Here are a few great posts on site optimization by MediaTrust’s own web designer Matt Richmond.

Another valuable use of any marketers time is to understand the jargon of the mediums they are using to advertise on. A list of commonly used terms associated with internet marketing can be found here. This is an affiliates first step to becoming a so called “savvy’ internet marker. After learning the basics on how landing pages work on the back end with HTML and CSS, the next step is to of course use that knowledge to setup a campaign to promote an offer.  Note that if you do not plan on using a landing/bridge/upsell page its still essential that you are familiar with HTML in order to understand how simple web pages function with links to creatives, pixels, etc..

If you are involved with affiliate marketing, you know that it is hard to go through the day online, and not see the term “Super Affiliate” somewhere. The definition varies from person to person, as seen in Shoemoney’s post here: http://tinyurl.com/cmfr9p. Some say that they are people who rake in tons of cash each month, people who make a lot of money off referral commission, or just have a lot of people following their blog. The way you define a super affiliate is up to you, but one thing is for sure, we can tell if they are for real or not.

So, why do affiliate marketers read the super affiliate’s blogs? A few possible answers could be that people are bored or looking for new content that they are interested in. However, one thing is common among all affiliates who subscribe to these super affiliate blogs: I want to make more money. So, lets be real, if the super affiliate blogs constantly about general ramblings in the industry, they essentially do not help you make any money.

What about the super affiliates who give away all of that cool stuff to their readers? Great, that is super cool in the short term, but you are screwed when it comes to making money long term. The point I’m trying to make is that these so called super affiliates are absolutely worthless, and simply making money off of you, unless they help you make money. Therefore, I can testify that 99% of the blog posts super affiliates make are worthless and unproductive. Just because they have 2,000 subscribers doesn’t mean that they make any money, except from you. Unless they give you information that allows you to be more efficient or make more money. Thus, a super affiliate is for real if they teach you how to make more money.

Lets take a look at the super affiliates who are for real:

Nickycakes

Why? His newbie guide says it all. His posts for n00bs will make you money. If they don’t, then the Cakes chat is full of people who are always offering tips.

Kris Trujillo

Why? His case study PPC videos say it all. Combine Kris’s PPC videos with the Cash Tactics free PPC mentoring and you will start making money very quickly. 

Ralph Ruckman

Why? His step by step tutorials on the Convert2Media forum and his free reports on Cash Tactics have proven to be some of the most helpful advice any affiliate has gotten. Mostly because Ruck likes to take lesser noticed paths when developing marketing strategies. 

Brad Bertsche

Why? His scripts are extremely useful, not to mention sick nasty because they are free. 

Brandon Adcock

Why? He might not have blog very often, but his lessons from his affiliate marketing experience will save you a lot of time and money. Not to mention he offered to help me get started with AM.

Wes Mahler

Why? Affiliates can’t thank him enough for the powerful PPC analytics tools he has developed for you, for free. Ontop of that, his new series of interviews are worth watching.

Other helpful affiliates:

• Scar from Gaming YouTube
• Paul from inspiredmoneymaker.com
• Barman from PPC.bz

If you think someone else deserves a shout out in this post, let me know, I will be glad to add them.