When was the last time you recommended a friend to visit a restaurant or to buy a certain product? I am assuming recently. People always want to know about the best places and products and, coincidentally, people are usually excited to make recommendations!
So what happens when you make a recommendation and your friend does happen to buy that product? You just gave that business a new customer free of charge. Does it makes sense that you should be compensated for your referral since technically that business would have obtained that customer by spending money on advertising or online pay per click (PPC) campaigns? This is where affiliate marketing comes in.
Through affiliate marketing YOU become a promoter of a product or service and will be compensated whenever a sale is made through your marketing efforts. You can be selective of the products or services you decide to promote and tell your friends, family or blog traffic to make a purchase. There are so many opportunities to expand in affiliate marketing today as internet communication has expanded so much.
For beginners here are a few affiliate marketing outlets where you can immediately begin promoting products on your blog. They have product images and links readily available for you to put on your blog and will give you a percentage of every sale derived from your affiliate links.
Amazon Associates is the most popular and largest affiliate marketing website. Their vast product selection means you can do authentic personal reviews of products rather than have generic links scattered throughout your blog that do not stand out to readers . Authenticity and personal review goes a long way in moving readers to buy.
Commission Junction (CJ) is an affiliate site that allows you to feature businesses as well as their specific products on your website. Major companies like Home Depot and Vista Print are connected to CJ as well as smaller businesses so you have decent selection. The only draw back is that vendors specify qualifications to become an affiliate so new blogs and websites tend to be rejected.
Here is another popular affiliate site. I have not worked with it much but it is similar to Commission Junction in terms of finding the product you want to promote, obtain banner or text html and insert into your website or blog. There are varying banners available so you can find an image that fights right in with your design.
It does take time to see results from affiliate marketing since it is a numbers game an having more traffic means a higher chance for success! Keep your blog up to date and be sure to integrate product promotion to start reaping in extra income. I can give you more information about affiliate marketing, drop me a line!
About the author: Lauren Ell
Ell is an Online Marketing consultant based in Southern California. She shares online business opportunities to generate income as well as assists small and large companies develop their marketing strategies. Contact Lauren Ell directly or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Google+ and google maps is also a great way to write reviews.
And make rekommendations.