Does One need "An Affilaite Marketing System" to make $$$

[mendeo]

The majority of Online Businesses make the claim :

2B successful online - One needs a system !

Does this also include "AFFILIATE - MARKETING ???"
if so,

Please share, the basic fundamentals,
"HOW to set up An Affiliate Marketing System ???"

[Friedmett]

How to setup an Affiliate system that works?

First all yes it can work but takes time and work. Its an education on what to do right not something you can make work overnight.

The normal business model looks like this:

Part A: You need a low-cost, (under 50$) high volume retail product that funds your advertising, erases your expenses, and produces a never-ending source of leads for your Mlm/affiliate. This is the fuel for your business. Your retail product backends Part B and/or C.

Part B: This is a medium to high cost ($75-$500)backend product that puts real cash in your pocket. (this may also be a"Fast start Bonus" that is usally paid out by a company for new customers/reps). This is your monthly bread and butter cash profit that you can use to pay the bills, invest,etc. Part B sells Part C

Part C: Is network marketing opportunity that creates long term, residual income.

You find the Company you would like to signup to as an affiliate. Then your mission is to build a downline and getting it to work properly.Once the downline works you got it.

This is the most simple way of a description as its hard enough to find signups comitted to succed.

The problem is the 95% start in plan C and therefore lose their money on leads.

Another main thing is you shall not ever sell. You must provide generic information for your target marked.

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Friedmett,

You gave a very detailed plan for success and I really like the way you laid out part A and B. Only thing is that in TRUE affiliate marketing there is no downline and there is no network marketing.

"You find the Company you would like to signup to as an affiliate. Then your mission is to build a downline and getting it to work properly. Once the downline works you got it."

Many MLM opps these days try to disguise themselves as affiliate programs to give themselves a little more legitimacy. Don't fall for this. If there is any talk of downline or recruiting others, or training others or spill over or matrix, or more than 2 tiers of income - then it's MLM - a MUCH different animal than affiliate programs.

[Friedmett]

Funny

I'm a member of Referralware and when I go to my site to log in it does say affilate:

http://referralware.com/

Anyway I really don't know the difference between mlm or affiliate programs as I have only stuck myself to get Referralware going.

I have been reading the Magnetic Sponsering book which is the first book which really is different compared to alot of other books on the subject of how the business shoud be set up. The model used is taken from that.

{{Affiliate part of link edited out by Linda}}

[mannmade]

I've found that Affiliate Marketing can take many different paths. I know a fellow making $250k per year who started writing articles three years ago.

The there's AdWords (Pay-Per-Click), building content website for natural search engine results, there's AdSense. The list goes on & on.

My advice is to find one approach that you're comfortable with and stick with that until you have mastered it and it's producing consistent revenue for you.

HTH!

[jenniecc]

I don't know that anyone needs a "system" to make money - but I certainly do think you need to have an idea of what affiliate marketing is all about. When I first started trying to make money online, I had no idea about half the things people were talking about. For me, the most important thing was knowing how much it was going to cost, upfront when at all possible. Also, understandin what pay per click marketing is, what article marketing is and the other methods of advertising are important.
Good Luck!!

[Teli]

Hi Mendeo,
First off, I want to welcome you to the 5Star forum. Definitely a great place to learn and network with others who have similar interests.

Whether or not you need a system is just a matter of marketing semantics. Replace system with plan, then it will be a very true statement. Don't get me wrong, it's not impossible to become successful at affiliate marketing without a plan, it's just a bit more difficult and possibly time-consuming.

As Linda already mentioned, Friedmett's A and B is pretty on point. It could turn into a very nice business plan for affiliate marketing. Though, there is a difference between MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) and affiliate marketing. Another name for MLM is pyramid or ponzi scheme.

Some MLMs are legitimate (very few that I've seen), but for the most part, MLMs pay for downline members. The idea is that you recruit ten people to a product/website and they each recruit ten people to a product/website, you'll be rolling in dough. Once you look closely at the set-up, you realize that only those in the upper tiers (i.e. the first few hundred members) will earn a majority of the money because as more people sign up, there will be fewer people to sign up and the pyramid will cave in on itself. This is the reason many MLMs are illegal and banned by a number of merchants (i.e. PayPal, ClickBank, 2CO, etc.). When getting involved with an MLM, make sure to check it out and that it puts a focus on gaining customers (besides yourself) and not just building your downline.

You can read more about MLM at the FTC website:
Multilevel Marketing Plans
The Bottom Line About Multilevel Marketing Plans

Affiliate marketing, on the other hand, pays per action (or lead). You're basically acting as a middle man for the merchant and consumer. Whenever a consumer purchases something from the merchant using your special link or referral code, then you receive a cut -- no downline recruiting required, though some affiliate programs are multi-tiered (need to be careful with those also). In my experience, most affiliate programs will not go deeper than two or three tiers, though they do exist.

You can learn more about affiliate marketing by reading Rosalind Gardner's Affiliate Marketing Handbook or Jeremy Palmer's High Performance Affiliate Marketing eBooks. Either is great for the beginning affiliate marketer.

Another difference between affiliate programs and MLM is that affiliate programs are usually free to join/maintain an account, whereas a number of MLMs will require you to earn a certain amount of money through product sales (whether you buy them yourself or not).

Hope that lends some light and good luck!

~ Teli

[RussReynolds]

I think to become as successful as you can as rapidly as you can, you do need a system. You don't necessarily have to buy it, you can use free info, buy some books etc but eventually you have to stop planning your system and begin working your system. Develop your own unique system tailored to your strengths and then take massive action.

[mannmade]

It's the old "Plan your work and work your plan" adage in action.

Or how 'bout "Failing to plan is planning to fail".

[Jason30texas]

Before I begin to give my part c let me say that I am a newbie to affiliate marketing.

But experience working for a for profit organization there is something we refer to as customer cultivation.

Unlike the MLM approach the affilate approach is to get the same people that came to your site to revisit your site again. Which is what we all look for " Whats in it for me."

Simply put if you have gained the trust of your customer more then likely they will visit your site again because they found something that was of value.WIIFM"whats in it for me

So how do you do this? Most sites that I think that have been successful " and if you notice all the ebooks tailored to " get my free book if you do this or that". The secret is the list they got from their site.

So in summary add a sign up to your site. Then cultivate your list with freebies and links back to your landing page. New content means returning customers because of the WIIFM.