- Oct 3, 2020
- 223
- 362
Hi everyone,
I've been getting a lot of the same questions after my: How I went from $0 - $XXX with Affiliate Marketing in 2021, Finding profitable offers and 5 skills needed to succeed in AM posts.
The last pinned FAQ was posted in 2009! As we know internet marketing can change tons in a few months let alone a few years so here is an update for this year and beyond.
Below I have categorised different sets of answers to the most common questions I've been asked and I think it will help a lot of people:
(I'm partly doing this because I'm lazy and it means I can just link people to this thread in the future too lol
)
Affiliate Marketing Set Up
What verticals should I start with?
There is no "secret" vertical that will guarantee you success. All you can do is stack the odds in your favour by opting for "evergreen" niches. These are verticals that will always have a market. An example being:
Dating is substantially the hardest due to it having more complex landing pages which will require more coding knowledge. Sweepstakes and Mobile offers are the easiest to learn the ropes with but the trade off is their campaigns don't stay profitable for long periods of time in comparison to Anti-Virus.
Verticals I'd avoid as a newbie are: Gambling, Crypto and Nutra. These are more seasonal especially the first 2 that do well in times of economic bull markets but dip in hard times. With that said at any one time you can bet that someone out there is making money with any vertical.
The best way to see success is to pick 1 maximum 2 verticals and stick with it for at least 3-6 months.
That way everything you learn about best converting LP's, traffic zones, offers will compound and make you a pro a lot faster than having shiny object syndrome and failing to learn then earn which will make you quit.
Focus is key
What should I say when applying to affiliate networks?
I won't give you the exact words to say because if everyone copies and pastes it will soon become useless anyway. Instead I'll give you the mindset behind what you say so you can come up with your own explanation (which is a lot more useful to you!).
Name dropping forums or courses you're a part of helps too if it's big enough.
XYZ didn't accept me... what now?
Try again with another email but spend more time on research and ensuring you're relevant. I was turned down from a network once because I spoke about sweepstakes when they specialised in gambling lol.
Also remember that some networks only work with pros. So what you can do is learn the ropes with "newbie networks" then when you apply for the big boys show them screenshots of your earnings as leverage to get accepted.
What should I consider when picking an affiliate network?
How do I pick an offer?
I'll be lazy and say read this lol
What's the best landing page builder?
If you have the time learning basic html / css and using a free code editor like "brackets" is the way to go.
If you don't have time but have the budget you can use tools like: Landerlab (personally used it & it's good)
Another platform I've personally used is "Purelander" which is cheap ($25 for 6 months) and has a ton of CPA LP templates in there too but it's a little out of date.
Lastly a quick google search brought up this free tool called "Bitlanding.com" but not sure how good or CPA useful it will be
Running Campaigns
What should I bid?
The "recommended bid" when starting your first campaign. E.g. if the lowest bid is 0.040 and recommended bid is 0.046 go with 0.046.
Then if you see specific zones are profitable for you bid a little higher e.g. 0.049
Bids work like an auction and in general the more you bid the higher quality traffic you get but you can easily over do it and lose profit so you have to strike a balance.
This could easily be a post within itself but I'll leave it there for onw
What's a good CTR Rate?
Depends on the niche but a "good" Landing Page CTR can be as high as 30-50%
Overtime though CTR is not nearly as important as conversion rate.
In order to improve your CTR look at the following:
What's a good conversion rate?
High as possible but in general it will fall between 2-7%. If you're lower than that either make changes or scrap the campaign
I spent X and only got X back - what now?
I would first ask whether you're using a tracker? If not that should be the 1st thing you do - get set up on Bemob or Kintura (I personally prefer Bemob for a free tool option)
From there read my finding profitable offers post and point number 4 on reading data
In your tracker filter by traffic zones from your traffic network as there's likely a "green zone" that is profitable and "red zones" where you're spending money but not making anything back.
You can then make a version 2 of the exact same campaign you've run but only select the profitable zones and see what the results are.
Affiliate Marketing is all about running campaigns, getting data, then making new campaigns based on that data to make money. Very rarely do you get profits 1st time and if you do - you hit a gold mine and should scale asap.
It's a lot more analytical than people think and sometimes you'll feel like a mad professor... Or maybe that's just me
Making CPA work with a tight budget
This following is the bare minimum you need otherwise I would respectfully advise you to try the slower but cheaper blogging method or a part time day job
What tools do I need?
Should I buy courses?
Completely up to you *shrugs* you can learn everything you need via trial and error but the right course can easily shave 6 months' off your learning curve
The things you should consider when buying courses are:
Random tips I wish I knew when I started
Closing Questions
Can I add you on Skype to exchange ideas?
No if I opened up my Skype to PM's I'd probably spend half my day just doing that... That's reserved for paying or prospective clients only
Will you ever release a course?
No I like my privacy too much and don't want the pressure of guaranteeing someone results. AM is hard enough solo let alone teaching someone else how to get good lol.
Why do "successful" Affiliate Marketers share their strategies?
Multiple reasons I'll go in the order of negative to positive:
1) The affiliate doesn't even have a working strategy but just piles free information together to make a quick buck
2) The strategies no longer work or are starting to fail so it's more profitable to "sell the strategy" rather then execute on it
3) The Affiliate is successful and wants to diversify their income stream. AM is an up and down business where you always have to run campaigns to find winners. "Course income" gives them more stability
4) Good Karma - when you help others the world helps you. Sounds woo woo but it's definitely real. A concrete example is how affiliates who have strong "brands" and are well known will often get better treatment in terms of: higher payout offers, discounts on tools with the main suppliers & complimentary gifts if they make the networks enough money.
You also have to remember that a newbie today could be the pro tomorrow who remembers your guide that helped them and is willing to help you back by giving you a heads up on a new strategy that makes you serious $$$$ before it's saturated. This industry is as much about people as it is about numbers.
What's the next step for Affiliate Marketers once they master it?
Retire on a beach sipping on pina colada's like everyone else right??? Again several routes here:
What's the 1 thing I should take away from reading this thread?
Do Your Own Research. Don't blindly trust anyone (including me). Unless you decide you really want to trust me with your bitcoin, in that case go ahead
Right it's getting late where I am so before I completely go off track I'll end my post here.
Hope this helps someone out!
BKL
I've been getting a lot of the same questions after my: How I went from $0 - $XXX with Affiliate Marketing in 2021, Finding profitable offers and 5 skills needed to succeed in AM posts.
The last pinned FAQ was posted in 2009! As we know internet marketing can change tons in a few months let alone a few years so here is an update for this year and beyond.
Below I have categorised different sets of answers to the most common questions I've been asked and I think it will help a lot of people:
(I'm partly doing this because I'm lazy and it means I can just link people to this thread in the future too lol
)Affiliate Marketing Set Up
What verticals should I start with?
There is no "secret" vertical that will guarantee you success. All you can do is stack the odds in your favour by opting for "evergreen" niches. These are verticals that will always have a market. An example being:
- Sweepstakes
- Dating
- Anti-virus
- Cheap Mobile Offers
- Adult
Dating is substantially the hardest due to it having more complex landing pages which will require more coding knowledge. Sweepstakes and Mobile offers are the easiest to learn the ropes with but the trade off is their campaigns don't stay profitable for long periods of time in comparison to Anti-Virus.
Verticals I'd avoid as a newbie are: Gambling, Crypto and Nutra. These are more seasonal especially the first 2 that do well in times of economic bull markets but dip in hard times. With that said at any one time you can bet that someone out there is making money with any vertical.
The best way to see success is to pick 1 maximum 2 verticals and stick with it for at least 3-6 months.
That way everything you learn about best converting LP's, traffic zones, offers will compound and make you a pro a lot faster than having shiny object syndrome and failing to learn then earn which will make you quit.
Focus is key
What should I say when applying to affiliate networks?
I won't give you the exact words to say because if everyone copies and pastes it will soon become useless anyway. Instead I'll give you the mindset behind what you say so you can come up with your own explanation (which is a lot more useful to you!).
- Research the affiliate network first and take note of what offers they provide and which countries they specialise in
- You want to present yourself as someone who knows what they're doing and will send high quality relevant traffic. Networks have huge turnover of newbies and at times fraudulent traffic senders so you want your proposal to be: concise, polite and make the person trust you
- Include links to relevant landing pages or websites. Again this helps build credibility and I did this myself when starting as I used to make websites for fun anyway
Name dropping forums or courses you're a part of helps too if it's big enough.
- From there be persistent and follow up on skype and with their chatbot function. Always be respectful and polite as being rude won't help you. Remember there is another human being on the other side of the screen. If the affiliate network requires a call - repeat what you've typed verbally.
- On phone calls they usually ask what traffic you run and what offers you specialise in so be ready to share your "strategy". Being new isn't a problem as long as you've done your research and the person can tell you have a plan and know what you're doing.
- An extra tip that I've not personally used is to say you have a blog with 1000's of weekly visitors but that you don't want to share the URL because of a bad experience in the past where it got hacked. Affiliate Networks LOVE people who can provide organic traffic and it apparently speeds up the approval process. Again I've heard others get success for this but use at your own risk... The above is usually enough
- Big bonus points if you show them screenshots of your earnings from other affiliate networks
XYZ didn't accept me... what now?
Try again with another email but spend more time on research and ensuring you're relevant. I was turned down from a network once because I spoke about sweepstakes when they specialised in gambling lol.
Also remember that some networks only work with pros. So what you can do is learn the ropes with "newbie networks" then when you apply for the big boys show them screenshots of your earnings as leverage to get accepted.
What should I consider when picking an affiliate network?
- PAYMENT TERMS 1 !!!!! - Schedules >>> Some networks will pay as quickly as weekly while others every 45 days. Cash flow can kill you in AM so do your research
- Payment Terms 2 - minimum cash payout >>> Some networks will release as low as $35 while others as high as $500+ - do your research
- Offer Types >>> Make sure it's relevant to what you plan to promote
- Affiliate Support >>> A good affiliate manager can make you extra $$$$ through recommendations. Work with networks who let you easily talk to a real person
How do I pick an offer?
I'll be lazy and say read this lol
What's the best landing page builder?
If you have the time learning basic html / css and using a free code editor like "brackets" is the way to go.
If you don't have time but have the budget you can use tools like: Landerlab (personally used it & it's good)
Another platform I've personally used is "Purelander" which is cheap ($25 for 6 months) and has a ton of CPA LP templates in there too but it's a little out of date.
Lastly a quick google search brought up this free tool called "Bitlanding.com" but not sure how good or CPA useful it will be
Running Campaigns
What should I bid?
The "recommended bid" when starting your first campaign. E.g. if the lowest bid is 0.040 and recommended bid is 0.046 go with 0.046.
Then if you see specific zones are profitable for you bid a little higher e.g. 0.049
Bids work like an auction and in general the more you bid the higher quality traffic you get but you can easily over do it and lose profit so you have to strike a balance.
This could easily be a post within itself but I'll leave it there for onw
What's a good CTR Rate?
Depends on the niche but a "good" Landing Page CTR can be as high as 30-50%
Overtime though CTR is not nearly as important as conversion rate.
In order to improve your CTR look at the following:
- Page speed (use free tools like GT metrix for this)
- Compress your images and use the least code possible (this makes wordpress or wix a no go)
- How similar your presale is to the offer page e.g. same colours and pictures so it "flows"
- Test multiple pre-sale pages and see which one performs best
- You can also look at Spy tools to click on ads and see which landing pages others are using
- Spelling mistakes and errors that make it lose credibility (this is very easy to do when translating languages)
What's a good conversion rate?
High as possible but in general it will fall between 2-7%. If you're lower than that either make changes or scrap the campaign
I spent X and only got X back - what now?
I would first ask whether you're using a tracker? If not that should be the 1st thing you do - get set up on Bemob or Kintura (I personally prefer Bemob for a free tool option)
From there read my finding profitable offers post and point number 4 on reading data
In your tracker filter by traffic zones from your traffic network as there's likely a "green zone" that is profitable and "red zones" where you're spending money but not making anything back.
You can then make a version 2 of the exact same campaign you've run but only select the profitable zones and see what the results are.
Affiliate Marketing is all about running campaigns, getting data, then making new campaigns based on that data to make money. Very rarely do you get profits 1st time and if you do - you hit a gold mine and should scale asap.
It's a lot more analytical than people think and sometimes you'll feel like a mad professor... Or maybe that's just me
Making CPA work with a tight budget
This following is the bare minimum you need otherwise I would respectfully advise you to try the slower but cheaper blogging method or a part time day job
- At least $200 in disposable income every month for traffic
- Willingness to lose I.E invest money while you learn this skill
- Ability to use google to fill in knowledge gaps
- (Optional: $200 a month for tools e.g. automation and spy software)
What tools do I need?
- If you're running pop ads/PPV you could literally get away with: A free tracker like Bemob or Kintura and that's it
- Optional tools would include automation software like "the optimizer" and Spy tools so you can see in real time what ads/offers are working. These are typically $XXX but if you're interested I can recommend greyhat ways to get them for a fraction of the price
Should I buy courses?
Completely up to you *shrugs* you can learn everything you need via trial and error but the right course can easily shave 6 months' off your learning curve
The things you should consider when buying courses are:
- Seek a successful affiliate who offers useful free content and who ideally has a monthly model for his course (this is because they believe in it & know you'll re-sign, it also means you de-risk how much you lose on a $100 per month product vs $997 one time fee course)
- Make sure you check out reviews too and pick people who have legitimate sounding well balanced feedback. Someone saying this helped me make 5 figures over a few months with hard work can be taken seriously... "M@K£ 1 MiLlIoN 2DaY" should be blocked
- Although courses get a bad reputation (and sometimes they deserve it) the right courses will not also help you learn and earn more but they'll also give side benefits like help you access tools for cheaper prices and get into harder to get affiliate networks. As always though - thoroughly do your research.
Random tips I wish I knew when I started
- You don't need to buy a VPN... The free tool "affilitest" shows you the final offer page from network links and many countries are covered by free VPN's you can download as a chrome extension. It's a nice to have but very much optional when starting out. The reason why it's promoted so much though is because the likes of NordVPN have great affiliate programmes
- CASH FLOW IS VERY IMPORTANT... STICK TO ONE MAXIMUM 2 AFFILIATE NETWORKS. Excuse the shouting but I don't want people to go through what I did where you have lot of money dotted around different networks that you can't cash out on because you didn't meet the minimum payment threshold which can be as high as $500 for some networks
- Forums are your best friend you'll find absolute gems and if you do your homework there are affordable ones out there that will give a ton of value. BHW is excellent but there is a whole world out there
Closing Questions
Can I add you on Skype to exchange ideas?
No if I opened up my Skype to PM's I'd probably spend half my day just doing that... That's reserved for paying or prospective clients only
Will you ever release a course?
No I like my privacy too much and don't want the pressure of guaranteeing someone results. AM is hard enough solo let alone teaching someone else how to get good lol.
Why do "successful" Affiliate Marketers share their strategies?
Multiple reasons I'll go in the order of negative to positive:
1) The affiliate doesn't even have a working strategy but just piles free information together to make a quick buck
2) The strategies no longer work or are starting to fail so it's more profitable to "sell the strategy" rather then execute on it
3) The Affiliate is successful and wants to diversify their income stream. AM is an up and down business where you always have to run campaigns to find winners. "Course income" gives them more stability
4) Good Karma - when you help others the world helps you. Sounds woo woo but it's definitely real. A concrete example is how affiliates who have strong "brands" and are well known will often get better treatment in terms of: higher payout offers, discounts on tools with the main suppliers & complimentary gifts if they make the networks enough money.
You also have to remember that a newbie today could be the pro tomorrow who remembers your guide that helped them and is willing to help you back by giving you a heads up on a new strategy that makes you serious $$$$ before it's saturated. This industry is as much about people as it is about numbers.
What's the next step for Affiliate Marketers once they master it?
Retire on a beach sipping on pina colada's like everyone else right??? Again several routes here:
- Outsource the "hard work" and focus on the part of AM that you find fun e.g. creating ads (for me at least) while making more money year on year
- Use your new found skills to start a business
- Carry on with A.M on the side as a way to supplement your income
What's the 1 thing I should take away from reading this thread?
Do Your Own Research. Don't blindly trust anyone (including me). Unless you decide you really want to trust me with your bitcoin, in that case go ahead
Right it's getting late where I am so before I completely go off track I'll end my post here.
Hope this helps someone out!
BKL
