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By: Joe Bingham
So, you've bought into an affiliate program, and you're ready to
make some money.
Ok then, now what?
First, realize that successful businesses start with successful
planning. You can't just hop around blindly and expect things to
happen for you. You have to search out the information, tools,
and promotional ideas you're going to need, and gather them all
up. You have to make some initial decisions, set up a marketing
plan, and continue with further education.
THE BASICS
Depending on how long you've been on the Internet, you may
or may not need to go through these initial steps. However, you
can't simply skip them. This is the foundation for your
organization. Take a look at the following categories and relate
them to your own needs. These are all important steps that will
set a sound foundation for your success.
Email -- How many accounts do you need? Do you want to
separate personal, business, ezine, and advertising emails, or
just sort them out daily in one account?
Web Hosting -- Are you going to rely solely on your affiliate
web sites, or do you need your own site for promoting groups
of programs, or an ezine, or e-books?
Domain Name -- If you are going to get your own site, do you
have a good domain name picked out, one that will reflect your
business, and be unique among the others? Have you checked
to see if your chosen name is available?
Web Design -- Are your going to design your own web site,
or pay to have it done? Do you have an html editor? Do you
need to learn more about html?
Auto Responders -- Do you need an auto responder? If so,
how many? Where can you get them?
Affiliate Programs -- Do you want multiple programs to bring
you income, or do you want to just focus on one or two? Do
you want different programs to relate together, or cover
separate markets?
PROMOTION
After you've gone through the basics and made your decisions,
it's important that you waste no time before you start promoting
your business. Don't expect things to just happen. Sure, there
is a large market, but you're not the only one in it. There is
heavy competition out there.
First off, though, you'll need to make decisions about the
different ways you can promote. Go through the list below, and
decide which ones you want to work with.
*FFA/Classified Sites
*Opt-In Lists
*SafeLists
*Search Engines
*Ezines
*E-books
*Bulk Mail
*Discussion Forums
*Lead Generating Programs
*Your Own Affiliate Program
*Offline Promotion
Keep records and keep track of what works for you and what
doesn't. You're not going to be a whiz at everything right off,
but you can make progress as you learn. Keep a file of the sites
or ezines you use to promote. Keep it where you can find it
easily without having to search through a bunch of old emails to
get the URL's again. Even keep track of the things that didn't
work for you, so you won't forget later and waste time and
money on them again.
EDUCATION
You don't know everything. I don't know everything. You
absolutely have to keep learning and progressing. Don't let it
take time away from your promotional efforts, but schedule time
to read up on your market and marketing tactics. Know your
product well. Think about where to find others who may be
interested in it. Always be looking ahead for better and more
efficient ways of promotion. Make a continual effort to 'gather
up' the information you need.
Look for other sites and programs that have good information
gathered up already and take advantage of them. You can
often benefit greatly from the work of others. Hey, if they are
offering it, take them up on it! Anything that will save you time
in the gathering process can put you further ahead toward your
goal of making money that much quicker!
Set up the BASICS, continually work on PROMOTION,
and further seek to EDUCATE yourself to do it all better.
Gather it all up and organize it to work to your advantage.
About the Author
Joe Bingham, editor of the NetPlay Newsletter.
http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/netplay.html
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