What You Don't Know About Affiliate Marketing is Costing You a Fortune

What You Don't Know About Affiliate Marketing is Costing You a Fortune
By Jeff Diehl

The majority of affiliates are frustrated in their attempt to make any real money online. You've no doubt heard that the affiliate route is the easiest way to get started... AND it is! But, you haven't been told the whole truth. AND it's not your fault.

Affiliate marketing is relatively painless and involves little or no cost because...

You don't need a product of your own
You don't need to build a complicated website
You have no shipping or inventory costs
You don't handle credit cards or refunds

Then you're told all you have to do is promote your affiliate link and refer people to a merchant site. You are rewarded by getting a percentage of the profits. TRUE...

But, promoting your affiliate link is only the beginning!

What you need to understand is that the critical element for long-term success is to build an opt-in list of prospects. Yes, prospects, they are not customers yet! It is these "potential buyers" that you must form a relationship with over time and who will purchase the products you recommend. They will come to trust your recommendations as you routinely follow up with your personal experience with those products.

Avoid the mistake that 95% of affiliates make... assume people will buy from you.

First, people do not give up their hard earned cash easily or the first time they see a product. Do you buy the first new car you see? Probably not unless you're in desperate need. Online buying is no different.

Second, people rarely make a major purchase from someone they don't know or trust. You are merely one of millions of affiliates trying to convince them that your product will fullfill their needs.

The #1 mistake you can make is to send your prospects directly to a merchant's website. Ponder this: You purchase advertising or spend countless hours generating traffic from your promotional efforts and you send those prospects straight to a merchant's site. You have just lost them forever if they don't buy!

If they do buy, you just got lucky with a commission. But you're still flushing a lot of potential cash down the toilet!

That is precisely why you need to get people to opt-in to YOUR list first. You'll be able to recommend products and follow up with multiple offers days, weeks and even months later. You'll actually enjoy the lifetime value of turning prospects into YOUR customers!

If you do not build your list, you cannot build your business... you're only building someone else's!

The key to affiliate success is to...

Drive traffic to your lead capture page
Convince those prospects to opt-in to your list
Follow up through email campaigns
PREsell your prospects with quality content and personal recommendations

The long term profit potential of your business relies on repeat sales from some of the same satisfied customers. Any successful off-line business already knows this... Wal Mart, Walgreens, Trader Joes. Your online business is no different!