Do you want to start out in Affiliate Marketing?
Posted on October 10, 2008
Filed Under Affiliate Marketing - basics |
Then you need to have an idea what you want to promote. You will sometimes hear affiliate marketing referred to as niche marketing. The definition of niche according to Cambridge dictionaries online is:
a small area of trade within the economy, often involving specialized products.
And when carving out your niche, you should either try to take a small piece of a big pie, or a bigger piece of a smaller pie.
If you take golf as an example, when searching in Google it will return 507,000,000 pages, so you, with a 100 page website, would be a really little piece in an enormous pie, but narrow it down to to “ladies golf” and it brings up 1,240,000 pages, narrow that down to “ladies golf shoes” it brings up 389,000 - with your 100 pages (if you could write 100 pages about ladies golf shoes) you’d still be small but you’d be a bigger piece - you might have found a niche - but don’t all start off running to promote ladies golf shoes now - there might be better opportunities for you.
So bearing all this in mind there are a number of steps you can take to work out what areas you want to promote. Whilst going through the list of 7 action points just write everything down even if you think it’s not relevant yet. We’ll work out what to do with the list later!
Number 1: What jobs have you done?
Remember that you will have to develop a site and keep developing a site over the long term. It’s not a splash and dash operation. So you have to remain interested in the topic. Why not start by writing down all the jobs you’ve had. You must have developed some expertise or knowledge along the way. Could you exploit this knowledge to your advantage. Don’t discount anything at this stage it might all count at the end.
Number 2: What did you use to do your job?
Did you have to use particular tools or software or use particular products or services. You would be particularly knowledgeable about some software that you could build a campaign around. Again, write it down and don’t discount it yet.
Number 3: Have you got any hobbies or interests?
If you have particular interests then the chances are there are other people out there with the same interests as you. There might be an angle you can use to exploit this area of demand so write it on your list.
Number 4: What things do you use to participate in your hobbies etc?
In the same way that you use products and services in your job you also buy or use things to participate in your hobbies, whether its tools or equipment, software or particular skills. Write another list.
Number 5: What kind of things do you buy on a regular basis?
Do you drink wine? It’s not a job, and you probably wouldn’t class it as an interest - but if it’s something you buy on a regular basis you might decide you could promote it - I’m not saying that it will be profitable for you - only you can decide and evaluate your angle - but for you it might be. Where have you been on holiday over the past few years? If you have returned to the same place more than once is this something you could develop a site around? Write it on your list.
Number 6: What websites do you visit?
When you’re buying all these goods, services and products you use, what websites do you use? Do you visit sites for news, or to play games or use forums? What products are advertised on these sites? What products are recommended by other visitors to the sites? Just make a list.
Number 7: Do you buy any magazines or subscribe to newsletters or other blogs?
Could this be a source of inspiration for you in terms of content for your site, what products are being advertised and promoted in them.
So you’ve taken the first 7 steps. Now we have to take your list and do something with it - evaluate whether there’s anything on there that might turn profitable for you. I’ll cover that in my next post.
Writing the list is always the hardest part for me. I spend ages staring into space. So if you’re stuck, try spending the day writing down everything you touch and see.
For example where are you sitting right now? At a computer? What computer? What’s on the desk? If you’re going somewhere today, how are you getting there? In the car? What car do you drive? etc. etc. etc. All these things on the list you end up with, you will have made a conscious decision to either buy or use - and if you use them there might be other people who want to use them too. Your new website could be just the place for people to get them from.
So off you go now - get thinking.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy these!
or read my previous post: So what is affiliate marketing?
or read the next one: Have you made a list of possible niches?
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