Generate Revenue with an Affiliate Marketing Assistant

If you had asked me 2 years ago what affiliate marketing was, I would have starred blankly at you dazed and bewildered and replied “affiliate what?” I soon discovered, after my first affiliate cheque arrived, that affiliate marketing should be incorporated into all marketing strategies.

Affiliate marketing is a form of revenue sharing between two parties. A commission is paid for sales on a product or service. So now that you know what it is and the idea of setting up an affiliate marketing program makes you want to run for the hills,  then turn to an affiliate marketing assistant for help.

Affiliate Program Set-Up

There are many affiliate programs available however many internet marketers are use 1 Shopping Cart because of it’s robust, integrated affiliate program.  What can a VA do to get your affiliate marketing off the ground:

• set-up your affiliate program description, commission rates, affiliate pay schedules & the payout amount
• add products for affiliates to market
• customize your welcome message to your affiliates
• format your sign up page with branded logo & simply instructions
• upload graphic banners created by a VA or graphic designer
• script sample text emails for your affiliates to use
• add/import or export affiliates

Communicate & Encourage Sign Ups

Now that your affiliate program is in place, keep the lines of communication open to encourage sales. Send out an email to new affiliates 24-48 hours after they have joined to encourage them to contact you with questions. Create an “affiliates only” newsletter that updates your people on your new products and campaigns. Run monthly contests where the affiliate that earns x amount of affiliate income wins a prize; a great way to build your relationships.

Affiliate Tracking & Reporting

Keeping track of your affiliate marketing statistics encourages you to goals so hand over this task to your Virtual Assistant. Use either an excel spreadsheet or Google documents to create an affiliate campaign report and track:

• number of new affiliate sign-ups
• which banner ads bring in more clicks
• which text ads are most successful
• which affiliates consistently refer your products or services
• and more….

In short, if you are contemplating integrating an affiliate marketing program into your business than consider the advantages of working with an Affiliate Marketing Assistant. The time and energy you will save will more than pay for itself in affiliate sales and allow you to focus on building your affiliate relationships.

What’s the “To-Do” about Split Testing

When I say the word split test it reminds me of my high school days watching my older sister do the splits on the wall outside the school office with throngs of onlookers (mostly teenage boys) cringed with agony at the thought. It was the splits and it was a test, just not the kind we’re about to discuss!

Actually, a split test is a “method to track the results from several different web pages to see which is converting leads or customers better.”

For instance, if you have a new product to market but they are questioning the price, whether to add a video or change the copy of the webpage, then a split test is for you.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a sales page and name it, for example: http://www.websitename.com/salespage1.html

2. Create a second sales page and name it, for example: http://www.websitename.com/salespage2.html. Change only one thing within the sales page. This could be the text, the price of the product, adding a photo, adding a video or adding an audio file – but only alter one thing. If you change more, it’s too difficult to judge what the determining sales factor is. This is really important for testing purposes.

3. In the 1Shopping Cart System you can use the ad tracker feature to set up the test.
Name the ad tracker, for example: Split Test Product
Add the url for the first sales page to destination url1
Add the url for the second sales page to destination url2

4. Create and Save your new ad tracker.

5. The system will then create a special link for you that will calculate leads, sales and conversion values. This is the link you will use in the promotional emails to the client’s database. The system will automatically distribute the two links through the list so visitor 1 will receive the first sales page and visitor 2 will receive the second sales page and vice versa for all visitors.

6. Evaluate your results by logging into 1SC after the email broadcast goes out and observe the number of clicks to lead conversions per sales page. What page produced the most sales? This type of information is invaluable when choosing which sales page to proceed with.

You can now either proceed with your marketing plans for this product or alter their plans to reflect what the split-test results indicate.

In the long run, it surely pays to test what marketing efforts work and which ones are duds.  It’s simple to set up, easy to administer and doesn’t require any gymnastics training!

Video Marketing in the Web 2.0 World

I bet my morning bowl of wheaties that you, or someone you know, has seen a video posted on the Internet. Have you see the “Last Lecture by Randy Pausch”, Carnegie Mellon Professor diagnosed with pancreatic cancer? it’s a compelling video that renders you motionless in your seat. As of today, this video has been viewed 2,784,716 times. Imagine the power of video marketing to send a message and then think of the possibilities for any business!

Our clients can ride this “wave of opportunity” by leaping into video production marketing and you can be there to help them.

Step 1. Client makes a video – all you need is a webcam and you are set.

Step 2. Clients sends video to VA using YouSendit or KeepandShare

Step 3. VA submits the video to video sharing sites such as YouTube, AOL Video, Google Video, MySpace, Metacafe, Revver and more…

But even better, check out TubeMogul to mass-submit the videos to many sites at once…a great time-saver for your clients. And even better, they offer a stats section where you can track the “views” on the various sites!

However, don’t stop with your clients, these steps could easily be used to market your VA business so pull out the webcam, add a little lip gloss (just for female VA’s) and you are on your way!

Curious about Professor Randy Pausch’s Lecture (it’s 1.16 hours in length but is full of tips and wisdom for all), you can watch it here on YouTube.

To your Success..

Article Marketing in the Web 2.0 World

Looking for a unique way to share articles online other than the traditional article marketing route? Check out Hubpages.com, an online publishing network where authors, like you and me or your clients, can create mini blog pages or “hubs” based on relevant topics. Similar to a blog, hub followers become your “fans” and post comments about your content. Based on the hub score ranking system, articles gain popularity and consequently; more recognition.

Advantages of Using Hubpages:

1. Internet Presence; Define yourself as an authority in your field by creating multiple hubs in your area of expertise.
2. Simplicity; Setting up a hubpage is extremely simple and geared for those in the non-techie world. Photos, video and audios can be uploaded for added visual benefit.
3. Social Media; Get started in the social media world by creating your first hub and get a feel for the how powerful social marketing is. A blog in conjunction with your hubpages site is a great match made in heaven!
4. Keyword Ranking; Similar to a blog, tag word inclusion is important when creating a hubpage. Define the tagwords that relate specifically to the hub and Google will reward you with higher rankings.
5. Link it Back; Fans have the option to subscribe to your RSS feed to keep on top of all new hubs created. Reward them by creating by offering informative content and they’ll keep coming back.
6. Statistics; Hubpages offer stats in the form of a graph that charts the traffic history to your hubs.  In most cases, the greatest activity happens on the day you submit a new hub… that’s fast.

Now that you know the ins and outs of Hubpages, give it a try, you never know where your next “fan” will turn up.

Click Virtual Assistance is a growing virtual assistant business providing e-commerce and social media marketing to small business professionals that realize they just “can’t do it all”

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