Something to make money promoting, and people to see your offer to spend that money.
Now I know you're probably thinking, "Yeah right! If that was the case, then more people would be making money."
You would be right if so.
It's not that easy... and I'll tell you why.
Although those two things ( a product and traffic), are the only things required to make money, there are a lot of details that go into getting the pieces set up and running.
The problem is, the majority of the time the people that are trying so hard to succeed at this affiliate marketing game are in fact doing so because they're looking for a way to better their financial situation.
Unfortunately, the ones who really only need a plan and someone to guide them, are also the victims of being flooded with hundreds of emails to their inbox every week.
I'll bet almost all of these emails contain some sort of link to an affiliate product too.
Some of them can range from $8 to $12.
Some can be priced at around $47 and even have upsells upwards of $97 or more.
Then there are those 1-on-1 coaching opportunities that can go for 1-2 grand.
Now honestly, getting a mentor/coach is your best bet, however, like most who start on this path toward financial freedom and making money affiliate marketing, just don't have that much money to start with.
That is why we're chasing this dream, isn't it?
So instead of finding another source of income, borrowing money, or saving it for the amount a mentor or coach would cost, we are able to afford spending $20, $50, or $100 here or there.
So we do.
And it's usually a product that came from one of those links in your email I was telling you about.
The problem is, most of these products/systems/offers promise some sort of overnight riches, like the famous "push-button software" that can make you millions this month.
Then, after spending your last $47 in hopes that this system will do what it says, and you'll make that money back and then some soon.
Instead, your are met with another sales page.
This one telling you that you need this "special offer" or "additional feature" for the system to fully work properly.
This upsell is also $147.
Damn! What do you do?
Spend another $147 because you know you need it to make the millions by next week?
Say screw it and work with what you got for the $47 but knowing that it's not the FULL SYSTEM?
Most of the time, the person will spend the additional money if they have it.
If they can't afford the upsell, they will put some effort into the portion of the system they could afford.
After a few weeks with no results, they will give up and start looking for the next "breakthrough" product to solve their financial woes.
This is a common mistake with new affiliate marketers.
It is known as "new shiny object syndrome".
This is when an aspiring affiliate marketer just jumps from product to product, spending dollar after dollar, but never really getting anywhere.
The truth is, you don't need to keep spending money on products and continue getting little to no results.
What you need to do is have an understanding of the order and layout of a sales funnel, then create your own.
If you are planning on building a list (which I highly suggest), you we need to create a squeeze page.
The better converting your squeeze page, the less you will be paying for leads.
When a visitor puts their name and/or email info in the submit box and hits the button, they will be added to your list of subscribers to follow up with in the future.
Once they opt in, you should, but don't have to, send them to your offer/product sales page.
Finding a product that's in hot in the marketplace and that will convert is the key to making sales.
More important though, is what source of traffic you will be using.
If you are using FB PPC, you will need to know about getting cheaper clicks and targeting your audience correctly.
If you are a planning on getting organic traffic from the search engines, then you will definitely need to have knowledge of SEO.
There are dozens of other methods of getting traffic that can add subscribers to your list and make you money in the future but these are a couple goodies.
Once you begin building your list, it is important to develop a relationship with your readers and build rapport.
There is a whole psychology behind this, along with time frames and messages leading up to sales but that's a little advanced for this article and could be a continuous course in itself.
If it was learning how to make money with affiliate marketing you were looking for, then I should have at least covered the basics for you.
