Email marketing and affiliate programs

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by drey7000, May 7, 2010.

  1. #1
    Hi I'm new here, as well as new to the whole eCommerce thing. I'm a student and basically I would like to make a little extra cash while I'm at university.

    Anyway, lately I've become very interested in email marketing, namely advertising ebooks provided by affiliate programs. However, several affiliate programs such as COPEAC seem to ask for people who have a lot of experience in this sector. While I have been doing plenty of research, i can't categorize myself as anywhere near experienced.

    So I was wondering, does anyone know of an affiliate program that takes in newbies, or at least with relatively low requirements? Another problem is that I don't have my own website or anything, and a lot of the applications ask for a business website.

    Another thing, if anyone can provide me with an affiliate program, could you tell me if it allows payment in paypal? I apologize for all the picky details, but I'm kinda stuck here.

    Thanks a lot in advance :)
     
    drey7000, May 7, 2010 IP
  2. lukeg32

    lukeg32 Peon

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    #2
    There are plenty of affiliate networks that will take people on board but often you will have to verify it with your own website - its done for a reason, since;

    If you dont have your own website, how do you intend on getting people to opt-in to your email list to be able to send them these offers?
     
    lukeg32, May 7, 2010 IP
  3. marie claire

    marie claire Peon

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    #3
    make a site first
     
    marie claire, May 7, 2010 IP
  4. drey7000

    drey7000 Peon

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    #4
    Well thats the thing, I'm not sure what kind of website to make, nor do i know how to create a subscription for people to allow me to email them. Like i said, this is all new to me and i have a pretty low budget as far as expenses for websites and driving traffic goes.

    Would an attractive website plus pushing close to the top of googles list cost me a lot? About how much?

    Thanks again for the replies.
     
    drey7000, May 7, 2010 IP
  5. lukeg32

    lukeg32 Peon

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    #5
    WIthout your own list you have no way of sending emails to anyone.

    Sure, you could buy a list, or harvest them from the 'net but what you are doing then is sending UCE (spam) - not the way to do things.

    If you are serious, you are going to need your own website. Its possible to do this for free at blogger/wordpress but you are then in their hands - if your site gets banned (there has been a lot of this recently) you are left with nothing.

    If your budget allows it, get your own hosting and your own domain. If you arent familiar with creating your own site, get the self install wordpress and use that, its dead simple (also free). This needn't be expensive; you can get a domain and web hosting sorted from around $5/month. (hostgator).

    Congratulations, you've just taken the first steps. :) Bear in mind you can also monetize this website so you earn money from it. You should be able to easily cover costs with very little effort.

    As far as list building goes, this is a very different ballgame altogether. You will need to have an opt-in form on your website; but why should people sign up? Most people look at giving something away for free, in exchange for the signup. Free guides, reports, themes etc. Its pretty simple to do, semi-automated, through aweber but again this is further costs.


    You dont need to pay any money in order to get a decent rating in the search engines - what you MUST do is keyword research first before doing anything.

    Hint : You arent going to rank for the term "ipod" anytime soon - you need to find a niche and exploit it by using keywords with decent search traffic, and little competition.

    You can also do this for free using the google keyword tool

    https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

    Have you considered if - at the current time - an email list is the best thing for you? You can make easy money through micro/niche sites promoting amazon/ebay products. Its not a huge amount of work, but they payouts can be very good. I dont mean that in an offensive way, just trying to highlight that there is a lot to learn in this game - some are easier than others.
     
    lukeg32, May 7, 2010 IP
  6. raycowie

    raycowie Peon

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    #6
    Hey Drey, you really do need to have your own site. It's not as difficult as you might think, especially if you find a host with cPanel (Bluehost is inexpensive and top drawer), which allows you to use a Wordpress platform, so it's just like blogging. I would point you in the direction of the guy who helped me get started online, because he gives you step-by-step instructions (pdf and video), but I can't post links until tomorrow. However, I'll come back then and let you know.
     
    raycowie, May 7, 2010 IP
  7. drey7000

    drey7000 Peon

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    #7
    Yes I have in fact, however, I got my heart set onto this and at the very least, I would like to give it a try. Thanks for all your help, much appreciated :)
     
    drey7000, May 7, 2010 IP
  8. drey7000

    drey7000 Peon

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    #8
    Alright, thanks Ray, that would be really great :D
     
    drey7000, May 7, 2010 IP
  9. Jazey

    Jazey Peon

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    #9
    Making a website is not so difficult as it may seem, you might even use free blog platforms (however, I'd recommend paying for hosting it might be like 5$ a month or so). I think you shouldn't focus on email marketing much (or if you do - don't turn it into spam), rather use it along with other techniques.
     
    Jazey, May 7, 2010 IP
  10. contentarticles

    contentarticles Member

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    #10
    try clickbank products, Commision Junction, or just type in your niche + affiliate program in google.
     
    contentarticles, May 7, 2010 IP
  11. ktfweb

    ktfweb Peon

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    #11
    Buy a domain name and some cheap hosting. You will regret if you dont in the long run
     
    ktfweb, May 7, 2010 IP