Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money online and pretty much anyone can do it. It isn’t rocket science, but there are a few things you can do to help you be more successful with it. In this article, I will give you three affiliate marketing tips to give you a head start.

Research

The road to being a successful affiliate marketer starts with research. You have to know what subjects people are interested in and what products related to those interests people are buying. Once you find an area of interest, also called a niche, that is somewhat popular, or better yet, that your research is telling you is going to be popular, you can find products to offer that are related to that niche.

Build Your Own Website Or Blog

Most successful affiliate marketers do not link directly through to the merchant’s sales page via their affiliate links. The primary reason for this is that there are fewer advertising avenues that are open to direct affiliate links and often, it can cost more money to use affiliate links when using the paid advertising methods.

Another reason is that by building a niche related website or blog, the affiliate becomes an authority on the subject, and allowing the affiliate a platform to share content about his or her niche. The end result is that there is less selling and convincing going on than most affiliate sales pages offer, and there is more information sharing that produces more confidence and a positive user experience.

Starting up your own website or blog won’t cost you much, since hosting is dirt cheap these days and domains are even cheaper. However, if you don’t want to spend anything in the beginning, you can get a free blog from blogger.com.

If you don’t know much (or any) html and web-design, there are hosting companies that provide online site builders. These will have dozens of templates and customizing them is very easy. If you want to host your own blog, Wordpress has many free themes to choose from.

Get The Traffic Flowing To Your Website or Blog

Finally, you need visitors coming to your site or your blog if you want to make sales. There are a number of ways you can do this, but at first, you should focus mostly on the free methods. Free methods include article marketing, using social media sites like Twitter, Myspace, & Facebook, and blog commenting.

Of all of the free methods, I find that article marketing has been the most helpful for me. You don’t have to be a great writer to contribute articles. You simply need are some basic grammar skills and some knowledge of your niche.

The goal with article marketing is to produce interesting and original articles related to your niche that make the reader want to click on the links to your site or blog that you include in your resource box.

The more articles you write, the more links back to your site that you will produce, and the greater the chances become that your articles will get picked up by other bloggers or ezine editors, with your links in-tact, generating more back-links to your site or blog.

Strategic Internet marketing makes earning online profits a breeze. With the multitude of strategic marketing tools readily available on the Internet, there is no way you can miss out on all the profits… and fun. We’re talking about blogs, forums, viral websites and more!

However, this doesn’t mean that you can just recklessly immerse yourself in every Internet marketing application you come across.  Not everything works for every person.

Planning

It’s highly important that you create a plan before diving into anything. Even if you don’t have any money at stake, your time, effort, and credibility are all important factors to consider.

Planning is one of the most important first steps in strategic Internet marketing.  It’s a basic concept applicable to every situation. Planning decreases your business financial risks drastically.  If you’re just a beginner, then there’s more reason for you to be cautious. Make wise investments.

Research also comes with planning. After all, how can you plan if you don’t know what the available options are? Find out what others are saying about certain Internet marketing strategies. Learn from their experiences. Find out the source of each failed or successful marketing method and go from there.

Scaling Up

One great example of strategic Internet marketing is scaling up your business. Knowing how to scale the business up and how to proceed with it is important, because it helps you earn profits with consistency.

You don’t have to rely on beginner’s luck all the time. Know which pattern works best and go with the one that gives you the best results. 

If you have a blog and would like to scale it up to another level, you have more than a few alternatives to choose from. A blog that receives over 500 visitors a day (which many marketers online experience on a daily basis) is already ripe for a scale up or expansion.

At this point, many bloggers feel that the time to add a forum has come.  A forum gives your “500 visitors a day” more opportunities to interact with you and their fellow readers as well.

The lesson here is recognizing when your blog has received sufficient traffic to consider the option of investing in another opportunity. A message board, also known as a forum today, is an excellent option to scale your blog to the next level.

Even if the blog does not attract that many sales, and even if the blog was done for the purpose of bringing sponsors in and other monetization purposes, a forum has been proven to do well statistically as evidenced by traffic averages.

The magnificent opportunity with scaling the blog is that as far as internet marketing strategic points go, it’s yet another way to provide continuous revenue to your network in time.

However, increased traffic also means increased responsibilities. A forum is not something that can regulate itself. You still have to devise ways to keep track of what is going on in the discussions. It’s your responsibility to know what is going on in your backyard.

Not only does this help you attract more members, it also offers you invaluable insights into what else you can do to improve the blog. There is an adage “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.” The people in your forum sustain the interest in your blog. Don’t blow them off too quickly.

Keywords

Another effective Internet marketing strategy is the right use of keywords to get good search engine rankings. Choosing the right keywords can significantly increase the number of visitors to your blog or website.

There is a distinct difference between the number of searches for the word “dog” than for the word “dogs.” Of course, you don’t have to be that specific; unless of course, you’re a hardcore keyword person. This example just goes to show how using the right keyword can lead to greater or lesser traffic.

Other Strategic Internet Marketing Campaigns

There are many ways to start your strategic marketing campaign with your online business. Having a blog and forum is not the only way you can advance your business to greater heights.

There are many more exciting ways that could help you market your business to your advantage. The current recession poses no hindrance here. Even if many people are ranting about slow sales and stagnant businesses, strategic Internet marketing still has a considerable effect on people.

If you are an Internet marketer who sells how-to information, you can earn money faster if you present concrete proof of your product’s effect.

Presenting success rates and testimonials won’t hurt either. If you feel at a loss for what to do, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Why should people buy from you? Why should they give your product a second glance, especially with recession knocking on their door?

Overall, strategic Internet marketing has a lot to do with common sense. Always have a plan ready in your head. Don’t forget to make plans B and C just in case you need to regroup. Don’t be afraid to move forward.

A blog might have a huge impact on your visitors, but a blog with a forum opens up more opportunities for growth and sales! Use every element to your advantage. The keywords you use obviously have an impact on the number of people who stumble across your blog or website. Choose your keywords wisely. Do not turn away advice from strangers. Consider them and think through each more than twice.

What makes a great headshot?

It’s the simplest thing in the world but most actors get it wrong. And photographers get it wrong and ironically, many headshot photographers working specifically with actors get it wrong.

What’s the secret?

Nothing. Doing nothing. All you have to do is be yourself in front of a camera. Simple. And yet very difficult for most actors who are incredibly SHY when it comes to being themselves. If they can’t focus on being another character- something we all spend years learning to do as actors- then there’s confusion, insecurity, fear and tension which makes for a lousy headshot. Adding to that is the frustration of most photographers I’ve met or worked with who don’t know HOW to get an actor to RELAX. So they say things like “Relax, chill, be more calm, stop biting your lip or squinting your eyes!” or “Relax your forehead-there are lines and wrinkles where you’re frowning, lower your shoulders, breathe!” The list goes on. The result? An actor gets more self-conscious, upset, more nervous and more tense. It’s a downward spiral.

What to do?

Five Easy Steps To a Great Headshot

1- Choose a photographer that YOU feel comfortable with not the “trendy” hot guy to whom every actor goes. (“Oh, if only I had a HEAD SHOT with this top guy I would be successful, too!”) NO, not true.

2- Go over your “type” and range-the kind of roles in which you will be cast and play BEFORE you decide on the wardrobe. There’s nothing worse than a generic headshot, one with an actor dressed in a boring white shirt or a black sweater with a phony smile. Know your roles. Doctor, Lawyer, Businessman, Teacher, Mom, Dad? Dress it or suggest it. Wear your favorite colors-solids are generally better than prints. Another mistake? An actress wearing too much jewlery, make-up or choosing outfits that are more suited to a disco, a beach party, baseball game or just hanging out at a bar. That’s OK if that’s what you’re selling as your brand. If not, casting directors are confused about how to cast you or call you in for a role, so they don’t! (Get the advice of a Career Coach if you don’t know your type or what to wear).

3- Explain thoroughly to the make-up artist and hair stylist EXACTLY how you look every day. All too often a stylist will do your hair they way they see you not the way you usually look so you end up with photos that don’t accurately represent YOU. This is especially true for women but may apply to men with longer hair that can be altered with mousse, spray, a curling iron. For women with curly hair-if that’s how you look don’t straighten your hair just for the headshot unless you want to do that everyday of your life henceforth. Casting Directors want to see the real you not how you “could be”.

4- Bring a CD or several with music you love. Create your own “space” and place within the studio. Bring water or your favorite juice, snack, food. Bring your favorite photos of your pets, children, family or partner so you are thinking about positive images and memories. Focus on just being comfortable.

THEN, take a half hour or even 15 minutes to sit still and just be- yourself. Don’t arrive late and rush into a shoot with the stylist fussing, getting dressed, photographer clicking, lights blinking. All that creates tension. Relax BEFORE you sit in the chair or stool on which you will be photographed.

In my experience with over a dozen top headshot photographers in as many years, the best shots I ever obtained were taken by a photographer who was a part of a husband/wife team. He greeted you at the door and offered refreshments leading you to a peaceful dressing room where you could unwind with soothing music. She sat and talked/laughed with you for a full half hour BEFORE you heard a click from her camera or saw a flash of light from the strobe. Of course they knew lighting and were skilled in the art of photography but their success as a team was understanding the psychology of relaxation and harmony for their actor/clients. Brilliant!

5- Use your acting “technique” while you are being photographed. Think Fun thoughts (your subtext or inner monologue). Talk about your life. Tell a story about your family or your travels. Let the relaxation of JUST TALKING show on your face. That’s being You. Talk, tell a story and then let it go. Sit still and “glow” in the memory or the laughter. Then, you are giving the photographer something to capture. YOU. Your energy. Your joy of living. The joy of being YOU.

And THAT makes a great headshot!

 

Happy Marketing!

Gwyn

Gwyn Gilliss is the Executive Director of TAM, The Actor’s Market (www.theactorsmarket.com) a marketing firm for actors. They provide monthly FREE seminars/teleseminars, FREE weekly marketing tips as well as access to top photographers, graphic artists and videographers (www.sizzle-reels.com) who provide every marketing tool an actor needs. Gwyn’s acting career spans several decades during which time she appeared on and off-B’way, in classical roles in American Repertory companies in over 18 contract and recurring roles in Daytime/Primetime TV, Films and dozens of network commercials and V.O.’s. As a Career Coach she is available to work One-on-One with actors at all levels.