Preparation
The largest part of preparation is research. Since you are marketing on the
web, use it to do some research. Much of your research can be done for
free, and preparing yourself ahead of time can save you both time and money
you might otherwise not be making.
Make sure that the affiliate program you are advertising for handles
products and services that match your customer’s interests. Likewise, make
sure you are not trying to market too many categories of items from one web
site or web page.
If you are marketing more than one item or category, ask yourself if the
products or categories are related. Categories may be more diverse
depending on your audience.
For example, if you are marketing cosmetics, you probably won’t want to
combine home repair and hardware items into the same site. You definitely
don’t want to combine them into the same web page. Why? Because it makes
it much more difficult to target the audience you are seeking for your
products.
On the other hand, if you are marketing video games, you may also want to
include a link or product for strategy guides for the video games. You
could also include links to other related merchandise, such as t-shirts
featuring video game images.
You can get valuable information by joining or reading forums or discussion
groups targeted to the product area you are marketing. You may get tips
from experienced affiliate marketers on choosing the best merchants, which
products have a high conversion rate, and how to advertise in a fashion that
reaches customers who are interested in these products.