Avoid These 5 Affiliate Marketing Mistakes for More Sales

Not too long ago I got a meesage on a free classified site from someone who was asking for more information. I am always more than happy to provide more information about my business.

However, most of these requests are either from someone who is too lazy to click through the link in the ad, or he/she wants to sell me something.

I sent the guy a note telling him about my sites, and I quickly got a reply. It went something like this:

"Thanks for sending me information. I'll be sure and look it over. But if you really want to make money online..."

People do this to avoid being accused of spam. This guy ended up on my blocked list. If he contacts me again, I won't ever see it. It isn't someone I want to do business with because he doesn't respect my time.

Time is something you can never get back, and if you want to succeed in online business, you either need to automate or outsource. Automation has a lot less headaches, and it will save you from doing a lot of menial tasks, like unsubscribing those who don't want to be on your list.

For those who are new to the internet, it's easy to fall into the trap of bad advertising and marketing techniques. You want to get started fast, and you want to start making money now. I understand that, but if you use techniques like the one above, you simply irritate those you are trying to connect with, and they won't buy from you.

It's also a very inefficient way to market. If you want to make money quickly, you need to connect with your market quickly, and you need to connect with as many as you can, not one at a time.

Mistake #1 - Don't waste your time contacting people on free classified sites for more information. Don't send them offers. If they wanted to be on your list, or they were interested in your opportunity, they would contact you. Instead, post your free classifieds on these sites and get others to connect with you.

Mistake #2 - Don't spam. Spam is unsolicited commercial email. It means the person didn't ask for it. If you join someone's list, and he/she sends you email, that is not spam. When you join someone's list, you are agreeing to receive email.

This also means don't buy lists that promise to send your ads to 100 million people at Pay Pal, or Yahoo, or anywhere else. This is not targeted advertising. Pay Pal users, or users on most of these other sites are too diverse for you to create a marketing message that will get results.

Build a list of your own that contains people who want what you have to offer. This will increase your conversions, and the traffic is targeted.

Mistake #3 - Don't post your marketing messages where they aren't wanted. If you are marketing a male enhancement product, market on those types of forums, or lists, or classifieds. People on internet marketing forums, dog forums, or any other unrelated forums aren't interested. Don't waste your time.

Mistake #4 - Stay away from any type of "black hat" techniques. This is anything the search engines don't approve of. Your site will get banned, and even if you manage to get your site indexed again, it probably won't rank as well as it did before.

Mistake #5 - Avoid FFA pages, safelists, and any marketing technique that allows the site owner to send you email. Besides the fact that these techniques no longer work, you end up with an inbox full of email you have to wade through to get to what you really need to read.

There are more things you need to avoid, but these are the most important. The bottom line is that if you want targeted traffic, you need to use effective techniques that are targeted: search engine optimization, article writing, press releases, free classifieds, joint ventures, pay per click, social marketing, etc. Only use internet marketing techiques that offer targeted traffic, don't offend the search engines, and don't waste your time.

Most affiliate marketers have more time than money when they're first starting off. Use your time driving targeted traffic to your offers, and you are more likely to convert those offers into sales.

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