It is important to set yourself apart from the other affiliate marketers in the business.  There are many proven tactics in this business.  Some of them are very powerful for affiliate marketers to stand out above the rest.  We are going to discuss some of those affiliate marketing tips and some proven tactics that will help you to stand out in this ultra competitive business.

Here are the 7 proven tactics to keep your affiliate marketing business on track and make sure that you will stand out among other affiliate marketers.

1. Create a business plan.  This is the #1 critical tactic, not just your affiliate business but ANY business.  It will save you time and money in the long run.  You will not have to redo tasks, change a tactic and waste time.  In the long run it will provide you more time to grow your affiliate business because you have a set direction and your own marketing plan.Not surprisingly I find that most affiliate marketers do not have a business plan.  A business plan is a MUST for all businesses including your affiliate business.  And if you plan to stand out you must have a business plan.  Your business plan should also include daily activities.  Plan for monthly, weekly and daily activities that are needed to keep growing your affiliate business.

If you are like me the thought of creating a business plan is a scary thought.  It is for most people because they are a pain to create and very difficult for most.  I create a mini business plan for every project I take on.  But I found a book that makes it really easy.  The book is called “The One Page Business Plan” by Jim Horan.  Business plans do not have to be scary anymore.

2.Become Aggressive.  No I do not mean to become overbearing like a used car salesman.  What I mean is come up with aggressive affiliate marketing ideas.  There are a lot of aggressive ideas to gain more sales and build a highly profitable affiliate marketing business.  It is important that you have a consistent plan using multiple marketing techniques to advertise your affiliate products.  There were 2 key words in that sentence.  Consistency wins the race.  You must have a consistent plan that you follow or it will not work.  The other key word was multiple.  Diversity is VERY important when doing affiliate marketing.

My experience has proven that a wider range of customers will be reached with a diverse marketing plan.  This will provide you with more affiliate sales.

Here is an example of how to become aggressive:  You market your affiliate product via email, but do more, become aggressive and send followup and broadcast emails for the same affiliate product.  Do not just send to your list one time.

3. Combine your affiliate marketing tactics.  This is a proven and powerful tactic for affiliate marketers who are looking to grow their affiliate business in the long term and maybe even go full time.  With a little creativity you can find multiple ways to combine different marketing tactics.  Here is a quick example of what I am talking about.   Combine your article marketing with your email marketing by sending the high quality articles to your list subscribers.  In the article you can lead the readers to your website, blog, squeeze page, whatever.

4. Automation.  A one word tactic that is very important if you are going to go anywhere.  There is no way you can run an affiliate business without some automation.  The daily tasks it takes to run an affiliate program are more than one person can handle if done manually.  And if you run dozens of affiliate campaigns there is no way you can do that without automation.

There are many software tools available to help you with the automation of your affiliate marketing.  I have a list of Automation Tools in a blog post that I update regularly.  The tools on the list I use regularly and recommend them.But there are also some simple tools that you will have to have to become successful.  Probably the most important one is an auto responder like Aweber or Get Response.  This tool does all of the your emailing for you, keeps track of subscribers, sends them email automatically on a time schedule and more.

Automation tools release you to focus on the growth of your business and get back to some of the more fun parts of running and affiliate business.

5. Protect your links.  There are many hackers and crackers on the Internet just waiting to steal your money.  It is important that you protect your link so that you can protect your affiliate commissions from these ruthless people.  This tactic is called link cloaking.  Many affiliate sites like clickbank are now providing you a link that is encrypted or cloaked already.  But if your link is not cloaked you should look into some link cloaking service or software.  Don’t let those thugs steal your commissions.

6. Offer great incentive and bonuses.  It is no big secret that if 2 affiliate marketers are promoting the same product, the one that wins the sale is the one that gives the best bonuses and incentives.  Everyone wants more stuff.  Some examples of some bonuses and incentives are free software, free reports, free training, free services, free books and the list goes on and one.  I have even seen free mp3 players given away.

You may be saying to yourself, I have nothing to give away.  O Contrair you do.  Search the internet (Google, etc) for PLR (Private Label Rights) and MRR (Master Resale Rights) products.  You can find them on just about any subject.  I am not going to go into detail about PLR and MRR in this post, that is another post entirely.  But my point is you can find lots of stuff to give away.

7. Spy On Your Competitors.  Sounds a bit 007 doesn’t it.  I do not mean to literally sit outside their office and spy on them.  But be sure you are keeping an eye on what they are doing.  You can start by subscribing to their newsletter, buying their products if they have any, etc.  Watch what keywords they use on their sites and meta tags.  You can also get keyword spy tools on the internet to see what your competitor is doing.

Go to yahoo and see how many pages point back to them, where are the links coming from?  Search for them on google and see where you find them.  Are they on youtube?  If so what site sends the most hits to their video, try to get on that site with your video.

You get the idea.  Learn from your competitors, do what they do but do it 10% better.

Final Thoughts
Here are some final thoughts before I leave you to surf to the next page.  I personally believe that you can stand out from your competitors with the 7 proven tactics that are listed above.  Remember the first key to success is to come up with a business plan.  Then use the tactics that you put in your business plan and start promoting them now.  Be sure you do it with consistency or they will not work.

Remember that is takes time for promotion so remember that the results you are going to see are for the long run, not a quick hit.  You will see success in your affiliate marketing business.

Next Post: Internet Marketing is not a Business Plan!

Tweet This Post

Related Posts

• December 7, 2009 -- Automation tools (14)
• December 4, 2009 -- Internet Marketing Glossary (19)
• November 19, 2009 -- Ready To Become An Online Success Story? (0)
• November 13, 2009 -- My cbpirate test, $192.50 my first day, yesterday (2)
• November 12, 2009 -- Want To Open An Online Income Stream? (0)
• August 18, 2010 -- Which Affiliate Networks To Look Out For When Promoting (0)
• August 11, 2010 -- Using Product Recommendations To Increase Your Bottom Line (0)
• July 28, 2010 -- Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight (0)
• July 22, 2010 -- Top 15 Ways Solo-prenuers Use Virtual Assistants (0)
• July 21, 2010 -- So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose? (0)