If you are just thinking about starting up with affiliate marketing, you might be thinking that you will need to first establish your infrastructure. You have heard about people making affiliate commissions without a website, and earning thousands a month, so you want to know whether or not you will need a site and blog at all. The answer is definitely yes. While you can send visitors straight to the merchant’s site, this is not a sustainable business model. Find out more below.
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You Can’t Build Trust as an Affiliate Without a Website
To make people buy from you, it is important that they first trust you. A website will give them a chance to connect with you on a personal level and find out more about your expertise. If you cannot position yourself in the market, you are relying on the ever changing traffic sources, such as video hosting sites and social media, but eventually fail to create meaningful relationships.
You Will Fail to Capture Traffic
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It is important that you don’t send your traffic straight to the affiliate network’s or the merchant’s link. Your visitors might not be interested in this opportunity, but be captivated by the next offer. If they don’t sign up (or even if they do), you might never see them again, and you will have to work again to make them land on your offers. If you, however, have a site that delivers value, you can get people to return for more information and you can try to sell them something else next time.
You Need to Establish a Credible Brand
Even if you act as an affiliate for a company or a brand, you will have to create your own voice. Content marketing is the best way of building a brand and getting people to relate to who you are and what you stand for. A credible brand has a professional website and is a trusted sources of information and recommendations.
A Website Will Attract Return Visitors
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A great way of utilizing your website for affiliate marketing is creating offers and newsletters. You might be able to add SignUp forms to some of the social media sites you operate, but this will not be as effective as a website. You can have a landing page with a free download or offer a newsletter, so you can let your target market know that you are offering something new or have just published a new review they might be interested in.
Having a Website Helps You Track Your Affiliate Campaigns
Another strong reason to have a website for your affiliate marketing business is to keep an eye on the market trends. By installing Google Analytics, you will be able to see where your customers are coming from and which type of content is the most popular among them.
If you are just starting up with affiliate marketing, chances are that you will need a website to establish yourself as an expert and create your personal brand. When it comes to buying decisions, relevant content and information still beats paid promotion methods.