5 Tips from the Affiliate Summit West – a Newbie Perspective

Attending my first ever Affiliate Summit last week in Las Vegas was an eye opening experience.  I had the chance to meet many of the affiliate rock stars I’ve been following online for the last several months, as well as get exposure to the top products and affiliate merchants whose websites I’ve been scouring for products.  But the best part was meeting all the newbies like myself who are just learning what this industry is really all about, as they made me feel confident and comfortable in knowing I’m not alone in just getting started in this fascinating new media world.  Overall, I  learned more in three days than I could ever fit on a single blog post but I have narrowed a few select items down to share.

While new blog sites and Facebook pages launch every day, further clogging your path to Google’s top spot, it’s not too late to get into the business of affiliate marketing.  Yes, it takes more work and some mad skills, but with the right products and a lot of elbow grease you can succeed.   The key is in finding the right niche, the right mix of media (blog, podcast, vlog) and a loyal base of followers.  Social media has again changed the landscape and those who use it to their advantage will win for the short term.

Affliate Networks are companies that build vendor relationships with products (either through a store or a manufacturer or other means) and offer them to affiliates through their website.  As an affiliate marketer, you can sign up with any number of networks (mostly free to do so) to gain access to products, click tracking, payment and marketing assistance.  Money gets exchanged like this: the product company or manufacturer pays the Affiliate Network a fee to have their products listed (something like 20% of what they pay you).  The Network cuts you a check a pre-negotiated amount that is typically 5 – 20% of sales from your site.

Affiliate networks are good for products because manufacturers don’t have to manage the details and yet increase their exposure to potential affiliates.  Networks are good for Affiliates because they open the doors to more products and structured information / data as well as a single paycheck for multiple vendors.

There are 560 different affiliate networks out there – and some are better for different industries, products and levels of experience.  Share-a-Sale seems to be the de-facto favorite for many people I spoke with. Commission Junction is very powerful but perhaps more costly for small vendors.  Bottom line for affiliate marketers:  look at many of them and sign up for multiple networks as you need.  The key is finding the ones that offer the right products you want and who have in-house assistance from an in-house affiliate manager to help you.  See the Affiliate Summit vendor list to get an idea who they all are.

The first Affiliate Summit was held in the mid-2000’s and attracted something like 230 attendees. In contrast, the  January 2011 Affiliate Summit topped 4500!  From its fast track to growth, this industry has both an excitement and energy surrounding it, all the while maintaining a “small family feel” to it all.  Many of the industry pioneers are only in their early 30s today and see their success as a result of their collaboration with other smart, passionate people who now make up their list of best friends. Those of us on the outside remain there only until we meet one of them.  Once inside the inner circle, your opportunities expand exponentially as someone who has succeeded takes you under their wing.

There are a lot of really successful 28-year old affiliate marketers who have a better vision of where the new media industry is headed than seasoned 40-year old career marketers.  Most big company people are clueless this industry even exists.  The typical affiliate marketer: an entrepreneurial minded, computer geek-ish male in his mid-30s.  And where are the women?  I’m not sure but I’m happy to be at the table and opening this channel to more of them.

You shoulda, woulda, coulda gotten started in 2006.  But you didn’t.  And today, that perfect path you now see so clearly is gone.  That does not mean there is no future.  It just means the market is evolving very fast and the only way to figure out your own path is to dive in. For all of us, the opportunity is there and the challenge is to pick a path, start doing it and learn as we go.  If you fail, get back up and start again.   Your success is within your reach if you just get started!

So what are you waiting for?