Affiliate Marketing – Resources
The ongoing affiliate marketing series is coming to a close here but first we need to look at the resources you need. Yes there are some things that are needed and you will need to invest in the right tools to be successful.
First and foremost you need an autoresponder. If you noticed everything we did in this series is based of email follow up and that requires an autoresponder. My favorite is Aweber because of their delivery rate and the constant influx of new features they keep adding.
You will need some type of web hosting. Trying to do this with out having a domain you control is like running a store out of the trunk of your car. No credibility. If you need a host check out Zoot Host for a quality solution.
To create your pages you will either need to know HTML or get an editor. There are numerous solutions some expensive like Dreamweaver but to get started you can use a free one like Free Web Site Builder. If you want more help with creating your web pages I strongly recommend Design Dashboard from Marlon Sanders.
You will need to create reports as part of your giveaways to build your list and you can get a free system to write the reports and create your pdf files at Open Office. It is open source software that will do what you need. Eventually you will probably want to upgrade to paid products like Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat.
Submitting articles can be quite time consuming and for those I use Article Marketer. This is a paid service but submits your articles to numerous sites and there is no limit to how many you can submit. They have a few different plans but check out the lifetime upgrade (a bit pricy but a real deal if you can afford it).
A cheaper alternative if you only submit a few articles is Isnare where you can pay for submissions at $2 per article or less depending on the number of credits you purchase at once.
If you are doing videos and you should be for traffic generation there are a few tools that can help you. You can use Cam Studio to do screen captures but I prefer using Camtasia. You can get a 30 day trial of Camtasia and use it to start generating income and then pay for the upgrade.
Submitting your videos can be extremely time consuming. There are a few different resources to help you. Tube Mogul is a free service that will allow you to submit to multiple video sites with one upload.
Traffic Geyser is a monthly service that will do quite a bit more.
Hope this list of resources is helpful. Will have one more post in this series with a summary.
As always your questions and comments are welcomed.
Mike Paetzold
Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post or posts it may lead to are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don't personally believe in and I welcome your questions and feedback.
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
That’s a great list Mike. When you really think about it and add it up, it really doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to have everything you need to start your own affiliate business… plus when first starting you may not need all of it anyways.
In this economic time, this is probably one of the best things someone can do to increase their income.
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Good list Mike. When discussing article submission, what do you think of article spinners. I understand they help to alter your article a little so they are different on each directory you post at, and if I understand correctly also allow for different resource boxes so you bet different anchor text based backlinks.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hey Mike!
That’s a really great summary of resources that people will need to become a successful affiliate marketer.
I know it can be really confusing when you’re getting started because there are so many different resources to choose from, so I know a lot of people are going to really appreciate your recommendations.
Jit
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Mike, your affiliate marketing series has been a good one and your list of resources provides clear evidence to anyone that they do indeed need to invest in at least a minimal set of resources in order to get started. Thanks.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
You sure you didn’t miss anything Mike? LOL… Looks like the marketer’s toolbox to me and quite complete. Don’t know why you would actually want MS Office though if you have Open Office. The only difference I find is the quality of the templates in PowerPoint versus the Open Office application.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Mike,
Great list of resources.
Going to check Isnare, see how that works on some of my articles. At least $2 is affordable…
Fred
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Great list of resources Mike,
I am currently using a lot of these, but there were some that you mentioned that I was not aware of. Will have to check them out.
April 26th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I am currently also using some of these items on your list, great minds think a like, keep up the good work!
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