Success in Affiliate Marketing has always been the backbone of undertaking business on the Internet– of course, it has been around before, but it is the easiness of networking via the web that rendered it as ubiquitous as it is these days.d as any booming industry, it isn’t static – every year brings new challenges, trends, and opportunities, which means that if you want to stay on top, you should know which way the market is going. So what can we expect in 2018?

1. Growth of Video and Augmented Reality Content

Humans are physically and psychologically wired to be more responsive to visual content, and the direction in which the Internet had been developing ever since most users acquired sufficient bandwidth proves this point right. Video has already achieved complete dominance over all other types of content: no less than 85% of marketers use it in this or that form, and one-third of all online activity consists of watching the video. Videos are everywhere: on social media, on corporate websites, in product demos.

For affiliate marketing, it means that if you are not using videos to engage visitors, you are losing a massive opportunity. Practice shows that it is much easier to entice a visitor to watch a video than to consume any other type of content. In addition to that, take a closer look at AR (augmented reality). It was a big thing back in 2016 but stood somewhat low in 2017, but now we are going to see its comeback after technology gets perfected and used to its full potential.  It will be more accessible to marketers and serve as an excellent way of reaching out to potential clients.

2. Growth of EPC-Based Payment Model

EPC (earnings per click) is an affiliate payment model built around the rate of commission you get for the achieved click-throughs or the necessary activity performed on your affiliate links. It is already a widely used payment model across affiliate networks, and 2018 is likely to see it grow. There are many reasons for that, primarily that it provides a deep insight into what is happening both for affiliates and advertisers, making it easy to see what is being done wrong and what has to be changed. Therefore, it may be wise to start working with well-established EPC affiliate programs early in the year.

3. Many Affiliate Marketing Networks Will Disappear Or Change

No affiliate marketing isn’t dead despite all the efforts of Google and Facebook and isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. However, there are just too many affiliate networks out there today, especially since the mass emergence of Chinese networks. More supply means greater competition, and while it means better conditions for both marketers and affiliates for a while, it may indicate that the network you’ve decided to hook up is going out of business. So, you have to find a replacement quickly or risk disrupting your business. 2018 will likely see the spread of affiliate marketing to developing countries, which will mean an even more significant competition, so look out.

As a side note, it means that the key to success would be better targeting and the ability to define and stick to a delineated niche – otherwise, it is easy to be lost in the multitude of other offers already existing on the market and appearing every day.

4. Ecommerce Is Big and Will Get Bigger

With every passing year, people from more and more countries are getting more comfortable with using their credit cards online as well as mastering new and more advanced payment methods. It means more business in ecommerce, which in turn means more and more diverse advertising, which means the higher participation of affiliate marketing in this niche.

5. Growth of Voice Search

Voice assistance like Amazon Alexa and Google Home steadily grew in their use throughout 2017 and are increasingly often integrated with third-party products. In long-term, it can mean a general move towards voice search and, therefore, affiliate marketers have to predict this and adapt to more natural-sounding speech patterns and long tail keywords.

In general, affiliate marketing is likely to continue to grow, with more merchants and website owners creating new affiliate programs on popular networks and advertisers trying to diversify their affiliate traffic sources, and you would do better to jump the bandwagon.

Source

https://www.business2community.com/affiliate-marketing/5-key-trends-success-affiliate-marketing-2018-02024702

SEO and content marketing go hand in hand, but what exactly is content marketing? People often have trouble understanding the difference between the two, especially if you’re just starting out in the online marketing world.

Content marketing should be an integral part of any SEO strategy. If you’re not factoring it in, then this is even more of a reason to read this article to find out how you can better utilize content and simultaneously improve your SEO.

Just what is really content marketing?

Content marketing is a combination of all types of marketing activities that focus on creating and sharing information including (but not limited to) blog posts, email newsletters, social media posts, core content on your website, and images. It is also crucial for the branding element of digital marketing, as it is the process of getting your content in front of your potential audience.

Say you owned a new boutique coffee house, for example. As well as looking at optimizing your local SEO so that coffee lovers can find your new spot, you could utilize content marketing by sharing some images of your new coffee shop through social media platforms such as Facebook & Instagram. (You could also publish blog posts providing specific about your different roasts, instructions on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee, the story of the founding of your coffee shop, or profiles of your customers and their preferences.)

People will want to share valuable content because it’s funny, interesting, newsworthy or powerful. So try to create something unique even if you are just putting a new spin on something dated. Also, by incorporating a story that people can relate to you will personalize the experience, thus enabling a deeper understanding 0f your business from your audience.

As well as creating a brand awareness, if you choose to link Facebook/Instagram images back to your site, you will start driving relevant traffic and if the website incorporates a good user experience this will have a positive impact on your SEO, as Google will deem your website as more relevant. Plus, if your content starts to get shared by other platforms, this will continue to build up more links to your website.

What exactly is the objective of content marketing?

When it comes to effective content marketing, you should be creating high-quality & stimulating subject matter for your website visitors. The formulation of high-quality content pertains to almost anything that can be valuable to the end user; regardless if that is engaging, informative or helpful.

Through the efforts of content marketing, the goal is to naturally entice your audience and then encourage them to convert. You can do this by using a call to action on the website, which can help coax your audience to take the next step by offering a discount or limited time offer to purchase your products or inquire for your services.

For example, if you operate a yoga studio and you’re seeking to gain new clients you could write a blog post about recommendations on just what to do in the course of your first yoga class. Then, when people go to your site to read the post, you can offer them a discount on their first class. You attract them to your site with subject matter they find valuable, and then use it as an opportunity in order to get them into your sales funnel.

Can the Content literally any type of subject matter?

 The content could be in the form of photos, videos, blog posts, infographics etc. Just as long as the content presents some type of value and engages your audience, then it doesn’t really matter what type you choose.

You should carefully formulate your social networks strategy to ensure optimum engagement with the content that you share. Curating your Instagram feed and make use of great content is the key to helping to build a community and generate leads and sales via Instagram. If you’re focusing your time and efforts on distributing content on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, you might adjust the style of web content for you to satisfy the interests of the various audiences

The reasons why content marketing can benefit SEO?

1. Textual content is a cornerstone of SEO. Google crawls the website and the subject matter, indexes the website page, and ranks pages accordingly.

Efficient content marketing features writing quality copy which is relevant to the phrases your audience is browsing for. For that reason, the more blog posts you write which have a keyword target, the more probable your website will begin driving in increased organic traffic. The key is making certain that your content pertains to the keyword but avoids poor SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing. Compose naturally and provide quality, high-value related information.

2. Web content provides the basis for keyword optimization. It really allows you to optimize keywords throughout the pertinent pages on your website. Anytime creating material, aim to implement a keyword phrase. Google has improved search accuracy by creating algorithms to understand the searcher’s intention and the contextual meaning of terms.

As a result, you should ensure that you have a wide array of closely related phrases being targeted within the content, as opposed to just the singular phrase you think your target market is choosing.

3. Soon after you start creating quality content and marketing it effectively, your rankings can see a positive result. New visitors to your website because of content marketing are truly potential consumers. Due to this fact, in addition to increasing website traffic to the website, it can likewise increase your leads/sales.

4. Each new piece of content you produce on your website is yet another page that Google can index. While content by itself won’t increase your visitor traffic, it gives the possibility to target new and different phrases which may engage potential customers.

5. Valuable web content improves your authority. Assuming that your content is really high quality, it is most likely to attract more back links and shares all throughout social media as well as other blogs. Valuable content will also have a part in a really good user experience, and the metrics will give Google positive ranking signals.

Final thoughts

Content marketing and SEO collaborate with each other. Time spent doing keyword research for SEO is virtually ineffective unless those keywords are actually made use of in the web content! A healthy balance of both of these is vital to success.

Ensure that you don’t zero in completely on material and that you ensure that your technical SEO is up to speed too. You could produce the finest content in the world, but if Google can’t crawl your website or there are technical troubles, the web content won’t have its maximum reach.

Source

https://www.mainstreetroi.com/how-to-use-content-marketing-to-improve-your-seo-results/

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Influencer Marketing Vs. Affiliate Marketing: The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Each Strategy

Referrals are some of the most powerful forms of promotion a business can receive. In today’s digital space, two proven ways to create these types of recommendations for brands are through influencer marketing vs. affiliate marketing.

Here, we’ll break down how influencer marketing vs. affiliate marketing programs work and compare their efficacy.

Influencer Marketing Vs. Affiliate Marketing: Definitions

Affiliate marketing is a promotional program geared toward driving traffic and acquisitions for businesses. Affiliate programs supply digital users (known as “affiliates”) with unique URL IDs (known as “affiliate links”) that reward affiliates when they bring in new customers or sales.

Many businesses offer affiliates a percentage of the revenue their links generate. Anyone can apply to be an affiliate, but individuals with large and engaged online followings generally benefit most from the programs.

Influencer marketing is when a social media personality, like a YouTuber, Instagrammer, or blogger, creates content for a brand. The content is usually designed to promote a message, product, or service in an organic, authentic way.

Influencers will sometimes include affiliate links within their content but, as a fully-integrated, customizable advertising campaign, influencer marketing offers a wide array of messaging and branding possibilities that affiliate marketing does not inherently provide.

Below, we’ll take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of both influencer and affiliate marketing to find out which one makes the most sense for businesses.

Influencer Marketing Advantages

Control

Influencer marketing is a strategic approach that allows brands to select influencers, build relationships, and shape how they’re being promoted and portrayed to consumers. With proper planning, a well-executed influencer marketing campaign can lend this kind of control and customization to a business’s direct-response and branding marketing efforts.

Results

Influencer marketing is driving results for many types of brands by connecting them with users across the most popular social media channels and platforms. Earned media value for influencer marketing increased by 1.5x in 2016 from the previous year with certain advertiser categories averaging over $14 for every $1 spent. Over 60% of millennials buy influencer-endorsed products (vs. celebs) and over 75% of younger demographics aspire to be YouTubers or vloggers for their careers. These are just some of the reasons that marketers have been increasing their influencer marketing budgets, dolling out a staggering $1 billion per year on Instagram alone.

Influencer Marketing Disadvantages

More steps

Influencer marketing’s effectiveness is owed to its targeted approach. Because of this, the process of executing a successful influencer marketing campaign requires proper strategy, planning, and execution.

Brands looking to make an impact in today’s social landscape must be prepared to find and vet influencers, collaborate on content and messaging, as well as manage schedules and launches. However, by partnering with a well-established influencer marketing agency, brands can transfer these steps to experts in the industry.

Investment

While affiliate marketing costs can be minimal, so can the return on investment (ROI). On the other hand, executing a successful influencer marketing campaign often drives bigger results but also requires a larger investment of both time and money.

With the right strategy and team, brands can create influencer campaigns that meet and exceed desired key performance indicators (KPI). However, brands must be willing to invest time and money in order to capitalize on the enormous ROI opportunities influencer marketing presents.

Affiliate Marketing Advantages

Small investment

Businesses adopting an affiliate marketing approach don’t have to invest a lot of time or money. Creating a program with unique URL ID(s) to track traffic and reward affiliates is a relatively straightforward process.

Results

Business Insider analyzed a study showing that affiliate marketing was one of the four biggest drivers of online sales. Another study cited by Cision claimed that up to 40% of Amazon’s revenue — arguably, the largest affiliate marketing company in the world — came from affiliates. Moreover, digital publishers are seeing up to 15% of their revenue from affiliate marketing.

It should be noted, however, that setting up a basic affiliate program does not guarantee results. Many businesses use some form of influencer marketing as a means of driving affiliate traffic.

Affiliate Marketing Disadvantages

Unfocused

Affiliate marketing isn’t designed as a cohesive message or campaign, so affiliate links often lack direction or compelling calls to action (CTAs). As a result, there is no assurance that an affiliate program will properly target or reach relevant consumers. Additionally, affiliate links can sometimes be buried in captions, descriptions, or at the bottom of posts, which readers or viewers may not see.

Lack of control

Virtually anyone can apply to become an affiliate, and typically there’s not an in-depth screening process used to vet affiliate applicants. Due to this, brands may have little or no control over who is promoting their goods or aligning themselves with their brand. This in-cohesive approach can also result in a complete absence of messaging or, in some cases, the wrong kind of messaging by affiliates.

How Affiliate Marketing and Influencer Marketing Compare

• 1. Both affiliate marketing and influencer marketing are forms of referral promotion that brands can use to drive traffic and sales. While influencer marketing can be used effectively for both direct-response and branding initiatives, affiliate marketing is direct-response only.
• 2. Many social media influencers are affiliates, but not all affiliates are necessarily influencers.
• 3. Affiliate marketing by itself doesn’t give brands control over content or messaging, while influencer marketing is strategized, customized, and targeted.
• 4. Both affiliate and influencer marketing drive results. However, returns are dependent on how the campaigns are crafted and implemented.

Should Businesses Invest in Affiliate Marketing or Influencer Marketing?

Affiliate and influencer marketing are both beneficial tools by themselves, but they’re even more powerful when used together. If affiliate marketing alone isn’t generating the revenue a brand is looking to attain, consider working with a qualified influencer marketing agency to help create a synergistic affiliate and influencer marketing campaign that can drive positive results.

Source

http://mediakix.com/2017/12/influencer-marketing-vs-affiliate-marketing-differences/

Source

https://artplusmarketing.com/stop-wasting-time-and-conquer-online-marketing-productivity-977be62b3e0d

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http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/myth-can-make-money-online-01868710

Source

https://landerapp.com/blog/how-to-create-buyer-personas-for-your-business/

Source

https://landerapp.com/blog/how-to-use-storytelling-in-your-online-marketing-strategy/