Introduction
In order to become a successful affiliate marketer, you don’t need a lot of technical knowledge and there’s no particular skillset that you need to have prior to starting.
In fact, people from all walks of life can become successful marketers, which leads to one important truth:
Your mindset is far more important than your knowledge.
Sure, being a designer or an IT wizard would help you, but it’s just an added bonus.
Most of the skills you need can be acquired along the way.
That being said, it’s important to understand some basic concepts and how to use some of the most important tools before you dive in.
Luckily, all of this basic stuff is pretty simple and easy to pick up, so don’t worry!
Even if it might sound daunting at first, you’ll find yourself marketing away like a seasoned pro!
Let’s start with the basics and turn you into an example of success in affiliate marketing!
1. Understanding How The Internet Works
Getting to understand how the internet works is part of this ride, indeed!
You might have had a conversation in which some IT-savvy people were throwing around various terms such as IP address, DNS, IPV systems, and you just timidly nodded your head, hoping no one would notice you.
Here’s how it all works in a nutshell!
Whenever you send or receive a file, mail, load a page, or do pretty much anything on the internet, you send and receive packets of data.
Your computer communicates with a huge network of machines called servers, and their role is to direct this data traffic where it should go.
In order to do so, these machines need to know where the data is supposed to go.
This is where IP addresses and TCP/IP protocols come into play.
TCP/IP stands for “Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol” and it’s what actually makes the whole internet work.
An IP system is the address system.
Each computer is assigned an address so there’s no confusion.
Websites also have their unique IP addresses.
These are assigned through another protocol called Domain Name System (DNS).
If an IP address is like your home address, then the TCP is like the postal service.
It makes sure that all packets go where they are supposed to, and it also ensures the servers communicate among themselves, so that the appropriate server is handling your request.
Of course, all of this is infinitely more complex.
Indeed, there are numerous other protocols such as the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which defines how files are sent between a client (you) and a server.
There’s also an option to circumvent servers when sending files, and send them directly to the other computer.
This is called peer-2-peer (P2P) file sharing.
Now that you’ve read the first one, keep reading to find out more about what you’ll need to know how to succeed in affiliate marketing!
2. Search Engines are Super Important
It seems obvious that – in a world ruled by Google – search engines are super crucial.
I’m sure you’ve already used Google, or Yahoo, or Bing, or whatever, but there’s a ton of neat little tricks that can help you do your research.
Make sure you check various modifiers that you can add to your search!
Again: don’t fret over this.
Why?
Because search engines are getting smarter which means you probably won’t have to use this.
Even so, it’s still an awesome tool to have at your disposal in your road as a successful affiliate marketing champ!
On the flipside, knowing how search engines work is huge in case you wanna deal with Search Engine Optimization for your site.
Trust me: you should definitely want to, since SEO helps your site rank higher, get more traffic, and therefore fill your pockets with hard-earned gold!
There’s a ton of material on this particular topic.
In fact, Ahrefs made an extensive and in-depth post that would be a great starting point.
This also includes the marketing and copywriting aspect of the whole story.
While you don’t have to be a guru, it’s generally a good idea to at least be familiar with the most common SEO best practices when it comes to content writing.
Keep reading these tips to know what makes a good marketer!
3. HTML and Image Manipulation
While not exactly hyper necessary, it’d be great if you had some experience with HTML and image manipulation in your toolbelt.
HTML is basically the programming language of web pages.
Knowing various tags can help you format your site much better.
Luckily, there are plenty of tools that have a visual interface for this (lots of them are online, so you don’t have to download or install anything).
You don’t really have to know a whole lot but rather be able to understand the most basic level.
In addition, even if you’re not a designer, you should have some basic knowledge of image manipulation.
Using a software like Photoshop to spruce up images on your website is a must-have today (unless you wanna be the kind of player who lives with his sullen parents near the bus station and gets to sleep in a not-so-comfortable 1970s plastified couch).
Photoshop is great! It has a free trial. Plus: there’s a ton of other freeware and open source image editors for the cash-strapped among us, such as GIMP and Paint.
Another must-have is some sort of a web-design tool.
In case you’re not planning to hire a real designer, the easiest way to do this is to use a service such as WordPress (or any other CMS – content management service) which gives you a nice starting point.
You essentially get the whole website structure already created – you just have to choose the template and hosting.
Real simple, right?
4. Domain and Hosting
Remember the whole story about servers from the beginning?
In case you wanna have a website on the internet you have to also acquire two other things: your domain and hosting.
For some major and super-detailed info on this, you’ve gotta check “Pre-Landing Pages: Main Web Concepts Explained“!
You’re gonna need a URL for your site such as www.mobidea.com.
As for hosting, it’s the amount of data coming and going from your site that the server is going to process on a monthly basis.
Obviously, your domain name also comes with your IP address which servers use so as to know where your site is on the internet.
Popular domain registrars for you to explore? You can check Godaddy, Namecheap, and Gandi.
I have personally found Namecheap to be the most affordable.
I strongly recommend it.
An important thing to point out is that you should always take the privacy protection option.
When you register your domain, all your personal data goes into a global archive that anyone can look up.
This means all your private data is at the disposal of spammers, phishers and other nasty people.
Even so, it’s fairly easy to avoid this by buying the kind of additional privacy protection which every registrar offers.
Hosting is a muddier ground when it comes to a perfect choice and that’s why it’s gonna be crucial for you to explore the Mobidea Academy post I’ve already alluded to!
Ready?
Only one more tip left for you to know how you can become one of the richest affiliate marketers in town!
5. Other Major Internet Skills to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing
Last but not least, there are a number of fundamentally important affiliate tools and skills that you should acquire.
Want some awesome news?
They have been extensively covered in other articles you can find in the Mobidea Academy!
I’m talking about such obvious thing as choosing the right affiliate network for you, learning how to measure and analyze your traffic, how to “spy” on your competitors, and building your own network of affiliates and partners.
These truly are some of the key survival skills for any affiliate marketer out there so be sure to learn as much as you can about these and other parts of playing the game!
Not an affiliate, yet?
Then start doing affiliate marketing and earn big!
That’s all for now, folks!
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning these internet skills that’ll help you become a better affiliate marketer!
Keep exploring the awesome content we’ve got for you to become the ultimate example of how to succeed in affiliate marketing.
Cheers!
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