3 Key Steps for Success on the eBay Partner Network

Ever since the eBay Partner Network (ePN) fired a bunch of affiliates, there’s been a lot of discussion on whether or not affiliates can trust the ePN going forward. What you need to realize is that it doesn’t matter if you can trust the ePN. What matters is that you position yourself for success.

“It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.” –John Wooden

Step One - Understand Your Surroundings

It’s nearly impossible to succeed at anything in life unless you have a working knowledge of the subject. For example, if you wanted to build a house, you’d need to understand community regulations and zoning laws, drafting and design, construction materials and equipment, framing, concrete work, dirt work, and so on and so forth. There’s a lot of information a person needs to understand if they want to successfully build a house… especially one that won’t blow over during the first storm.

The same holds true for affiliate marketing. If you want to succeed, you need to understand as much as you can about it. That means reading blogs like this one, purchasing training materials like Wealthy Affiliate, understanding how to build and maintain web sites, marketing strategies and techniques, and on and on. There’s a lot that a person needs to know to be successful.

Specific to the eBay Partner Network, you need to understand what eBay expects from affiliates. You need to know how to “play the game” so that eBay’s happy, your visitors are happy, and most importantly, so that you’re happy and earning commissions.

Now I can hear what some of you are thinking, because people are posting this same thought on the various forums and blogs: “how the blank can I know what they want when they don’t tell us?”

Well they did tell us, but people seem uninterested in trying to understand what they said. Unfortunately that’s not an excuse. As with everything in life, if you don’t understand an aspect of something, then you have to figure it out if you want continued success. If eBay didn’t give us detailed specifics, then we all need to analyze the situation. Read between the lines. Put yourself in their shoes and try to determine what they really mean.

Step One’s Action Item: Make the effort to figure things out going forward. Excuses and complaints won’t help you. Learn as much as you can and adapt to changes as they occur.

Step Two - Focus on Your Site’s Visitors Instead of eBay

This should be a no-brainer, but it isn’t. Here’s what happens… someone wants to get started in affiliate marketing. They find out that the eBay Partner Network is a good program to join, so they get signed up. They want to make money, so their focus is on setting up web sites for the ePN so they can start earning commissions as soon as possible.

Trust me when I say that you won’t send “engaged” traffic to eBay with that approach.

Think about it, if your main focus is on making money with any specific affiliate program, you’re not going to come across as someone who’s site really values the people who read it. You just won’t.

They always say that if you want to sound pleasant over the phone, you should be smiling, even though the person on the other end of the line can’t see you. The same is true for your affiliate web sites. If your focus is on making money, trust me, your visitors will figure that out.

So what can you do to change things? Simple… you build web sites that provide value to your visitors even if you removed each and every affiliate link or eBay product listing. The more engaged you are in your niche and with your visitors, the more engaged your visitors will be when you send them over to eBay.

Step Two’s Action Item: Make sure your site provides value to your visitors. This requires adding content, more content, and even more content. Focus on making your site the best it can be for the people who visit it.

Step Three - Get Real and Face the Facts

This last step deals more with your perspective and attitude more than anything else. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are few guarantees in life, and that includes affiliate marketing. The sooner you come to grips with that, the better off you’ll be.

Instead of worrying about the ePN, you should focus your energy on the things you can control. What are those things? Well for starters, you decide which niche to focus on. You control the content that gets published on your site. You get to choose which affiliate products that you feel will benefit your readers the most.

If you take charge of the aspects of your business that you can control and come to grips with the aspects that you can’t control, then you’ll be a step ahead of the average affiliate marketer. People who’ve had the most business success tend to be the ones who are fluid. They’re able to adapt to the changing landscape around them… even reinventing themselves and their businesses when necessary.

Step Three’s Action Item: Focus on the aspects of your business that you can control, and change your expectations regarding the aspects that you can’t control. Understand that things change, and that keeping a positive attitude and rolling with the punches will give you the best chance for long term success.

Conclusion

It’s my sincere hope that the three steps outlined above will help you understand how to succeed not only with the eBay Partner Network moving forward, but also with affiliate marketing in general.

Personally, my plan is to continue focusing my sites on the visitors, even on the sites that promote or feature eBay product listings. And if the ePN ever decides to fire me, then that’s okay, because I will continue to focus on my niches and my readers first. If I do that, then monetization, commissions and earnings will come.

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What’s Worse Than Being Fired By eBay?

I realize that if you were just fired by the ePN, you’re probably in a foul mood… angry at eBay… and wondering what to do next. But imagine how you’d feel if you just lost your house to a flood, because that’s exactly the situation Rochelle is facing this weekend!

If you don’t know Rochelle, she is one of the nicest and most helpful contributors there is on the Build a Niche Store member forum.

I’ve worked with Rochelle in the past on some instructional blog posts, and I can tell you she’s a great person!

I encourage you to visit her Niche Store Strategies blog and offer any words of encouragement that you can.

Hang in there Rochelle!

(PS. Thanks to Mark @ The Niche Store Builder blog for the heads up!)

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[Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series] Step Two: Getting In The Customers’ Heads

Today I’m going to continue the Niche Blog Series with Step #2: Getting inside your customers’ heads. Or put another way, understanding the people in your niche.

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Status Update - Site Move & Domain Transfer

What happens when you transfer your domain to a new registrar at the same time that you’re moving to a new web host? Nothing, which is the problem.

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[Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series] Step One: Find a Niche

Welcome to step one of the Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series! In this installment, I’m going to find myself a niche to promote. As I type this, I actually haven’t started the process at all. So you’re going to be able to follow along with me as I actually do the research.

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Announcing the “Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series”

I’ve decided to setup my next affiliate niche web site exclusively as a blog–which is something I’ve never done before–and then keep a journal of my progress here so everyone can follow along! As I work through the process from start to finish, I’m going to post updates on what I did, why I did it, and what the results were. My hope is that this series will serve as a guide to others who might want to try the same thing.

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How to Find a Niche

Travis Sago (http://www.bummarketingmethod.com/) wrote an excellent how-to guide for finding a profitable niche. You can view the PDF here: Bum Marketing Mindset.

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The Foolproof Method for Keyword Research

I’ve discovered my own “foolproof” method of keyword research. Obviously that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it. However if you stick with me, I think you’ll agree this method actually is foolproof.

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BANS 3.0 Tips and Tricks

Here are some helpful tips and tricks you can employ on your sites that use the Build a Niche Store 3.0 software:

Add a Privacy Policy
Not only does Google give your site more PageRank if your site has a privacy policy, but it’s actually required under both the Google AdSense and Commission Junction terms of service. So if you use either on your sites, you have to have a privacy policy.

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More ideas for Inbound Links

I previously talked about how to get inbound links to your site. Here are some additional ideas for getting inbound links to your site:

• Yahoo Answers
  Create a Yahoo Answers account and answer questions relating to your site’s niche. Try to answer around 5 questions every day with

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