If you have been studying the subject of affiliate marketing leads generation, you will agree with me that there are really not many new sources in generating online leads.

You have heard of search engine traffic, web 2.0 traffic, article marketing, different forms of online advertising etc. You probably have tried one or more of these sources and failed.

What’s wrong?

In today’s discussion, we are going to discuss the myths relating affiliate marketing leads generation. In particular, we will discuss about search engine optimization and online advertising.

Myth #1 - You Can Generate Affiliate Marketing Leads Through Search Engine Optimization

The story is always the same - If your webpage can rank in the first page of the search engines, you can drive lots of marketing leads to your affiliated product and make money.

It’s not true!

Well, it’s true that you may be able to drive lots of traffic, but you may not generate any sale.

Memorize the paragraph below by heart!

The first secret in affiliate marketing leads generation through search engine optimization is to find targeted leads who are “planning” to buy. The second secret is to find targeted leads who are “about” to buy.

The two may sound similar but not quite so. Read again if you don’t get what I mean.

Before you even think about search engine optimization, you must first decide what kind of keywords your leads may use.

Let’s say you are selling an ebook called “Forex Made Easy” (I made up this title), you should ask yourself for those who may buy “Forex Made Easy”, what kind of keywords will they use?

For those who are “planning” to buy, they may search for “forex ebook review”, “forex trading guide” etc. You can do your research using various keyword tools, through forums or even spying Adwords competitors.

For those who are “about” to buy, it is relatively simple. They will typically search for “forex made easy review”, “forex made easy scam” or “forex made easy bonus”. These are leads who are about to buy and with a slight push and some incentive, they will buy from you.

Myth #2 - Just Post An Advertisement And You Will Make Money Instantly

Many newbies loss money in advertising because they don’t understand the advertising industry, or should I say they don’t understand the mindset of the leads viewing their ads.

Most forms of online advertising involve promoting to a group of leads with a common interest. This means instead of targeting leads who are ‘planning’ or ‘about’ to buy, you are now targeting leads who have a common interest and may not be thinking of buying anything yet.

You may be asking what is the difference?

The difference is HUGE!

It affects the way you craft your salesletter (or presell letter).

Let’s use the same example - to promote a forex ebook.

You can advertise to a group of leads who are interested in forex trading or you can advertise to leads interested in making money online. The approaches are different.

If you are advertising to leads interested in forex trading, you want to write a salesletter (or presell letter) to share with them how you lost money in forex trading following some gurus’ guides and then finally, you make it all back after using “Forex Made Easy”.

But if you are advertising to leads interested in making money online, you want to show them that you are an online newbie trying to make money online but failed. Then you stumbled upon this guide “Forex Made Easy” and you naively followed the guide. To your amazement, you made $1000 in your first month of trading forex.

See the difference?

In advertising, you have to understand your target audience, know what problem they are experiencing and customize your ’solution’ according, although the ultimate solution is the same.

As I said in the beginning, there isn’t many new sources in affiliate marketing leads generation. The sources may be the same, but the approaches are different. The winners are those who know how to use the right approach for the right source in the right situation