Tiger. Dragon. Crane. Read a list of all the most popular kung-fu moves being used on the affiliate circuit today. Moves YOU need to be able to bust out at any given moment. The battle is on for supremacy and every new step you add to your arsenal means another potentially lucrative revenue stream. From old school jawbreakers to new grooves with a martial arts twist. Own the dojo now!

PPC: “Tiger Style”

Patience, grasshopper. Start at the beginning with pay-per-click. It’s the bread and the butter. The kung-pow in your spicy noodle. No doubt this style has ruled the Internet jungle for a while now. When done with skill, it’s one of most powerful single techniques in existence. Direct to the consumer. Powerful, concise messaging. Hyper-targeted offers and landing pages stunningly streamlined with angles as smooth as a Lamborghini.

So powerful is the PPC methodology that a key finding in a recent survey by Forrester Research revealed 60% of affiliates who earn more than $100,000 a year in revenue are using PPC heavily. Think it’s important at all? Elementary, grasshopper. PPC is common knowledge to the elite fighting force of heavyweight online marketers. But PPC alone isn’t enough to succeed. You’ve got to have more than just one move.

Online Video: “Taming The Dragon”

Why is video so important? Because it’s got mass appeal. And when we say mass, we mean massive. Hundreds of millions of viewers and billions of views. Video is the 100-headed dragon. Comedy, home video, music video, product video and on and on.

The point is, if you’re not advertising through video in some way then you’re killing your potential profits and hindering future revenue growth. Funny thing is that somewhere in the range of 50-60% of affiliates AREN’T using video. For some reason the message just hasn’t caught on yet.

That’s a serious booboo. Video is a traffic and conversion generating beast. Adding video to your campaign makes your message that much more magnetic and engaging. It gets people interacting with your product or service in an emotional and intellectual way that straight up design and copy doesn’t. It’s the 4th dimension of the Internet and the most important piece of the new affiliate marketing model. So put it in your rucksack of killer moves. You’ll need it for the showdowns to come.

A majority 61.5 % of affiliates who leverage video ads have found they perform “excellent” or “very well.” Remove your helmet and let the message sink deep in. Don’t wait any longer to integrate video into your kung-fu repertoire! Make video do the butt kicking for you.

Time’s Arrow: “Sharp As The Crane”

A  lot of new affiliates find that limited available funds eliminates monetary investment as an option in growing their business. Affiliates who’ve been surveyed have shown a strong proclivity toward investing more time rather than more money when trying to fire up their revenue.

Social media and search engine optimization are other cost-effective alternatives to pumping more and more gator into fund-guzzling PPC ads. Both social media and SEO are free ways to drive traffic. Gratis. Affiliates are getting wise to the possibilities these channels present. Right now 64.2% of affiliates are utilizing SEO and nearly half (46.5%) are leveraging social media to drive traffic.

Affiliate Networks: Mastering The Digital Stance

This move is crucial, grasshopper. It’s based on the philosophy that affiliates don’t have to brave the jungle alone. Affiliate networks are there to help develop and strengthen your campaigns.

According to survey results from Forrester Research, networks are playing a larger and more active role in helping affiliates learn about and evaluate new opportunities, products and strategies. The network of the future will be a guardian angel offering services, resources and magical weapons to support you and the products you promote. Heads up, it’s already happening. Take advantage of the blessing.

Affiliate Managers: Helpin’ Ya Dominate

An important part of the increasing role networks will play is the service offered by affiliate managers. Traditionally, affiliates and their affiliate managers didn’t communicate very closely. Their relationship was characterized by sporadic contact through email, Messenger, and the occasional phone conversation.

That relationship is evolving. Affiliate managers are now in contact with their affiliate base more regularly, providing them with tons of new support resources to bolster their campaigns (like custom landing pages, keyword lists, market research), and brokering special services from merchants such as product white labels. To give you an idea of how important affiliate managers are, 60% of those affiliates surveyed by Forrester said they join, promote, and quit affiliate programs based solely on their relationship with affiliate managers.

Tradeshows: Master Affiliate In The Temple

Industry wisdom suggests there is a very strong correlation between attending affiliate marketing trade shows and generating top-bracket revenue. It seems the more you go to the shows, rub elbows with the pros and those in the know, the more educated you get and the more spark you generate in your campaigns. Who knew, hey grasshopper?

55% of affiliates earning more than $100,000 regularly attend trade shows, but that number doesn’t indicate the true value inherent in trade show attendance. It’s like going to class. The more you’re there, the less homework you have to do, and the better you’ll do on your exams. By going to industry shows you not only learn what’s going on, but you learn what’s most important and what information you can afford to ignore.

The big shows to look our for are Affiliate Summit (East and West) and ad:tech.

Blog-Fu: Way Of The Affiliate Warrior

Read all the industry blogs you can. See what people are saying. Affiliate marketing is a fast-changing industry, so there’s always news and opinion to wade through. Affbuzz is a great place to start – this site is an affiliate blog aggregator and a great place to keep up-to-date.

By tapping into the collective knowledge of affiliate marketers who are promoting in a variety of verticals, you’ll get a superb vantage point for scoping the competitive landscape.