by: Mac
The truth about affiliate programs and how to make money on the net!
Have you ever wondered how to make money sitting at home or even keeping your job while you build a residual income on the internet? You may be struggling to make a living and wanting to find a way of building a residual income for yourself on the internet.
I found the biggest challenge in joining the affiliate marketing scene on the web was the isolation I experienced. "Am I doing this correctly?" was the constant question I asked of myself.
Like you, maybe, when I was starting off, I wasn't sure if my affiliate links were properly set, I continually worried about whether the search engines would rank me high enough to get traffic. Waiting for indexing was agonizing at times!!!!!
Someone with a successful online business, who would have talked to me about their experience in establishing their affiliate networks would have been worth their weight in $$$$$. I would have appreciated a mentor!!!
You can talk to us, we have done the homework for you and sorted out the best affiliate programs on the web today.
You will have seen all the "hype" about how to earn enormous amounts of money on the Internet. Most of these people have never earned a dollar online!! All they are trying to do is sell you a gimmick that has no substance. It won't earn you a dollar either.
If you are fed up and are ready to hear some truth about the internet and affiliate marketing read on.
Have you ever heard anyone say "there's no money to be made by promoting affiliate programs"? NOT TRUE. They have either not tried it themselves, or are keeping the secret, not wanting you to share in the wealth.
The truth is you can make money online by promoting affiliate programs. A lot of people have been able to leave their jobs and make a fantastic living just by promoting other people's products.
Look at this list, just a small sample of BIG brand name companies that use affiliate programs to promote their products online
.Amazon.com
.Barnes & Noble
.Dell
.Discover Card
.Dollar Rent-a-Car
.eBay
.Eddie Bauer
.Gateway
.Gap
.KMart
.New York Times
.NBC
.Old Navy
.Patagonia
.PayLess Shoes
.PetSmart
.SONY
.Sports Authority
.Staples
.TimeLife
.USA Today
.Verizon Wireless
.Weight Watchers
Read this and consider again the value of affiliate programs!!!
Commission Junction, Linkshare and BeFree have been built solely to administer online merchants' affiliate programs. We can tell you, form experience, that any company trying to do business on the web WITHOUT an affiliate program nowadays, is going to have a tough time..
The first step in making money online is to get your products! Making money online is not any different from making money anywhere. You need to have in demand, high quality products to sell and an effective method for marketing those products.
Finding top quality products to sell is easy. All you have to do is join a reputable affiliate program and resell other people's products for profit. You can make money online as an affiliate every time someone visits your website and clicks on a link to learn more about one of the products
Here's how it works: When someone visits your website and clicks on a product link, they will be redirected to a new sales page and have the opportunity to purchase the product. Just for providing the link to the product from your site, you will earn a generous commission every time a sale is made.
In fact, all the actual selling, follow-up, product delivery and customer satisfaction issues will be handled for you automatically. Your ONLY job is to promote the website I setup for you (I'll show you how do that... In fact it's really easy!) and cash your checks each month. It really is that simple.
Many people earn a full-time income working from home as an affiliate and many can earn over $10000.00 per year in this business.
To make that happen, you absolutely must choose affiliate programs that pay generous commissions for top quality products that are in high demand!
You can have a professionally designed website 100 % ready to take orders right now! Your new website will be designed to sell products from 5 of the MOST respected, MOST reliable and HIGHEST PAYING affiliate programs in the world.
Empowerism
SFI
Internet Marketing Warriors
Traffic Swarm
Internet Marketing Center
These affiliate programs include international moneymaking ventures like Empowerism who provides a powerful and proven system to take a one-time $25 investment and turn it into $2,000.00 over and over again!
You can't lose with all this support and expertise at your fingertips!!
Click here http://www.pluginforprofit.com/pips.html and get your new website today. Guaranteed residual income for the rest of your life!
About the Author
I am a small business owner in New Zealand
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program
by: Sanjay Johari
How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program
©2004-2005 Sanjay Johari
There are thousands of affiliate programs offering wide range of benefits to their affiliates. However, many of these programs and the claims they make are not to be trusted. Good affiliate programs provide tremendous earning opportunities, but they need to be evaluated to distinguish them from doubtful ones. There are several factors to consider before someone decides to join any affiliate program.
Products: Organizations which operate affiliate programs generally have some products to sell. These products can be in form of physical products, e-products or services. It is important to ascertain that the organization has some products to sell and that it recruits affiliates to help them in running their business. One should be very careful with any organization that has recruitment of affiliates as their main business. It is best to avoid such organizations because their affiliate structure is like a house of cards which can crumble at slightest impact.
The organizations which have products to sell and market them thru affiliate programs cut down on the cost of advertising and distribution. This amounts to considerable savings which they share with their affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar with the products, this can be helpful but this is not a necessary pre-condition to join affiliate program. New affiliates can learn about the products quite fast.
Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult to find out about the organization before joining it affiliate program. Search engines are one of the sources which can be used for this purpose. Verifying the testimonials presented by the organization is another source of information. The organization should have proven track record of operating their programs for several years successfully. If the organization is new or just starting, the person starting the program should be well known with good credibility. This is precaution against joining organizations which promise get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.
Support Available to Affiliates : Most of the new affiliates joining any affiliate program are new to the field of marketing on the internet. They need guidance and support for promoting their business and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest of the organization to help their affiliates to succeed. These organizations are in their business for considerable longer time than the affiliates, are more knowledgeable about their market and about the ways of promoting their products. They are in best position to provide their affiliates with proper guidance. Many organizations have excellent support system by way of trainings, tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums just to name a few. These are generally available from websites accessible to the affiliates.
Apart form the promotional material and information available from the website, personal guidance can be vital. A new affiliate may not be familiar with all the resources available and will look for mentoring at least in initial stages. It should be remembered by the affiliate that her success will add to the success of the organization, the organization is obliged to help her.
Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode and frequency of payment to the affiliates. The affiliate should make sure that this suits her. Just to give an example - many organizations make payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit money to all the countries. Such details should be checked before putting time and effort for any affiliate program.
Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways in which organizations build up their affiliate structure. Many organizations have single tier structure in which affiliate is only paid commission for sale. Other affiliate structures are 2-level or multi-level deep in which the affiliate earns also from the efforts of personally sponsored members. In turn, the affiliate is expected to help her sponsored members to earn for themselves. This is one great feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged earning. You can read my article on leveraged earning at this URL :
http://www.sanjay-j.com/artlever.html
There are still more variations in the structure. Some organizations allow a limited number of affiliates directly under each affiliate. There is no "ideal" affiliate structure. But it is important to have clarity in the structure and the affiliate should understand the structure.
Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in compensation plans starting from simple commission to more elaborate plan in which affiliates additionally earn thru the efforts of their sponsored downline members and also from a common pool. I personally favor plans which have provision for leveraged earnings where teamwork really counts. Residual earning is another attractive feature of affiliate marketing which can build into sizeable income over a period of time. I am not against any compensation plan so long as it is understandable and appears reasonable. You have perhaps noticed that I have put this factor as the last consideration. However it is an important consideration after all other considerations are found acceptable.
Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business with any affiliate program, no matter how good the program appears. After joining any affiliate program after thorough evaluation, one needs to stay with the program giving it time to build the earning. Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they are rare exception rather than the rule and cannot be depended upon.
This small slogan should be ingrained in the thinking when someone joins an affiliate program:
PERSISTENCE PAYS.
============================================
Sanjay Johari regularly contributes articles on small business to various ezines. Benefit from International Success Mentoring! Earn while you learn - join the longest running internet business opportunity, because it works.
http://www.sanjay-j.com/empowerism.html
How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program
©2004-2005 Sanjay Johari
There are thousands of affiliate programs offering wide range of benefits to their affiliates. However, many of these programs and the claims they make are not to be trusted. Good affiliate programs provide tremendous earning opportunities, but they need to be evaluated to distinguish them from doubtful ones. There are several factors to consider before someone decides to join any affiliate program.
Products: Organizations which operate affiliate programs generally have some products to sell. These products can be in form of physical products, e-products or services. It is important to ascertain that the organization has some products to sell and that it recruits affiliates to help them in running their business. One should be very careful with any organization that has recruitment of affiliates as their main business. It is best to avoid such organizations because their affiliate structure is like a house of cards which can crumble at slightest impact.
The organizations which have products to sell and market them thru affiliate programs cut down on the cost of advertising and distribution. This amounts to considerable savings which they share with their affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar with the products, this can be helpful but this is not a necessary pre-condition to join affiliate program. New affiliates can learn about the products quite fast.
Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult to find out about the organization before joining it affiliate program. Search engines are one of the sources which can be used for this purpose. Verifying the testimonials presented by the organization is another source of information. The organization should have proven track record of operating their programs for several years successfully. If the organization is new or just starting, the person starting the program should be well known with good credibility. This is precaution against joining organizations which promise get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.
Support Available to Affiliates : Most of the new affiliates joining any affiliate program are new to the field of marketing on the internet. They need guidance and support for promoting their business and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest of the organization to help their affiliates to succeed. These organizations are in their business for considerable longer time than the affiliates, are more knowledgeable about their market and about the ways of promoting their products. They are in best position to provide their affiliates with proper guidance. Many organizations have excellent support system by way of trainings, tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums just to name a few. These are generally available from websites accessible to the affiliates.
Apart form the promotional material and information available from the website, personal guidance can be vital. A new affiliate may not be familiar with all the resources available and will look for mentoring at least in initial stages. It should be remembered by the affiliate that her success will add to the success of the organization, the organization is obliged to help her.
Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode and frequency of payment to the affiliates. The affiliate should make sure that this suits her. Just to give an example - many organizations make payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit money to all the countries. Such details should be checked before putting time and effort for any affiliate program.
Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways in which organizations build up their affiliate structure. Many organizations have single tier structure in which affiliate is only paid commission for sale. Other affiliate structures are 2-level or multi-level deep in which the affiliate earns also from the efforts of personally sponsored members. In turn, the affiliate is expected to help her sponsored members to earn for themselves. This is one great feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged earning. You can read my article on leveraged earning at this URL :
http://www.sanjay-j.com/artlever.html
There are still more variations in the structure. Some organizations allow a limited number of affiliates directly under each affiliate. There is no "ideal" affiliate structure. But it is important to have clarity in the structure and the affiliate should understand the structure.
Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in compensation plans starting from simple commission to more elaborate plan in which affiliates additionally earn thru the efforts of their sponsored downline members and also from a common pool. I personally favor plans which have provision for leveraged earnings where teamwork really counts. Residual earning is another attractive feature of affiliate marketing which can build into sizeable income over a period of time. I am not against any compensation plan so long as it is understandable and appears reasonable. You have perhaps noticed that I have put this factor as the last consideration. However it is an important consideration after all other considerations are found acceptable.
Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business with any affiliate program, no matter how good the program appears. After joining any affiliate program after thorough evaluation, one needs to stay with the program giving it time to build the earning. Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they are rare exception rather than the rule and cannot be depended upon.
This small slogan should be ingrained in the thinking when someone joins an affiliate program:
PERSISTENCE PAYS.
============================================
Sanjay Johari regularly contributes articles on small business to various ezines. Benefit from International Success Mentoring! Earn while you learn - join the longest running internet business opportunity, because it works.
http://www.sanjay-j.com/empowerism.html
How To Maximize Your Profit Promoting Affiliate Programs
by: Ken Hill
Promoting affiliate programs can provide you with a good extra income or even a full time income online.
To help you maximize your profit promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following tips to help you successfully market your affiliate programs more effectively to your site's visitors.
1. Publish an e-zine.
Running an e-zine will allow you to run prime position ads for your affiliate programs in every issue you publish, and is the #1 way for you to follow up with your site's visitors.
You can also easily increase your commissions by sending out special announcements to your subscriber base whenever one of the affiliate programs you promote is offering a special bonus or a special limited time offer.
Once you build up your circulation you can further increase your profits by charging for ad space in your publication.
2. Use a pop up on your site that promotes your e-zine.
Using a pop up as a well as a subscription e-mail or form on your site can substantially increase the number of your visitors that subscribe to your publication.
Your pop up will draw your visitors' attention right to your e-zine, and if you offer your visitors free bonuses for subscribing to your e-zine such as free ebooks or free ads you can further increase the number of visitors who subscribe to your publication.
3. Offer free e-mail workshops (e-mail courses) to your visitors.
Making e-mail workshops will enable you to effectively promote one or several affiliate programs that offer products that relate to the subject of your workshop.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with articles to post on their sites or run in their e-zines which you can use to successfully form the different parts of your workshop.
If you already write articles, you can easily use your own articles to form the different parts of your workshop and transform your articles into yet another powerful marketing tool.
To get the most out of your e-mail workshops, offer your workshops both on your site and by using a pop up, and use your workshops to increase subscriptions to your e-zine as well as repeat visitors your website.
4. Publish your articles on your site.
Posting your articles on your site is a great way to continually add content to your site and draw more repeat visitors.
To successfully use your articles to promote affiliate programs offer a free e-mail workshop in your resource box or use your resource box to promote your e-zine.
This will provide you with an effective way to successfully follow up with your prospects when your articles get published as well as when your visitors read your articles.
5. Offer free ebooks on your site.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with ebooks they can rebrand with their unique affiliate URL and these can be used as an effective marketing tool.
The best way to promote your affiliate programs with ebooks, however, is to make your own ebooks.
If you write your own articles, you can create a unique promotional item by making an ebook compilation of your articles with links to affiliate programs you promote.
You can also create a best of compilation of your e-zine's top issues to drive more subscriptions to your publication or if you make e-mail workshops you can transform these into your ebooks content.
To further increase your profits, offer your ebooks as a free bonus or part of a free bonus for subscribing to your e-zine, and/or allow your visitors to rebrand your ebook with a link to their own business, affiliate program or opportunity.
About the Author
Article © 2002 by writer, Ken Hill. Discover proven strategies to generating more profit promoting affiliate programs. Get your FREE 10 Part Guide To Success With Affiliate Programs marketing course now at mailto:affiliatecourse@zipresponse.com
Promoting affiliate programs can provide you with a good extra income or even a full time income online.
To help you maximize your profit promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following tips to help you successfully market your affiliate programs more effectively to your site's visitors.
1. Publish an e-zine.
Running an e-zine will allow you to run prime position ads for your affiliate programs in every issue you publish, and is the #1 way for you to follow up with your site's visitors.
You can also easily increase your commissions by sending out special announcements to your subscriber base whenever one of the affiliate programs you promote is offering a special bonus or a special limited time offer.
Once you build up your circulation you can further increase your profits by charging for ad space in your publication.
2. Use a pop up on your site that promotes your e-zine.
Using a pop up as a well as a subscription e-mail or form on your site can substantially increase the number of your visitors that subscribe to your publication.
Your pop up will draw your visitors' attention right to your e-zine, and if you offer your visitors free bonuses for subscribing to your e-zine such as free ebooks or free ads you can further increase the number of visitors who subscribe to your publication.
3. Offer free e-mail workshops (e-mail courses) to your visitors.
Making e-mail workshops will enable you to effectively promote one or several affiliate programs that offer products that relate to the subject of your workshop.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with articles to post on their sites or run in their e-zines which you can use to successfully form the different parts of your workshop.
If you already write articles, you can easily use your own articles to form the different parts of your workshop and transform your articles into yet another powerful marketing tool.
To get the most out of your e-mail workshops, offer your workshops both on your site and by using a pop up, and use your workshops to increase subscriptions to your e-zine as well as repeat visitors your website.
4. Publish your articles on your site.
Posting your articles on your site is a great way to continually add content to your site and draw more repeat visitors.
To successfully use your articles to promote affiliate programs offer a free e-mail workshop in your resource box or use your resource box to promote your e-zine.
This will provide you with an effective way to successfully follow up with your prospects when your articles get published as well as when your visitors read your articles.
5. Offer free ebooks on your site.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with ebooks they can rebrand with their unique affiliate URL and these can be used as an effective marketing tool.
The best way to promote your affiliate programs with ebooks, however, is to make your own ebooks.
If you write your own articles, you can create a unique promotional item by making an ebook compilation of your articles with links to affiliate programs you promote.
You can also create a best of compilation of your e-zine's top issues to drive more subscriptions to your publication or if you make e-mail workshops you can transform these into your ebooks content.
To further increase your profits, offer your ebooks as a free bonus or part of a free bonus for subscribing to your e-zine, and/or allow your visitors to rebrand your ebook with a link to their own business, affiliate program or opportunity.
About the Author
Article © 2002 by writer, Ken Hill. Discover proven strategies to generating more profit promoting affiliate programs. Get your FREE 10 Part Guide To Success With Affiliate Programs marketing course now at mailto:affiliatecourse@zipresponse.com
Choosing an Affiliate program
by: Kevin Sinclair
What should you consider when choosing an affiliate program? You need to think about two key things: what business are you in and what can the affiliate program provide to your customers.
No matter what business you are in, the largest investment you make will be customer acquisition. If you have your own product, and have acquired a base of satisfied customers, then single product affiliate programs could work very well for you.
However, if your business is acquiring customers for other businesses, that is, purely affiliate programs, then a better choice for you could be affiliate programs with multiple products or services. This will help you to capitalise on your investment in customer acquisition.
The key to choosing successfully is to ensure that the affiliate program offers products that meet the needs of your potential customers. Coupled with this is the need for the products to be high quality and for the supplier to provide excellent customer service. Remember, your credibility is on the line every time you refer someone to buy through your affiliate relationship.
Some of the other factors I consider when evaluating affiliate programs include:
+ Is the affiliate program a reputable business? You can check out a business you are considering a relationship with in variety of ways. Talk to the Better Business Bureau in your local area or a similar body. In addition, I find web sites that monitor affiliate programs to be worth looking at. The best I have found is Associate Programs http://www.AssociatePrograms.com. Allan Gardyne pulls no punches and tells it as it is.
+ Does the program enable you to share in the lifetime value of the customer? Great programs will give you commissions on all future purchases of the customers you introduce. This is where the real profits are. These types of programs, in effect, allow you to partner with the supplier.
+ Does the program reward you for introducing other affiliates? This type of program is commonly referred to as a two-tier program. Often your customer may become an affiliate also and you will be rewarded for this.
+ Is the supplier interested in your success as an affiliate? The top affiliate programs engage in a process of coaching or information sharing to help you succeed. Affiliates are provided with regular newsletters outlining what is working for successful affiliates and providing updates and details on new products.
+ Is the commission reasonable? Commission rates on commodity products such as books and CDs are low. This is because there is very little margin in the products due to competition. Look for products that have a commission rate of 15% or more that are not commodities - that way you will be better able to recoup your customer acquisition investment.
+ Are statistics provided? The higher the level of statistics provided, the better off you are. This will enable you to measure the success of your marketing efforts and to determine the best places to invest your marketing dollars. Insufficient statistics is a sign that the affiliate program is not sufficiently interested in your success.
+ Are new products being developed regularly? To get the full value from lifetime commissions, new products need to be introduced on a regular basis. Without this, lifetime commissions can be worthless. Also, look for consistent high quality in new products introduced.
+ How frequently are commissions paid? The more frequently commissions are paid, the better off you are. Good quality affiliate programs will pay you monthly. In some situations, commissions are not paid until a certain level is reached. If the program you are considering has this requirement, check how many sales need to be made before the level is reached.
+ Have you read the affiliate agreement? This is a key area that you should look at. Some affiliate agreements are totally in favour of the supplier. Others are more balanced. Some agreements restrict your ability to promote similar products from other suppliers. Most agreements have anti-spam provisions. Look for agreements that are fair and that do not stack everything against you as the affiliate.
While there are other factors that can be considered when choosing an affiliate program, following the suggestions above will help you to make superior business choices that will lead to long-term success.
About the author:
Article by Kevin Sinclair, CPA, of Be Successful! Business & Personal Success Resources ( http://www.ksinclair.com/ ). He is the author of 2 free ebooks: "Success Secrets" & "How To Choose A Home Based Business". Kevin is also the publisher of "Be Successful News" - a free ezine dedicated to your online business success - to subscribe, visit http://www.ksinclair.com/pbs_news.htm
What should you consider when choosing an affiliate program? You need to think about two key things: what business are you in and what can the affiliate program provide to your customers.
No matter what business you are in, the largest investment you make will be customer acquisition. If you have your own product, and have acquired a base of satisfied customers, then single product affiliate programs could work very well for you.
However, if your business is acquiring customers for other businesses, that is, purely affiliate programs, then a better choice for you could be affiliate programs with multiple products or services. This will help you to capitalise on your investment in customer acquisition.
The key to choosing successfully is to ensure that the affiliate program offers products that meet the needs of your potential customers. Coupled with this is the need for the products to be high quality and for the supplier to provide excellent customer service. Remember, your credibility is on the line every time you refer someone to buy through your affiliate relationship.
Some of the other factors I consider when evaluating affiliate programs include:
+ Is the affiliate program a reputable business? You can check out a business you are considering a relationship with in variety of ways. Talk to the Better Business Bureau in your local area or a similar body. In addition, I find web sites that monitor affiliate programs to be worth looking at. The best I have found is Associate Programs http://www.AssociatePrograms.com. Allan Gardyne pulls no punches and tells it as it is.
+ Does the program enable you to share in the lifetime value of the customer? Great programs will give you commissions on all future purchases of the customers you introduce. This is where the real profits are. These types of programs, in effect, allow you to partner with the supplier.
+ Does the program reward you for introducing other affiliates? This type of program is commonly referred to as a two-tier program. Often your customer may become an affiliate also and you will be rewarded for this.
+ Is the supplier interested in your success as an affiliate? The top affiliate programs engage in a process of coaching or information sharing to help you succeed. Affiliates are provided with regular newsletters outlining what is working for successful affiliates and providing updates and details on new products.
+ Is the commission reasonable? Commission rates on commodity products such as books and CDs are low. This is because there is very little margin in the products due to competition. Look for products that have a commission rate of 15% or more that are not commodities - that way you will be better able to recoup your customer acquisition investment.
+ Are statistics provided? The higher the level of statistics provided, the better off you are. This will enable you to measure the success of your marketing efforts and to determine the best places to invest your marketing dollars. Insufficient statistics is a sign that the affiliate program is not sufficiently interested in your success.
+ Are new products being developed regularly? To get the full value from lifetime commissions, new products need to be introduced on a regular basis. Without this, lifetime commissions can be worthless. Also, look for consistent high quality in new products introduced.
+ How frequently are commissions paid? The more frequently commissions are paid, the better off you are. Good quality affiliate programs will pay you monthly. In some situations, commissions are not paid until a certain level is reached. If the program you are considering has this requirement, check how many sales need to be made before the level is reached.
+ Have you read the affiliate agreement? This is a key area that you should look at. Some affiliate agreements are totally in favour of the supplier. Others are more balanced. Some agreements restrict your ability to promote similar products from other suppliers. Most agreements have anti-spam provisions. Look for agreements that are fair and that do not stack everything against you as the affiliate.
While there are other factors that can be considered when choosing an affiliate program, following the suggestions above will help you to make superior business choices that will lead to long-term success.
About the author:
Article by Kevin Sinclair, CPA, of Be Successful! Business & Personal Success Resources ( http://www.ksinclair.com/ ). He is the author of 2 free ebooks: "Success Secrets" & "How To Choose A Home Based Business". Kevin is also the publisher of "Be Successful News" - a free ezine dedicated to your online business success - to subscribe, visit http://www.ksinclair.com/pbs_news.htm
Affiliate Programs Are Wonderlands Of Opportunities
by: Mal Keenan
Copyright 2005 Mal Keenan
We have previously discussed affiliate programs in passing. But in this article, we're going to get an overview of this subfield of Internet marketing and how it could help bring about some stable and generous earnings for you.
It has been said that affiliate programs are the easiest ways to online riches. There is a lot of truth in that statement, though it must be remembered that affiliate marketing is still a job, albeit one which you could do in the comforts of your own home, hence, you cannot make the most out of it without exerting some effort.
Even if you are not familiar with affiliate programs, I'm sure you have encountered some in your years on the Internet. For certain, you have visited a site that was suggesting a book from www.amazon.com to supplement the information its pages revealed. That site's webmaster, my friend, is an affiliate. And if you decided to purchase the book he recommended, he would have earned a commission from the merchant site.
Amazon, indeed, is the first business model for affiliate programs. There are more, of course, usually asking the affiliate partner to sell web hosting, domain names, and tangible products. But it's the affiliate programs which offer information products that often give the highest commissions.
But first, let's discuss how affiliate programs work. There are three parties in affiliate programs:
* The affiliate merchant
* The affiliate
* The buyer
The affiliate merchant is the one who has products to sell. He would establish an affiliate program to invite affiliates to pre-sell his products. Once the affiliate finds a buyer, he would recommend the same to the affiliate merchant. The affiliate merchant would then sell his products to the buyer. If the buyer buys, the affiliate merchant would give the affiliate his corresponding commission.
Selling and pre-selling are two different things. Pre-selling usually involves referrals and an earnest attempt to convince the buyer to try the products being endorsed. When an affiliate enrolls in an affiliate program, he is given a code which is called an affiliate link. This affiliate link has his designation embedded on it, so whenever a sale is consummated by virtue of the said link, the affiliate program's system would be able to determine that the commission due shall accrue for the affiliate.
Selling, on the other hand, is primarily the task of the affiliate merchant. This includes payment processing, delivery and shipment if applicable, and post-sales support.
Easy isn't it? All you have to do is to enroll in an affiliate program, market the products with your affiliate link, and you could earn wonderful commissions! Plus, you have the option of automating everything through your site, or through some creative strategies that have worked for many people.
But this shouldn't be taken to mean that affiliate marketing can only be carried out through your website. The fact of the matter is, you could be a very successful affiliate even without the benefit of having a website!
These matters we will reserve for another day, so again, I plead, bookmark this site and I promise that you will not regret it.
Affiliate programs can be fertile sources of plentiful earnings. All you have to do is to choose the right one. Here are some points to consider in deciding on an affiliate program:
* Quality of the products
* Salability of the products
* Commission rate dependent of salability of the products (a highly sellable product with an equally high commission is ideal, but a highly sellable product with modest commission is also good, as finding buyers would be easy)
* Credibility of affiliate merchant
* Support from affiliate merchant
Additionally, you could enroll in as many affiliate programs you want. But since you could only have 24 hours in a day to do the marketing, there are risks in diversifying. So proceed with prudence before engaging in many affiliate agreements.
About the author:
For An Affiliate Program You Can Believe In Click Below: http://www.workathomebiz.info/pluginprofitsite.html Discover the Secrets of Starting and Running a Successful Home Business and Receive Loads of Free Bonuses for Subscribing to Our Newsletter: http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/
Copyright 2005 Mal Keenan
We have previously discussed affiliate programs in passing. But in this article, we're going to get an overview of this subfield of Internet marketing and how it could help bring about some stable and generous earnings for you.
It has been said that affiliate programs are the easiest ways to online riches. There is a lot of truth in that statement, though it must be remembered that affiliate marketing is still a job, albeit one which you could do in the comforts of your own home, hence, you cannot make the most out of it without exerting some effort.
Even if you are not familiar with affiliate programs, I'm sure you have encountered some in your years on the Internet. For certain, you have visited a site that was suggesting a book from www.amazon.com to supplement the information its pages revealed. That site's webmaster, my friend, is an affiliate. And if you decided to purchase the book he recommended, he would have earned a commission from the merchant site.
Amazon, indeed, is the first business model for affiliate programs. There are more, of course, usually asking the affiliate partner to sell web hosting, domain names, and tangible products. But it's the affiliate programs which offer information products that often give the highest commissions.
But first, let's discuss how affiliate programs work. There are three parties in affiliate programs:
* The affiliate merchant
* The affiliate
* The buyer
The affiliate merchant is the one who has products to sell. He would establish an affiliate program to invite affiliates to pre-sell his products. Once the affiliate finds a buyer, he would recommend the same to the affiliate merchant. The affiliate merchant would then sell his products to the buyer. If the buyer buys, the affiliate merchant would give the affiliate his corresponding commission.
Selling and pre-selling are two different things. Pre-selling usually involves referrals and an earnest attempt to convince the buyer to try the products being endorsed. When an affiliate enrolls in an affiliate program, he is given a code which is called an affiliate link. This affiliate link has his designation embedded on it, so whenever a sale is consummated by virtue of the said link, the affiliate program's system would be able to determine that the commission due shall accrue for the affiliate.
Selling, on the other hand, is primarily the task of the affiliate merchant. This includes payment processing, delivery and shipment if applicable, and post-sales support.
Easy isn't it? All you have to do is to enroll in an affiliate program, market the products with your affiliate link, and you could earn wonderful commissions! Plus, you have the option of automating everything through your site, or through some creative strategies that have worked for many people.
But this shouldn't be taken to mean that affiliate marketing can only be carried out through your website. The fact of the matter is, you could be a very successful affiliate even without the benefit of having a website!
These matters we will reserve for another day, so again, I plead, bookmark this site and I promise that you will not regret it.
Affiliate programs can be fertile sources of plentiful earnings. All you have to do is to choose the right one. Here are some points to consider in deciding on an affiliate program:
* Quality of the products
* Salability of the products
* Commission rate dependent of salability of the products (a highly sellable product with an equally high commission is ideal, but a highly sellable product with modest commission is also good, as finding buyers would be easy)
* Credibility of affiliate merchant
* Support from affiliate merchant
Additionally, you could enroll in as many affiliate programs you want. But since you could only have 24 hours in a day to do the marketing, there are risks in diversifying. So proceed with prudence before engaging in many affiliate agreements.
About the author:
For An Affiliate Program You Can Believe In Click Below: http://www.workathomebiz.info/pluginprofitsite.html Discover the Secrets of Starting and Running a Successful Home Business and Receive Loads of Free Bonuses for Subscribing to Our Newsletter: http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/
Why Two-Tier Affiliate Programs are Best
by: John Lynch
When you join an affiliate program or start an affiliate program of your own, you have to decide whether it will be a single tier or two-tier affiliate program.
With a single tier program you earn a commission on any sales you make and that is it. If you are running your own affiliate program, you pay your affiliates a commission for any sales they refer and that is all.
However, with a two-tier program, affiliates are allowed to recruit sub-affiliates and are paid a small percentage of the sales these sub-affiliates generate. For example, the affiliates may earn a 30% commission for selling product X himself; and when one of the sub-affiliates makes a sale, the affiliate may get a 10% commission as well. This is very profitable for the affiliate as he can recruit an army of sub-affiliates, all earning commissions for him without any effort on his part except for the initial recruiting process.
If you are starting an affiliate program of your own should it be two-tier or single tier? Some might shy away from the seeming expense of a two-tier program. But is it really that expensive? Many affiliate program managers make the wrong decision on this.
Let's look at an example. You have an affiliate program up and running and an average affiliate joins your program. Mr.Average has a web site that receives average traffic. He also has an ezine with thousands of subscribers published monthly. Mr. Average posts your affiliate links to his web site and promotes your product to his ezine list.
Initially, he generates good sales. However, a point comes when he saturates his market with your product and his sales begin to drop. He begins to lose interest in your program and your sales remain small. What happens if you set up a two-tier program? Rather than trying to keep your commission pay outs small, you motivate your existing affiliates to recruit other people to your program. This will exponentially increase your affiliate sales. Would it not be worth paying the referring affiliate a percentage of their sub-affiliates' sales? Now when Mr.Average joins your affiliate program this is what would happen. When he has saturated his market with your product, he would now promote your affiliate program to his customers and ezine subscribers. Many of Mr.Average's customers and subscribers decide to join the affiliate program. This in turn will motivate Mr.Average to continue promoting your products and recruiting affiliates.
Now what is the situation?
1) Your income increases because of increased sales.
2) You have a much larger customer base to which you can sell 'backend' products.
3) An increase in your income because of the life time loyalty of the customers referred by your affiliate.
4) An army of sub-affiliates who will sell your products, and in turn promote your affiliate program to their customers and subscribers.
The little extra in affiliate sales commission pay outs will be more than compensated for by the exponential sales increase. This is why the two-tier affiliate program is a guaranteed winner and should be the automatic choice for potential affiliates and affiliate program managers.
© John Lynch
( For details of two-tier Affiliate Programs go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/affiliate_programs.html )
Source: www.isnare.com
When you join an affiliate program or start an affiliate program of your own, you have to decide whether it will be a single tier or two-tier affiliate program.
With a single tier program you earn a commission on any sales you make and that is it. If you are running your own affiliate program, you pay your affiliates a commission for any sales they refer and that is all.
However, with a two-tier program, affiliates are allowed to recruit sub-affiliates and are paid a small percentage of the sales these sub-affiliates generate. For example, the affiliates may earn a 30% commission for selling product X himself; and when one of the sub-affiliates makes a sale, the affiliate may get a 10% commission as well. This is very profitable for the affiliate as he can recruit an army of sub-affiliates, all earning commissions for him without any effort on his part except for the initial recruiting process.
If you are starting an affiliate program of your own should it be two-tier or single tier? Some might shy away from the seeming expense of a two-tier program. But is it really that expensive? Many affiliate program managers make the wrong decision on this.
Let's look at an example. You have an affiliate program up and running and an average affiliate joins your program. Mr.Average has a web site that receives average traffic. He also has an ezine with thousands of subscribers published monthly. Mr. Average posts your affiliate links to his web site and promotes your product to his ezine list.
Initially, he generates good sales. However, a point comes when he saturates his market with your product and his sales begin to drop. He begins to lose interest in your program and your sales remain small. What happens if you set up a two-tier program? Rather than trying to keep your commission pay outs small, you motivate your existing affiliates to recruit other people to your program. This will exponentially increase your affiliate sales. Would it not be worth paying the referring affiliate a percentage of their sub-affiliates' sales? Now when Mr.Average joins your affiliate program this is what would happen. When he has saturated his market with your product, he would now promote your affiliate program to his customers and ezine subscribers. Many of Mr.Average's customers and subscribers decide to join the affiliate program. This in turn will motivate Mr.Average to continue promoting your products and recruiting affiliates.
Now what is the situation?
1) Your income increases because of increased sales.
2) You have a much larger customer base to which you can sell 'backend' products.
3) An increase in your income because of the life time loyalty of the customers referred by your affiliate.
4) An army of sub-affiliates who will sell your products, and in turn promote your affiliate program to their customers and subscribers.
The little extra in affiliate sales commission pay outs will be more than compensated for by the exponential sales increase. This is why the two-tier affiliate program is a guaranteed winner and should be the automatic choice for potential affiliates and affiliate program managers.
© John Lynch
( For details of two-tier Affiliate Programs go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/affiliate_programs.html )
Source: www.isnare.com
What To Look For When Choosing Affiliate Programs
by: Jonathan Kraft
So you've decided you want to become an Internet Marketer, huh? Will you sell someone else's products or sell your own?
If you choose to sell someone else's products, how will you know what to look for? After all, this is a new venture for you.
Or maybe it's not. Maybe you have been trying out some affiliate programs which have not brought you any money, or, worse, have not paid you for the affiliate traffic you have sent them.
If you are the new person, or the person who is floundering in Internet Marketing, this article will offer you some simple tips for choosing an affiliate program.
This article doesn't cover getting traffic to your site, which is another huge piece of the puzzle, and will be covered in a later article, but let's just start with choosing affiliate programs.
#1. You should find affiliate programs that:
a) are relatively easy to set up (code is either created for you or easy to create)
b) will pay you well. This depends on your definition of what being paid well means, but generally, for most beginners, and some novices, if you can see yourself being able to make more than $250/month, the program is at least worth looking at
c) give you products which people actually use. There are lots of products in the market which will sell, but do you really want to be selling pet rocks? If you do, please don't take offense. Most legitimate affiliate advice sites won't feature affiliate programs that are exclusively selling something like 8-Track players and tapes. While there are probably collectors out there who would love an 8-track player and cassettes, the fact is that the market is done with 8-tracks. The point is, there should be a genuine need for, or interest in, what you are selling/reselling.
So you find a program which meets the above criteria. Now what? Do a Google search on the company. Find out what people are saying about them. You may have to dig a bit, but the combined experience of the professionals (and not-so-professionals) who develop and contribute to the Internet on a regular basis is, collectively, the best source of advice you will find on making money, or affiliate programs, anywhere.
If you want advice on some great affiliate programs, you can visit sites which have already reviewed the information about companies and present it to you in a straightforward way. If you are ready to find some great affiliate programs, then you will be able to find categories of affiliate programs on these sites, which will generally represent the type of products you would like to sell.
Search engines love content, and so do your site visitors. Content is one of the most important aspects of getting people to your web site, and helping them to see the value in what you're selling. You should strive to choose programs with products which are related to your web site.
In other words, if you have a site which features information about the Toyota Camry, you're going to be pretty hard pressed to be able to get your page content matched up so that you could sell, say... baby rattles.
Find affiliate programs which relate to what you already do, and then promote those products.
Finally, see if you can find someone to actually talk to (ok, email would be okay) who has received regular checks or payments from marketing products. We think that this is, perhaps, the most important part of any affiliate program, because the main reason you promote their products is to receive a check for your efforts.
So there you have it, some simple tips for choosing great affiliate programs! Hope this helps you to reach your income goals, and also helps you to develop a long-term plan for on and off-line financial and personal success.
Jonathan Kraft has been an online marketer for many years. He is a massage therapist, web designer, legal services broker, has been a high school teacher, and is an all around nice guy. He works with a team of people on www.affiliateadvice.us, where you can check out some great affiliate programs that meet all the above criteria.
So you've decided you want to become an Internet Marketer, huh? Will you sell someone else's products or sell your own?
If you choose to sell someone else's products, how will you know what to look for? After all, this is a new venture for you.
Or maybe it's not. Maybe you have been trying out some affiliate programs which have not brought you any money, or, worse, have not paid you for the affiliate traffic you have sent them.
If you are the new person, or the person who is floundering in Internet Marketing, this article will offer you some simple tips for choosing an affiliate program.
This article doesn't cover getting traffic to your site, which is another huge piece of the puzzle, and will be covered in a later article, but let's just start with choosing affiliate programs.
#1. You should find affiliate programs that:
a) are relatively easy to set up (code is either created for you or easy to create)
b) will pay you well. This depends on your definition of what being paid well means, but generally, for most beginners, and some novices, if you can see yourself being able to make more than $250/month, the program is at least worth looking at
c) give you products which people actually use. There are lots of products in the market which will sell, but do you really want to be selling pet rocks? If you do, please don't take offense. Most legitimate affiliate advice sites won't feature affiliate programs that are exclusively selling something like 8-Track players and tapes. While there are probably collectors out there who would love an 8-track player and cassettes, the fact is that the market is done with 8-tracks. The point is, there should be a genuine need for, or interest in, what you are selling/reselling.
So you find a program which meets the above criteria. Now what? Do a Google search on the company. Find out what people are saying about them. You may have to dig a bit, but the combined experience of the professionals (and not-so-professionals) who develop and contribute to the Internet on a regular basis is, collectively, the best source of advice you will find on making money, or affiliate programs, anywhere.
If you want advice on some great affiliate programs, you can visit sites which have already reviewed the information about companies and present it to you in a straightforward way. If you are ready to find some great affiliate programs, then you will be able to find categories of affiliate programs on these sites, which will generally represent the type of products you would like to sell.
Search engines love content, and so do your site visitors. Content is one of the most important aspects of getting people to your web site, and helping them to see the value in what you're selling. You should strive to choose programs with products which are related to your web site.
In other words, if you have a site which features information about the Toyota Camry, you're going to be pretty hard pressed to be able to get your page content matched up so that you could sell, say... baby rattles.
Find affiliate programs which relate to what you already do, and then promote those products.
Finally, see if you can find someone to actually talk to (ok, email would be okay) who has received regular checks or payments from marketing products. We think that this is, perhaps, the most important part of any affiliate program, because the main reason you promote their products is to receive a check for your efforts.
So there you have it, some simple tips for choosing great affiliate programs! Hope this helps you to reach your income goals, and also helps you to develop a long-term plan for on and off-line financial and personal success.
Jonathan Kraft has been an online marketer for many years. He is a massage therapist, web designer, legal services broker, has been a high school teacher, and is an all around nice guy. He works with a team of people on www.affiliateadvice.us, where you can check out some great affiliate programs that meet all the above criteria.
7 Tips to Choosing a Successful Affiliate Program
by: David McKenzie
When selecting an affiliate program to join you need to know how to choose a successful affiliate program.
Look in the wrong place and you might find a dud but look in the right place and you might be on to a winner.
Here are 7 tips to help you choose a successful affiliate program to join:
1. Look at associateprograms.com This is the ‘affiliate central' of affiliate programs. You can virtually guarantee to find a successful program here and you can choose from tons of subject areas.
2. Look at clickbank.com Nearly every product they have for sale has an affiliate program. Many of them are extremely good and most pay very high commissions. (some over 50%)
3. Affiliate resource sites usually offer their best affiliate programs. As affiliate resources sites are specialists in affiliate programs you can be pretty sure of choosing a
successful affiliate program from them.
4. Look for affiliate programs that are offered through any ezines you receive. Chances are the ezine owner has an
affiliate program and if they have a good ezine they probably will have a good affiliate program.
5. Think of things that ALWAYS sell. Like web site design, ebooks, music and travel. Stick to proven online sellers and the affiliate program will have a much greater chance of being successful.
6. Seek out articles on affiliate programs. There are many good writers out there who have been successful with affiliate programs. Try to find articles they have written to see what
has worked for them.
7. Take courses. Many sites offer free online email courses for affiliates. Take some of these courses to learn more about what it takes to be a successful affiliate.
Affiliate programs are a great way to make money but one of the secrets to affiliate success is to choose the right program in the first place. Use these 7 tips to help you succeed.
About the Author
David McKenzie is offering a Free Email Course
"5 Tips to Being Successful with Affiliate Programs"
==> http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.com
Click now for your FREE course!
When selecting an affiliate program to join you need to know how to choose a successful affiliate program.
Look in the wrong place and you might find a dud but look in the right place and you might be on to a winner.
Here are 7 tips to help you choose a successful affiliate program to join:
1. Look at associateprograms.com This is the ‘affiliate central' of affiliate programs. You can virtually guarantee to find a successful program here and you can choose from tons of subject areas.
2. Look at clickbank.com Nearly every product they have for sale has an affiliate program. Many of them are extremely good and most pay very high commissions. (some over 50%)
3. Affiliate resource sites usually offer their best affiliate programs. As affiliate resources sites are specialists in affiliate programs you can be pretty sure of choosing a
successful affiliate program from them.
4. Look for affiliate programs that are offered through any ezines you receive. Chances are the ezine owner has an
affiliate program and if they have a good ezine they probably will have a good affiliate program.
5. Think of things that ALWAYS sell. Like web site design, ebooks, music and travel. Stick to proven online sellers and the affiliate program will have a much greater chance of being successful.
6. Seek out articles on affiliate programs. There are many good writers out there who have been successful with affiliate programs. Try to find articles they have written to see what
has worked for them.
7. Take courses. Many sites offer free online email courses for affiliates. Take some of these courses to learn more about what it takes to be a successful affiliate.
Affiliate programs are a great way to make money but one of the secrets to affiliate success is to choose the right program in the first place. Use these 7 tips to help you succeed.
About the Author
David McKenzie is offering a Free Email Course
"5 Tips to Being Successful with Affiliate Programs"
==> http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.com
Click now for your FREE course!
How to make money with Affiliate Programs - The Sensible Way
by: Xavier Nelson
Every day, thousands of would-be marketers scour the internet
looking for any and every affiliate program, sign up, sit back
and wait for the money to pour in and get frustrated just as
fast when the bank balance still shows a big, fat ZERO!
There are tons of guru's floating around and even more eBooks
and articles claiming to know the latest and greatest trick to
make tons of money with no effort at all (oh and of course,
unless you use their method then you will never, ever get
anywhere in your online business and stay broke the rest of
your life). We've all seen these before.
Let's get real for a moment.
If you don't put any effort into your marketing and don't
spread the word of whatever you are marketing, then you will
get exactly that much out of your effort.
Zero effort = Zero results!
I hope that's plain enough and now let's have a look at the
sensible way to market your affiliate programs, so you can
actually earn some of that Internet-Money-Pie (and it's yummy
too).
There are two types of affiliate programs generally. Those that
pay you (1-tier) and those that pay you, plus they pay you a
bonus for actions taken by visitors sent by other webmasters
you have referred (2-tier).
Let's think about that for a moment. What's the easier way to
make money? You sell a bunch of products and get paid on that
alone, or if you sell product and also introduce the affiliate
program to a bunch of webmasters who in turn also sell and they
earn a nice commission and you get a bonus every single time
they sell something, just for having referred them to the
affiliate program?
Ok, I know you probably just smacked your forhead and
said 'Duh' quite loudly and think I am stating the plain and
obvious.
If you can get others to do the same thing you are doing, by
keeping in touch with them and helping them and duplicating
your efforts, then of course it stands to reason that the bonus
you receive for referring the webmasters will generate
potentially a large team of people making you money.
So, your first task is to find good, well-paying 2-tier
affiliate programs. You can always use single tier programs as
a back end sale or on other projects, don't get me wrong, they
will still make you money, but right now, we want to get you
started off on the right foot to your own internet income.
So, you've gone out and found a well-paying affiliate program,
and you are ready to rumble and make money... Not So Fast!!!
How are you going to promote it? What is your plan of attack?
That's another problem many marketers run into, they just run
off and don't think before they act and that again results in a
lot less return for all of your efforts.
Here's what I have done in the past and always do each time.
Feel free to try this out and see the results for yourself.
After finding the affiliate program I want to promote, I check
the resource material provided by the program. Sometimes,
depending on how new the program is, I use their material to
get things rolling but almost every time, I start to write some
ads of my own, perhaps an article or even an ebook that I can
use to promote the product and the affiliate program with.
Some of those resources are available to readers of the
eBusinessCornerNews newsletter if you are interested.
Another thing I do, after putting together all the marketing
material I want to use is to check out the competion that's
already in the market. I don't really care if there is
competition, as a matter of fact, many times that is a good
indicator that there is a good demand for the type of product I
am promoting. You can do this pretty easily by just going to a
search engine and typing in keywords you associate with the
product for example (there are a lot of additional ways to do
this that we discuss in our newsletter).
There are a ton of places you can advertise your product, and
the marketing material you are using, such as article
directories, free advertising forums or websites, you can even
find a lot of ezines that allow you to place free classifieds
and websites you can post your ad on, at no cost.
Another thing that is handy to have is a website of my own,
where I can post my thoughts and comments (nothing sells better
than your own, plain english comments and reviews) along with
any other articles I can find that will help to draw visitors
in and make the search engines list my site better.
Most of the time, I will take a few of my articles and turn
them into a free ebook, or post the articles in article
directories where other webmasters are permitted to reprint
them in their own newsletter, provided they leave my resource
box (see the bottom of this article for an example) in place.
So now they are spreading the word for me, driving traffic on
my behalf and generating orders too.
But I like to help, as much as I like to earn money too, so
here's what I do most of the time.
When I find a good newsletter that I like then I touch base
with that publisher and offer him the article, but I also tell
him it's for a 2-tier affiliate program and if he would like,
then he could use my article, if he either leaves my box in
place or signs up under me and then I let him add his link into
my box, so he can earn the bigger piece of the pie and I get
the bonus commissions from his sales.
Now, why would I do that? Simple...
I do that, because there's a much better chance that he will
send out my article sooner, rather than later because now he
has the potential to earn money with it too.
Find a few publishers like that and you are well on your road
to getting a nice piece of the pie and the great thing is that
anytime you find a new affiliate program to promote and write a
new article, you already have made contacts that you can send
it to, so it gets easier every time and takes a lot less effort
on your part.
Well, there you have the sensible way of making money with
affiliate programs.
(Note: There are a lot of other methods available to market
your affiliate program and earn money, but this is one of the
best methods I have ever used.)
Here's to your success,
Xavier
P.s. Quit reading this article already and get out there and
find yourself a good affiliate program and start making money.
Now get moving...
(Note: You have permission to reprint this article in it's
entirety, provided you do not change the article in any way and
leave the Resource Box above intact. If you would like to earn
money with this article, please visit
http://www.makemoneymarketingonline.com today and sign up for
the generous 2-tier affiliate program that pays 50% for any
sales you make, plus an additional 20% for any sales generated
by webmasters you refer into the program)
About the Author
Xavier Nelson is the publisher of eBusinessCornerNews, a newsletter dedicated to bringing you the latest news, articles, reviews, free resources and tools along with an opinionated view on the world of 'Making Money Online'.
Check out his newest product and brandnew, 2-tier affiliate program at http://www.makemoneymarketingonline.com
Every day, thousands of would-be marketers scour the internet
looking for any and every affiliate program, sign up, sit back
and wait for the money to pour in and get frustrated just as
fast when the bank balance still shows a big, fat ZERO!
There are tons of guru's floating around and even more eBooks
and articles claiming to know the latest and greatest trick to
make tons of money with no effort at all (oh and of course,
unless you use their method then you will never, ever get
anywhere in your online business and stay broke the rest of
your life). We've all seen these before.
Let's get real for a moment.
If you don't put any effort into your marketing and don't
spread the word of whatever you are marketing, then you will
get exactly that much out of your effort.
Zero effort = Zero results!
I hope that's plain enough and now let's have a look at the
sensible way to market your affiliate programs, so you can
actually earn some of that Internet-Money-Pie (and it's yummy
too).
There are two types of affiliate programs generally. Those that
pay you (1-tier) and those that pay you, plus they pay you a
bonus for actions taken by visitors sent by other webmasters
you have referred (2-tier).
Let's think about that for a moment. What's the easier way to
make money? You sell a bunch of products and get paid on that
alone, or if you sell product and also introduce the affiliate
program to a bunch of webmasters who in turn also sell and they
earn a nice commission and you get a bonus every single time
they sell something, just for having referred them to the
affiliate program?
Ok, I know you probably just smacked your forhead and
said 'Duh' quite loudly and think I am stating the plain and
obvious.
If you can get others to do the same thing you are doing, by
keeping in touch with them and helping them and duplicating
your efforts, then of course it stands to reason that the bonus
you receive for referring the webmasters will generate
potentially a large team of people making you money.
So, your first task is to find good, well-paying 2-tier
affiliate programs. You can always use single tier programs as
a back end sale or on other projects, don't get me wrong, they
will still make you money, but right now, we want to get you
started off on the right foot to your own internet income.
So, you've gone out and found a well-paying affiliate program,
and you are ready to rumble and make money... Not So Fast!!!
How are you going to promote it? What is your plan of attack?
That's another problem many marketers run into, they just run
off and don't think before they act and that again results in a
lot less return for all of your efforts.
Here's what I have done in the past and always do each time.
Feel free to try this out and see the results for yourself.
After finding the affiliate program I want to promote, I check
the resource material provided by the program. Sometimes,
depending on how new the program is, I use their material to
get things rolling but almost every time, I start to write some
ads of my own, perhaps an article or even an ebook that I can
use to promote the product and the affiliate program with.
Some of those resources are available to readers of the
eBusinessCornerNews newsletter if you are interested.
Another thing I do, after putting together all the marketing
material I want to use is to check out the competion that's
already in the market. I don't really care if there is
competition, as a matter of fact, many times that is a good
indicator that there is a good demand for the type of product I
am promoting. You can do this pretty easily by just going to a
search engine and typing in keywords you associate with the
product for example (there are a lot of additional ways to do
this that we discuss in our newsletter).
There are a ton of places you can advertise your product, and
the marketing material you are using, such as article
directories, free advertising forums or websites, you can even
find a lot of ezines that allow you to place free classifieds
and websites you can post your ad on, at no cost.
Another thing that is handy to have is a website of my own,
where I can post my thoughts and comments (nothing sells better
than your own, plain english comments and reviews) along with
any other articles I can find that will help to draw visitors
in and make the search engines list my site better.
Most of the time, I will take a few of my articles and turn
them into a free ebook, or post the articles in article
directories where other webmasters are permitted to reprint
them in their own newsletter, provided they leave my resource
box (see the bottom of this article for an example) in place.
So now they are spreading the word for me, driving traffic on
my behalf and generating orders too.
But I like to help, as much as I like to earn money too, so
here's what I do most of the time.
When I find a good newsletter that I like then I touch base
with that publisher and offer him the article, but I also tell
him it's for a 2-tier affiliate program and if he would like,
then he could use my article, if he either leaves my box in
place or signs up under me and then I let him add his link into
my box, so he can earn the bigger piece of the pie and I get
the bonus commissions from his sales.
Now, why would I do that? Simple...
I do that, because there's a much better chance that he will
send out my article sooner, rather than later because now he
has the potential to earn money with it too.
Find a few publishers like that and you are well on your road
to getting a nice piece of the pie and the great thing is that
anytime you find a new affiliate program to promote and write a
new article, you already have made contacts that you can send
it to, so it gets easier every time and takes a lot less effort
on your part.
Well, there you have the sensible way of making money with
affiliate programs.
(Note: There are a lot of other methods available to market
your affiliate program and earn money, but this is one of the
best methods I have ever used.)
Here's to your success,
Xavier
P.s. Quit reading this article already and get out there and
find yourself a good affiliate program and start making money.
Now get moving...
(Note: You have permission to reprint this article in it's
entirety, provided you do not change the article in any way and
leave the Resource Box above intact. If you would like to earn
money with this article, please visit
http://www.makemoneymarketingonline.com today and sign up for
the generous 2-tier affiliate program that pays 50% for any
sales you make, plus an additional 20% for any sales generated
by webmasters you refer into the program)
About the Author
Xavier Nelson is the publisher of eBusinessCornerNews, a newsletter dedicated to bringing you the latest news, articles, reviews, free resources and tools along with an opinionated view on the world of 'Making Money Online'.
Check out his newest product and brandnew, 2-tier affiliate program at http://www.makemoneymarketingonline.com
Choosing the Best Affiliate Program - What You Absolutely Must Know
by: Michael Turner
Choosing the best affiliate program means that you are aware of what affiliate programs are and what their ultimate benefits and drawbacks are. To choose the best affiliate program, you will want to decide on one that has the most benefits with the least drawbacks. There are many affiliate programs available online, many of them which are not worth even reading about. Because of this fact, you will need to do your research, talk to other affiliate members, and be 100% sure about the type of affiliate program you are looking for. There are some really good programs available, you just need to be persistent, patient, and ask a lot of questions. The following suggestions will help you choose the best possible affiliate program for you.
* Commission
Of course, if you are joining an affiliate program you are doing so for the commissions. There are affiliate programs available online that offer great commissions to their affiliates in order to keep them active and working hard. Then there are other programs that do not pay well, do not keep up with referrals, and basically cheat the affiliate out of hard earned money. Make sure you know exactly what kind of program you are getting involved with and that you will make good money for your time and effort.
* Good Products
Another important aspect of the affiliate programs you are looking at are the products. You might see an affiliate program that has the equivalent of a mall with links to thousands of products. The thought might enter your head that more links equals more business, but in this scenario it is not necessarily true. Generally, the affiliate programs that recognize the most success sell one quality product that a large percentage of the population can use, need, afford, and will actually want. This is the best type of affiliate program to associate yourself with and what you should be looking for.
* Experience
Experience is also important when it comes to affiliate programs. You want to work for an affiliate program that is settled in the market, that knows how to handle the business it is involved in as well as its employees, and is concerned with treating workers fairly and rewarding them for hard work. An experienced affiliate program knows what works and what doesn't, so don't be tempted to sign up for a brand new affiliate program just because you want to be one of the first people to join... this might not work to your advantage. It is very important to always do your research before jumping in!
About the Author
Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
Choosing the best affiliate program means that you are aware of what affiliate programs are and what their ultimate benefits and drawbacks are. To choose the best affiliate program, you will want to decide on one that has the most benefits with the least drawbacks. There are many affiliate programs available online, many of them which are not worth even reading about. Because of this fact, you will need to do your research, talk to other affiliate members, and be 100% sure about the type of affiliate program you are looking for. There are some really good programs available, you just need to be persistent, patient, and ask a lot of questions. The following suggestions will help you choose the best possible affiliate program for you.
* Commission
Of course, if you are joining an affiliate program you are doing so for the commissions. There are affiliate programs available online that offer great commissions to their affiliates in order to keep them active and working hard. Then there are other programs that do not pay well, do not keep up with referrals, and basically cheat the affiliate out of hard earned money. Make sure you know exactly what kind of program you are getting involved with and that you will make good money for your time and effort.
* Good Products
Another important aspect of the affiliate programs you are looking at are the products. You might see an affiliate program that has the equivalent of a mall with links to thousands of products. The thought might enter your head that more links equals more business, but in this scenario it is not necessarily true. Generally, the affiliate programs that recognize the most success sell one quality product that a large percentage of the population can use, need, afford, and will actually want. This is the best type of affiliate program to associate yourself with and what you should be looking for.
* Experience
Experience is also important when it comes to affiliate programs. You want to work for an affiliate program that is settled in the market, that knows how to handle the business it is involved in as well as its employees, and is concerned with treating workers fairly and rewarding them for hard work. An experienced affiliate program knows what works and what doesn't, so don't be tempted to sign up for a brand new affiliate program just because you want to be one of the first people to join... this might not work to your advantage. It is very important to always do your research before jumping in!
About the Author
Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
Internet Affiliate Programs: The Fundamentals of Creating Income
by: Wei-Ni Chong
Affiliate programs uses a simple concept for you to create an income online: Earn commissions when you make a sale. You don't need to worry about the costs for setting up the business nor advertising. It costs zero! When we think of successful online businesses, websites such as: Amazon.com (biggest online bookstore), eBay.com (largest auction website), Yahoo.com (most well-known search engine) usually spring into mind. On the contrary, you probably have heard of dot-com companies turned dot-bombs. So you think, "How do I make money on the internet when I don't have money to advertise like those big guys such as Amazon.com or Yahoo.com?"
. Well, you don't need money to make money! There are several ways to make money through the internet, and one of them is through affiliate programs. Best of all, it costs nothing to sign up!
"What are affiliate programs? Isn't it just another get-rich quick plot or some hocus-pocus that's all a scam?"
Affiliate programs (also known as referral/associate programs) are legitimate and not get-rich-quick scams. It's a simple concept: Earn commission for each sale you make. As a matter of fact, even big guys like Amazon.com launched affiliate programs to fuel their sales and to increase their brand, hence that further proves my point that affiliate programs aren't scams.
How Affiliate Programs Work.
Using Amazon.com as an example, here's an illustration on how affiliate programs work.
An affiliate (let's call her 'Lily') owns a website about movie-making, so she chose a few books related to her website including the best-seller "How to Write a Hollywood Movie Script in 5 minutes!"
Lily then puts unique links to each of these books on her website that enables Amazon to identify the visitor she sends. One of Lily's visitors was so impressed by Lily's review on the book "How to Write a Hollywood Movie Script in 5 minutes!" that she wanted to buy it immediately, the visitor then saw "Buy it now on Amazon.com!".. CLICK!
The visitor enters the Amazon site, Amazon identifies this visitor is from Lily. The visitor then checks out with the book and pays using credit card. Lily is paid a commission on that sale!
Affiliate Programs vs. Selling Your Own Products on the Web
Sure enough as a web merchant, you get 100% of the profits made. But you will have to fuss with start-up costs, advertising, marketing, shipping, credit-card processing, products/ services to maintain, customer services, customer complaints, web hosting, accounting, staff training.
Phew! That's a lot work! But.
As an affiliate, you don't need your own products to sell; you don't need to incur the costs: Your start-up cost is zero; and you don't have to deal with the customers' orders or accounting or all the above because the merchant will handle all these for you. In some affiliate programs, you can also recruit and train sub-affiliates under you. Your training pays off when your sub-affiliate gets a sale, because you earn 'training commission' too. I'll get more in-depth about this later in the article.
"But I'm not a computer or internet-savvy person! I don't have a website too!"
Don't worry! An effective affiliate finds thousands of ideas to sell online, or offline! You can advertise locally in newspapers, in articles you write, recommend it to friends, notice boards, etc. There are no limits.
"Great! How do I start?"
As easy as it sounds, I'm sad to say that it's not a piece of cake if you plan to sit there and wait for the cash to come to you. In the affiliate business, it follows the 80-20 rule - 80% of the benefit is only achieved by 20% of the affiliates. So if you want to get rich quick, affiliate program isn't for you. but if you want to be one of the 20% affiliates who get 80% of the benefit. read on.
First of all, ask yourself why you want to start an affiliate business on the internet.
"Um. to earn some cash and buy things I want"
No, I want you to be as specific as possible.
For example, "I want to increase my income so that I can afford a sports car and have the ultimate sense of pride when I drive into the yard of my friends who said that I will never succeed in making money on the internet! I want my friends to be envious; I want to prove them wrong!"
When you know what you want and the more specific you get, the stronger your commitment, determination and persistence to succeed will be.
I know it sounds really corny, but it is a simple rule that the 80% affiliates don't follow!
Secondly, you must.
Choose a Good Affiliate Program
There are many affiliate programs out there but you need to focus on the ones that work for you. I suggest a few good criteria to look for in affiliate programs:
1) High-value products/services
When I said 'value', I don't mean the price tag. Let's say, you are an affiliate for 2 companies which are in similar industries, both offering 30% commission. One sells its product for $50 and the other for $150. So you think,
"Hmmm. When I make a sale, I get more commission from company no.2 ($45) than company no.1 ($15). Wow!"
Although it is simple logic, ask yourself this question first, "will I buy this $150 product when I know there are cheaper ones out there?"
Think like your customer, question yourself "Am I paying my money's worth on this product?", "Does the company offer great value for a dollar?"
If you answer 'no' for both these questions, you'll know that the company will eventually die.
2) High Affiliate and Customer Support
One of the key areas to look for when choosing a good affiliate program is their support system. A company that values its customers and affiliates is a company that grows. The company must be able to provide as many resources for their affiliates to promote their products, e.g. training, newsletters, banners, free stuff, etc.
Furthermore, it should also listen to its customers' suggestions, complaints and be able to keep their customers happy. Remember, happy customers mean long-lasting company as happy customers will spread the good word of the company and its products, which means there will be more business opportunities for you!
3) Team Sales
There are some affiliate programs that allow you to recruit sub-affiliates under you. When your sub-affiliates perform well, you are also rewarded with a 'coaching' commission for their sales because it is your duty as a team leader to coach your sub-affiliates. Although most affiliate programs on the internet doesn't support team-building, it is preferable that you choose one that does. The reason is simply:
T.E.A.M = Together Everyone Achieves More
Sure enough, you can do the whole affiliate business by being a lone ranger, but you are limiting your own capacity to earn more. Moreover, the results are two-fold: you will enjoy a second stream of income (unless you plan to do it full-time) AND the satisfactions of helping others to earn another source of income too!
4) Repeat Sales Potential
Other than achieving one-time sales, it is recommended if the affiliate program entitles you to lifetime customers, which means 'once your customer, always your customer!'
A company with a good sales structure will retain their customers and encourage repeat sales. Thus, you get commissions for repeat sales too.
5) Reputable and Reliable Company
Check the company's history on the newsgroup or http://groups.google.com, and find out whether it's well-established. Are their customers satisfied? Are the affiliates happy? Does the company keep changing the affiliate policy? I'm sure no one wants their affiliate business suddenly gone because the merchant company failed!
An Ideal Affiliate Program
A great example of a company that meets all the criteria listed above is:
Sitesell Company
http://www.sitesell.com/ff.html
Their affiliate program, 5 Pillar Club, was named 'The best affiliate program on the net' by affiliatesdirectory.com, a web directory that tracks thousands of affiliate programs on the net.
Furthermore the top affiliate guru, Allan Gardyne, ranked it as one of the top affiliate program in his website, associateprograms.com
Lastly, Open Your Mind to Creative Ideas
Read as many articles/books as possible on the subject of selling or marketing to expand your mind to accept more ideas and concepts on how to sell! There are a lot of information on the internet to help you in your affiliate business, it costs zero to invest in your greatest asset. you. (Note: It's not 'your brain' because you need your arms and legs to put your thoughts into action! ;D )
To help you get started on the technical aspect, here's a great starter pack: a free e-mail course on affiliate business-building.
Just send a blank e-mail to:
The Affiliate Masters Course by Ken Evoy: tamsff@sitesell.net
I hope you enjoy building your own affiliate business as much as I do. I wish you success in your journey!
About the Author
Wei-Ni Chong is a young entrepreneur and a webmaster of http://www.SetAFocus.com, a highly informative web community for young entrepreneurs.
Affiliate programs uses a simple concept for you to create an income online: Earn commissions when you make a sale. You don't need to worry about the costs for setting up the business nor advertising. It costs zero! When we think of successful online businesses, websites such as: Amazon.com (biggest online bookstore), eBay.com (largest auction website), Yahoo.com (most well-known search engine) usually spring into mind. On the contrary, you probably have heard of dot-com companies turned dot-bombs. So you think, "How do I make money on the internet when I don't have money to advertise like those big guys such as Amazon.com or Yahoo.com?"
. Well, you don't need money to make money! There are several ways to make money through the internet, and one of them is through affiliate programs. Best of all, it costs nothing to sign up!
"What are affiliate programs? Isn't it just another get-rich quick plot or some hocus-pocus that's all a scam?"
Affiliate programs (also known as referral/associate programs) are legitimate and not get-rich-quick scams. It's a simple concept: Earn commission for each sale you make. As a matter of fact, even big guys like Amazon.com launched affiliate programs to fuel their sales and to increase their brand, hence that further proves my point that affiliate programs aren't scams.
How Affiliate Programs Work.
Using Amazon.com as an example, here's an illustration on how affiliate programs work.
An affiliate (let's call her 'Lily') owns a website about movie-making, so she chose a few books related to her website including the best-seller "How to Write a Hollywood Movie Script in 5 minutes!"
Lily then puts unique links to each of these books on her website that enables Amazon to identify the visitor she sends. One of Lily's visitors was so impressed by Lily's review on the book "How to Write a Hollywood Movie Script in 5 minutes!" that she wanted to buy it immediately, the visitor then saw "Buy it now on Amazon.com!".. CLICK!
The visitor enters the Amazon site, Amazon identifies this visitor is from Lily. The visitor then checks out with the book and pays using credit card. Lily is paid a commission on that sale!
Affiliate Programs vs. Selling Your Own Products on the Web
Sure enough as a web merchant, you get 100% of the profits made. But you will have to fuss with start-up costs, advertising, marketing, shipping, credit-card processing, products/ services to maintain, customer services, customer complaints, web hosting, accounting, staff training.
Phew! That's a lot work! But.
As an affiliate, you don't need your own products to sell; you don't need to incur the costs: Your start-up cost is zero; and you don't have to deal with the customers' orders or accounting or all the above because the merchant will handle all these for you. In some affiliate programs, you can also recruit and train sub-affiliates under you. Your training pays off when your sub-affiliate gets a sale, because you earn 'training commission' too. I'll get more in-depth about this later in the article.
"But I'm not a computer or internet-savvy person! I don't have a website too!"
Don't worry! An effective affiliate finds thousands of ideas to sell online, or offline! You can advertise locally in newspapers, in articles you write, recommend it to friends, notice boards, etc. There are no limits.
"Great! How do I start?"
As easy as it sounds, I'm sad to say that it's not a piece of cake if you plan to sit there and wait for the cash to come to you. In the affiliate business, it follows the 80-20 rule - 80% of the benefit is only achieved by 20% of the affiliates. So if you want to get rich quick, affiliate program isn't for you. but if you want to be one of the 20% affiliates who get 80% of the benefit. read on.
First of all, ask yourself why you want to start an affiliate business on the internet.
"Um. to earn some cash and buy things I want"
No, I want you to be as specific as possible.
For example, "I want to increase my income so that I can afford a sports car and have the ultimate sense of pride when I drive into the yard of my friends who said that I will never succeed in making money on the internet! I want my friends to be envious; I want to prove them wrong!"
When you know what you want and the more specific you get, the stronger your commitment, determination and persistence to succeed will be.
I know it sounds really corny, but it is a simple rule that the 80% affiliates don't follow!
Secondly, you must.
Choose a Good Affiliate Program
There are many affiliate programs out there but you need to focus on the ones that work for you. I suggest a few good criteria to look for in affiliate programs:
1) High-value products/services
When I said 'value', I don't mean the price tag. Let's say, you are an affiliate for 2 companies which are in similar industries, both offering 30% commission. One sells its product for $50 and the other for $150. So you think,
"Hmmm. When I make a sale, I get more commission from company no.2 ($45) than company no.1 ($15). Wow!"
Although it is simple logic, ask yourself this question first, "will I buy this $150 product when I know there are cheaper ones out there?"
Think like your customer, question yourself "Am I paying my money's worth on this product?", "Does the company offer great value for a dollar?"
If you answer 'no' for both these questions, you'll know that the company will eventually die.
2) High Affiliate and Customer Support
One of the key areas to look for when choosing a good affiliate program is their support system. A company that values its customers and affiliates is a company that grows. The company must be able to provide as many resources for their affiliates to promote their products, e.g. training, newsletters, banners, free stuff, etc.
Furthermore, it should also listen to its customers' suggestions, complaints and be able to keep their customers happy. Remember, happy customers mean long-lasting company as happy customers will spread the good word of the company and its products, which means there will be more business opportunities for you!
3) Team Sales
There are some affiliate programs that allow you to recruit sub-affiliates under you. When your sub-affiliates perform well, you are also rewarded with a 'coaching' commission for their sales because it is your duty as a team leader to coach your sub-affiliates. Although most affiliate programs on the internet doesn't support team-building, it is preferable that you choose one that does. The reason is simply:
T.E.A.M = Together Everyone Achieves More
Sure enough, you can do the whole affiliate business by being a lone ranger, but you are limiting your own capacity to earn more. Moreover, the results are two-fold: you will enjoy a second stream of income (unless you plan to do it full-time) AND the satisfactions of helping others to earn another source of income too!
4) Repeat Sales Potential
Other than achieving one-time sales, it is recommended if the affiliate program entitles you to lifetime customers, which means 'once your customer, always your customer!'
A company with a good sales structure will retain their customers and encourage repeat sales. Thus, you get commissions for repeat sales too.
5) Reputable and Reliable Company
Check the company's history on the newsgroup or http://groups.google.com, and find out whether it's well-established. Are their customers satisfied? Are the affiliates happy? Does the company keep changing the affiliate policy? I'm sure no one wants their affiliate business suddenly gone because the merchant company failed!
An Ideal Affiliate Program
A great example of a company that meets all the criteria listed above is:
Sitesell Company
http://www.sitesell.com/ff.html
Their affiliate program, 5 Pillar Club, was named 'The best affiliate program on the net' by affiliatesdirectory.com, a web directory that tracks thousands of affiliate programs on the net.
Furthermore the top affiliate guru, Allan Gardyne, ranked it as one of the top affiliate program in his website, associateprograms.com
Lastly, Open Your Mind to Creative Ideas
Read as many articles/books as possible on the subject of selling or marketing to expand your mind to accept more ideas and concepts on how to sell! There are a lot of information on the internet to help you in your affiliate business, it costs zero to invest in your greatest asset. you. (Note: It's not 'your brain' because you need your arms and legs to put your thoughts into action! ;D )
To help you get started on the technical aspect, here's a great starter pack: a free e-mail course on affiliate business-building.
Just send a blank e-mail to:
The Affiliate Masters Course by Ken Evoy: tamsff@sitesell.net
I hope you enjoy building your own affiliate business as much as I do. I wish you success in your journey!
About the Author
Wei-Ni Chong is a young entrepreneur and a webmaster of http://www.SetAFocus.com, a highly informative web community for young entrepreneurs.
Affiliate Programs : Golden Opportunity or Waste of Time?
by: Steven O. Ng
Now that the idea of doing business over the internet has been firmly established, many potential internet businessmen are searching for the best way to do business. Usually the choice comes down to whether you want to set up your own business and online store, or sign up for an affiliate program.
First of all, let's define what we mean by an affiliate program. An affiliate program is basically an internet business set up by someone else. They could be selling physical goods, education, information or any other products that can be sold online. By signing up as their affiliate, you are helping them promote their business or store. In return, they will pay you a commission for each sale you bring them. The amount of commission varies between different affiliate programs. Examples of affiliate programs include Amazon.com and Wordtracker, which you can visit at:
http://www.onlinebiz-help.com/links/wordtracker.html
1) EARNINGS
So how does an affiliate program differ from starting your own online store? Let's start by looking at the potential earnings. (After all, the main reason everyone wants to start an internet business is for the money). When you sign up for an affiliate program, you will be paid a commission for each sale you refer to the online store. This commission can range from 5% to 15% for physical products, and possibly up to 50% or more for virtual products such as subscriptions and ebooks.
On the other hand, if you start your own store, your profit can be much higher. For virtual products, your profit can be 100% of your selling price. After all, once the newsletter or ebook is created, you do not need to spend any more effort. When someone buys your ebook, they just download it from your website. If you are selling a physical product, your profit depends on whether you are manufacturing the product yourself, or buying from a wholesaler or dropshipping company. Your profit in this case could easily be more than 40% or 50%.
So, if you only consider the potential earnings, starting your own business is more lucrative than joining an affiliate program.
2) LOGISTICS
However, money isn't everything (Or so they say). When you are starting your own internet business, there are a number of logistic issues you need to look at. Here are a few things you would need to take care of:
a) Create your website
b) Design your product (if you are selling new products)
c) Create your product (if you are selling new physical products, or any virtual products)
d) Set up an online store
e) Set up a merchant account or payment gateway
f) Set up a warehouse or storage space (if you are selling physical products)
g) Have procedures and staff ready to fulfill orders
h) Set up an affiliate program to get others to market the products for you
i) Monitor for fraud
j) Monitor stock levels
As they say, "No pain, no gain". Having your own store pays very well, but requires a substantial time investment from you.
On the other hand, if you sign up for an affiliate program, all you need to do is set up a website to promote the program. All the ads, banners, marketing text etc will be provided to you by the affiliate program. Your only responsibilities would be to get people to visit your website, and hopefully click on the affiliate links to buy the products that you are promoting.
3) CONVERSION
Whether you have your own business or are promoting an affiliate program, the bottom line is the conversion rate, or the percentage of visitors that actually buy something from you. A number of factors influence this conversion rate. Factors as quality of the product, quality of the website, customer support are all important. However, I personally believe that the most important factor is trust.
When a potential customer arrives at your website, he will need to trust your site enough for him to be willing to buy from you. After all, on the internet you are just a faceless salesman. He doesn't know who is actually running the site and whether he will actually get the goods that he orders.
Having said that, one of the key methods of garnering trust is by recommendation and referral. If a store is being referred to or recommended by another website, the potential customer will feel that the store is trustworthy. After all, if the store is not trustworthy, why would the other website recommend it?
This is where affiliate programs shine. When you refer a potential customer to the store for which you are an affiliate, the customer will feel more relieved, since the store is being recommended by your site, a 3rd party. The customer will be more likely to buy from the store, benefiting both the store, and you as well.
There are both pros and cons to joining an affiliate program. You might earn less with an affiliate program compared to starting your own store, but I believe the benefits of not having to be responsible for the logistics makes affiliate programs are very viable "passive" source of income.
For more information on affiliate programs, do visit http://www.onlinebiz-help.com
About the Author
Steven is the webmaster of http://www.onlinebiz-help.com - Your Guide To Internet Business. His website contains various resources on affiliate programs and internet marketing advice to help you succeed in your internet business.
Now that the idea of doing business over the internet has been firmly established, many potential internet businessmen are searching for the best way to do business. Usually the choice comes down to whether you want to set up your own business and online store, or sign up for an affiliate program.
First of all, let's define what we mean by an affiliate program. An affiliate program is basically an internet business set up by someone else. They could be selling physical goods, education, information or any other products that can be sold online. By signing up as their affiliate, you are helping them promote their business or store. In return, they will pay you a commission for each sale you bring them. The amount of commission varies between different affiliate programs. Examples of affiliate programs include Amazon.com and Wordtracker, which you can visit at:
http://www.onlinebiz-help.com/links/wordtracker.html
1) EARNINGS
So how does an affiliate program differ from starting your own online store? Let's start by looking at the potential earnings. (After all, the main reason everyone wants to start an internet business is for the money). When you sign up for an affiliate program, you will be paid a commission for each sale you refer to the online store. This commission can range from 5% to 15% for physical products, and possibly up to 50% or more for virtual products such as subscriptions and ebooks.
On the other hand, if you start your own store, your profit can be much higher. For virtual products, your profit can be 100% of your selling price. After all, once the newsletter or ebook is created, you do not need to spend any more effort. When someone buys your ebook, they just download it from your website. If you are selling a physical product, your profit depends on whether you are manufacturing the product yourself, or buying from a wholesaler or dropshipping company. Your profit in this case could easily be more than 40% or 50%.
So, if you only consider the potential earnings, starting your own business is more lucrative than joining an affiliate program.
2) LOGISTICS
However, money isn't everything (Or so they say). When you are starting your own internet business, there are a number of logistic issues you need to look at. Here are a few things you would need to take care of:
a) Create your website
b) Design your product (if you are selling new products)
c) Create your product (if you are selling new physical products, or any virtual products)
d) Set up an online store
e) Set up a merchant account or payment gateway
f) Set up a warehouse or storage space (if you are selling physical products)
g) Have procedures and staff ready to fulfill orders
h) Set up an affiliate program to get others to market the products for you
i) Monitor for fraud
j) Monitor stock levels
As they say, "No pain, no gain". Having your own store pays very well, but requires a substantial time investment from you.
On the other hand, if you sign up for an affiliate program, all you need to do is set up a website to promote the program. All the ads, banners, marketing text etc will be provided to you by the affiliate program. Your only responsibilities would be to get people to visit your website, and hopefully click on the affiliate links to buy the products that you are promoting.
3) CONVERSION
Whether you have your own business or are promoting an affiliate program, the bottom line is the conversion rate, or the percentage of visitors that actually buy something from you. A number of factors influence this conversion rate. Factors as quality of the product, quality of the website, customer support are all important. However, I personally believe that the most important factor is trust.
When a potential customer arrives at your website, he will need to trust your site enough for him to be willing to buy from you. After all, on the internet you are just a faceless salesman. He doesn't know who is actually running the site and whether he will actually get the goods that he orders.
Having said that, one of the key methods of garnering trust is by recommendation and referral. If a store is being referred to or recommended by another website, the potential customer will feel that the store is trustworthy. After all, if the store is not trustworthy, why would the other website recommend it?
This is where affiliate programs shine. When you refer a potential customer to the store for which you are an affiliate, the customer will feel more relieved, since the store is being recommended by your site, a 3rd party. The customer will be more likely to buy from the store, benefiting both the store, and you as well.
There are both pros and cons to joining an affiliate program. You might earn less with an affiliate program compared to starting your own store, but I believe the benefits of not having to be responsible for the logistics makes affiliate programs are very viable "passive" source of income.
For more information on affiliate programs, do visit http://www.onlinebiz-help.com
About the Author
Steven is the webmaster of http://www.onlinebiz-help.com - Your Guide To Internet Business. His website contains various resources on affiliate programs and internet marketing advice to help you succeed in your internet business.
5 Mistakes To Avoid When Choosing An Affiliate Program
by: Michael Turner
When people decide to join an affiliate program to make extra money, or to have a full time job, they often do so with illusions and no idea of how the affiliate program actually works. Read the following top 5 mistakes people make when it comes to choosing an affiliate program and avoid these mistakes at all costs. Then, you will be able to be more effective and make more money for your time, so it is definitely worthwhile to read these warnings and avoid them.
#1 Don't Compete, Support
Too many affiliate programs compete against their competitors which wastes money and puts affiliates out of business. However, if you are part of an affiliate program the more affiliates the better for getting more information and more money. One of the worst things to do is choose an affiliate program that believes in competing against other affiliates. Instead, choose an affiliate program that agrees with supporting and growing other affiliates to have a larger network and access to more affiliates.
#2 Little Reward
Another mistake people frequently make when choosing affiliate programs is choosing a program that offers little reward for the individual's hard work. Too many affiliate programs pay too little and as a result affiliates find it difficult to make the money they should be making. Look for an affiliate program that has a good pay rate for your work.
#3 Old Statistics, if Any
You want an affiliate program that offers good, solid, real time statistics, not old statistics or ones that are no longer valid. There are not many affiliate programs out there that provide the kind of statistics an affiliate manager needs, but do your best to find an affiliate program that offers the most.
#4 No Support
Too often affiliates find themselves waiting days for an answer to an e-mail and an important question for their business. You want an affiliate program that guarantees you support round the clock if possible or at least within 24 hours. If not, keep looking for an affiliate program that wants to help you help yourself.
#5 Fresh Ideas, Creatives
Many affiliate programs provide few ideas or creatives to their affiliates and so thousands of web pages end up with the same advertising. However, affiliate programs would have a better success rate if many different ads were made available so affiliates could alternate ads and place different ads on different sites, depending on the products sold.
Commit these five mistakes to memory so you know exactly what you are looking for in an affiliate program, as well as what to avoid. You will be much more successful and happier as well if you do not get caught in these traps!
About the Author: Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
When people decide to join an affiliate program to make extra money, or to have a full time job, they often do so with illusions and no idea of how the affiliate program actually works. Read the following top 5 mistakes people make when it comes to choosing an affiliate program and avoid these mistakes at all costs. Then, you will be able to be more effective and make more money for your time, so it is definitely worthwhile to read these warnings and avoid them.
#1 Don't Compete, Support
Too many affiliate programs compete against their competitors which wastes money and puts affiliates out of business. However, if you are part of an affiliate program the more affiliates the better for getting more information and more money. One of the worst things to do is choose an affiliate program that believes in competing against other affiliates. Instead, choose an affiliate program that agrees with supporting and growing other affiliates to have a larger network and access to more affiliates.
#2 Little Reward
Another mistake people frequently make when choosing affiliate programs is choosing a program that offers little reward for the individual's hard work. Too many affiliate programs pay too little and as a result affiliates find it difficult to make the money they should be making. Look for an affiliate program that has a good pay rate for your work.
#3 Old Statistics, if Any
You want an affiliate program that offers good, solid, real time statistics, not old statistics or ones that are no longer valid. There are not many affiliate programs out there that provide the kind of statistics an affiliate manager needs, but do your best to find an affiliate program that offers the most.
#4 No Support
Too often affiliates find themselves waiting days for an answer to an e-mail and an important question for their business. You want an affiliate program that guarantees you support round the clock if possible or at least within 24 hours. If not, keep looking for an affiliate program that wants to help you help yourself.
#5 Fresh Ideas, Creatives
Many affiliate programs provide few ideas or creatives to their affiliates and so thousands of web pages end up with the same advertising. However, affiliate programs would have a better success rate if many different ads were made available so affiliates could alternate ads and place different ads on different sites, depending on the products sold.
Commit these five mistakes to memory so you know exactly what you are looking for in an affiliate program, as well as what to avoid. You will be much more successful and happier as well if you do not get caught in these traps!
About the Author: Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Your Website
by: Justin Hallman
Which company has the best affiliate program? How do I choose the best affiliate program? Can you help me pick an affiliate program? I am often asked these questions. And, the answer many people expect is : the program that pays the most. However, the point that many rookie affiliates miss is that just because mortgage, gambling, and credit card programs are paying the most per sale or per lead dosen't mean that you will ever make any money promoting their products. In fact, the overwhelming majority of affiliates never earn a dime. Most are lured in by the promise of easy riches, discover that it's not so easy, shortly thereafter, and then give up before ever earning their first paycheck.
So, how do you earn that first paycheck from an affiliate program?
1. Pick an affiliate program that fits the theme of your site. This is obvious, but as I stated above, many people are lured in by the temptations of quick and easy money from higher paying programs. You should never have to change the content of your website to match your affiliate program, either. Make the programs work for you, not against you.
2. Choose a program that pays per sale over per lead. Some affiliate programs pay a percentage for every sale made and some affiliate programs pay per lead, or a certain action taken by the prospective customer, such as filling out a loan application. The per lead programs seem like they should have the higher conversion rates, but this is just not true. I've repeatedly had more success with pay per sale, rather than per lead. My theory is that people are bombarded with these forms and applications and sales pitches everyday, so they tend to block them out. Time is extremely valuable, especially in today's society. To get credit for a sale with these programs, people must invest time that they simply don't have or don't want to use signing up for these offers. It is much easier just to buy something online, than it is to invest time online doing work. That's why information products sell so well online, despite the fact that many times the information for sale is available free online, if you have the time to spend gathering it.
3. Pick an affiliate program that offers a wide variety of items for sale and preferably, one that offers dynamic content ads. You should always pay attention to what's hot and don't be afraid to rotate items that you promote. Just because something sold well yesterday, dosen't mean it will sell well today or tomorrow. If you run a website that promotes books, for example, you would probably want to rotate into your website ads promoting the current week's bestsellers. Visitors to your site will thank you for the fresh content, even if it is an advertisement. The easiest way to do this is with an affiliate program that delivers dynamically generated ads based on your established criteria.
4. Choose a well-known merchant. Trust is a very important factor in converting sales. More times than not, a customer is going to buy from the merchant that they know and recognize. Many smaller merchants will increase the percentage they offer to affiliates as a way of try and drive more traffic to their site and to promote their brand. Not surprisingly, many of these merchants come and go. It's safer and more profitable to go with the big names. You're also more likely to get paid (and on time!) by these merchants.
5. Pick an affiliate program that sells products that you have tried and like. If you have had a good experience making a purchase from a company, see if they have an affiliate program you can join. It is much easier to promote a product that you like, and your product endorsement will come across as more authentic. And, if the visitor to your site tries and like the product as well, you gain instant credibility and trust, which will lead to future sales.
Hopefully, these tips will help you when deciding which products to promote on your site.
About the Author
Justin Hallman writes for www.publishprofits.com
Which company has the best affiliate program? How do I choose the best affiliate program? Can you help me pick an affiliate program? I am often asked these questions. And, the answer many people expect is : the program that pays the most. However, the point that many rookie affiliates miss is that just because mortgage, gambling, and credit card programs are paying the most per sale or per lead dosen't mean that you will ever make any money promoting their products. In fact, the overwhelming majority of affiliates never earn a dime. Most are lured in by the promise of easy riches, discover that it's not so easy, shortly thereafter, and then give up before ever earning their first paycheck.
So, how do you earn that first paycheck from an affiliate program?
1. Pick an affiliate program that fits the theme of your site. This is obvious, but as I stated above, many people are lured in by the temptations of quick and easy money from higher paying programs. You should never have to change the content of your website to match your affiliate program, either. Make the programs work for you, not against you.
2. Choose a program that pays per sale over per lead. Some affiliate programs pay a percentage for every sale made and some affiliate programs pay per lead, or a certain action taken by the prospective customer, such as filling out a loan application. The per lead programs seem like they should have the higher conversion rates, but this is just not true. I've repeatedly had more success with pay per sale, rather than per lead. My theory is that people are bombarded with these forms and applications and sales pitches everyday, so they tend to block them out. Time is extremely valuable, especially in today's society. To get credit for a sale with these programs, people must invest time that they simply don't have or don't want to use signing up for these offers. It is much easier just to buy something online, than it is to invest time online doing work. That's why information products sell so well online, despite the fact that many times the information for sale is available free online, if you have the time to spend gathering it.
3. Pick an affiliate program that offers a wide variety of items for sale and preferably, one that offers dynamic content ads. You should always pay attention to what's hot and don't be afraid to rotate items that you promote. Just because something sold well yesterday, dosen't mean it will sell well today or tomorrow. If you run a website that promotes books, for example, you would probably want to rotate into your website ads promoting the current week's bestsellers. Visitors to your site will thank you for the fresh content, even if it is an advertisement. The easiest way to do this is with an affiliate program that delivers dynamically generated ads based on your established criteria.
4. Choose a well-known merchant. Trust is a very important factor in converting sales. More times than not, a customer is going to buy from the merchant that they know and recognize. Many smaller merchants will increase the percentage they offer to affiliates as a way of try and drive more traffic to their site and to promote their brand. Not surprisingly, many of these merchants come and go. It's safer and more profitable to go with the big names. You're also more likely to get paid (and on time!) by these merchants.
5. Pick an affiliate program that sells products that you have tried and like. If you have had a good experience making a purchase from a company, see if they have an affiliate program you can join. It is much easier to promote a product that you like, and your product endorsement will come across as more authentic. And, if the visitor to your site tries and like the product as well, you gain instant credibility and trust, which will lead to future sales.
Hopefully, these tips will help you when deciding which products to promote on your site.
About the Author
Justin Hallman writes for www.publishprofits.com
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