Sunday, 18 May 2008
How to Succeed with Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs are the first choice of most newcomers to net earnings because they have many advantages:1. All you have to do is to join a merchant program as an affiliate and send visitors to the merchant site2. All other work such as making a sale, delivering the product or service, receiving payment, attending to the complaints or making a refund, is handled by the merchant site.3. The merchant site also sees to it that you are paid commission when a sale is made through your efforts.4. You are also rewarded when a sale is made through the efforts of an affiliate referred by you to the merchant site.All easy and simple. But most affiliates soon find that in spite of their best efforts they are not making any money. This is because the affiliate earnings depend not on how many visitors they send to the merchant site, but how many of them buy the product or service of the merchant.So just sending visitors to the merchant site is not enough. You can do this easily by joining traffic exchange or autosurf programs. Your merchant site will be seen hundreds of times but it will not make a sale. This is because these visitors are not interested in your site. They are looking at it to earn credits so they can show their site to others.This is not to say that traffic programs have no use at all.I have used them successfully to build my downline in free-to-join programs, but have never made a sale through them. Most members of such programs are promoting their own programs. They could get interested in joining other opportunities, but would rarely go for a product themselves.So if you want to earn from affiliate programs, the thing to do is to send interested visitors to your merchant site. Who is an interested visitor?This is the visitor who reached your site by himself. He is looking for the product you are promoting. This is why he took the trouble of finding it from a search engine or from the particular kind of ads or forums.This visitor is red hot for a sale. He is already interested in your product. If he finds what he wants on your merchant site, he is very much likely to look at the product's features, mentally compare it with other similar products, ask for more information by giving his email address. All this can lead to a sale and a commission for you. How to target interested visitorsThe best way to reach interested visitors is promoting your products through search engines submissions, placing catchy ads, posting in forums or through your own website.This may sound daunting to newcomers at first but all these are do-able with a little effort. You can get help for mastering all these skills from the resources freely available on the internet. Joining right affiliate programs can also help a good deal to gain affiliate mastery. While great many affiliate programs give you a few text ads and banners and be done with you, there are some programs that give valuable training to succeed. Be positiveMost newcomers to internet earning fail because they expect to be rich in a week, if not overnight. When this doesn't happen as it rarely does in real life, they get discouraged. They are also influenced by others who like them tried but failed to earn with affiliate programs. The result -- they give up, frustrated. The reality is that nobody becomes rich overnight in internet marketing. You have to work at it consistently. Most important of all, banish negative thinking from your life and believe that if others have succeeded, you, too, can and will. That perhaps is the most important ingredient for your success.
How to Run A Successful Affiliate Program
There are many people who log onto the internet everyday looking for a way to make money online.
They start with all the best intentions, but unfortunately, before they know it they are getting bombarded with information and are simply spinning their wheels.
I completely understand this. There is so much internet marketing information online and once you get started it seems like “information overload”.
Therefore, I will try to keep this as simple and short as possible.
Many people will sign up with an affiliate program promoting the affiliate’s product or program. This makes sense. Starting as an affiliate marketer is probably the easiest way to get started online. There are many affiliate programs out there that will give you everything you need to promote their products or program…Well almost everything.
You see, many of these affiliate sites will give you a website, but you don’t own the site. It is a gateway site. You don’t even own the domain name for that matter.
Being part of one of these programs is not bad though. I belong to several. SFI is a perfect example. I joined their program and have several sites that they gave me to promote their products and their affiliate program.
But if you are truly going to make money with these types of sites you are going to have to do a lot more than simply sign up for their program.
It is simply unreasonable to think that people are going to just stumble upon your site and sign up for your program and start making you money.
There are a few things you need to do if you truly want to make an affiliate program work.
First of all, you must have your “own” web page with your “own” domain name and your “own” host. You will then have links from your “own” site to the other “gateway” site(s). You will promote your gateway site it, but you will promote it through your own site.
There are so many reasons for this I couldn’t possible fit it into this one article, but basically the site is yours to run the way you want to. Think of it this way…it is “your” store and you are selling “their” product.
Your web page could be designed as a short sales letter that focuses primarily on this one program if that is what you choose. Or, you could focus on several affiliate programs and products within the same market. For example, a sales letter with the top 3-5 money making opportunities.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Either way, promoting one program/product or promoting several, you will not only want to own your own site, you definitely want to be able to “drop in” on potential customers from time to time. What I mean by that is you want to capture email addresses of people who visit your site.
To do so you need to give something away that is of enough value that people are willing to give up their email address and receive something from you week after week or at least month after month.
A newsletter/ezine is perfect for this. Send out a weekly or monthly newsletter on your topic that includes articles, tips, e-courses, bonuses etc. This way you can plug your programs over and over again (not just once).
I know this sounds like a lot…design your own web site and your own newsletter.
However, there are programs available that actually set everything up for you, including a website, an autoresponder, a pre-written newsletter, and even unlimited support.
Plug-in-Profit (PIPS) (http://www.money-teacher.com/pluginprofitsite.htm) is a perfect example. You can have a web site that site is 100% yours to change however you wish. The site comes ready to promote 5 different programs. You could work with as many of them as you want and you can also add your own.
You also get a pre-written newsletter and autoresponder that is also 100% customizable. The newsletter is obviously designed to promote the programs that come with the web site, but you can change it however you wish.
PIPS may or may not be what you are looking for; however, if you truly want to be successful online you will definitely need your own web site and your own newsletter.
They start with all the best intentions, but unfortunately, before they know it they are getting bombarded with information and are simply spinning their wheels.
I completely understand this. There is so much internet marketing information online and once you get started it seems like “information overload”.
Therefore, I will try to keep this as simple and short as possible.
Many people will sign up with an affiliate program promoting the affiliate’s product or program. This makes sense. Starting as an affiliate marketer is probably the easiest way to get started online. There are many affiliate programs out there that will give you everything you need to promote their products or program…Well almost everything.
You see, many of these affiliate sites will give you a website, but you don’t own the site. It is a gateway site. You don’t even own the domain name for that matter.
Being part of one of these programs is not bad though. I belong to several. SFI is a perfect example. I joined their program and have several sites that they gave me to promote their products and their affiliate program.
But if you are truly going to make money with these types of sites you are going to have to do a lot more than simply sign up for their program.
It is simply unreasonable to think that people are going to just stumble upon your site and sign up for your program and start making you money.
There are a few things you need to do if you truly want to make an affiliate program work.
First of all, you must have your “own” web page with your “own” domain name and your “own” host. You will then have links from your “own” site to the other “gateway” site(s). You will promote your gateway site it, but you will promote it through your own site.
There are so many reasons for this I couldn’t possible fit it into this one article, but basically the site is yours to run the way you want to. Think of it this way…it is “your” store and you are selling “their” product.
Your web page could be designed as a short sales letter that focuses primarily on this one program if that is what you choose. Or, you could focus on several affiliate programs and products within the same market. For example, a sales letter with the top 3-5 money making opportunities.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Either way, promoting one program/product or promoting several, you will not only want to own your own site, you definitely want to be able to “drop in” on potential customers from time to time. What I mean by that is you want to capture email addresses of people who visit your site.
To do so you need to give something away that is of enough value that people are willing to give up their email address and receive something from you week after week or at least month after month.
A newsletter/ezine is perfect for this. Send out a weekly or monthly newsletter on your topic that includes articles, tips, e-courses, bonuses etc. This way you can plug your programs over and over again (not just once).
I know this sounds like a lot…design your own web site and your own newsletter.
However, there are programs available that actually set everything up for you, including a website, an autoresponder, a pre-written newsletter, and even unlimited support.
Plug-in-Profit (PIPS) (http://www.money-teacher.com/pluginprofitsite.htm) is a perfect example. You can have a web site that site is 100% yours to change however you wish. The site comes ready to promote 5 different programs. You could work with as many of them as you want and you can also add your own.
You also get a pre-written newsletter and autoresponder that is also 100% customizable. The newsletter is obviously designed to promote the programs that come with the web site, but you can change it however you wish.
PIPS may or may not be what you are looking for; however, if you truly want to be successful online you will definitely need your own web site and your own newsletter.
Affiliate Programs Can Be Very Beneficial To Internet Market
An affiliate program is, simply defined, a sales job in which you earn a commission. You will be an independent representative of a company, offering their services and products to prospective customers. When one of the customers makes a purchase, you get a portion of the profit. Internet marketers can increase traffi'c to their own web sites and make money form the sales of others through affiliate marketing programs.
Internet marketers can be affiliates for several products from multiple companies, on as many web sites as you operate, in as many businesses as you desire. You don't have to travel to remote locations, yet the internet places you in front of a worldwide marketplace. This gives you incredible diversity in the products you choose, markets in which you do business and neighbourhoods in which to sell, all from the comfort of your own home in front of your computer screen. You could possibly make several sales at once, but you will never have to deal with face-to-face rejection. When doing business on the internet, you don't necessarily need to make sales to earn lucrative commissions. Certain affiliate marketing programs will pay you if someone just clicks on a link you place on your web site, fills out an application, or even requests additional information. And here's the most attractive part - your web sites work for you twenty four hours a day, each and every day.
Commission rates will depend on the types of products or services that are offered. Tangible goods that will have to be shipped to customers will pay lower commission rates than products like e-books or software that can be downloaded immediately. However, 10% of a $600 television is more money than 60% of a $40 software program, so you have to remember to consider the big picture when deciding what affiliate programs to join. For the best affiliate sales experience, you will want to offer products and services that will appeal to the targeted audience of your web site. As an internet marketer, you will need to appeal to the interests of your customers when placing affiliate links on your web site.
There are various ways to join affiliate programs. Some retailers operate their own program, and you will join through the merchant web site. But many internet marketers choose to operate through an affiliate network. These independent companies offer sign-up, payment, tracking and affiliate program management services to retailers and affiliate marketers. A couple of well-known names are Clickbank and Linkshare. Simply perform a search for affiliate programs and you are sure to find more.
Your sales and clicks are tracked by software. It is your job to make sure your links follow the procedures and rules posted by your merchant or affiliate network. Some browsers, a'd-blockers, and coding practices can prevent the tracking links on your web site from functioning correctly, and you might not get credit if one of your clicks results a sale. Most affiliate marketers encounter this problem eventually. When it happens, remember it's not intentional, so do not feel as if you have been victimized in some way. Internet marketing technology is very good, but it's not perfect.
For almost all internet marketers, joining affiliate marketing programs give you a cheap and easy way to get started in an online business. These programs can help you produce income while you learn internet marketing techniques and work towards developing your own product or service.
Two Affiliate programs I recommend. http://edwinc.com/recommends/turboAffiliate
Clickbank Watch out! http://edwinc.com/recommends/paydot
Internet marketers can be affiliates for several products from multiple companies, on as many web sites as you operate, in as many businesses as you desire. You don't have to travel to remote locations, yet the internet places you in front of a worldwide marketplace. This gives you incredible diversity in the products you choose, markets in which you do business and neighbourhoods in which to sell, all from the comfort of your own home in front of your computer screen. You could possibly make several sales at once, but you will never have to deal with face-to-face rejection. When doing business on the internet, you don't necessarily need to make sales to earn lucrative commissions. Certain affiliate marketing programs will pay you if someone just clicks on a link you place on your web site, fills out an application, or even requests additional information. And here's the most attractive part - your web sites work for you twenty four hours a day, each and every day.
Commission rates will depend on the types of products or services that are offered. Tangible goods that will have to be shipped to customers will pay lower commission rates than products like e-books or software that can be downloaded immediately. However, 10% of a $600 television is more money than 60% of a $40 software program, so you have to remember to consider the big picture when deciding what affiliate programs to join. For the best affiliate sales experience, you will want to offer products and services that will appeal to the targeted audience of your web site. As an internet marketer, you will need to appeal to the interests of your customers when placing affiliate links on your web site.
There are various ways to join affiliate programs. Some retailers operate their own program, and you will join through the merchant web site. But many internet marketers choose to operate through an affiliate network. These independent companies offer sign-up, payment, tracking and affiliate program management services to retailers and affiliate marketers. A couple of well-known names are Clickbank and Linkshare. Simply perform a search for affiliate programs and you are sure to find more.
Your sales and clicks are tracked by software. It is your job to make sure your links follow the procedures and rules posted by your merchant or affiliate network. Some browsers, a'd-blockers, and coding practices can prevent the tracking links on your web site from functioning correctly, and you might not get credit if one of your clicks results a sale. Most affiliate marketers encounter this problem eventually. When it happens, remember it's not intentional, so do not feel as if you have been victimized in some way. Internet marketing technology is very good, but it's not perfect.
For almost all internet marketers, joining affiliate marketing programs give you a cheap and easy way to get started in an online business. These programs can help you produce income while you learn internet marketing techniques and work towards developing your own product or service.
Two Affiliate programs I recommend. http://edwinc.com/recommends/turboAffiliate
Clickbank Watch out! http://edwinc.com/recommends/paydot
How To Profit From Affiliate Programs Working just 10 to 20
The beauty of the Internet is you can own your own business andearn good money without spending much time at it. You don't haveto mind the store or keep office hours. You don't even have tobe there to answer the phone.I've known any number of successful Internet entrepreneurs whogot started earning profits online while still working demandingfull-time jobs. Kevin Needham of Memail.com became a major nameon the Web while still holding down his government job. Themedia often tells the story of Jim Daniels who started his onlinepublishing empire while working as a middle-manager for a techfirm.Kevin Nunley was a DJ at an oldies station when his articlesstarted appearing on AOL. Superstar Internet biz person and techconsultant Kate Schultz was a corporate manager when shebegan posting her own ads online.The moral of these stories is don't let your busy life stand inthe way of your desire to earn extra money or even a good livingonline. The Internet will bend, twist, and adapt for you morethan any other kind of business.But you have to go at it the right way or you will wind upspending way more time and money than you intended. Here is asimple plan to get you earning online while working at it just 10to 20 minutes each day.1. Choose your affiliate program wisely. You will want one mainprogram you can promote intensively. It is much easier to makean impact with one good program you market heavily than spreadingyourself too thin over a dozen or more programs.Right now affiliates report their biggest earners are informationproducts that tell affiliate program members and others how toearn better profits. Ken Envoy's "Make Your Site Sell" course,Corey Rudl's "Insider Secrets," and Jim Daniels' big "Make ALiving Online" are real winners in this category.You can also do well working with a company that represents manyproducts and other affiliate programs. Check the many affiliateproducts and services housed under the ClickBank.com umbrella.QuinStreet.com features direct marketing services and ecommercetechnology.2. Market to friends and associates using a simple signaturefile in your email. This is dirt simple yet incredibly powerful.Email messages have a very personal quality that sells. Youremail program will let you set this up.Your sig file should start with a headline that tweaks thereader's interest. Then follow with your web site address andyour autoresponder address (more on this later.) Here's whatyour "sig" might look like.------------I made $500 with this program last month. Wantto know more? See http://DrNunley.com/affilates.htmor write to mailto:bizguru@aweber.com------------3. Remember how I promised you would only have to work 10 to 20minutes per day? The key to this is using the Internet's abilityto automate tasks.No question about it, you will want a series of canned emailmessages you can send to people who are interested. Use amultiple autoresponder to do this (freeautobot.com is a goodone.) When someone emails your autoresponder address, they getyour messages, one each day.Chances are the affiliate program offers sales letters you canuse. If not, get a professional writer to help you put togetherthree sales letters. A set of three often works as well as themore common seven messages.4. Finally, get your own web site. It is super easy to build anice page or two using the free systems at Tripod.com andHomestead.com.While most marketing on the Net is done with email, customersexpect you have a web site with additional information.Rather than using the free site the affiliate program gives you,create your own site. Your site can tell your story, help peopleget to know you, tell why you support the affiliate product, thenlink to your affiliate member site.There are two reasons for this. Starting prospects with your ownsite gives you a lot more power to sell. You can tell the storyof how you used the product and succeeded (very powerful!) anddisplay additional products or services that compliment your mainaffiliate offer.Most search engines won't list a canned affiliate site, but theyWILL list the original site you create. Search engines can be animmense automated source of free visitors.That's all it takes! Do these four things 10 to 20 minutes perday and you will be well on your way to earning with affiliateprograms.Recent stats show the average person spends 20 hours per weekonline. If you get organized, there is no reason you can't useat least a little of your weekly Internet time to work your ownsmall business.
Generate More Sales in ANY Affiliate Program – Part Five
Affiliates make money in pretty much two ways, firstly by direct sales (straight forward, no need to elaborate on this) and secondly by commissions from on-selling.In this article I will be focusing on the affiliates, better known as your down line, your team, your partners, your network.There are several different types of affiliates, the elusive Super Affiliate, Active Affiliates from Direct Sales, Active Affiliates who On-Sell and inactive affiliates.The Active Affiliate from Direct Sales are the ones who join up under you and maintain their subscription to the program/service but don’t on-sell to others. Giving you Direct Sale Commission.The Active Affiliate who On-Sell’s are the ones that provide you passive income giving you a percentage of their sales, this is known as TIER income. It is estimated that less than 5% of your Active Affiliates from Direct Sales will become On-Sellers. However, in saying that, the higher the commission on the product/service the higher percentage rate for Active Affiliate from Direct Sales to become On-Sellers.So, lets look at a scenario, 25 Active Affiliates join under you, selling web hosting and you get $10.00 per direct sale as commission per month, assuming the Active Affiliate maintains their subscription. That’s and extra $250 a month in your pocket. Not a lot of money, BUT if you repeat this process in 9 other programs then your monthly income increases to $2500.00.If the program being promoted is a necessity i.e. web hosting, auto responders etc, it is likely the Active Affiliate will maintain their subscription. However if the program is not a necessity item such as an ebook or similar then it is unlikely the affiliate will maintain their subscription, so choose affiliate programs wisely.Dedicated Active Affiliate On-Sellers are a picky group that require a lot of maintenance, online support and regular contact. The product/service has to be lucrative for them to on-sell, with at least a 4+ tier system for it to be worthwhile.Unless you have the time and money to invest in On-Seller’s then my suggestion today is for you to go for width not depth, and then duplicate it many times over providing Multiple Streams of Income.The last article in this series will focus fully on ACTIVE AFFILIATES and how to get them. Till then to your online success!
Free Ways to Promote Your Affiliate Program
After learning of the success many online businesses have had increasing their sales with an affiliate program, you decided to follow suit. You hammered out a compensation plan both encouraging to affiliates and profitable to your business. You’ve got tracking software in place. You’ve turned the key in the ignition of your marketing machine… and nothing’s happening.Your army of affiliates can be viewed metaphorically as a tree. Full grown, it will thrive in rain and sunshine. Strong changing winds can shake its branches, but the tree will continue to grow. In the early seed stage, however, special care is needed if you want your tree to break through the surface. You spent a great deal of time, energy, and likely at least a little money creating your affiliate program. You need to attract strong affiliates that can rapidly build your customer base and return your investment. How can you bring these powerful marketing dynamos into your camp, ideally without drawing on your already diminished cash reserves?1.) Submit to Online DirectoriesThe method that will show the most immediate increase in new affiliates is listing your program in online affiliate directories. These reference sites are the first stop for hungry potential affiliates looking for the income opportunity that is going to allow them to quit their 9 to 5 jobs. Many such directories exist, and obviously some will bring you better results than others. Since submitting to almost all of these directories is free, though, get listed on as many as you can. Here are a few links to submission pages to get you started, but by no means should you stop with just these few:http://www.becomeanaffiliate.com/cgi-bin/add.cgihttp://www.affiliatesoftware.info/joinaffiliatedirectory.phphttp://www.affiliatescreen.com/suggest_program.phphttp://www.affiliatematch.com/cgi-bin/links/add.cgihttp://www.2-tier.com/cgi-bin/add_url.cgihttp://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/links/add.cgihttp://www.earnfind.com/addprogram-howto.php2.) Advertise in Your Own NewsletterHopefully you’ve been collecting email addresses from your website and sending a regular newsletter to your visitors. (If not, read this article: http://www.zeromillion.com/ebiz/creating-an-email-newsletter.html) Your newsletter subscribers are a precious handful of people that have expressed direct interest in keeping abreast of the latest developments with your product/service and company. Give them what they want! You can kick off your affiliate program with an article in your newsletter explaining the benefits and encouraging your subscribers to participate. Your future newsletters can contain short blurbs about the affiliate program and how it’s progressing to inform new subscribers and remind your original readers.3.) Post to Affiliate Forums and NewsgroupsApproach this method with caution. No one will be impressed if you post a blatant advertisement or a plea to join your affiliate program. If you find a forum that contains such messages, don’t even bother making a post there. The forum probably isn’t moderated, and almost certainly isn’t read by many people. The place to include information about your website and program is in your profile (and in your signature line if other posters do so). A serious forum, read by the type of people you want to have as affiliates, will only contain posts with relevant and useful content instead of advertising fluff messages.How can you add relevant and useful content? The first step is to read some of the existing posts and get a feel for the general personality of the forum. At best, reading old posts will spark questions that can be turned into relevant posts and generate interested responses. At worst, you’ll see what’s been talked about recently, so you don’t make the awkward mistake of asking a question that was answered a few days ago. If no topics come to mind after reading old posts, a possible strategy is to ask for the advice of some experienced affiliates in how you could improve your program. You’ll find different ideas on what constitutes a solid compensation plan, tracking system, or incentive program. Beyond getting attention for your program, this is a great opportunity to improve your program by picking the brains of people who’ve been in the game longer than you.This list is obviously not comprehensive, but it contains a few forums worth investigating:http://www.ablake.net/forum/http://iwiz2.richdad.com/jive/application2/forum.jsp?forum=33http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=7
Are Your Affiliate Programs Eating Away Your Money And Time
So many times I have heard this. So many examples I do remember. People have left the internet business after being disappointed with their so called affiliate programs.An affiliate program is an excellent way to earn money especially in the beginning. I said beginning because at that time one does not understand the market and is too naïve to bring his own product out in right way.Affiliate programs fill that gap nicely. You have got a readymade product and a readymade webpage too (though you can develop your own and you should be doing that).There is only one aspect left to make that money.Making sales.But you need to choose your affiliate program carefully. An affiliate program should be free to join. You should be cautious of the programs that will charge you upfront to be able to become their affiliates. Sometimes you buy a product and get affiliate status as bonus. That is acceptable. But a good affiliate program should not charge you a membership fee monthly or yearly whatever the case may be. There are some programs which charge you a monthly fee for becoming a member and you are expected to recruit more for getting a commission. These are not affiliate programs but MLM programs.Be cautious when you join such programs. They do not offer a good product to sell. The only thing that you have to sell is the membership. Such programs may eat up a lot of your money before you realize their worthlessness. In such programs you sell a membership and your recruit is expected to sell the same in return. This kind of sale is not only hard to accomplish but also associated with high attrition. That means the rate of members dropping out is very high.Also you should get a good commission. Check the percentage offered. Good programs offer 50-60% commissions. Though high priced products seem quite lucrative due to apparent volume of money in commission but selling a high priced product may not be that easy task too. It is because the market for those may not be that large. So you need to select your product carefully.One very important factor that is often ignored is your aptitude for the particular product. Select a product that you can associate your interests with. For example if you like gardening then a product that caters the gardening needs will be easier to sell than a selling a real estate product.Because in sales first of all you need to be convinced about the usability and benefits of the product before you attempt to sell it. If the product is around the area of your interest you can easily identify the beneficial aspects. Then you will find it easier to convince your potential customers.Study the market and demand for that product. If the demand is high the sales are easier. To study the demand go to Overture or Google and look for the search made around the keywords of your product. It will give you a fair idea about the demand.Plan your market strategies beforehand.It is better if you make your own website instead of promoting the copy of the original page laced with your link. Having your own website gives you a unique identification and professional look. The other advantage is that you can promote multiple products on the same page rather than promoting different pages separately. Web hosting is quite cheap now a days and webpage can be easily built in front page.Try and give your full efforts into promoting what you have got. Affiliate programs are good way to learn the market tactics. Learn and try them best to your abilities.Stick with the product you have chosen instead of jumping to the new offer of some other product. New products are being released everyday but being new does not mean that it is better and easier to sell. Analyze regularly. Test regularly and keep working.Your commission graph would definitely rise.
Affiliate Programs - Which One?
Promoting affiliate programs is probably one of the most popular and realistic ways of making money online. You really can make money doing this, and the money can be substantial with some work. The type of affiliate program you use or promote will depend on your particular situation.One of the most common types of affiliate programs is the pay per sale/pay per lead program. These are also called CPA or cost per action affiliate programs. These pay you for sales and for other actions that your referred customers make. This type of program can be promoted on websites and in other ways depending on the particular programs terms. It is very versatile.CPC (cost per click) programs pay you when vistors to your site click on your ads. You are paid per click. There are also PPC (pay per click) programs which are similar. CPC programs are great for websites with content.CPM (cost per mille) affiliate programs pay you for showing ads on your website. You are paid per 1000 impressions - per 1000 times the ad is shown on your website. This is great for websites that get a lot of traffic.All three types can pay very well. It is a good idea to experiment and see what works for you. Some people like to use multiple affiliate programs on a site, such as a cpc program and a cpa program, or some other combination. If you are thinking of doing non website based promotion, CPA programs are worth considering.
Affiliate Program Scams To Watch Out For
Affiliate programs are a great way to earn extra money or even a good living if you do things right. But unfortunately, there are alot of people out there that know this and will do everything they can to swindle you into selling their products while not having to pay you a dime. There are some merchants that view affiliates as a source of free traffic and free marketing.Here are a few things that should draw up a red flag when you come accross an affiliate program:No Contact InformationIf they don't post their contact information on their site then you should not bother with them. To me this tells me they are trying to hide something.Commission To HighYes, it is great when we find affiliate programs that pay high commissions. But you also have to be careful that they are not just trying to draw you into their affiliate program by using big numbers. It wouldn't be good to earn alot of money just to get scammed. If it is to good to be true then most likely it is. A merchant will never pay more on a commission then they would get for the sale. It is just not business smart.No Replies To Your EmailsIf they do have their email address on their site and you send them an email but they never reply then you should drop them like a hot rock. If you can't trust them to take one minute to give you a reply then you shouldn't trust them to spend a few more minutes cutting and mailing you a check.Returned Affiliate Payment ChecksIf they do send you a check and your bank returns it then this would be another reason to draw up the red flag of being scammed. Of course you should always contact the merchant to try to resolve the issue, it could be an honest mistake. But if it happens in conjuction with no email replies and lousy affiliate support then I wouldn't waste anymore of my time with them.The bottom line is that you should always use your gut feeling when dealing with affiliate programs. If you are not sure about an affiliate program then search the search engines for the merchants name. If they are known for scamming affiliates you are sure to find it in the search engines and affiliate forums.
Affiliate Program Primer
Ever since Amazon launched what is perhaps the most well-known, but not the first, affiliate program in 1996, other merchants in every business category imaginable have followed suit. And even though many webmasters have earned money from these programs ever since, there are still a lot of questions to this day about affiliate (also known as associate or referral) programs. So maybe it's time to revisit some basics for new or soon-to-be Internet marketers. An affiliate program is, at the bottom line, a commissioned sales job. Like the Fuller Brush salesman of old, you are an independent representative of a company, offering their products or services to potential customers. When one of them buys, you get a percentage of the sale. But, in the high-tech version, you have a few very powerful advantages over the classic door-to-door sales rep. To start, you can represent multiple products from more than one company at a time, on as many web sites as you own, in as many markets as you choose. You don't have to travel anywhere, yet the web puts you in front of a worldwide market. This gives you an incredible diversity of products, markets, and "neighborhoods" to sell in, all from right in front of your computer screen. You could possibly make multiple sales at one time, yet you never have to deal with door-slammed-in-your-face rejection. On the Internet, you don't always even have to make a sale to earn a commission. Some affiliate programs will pay you if someone just clicks on a link at your site, fills out an application, or even asks for more information. And here's the best part - your web sites work for you around the clock, every day.Commission rates vary by type of product. Physical goods (that have to be shipped) tend to pay lower rates than products like software or ebooks that can be digitally delivered. However, 5% of a $2000 TV is more than 50% of a $50 ebook, so you have to remember to look at the big picture when deciding what affiliate products to offer. For best affiliate sales results, you'll want to offer products and services designed to appeal to the target audience of your web site. For example, it makes no sense to place affiliate links to mechanic's tools on a cooking site, while it makes perfect sense to place them on a site about restoring cars. There are several ways to join affiliate programs. Some companies operate their own program, and you will apply through the company web site. But many merchants choose to operate through an affiliate network. These third-party companies offer sign-up, tracking, payment, and overall affiliate program management services to merchants and affiliate marketers. A few top names are Commission Junction, LinkShare, and Clickbank. Just search for "affiliate program" or "affiliate network" and you're bound to find more. Your sales and clicks are tracked by software. It's your responsibility to make sure your links follow the guidelines stated by your merchant or affiliate network. Some browsers, ad-blocking software, link cloakers, and coding techniques (such as frames) can prevent the tracking links on your site from working properly, and you may not get credit if one of your clicks leads to a sale. Most all affiliate marketers sooner or later run into this, and when it happens, it's not intentional, so don't feel victimized. Technology is very good, but it's not perfect.For almost every Internet marketer, affiliate marketing offers a fast and inexpensive way to get started in an online business. These programs can help you generate income while you learn the ropes and work towards developing your own product or service, if that's your goal. And yes, you can even become an affiliate for the Fuller Brush Company!
8 Basic Rules for Choosing The Right Affiliate Program
Joining an Affiliate Program is a great way to start earning a sizeable income on the Internet without many of the hassles that come with running your own business.
But the problem is… there are so much affiliate programs out there for you. In this article I will guide you to choose the most suitable and profitable Affiliate Program for you. I recommend you to follow this rule before choosing an Affiliate Program.
1. Find a great quality product or service
Remember that any recommendation you make will reflect directly on you. If you recommend a great quality product, the people you recommended will always trusted you and be interested in future recommendations that you make. If you recommend a bad quality product, and I'll guarantee that they will likely hesitate to act on any offers you recommend.
Don't get greedy. Only recommend products that you truly believe in.
2. Look for a program that offers top commissions.
I think it's perfectly reasonable for you to expect to be paid 30% to 50% of the profits on each product sold. 5% to 10% is very low. You should look for companies who understand the "lifetime value" of new customers you refer and appreciate your efforts.
Only consider joining programs that show a similar level of respect for their affiliates.
3. Make sure they have a high sales conversion ratio.
Make sure that the affiliate program is turning a reasonable number of visitors into sales. If not, then your efforts directing traffic to their website will be completely wasted. A 1% conversion ratio (1 out of every 100 visitors) is quite good, 2%+ is better.
4. Be sure you'll be credited for every sales you make.
You should find out what kind of tracking software the Affiliate Program that you're interested in joining uses. You MUST look for a program that uses quality affiliate tracking software that is reliable and tracks ALL (online, by phone, fax, mail orders, etc), because there are many companies only track online orders, and this means that you will never get credit for anywhere from 5% - 10% of your affiliate sales!.
Make sure they have a high sales conversion ratio and a good tracking software.
5. They should allow you to access your sales statistics real time.
What I mean is that the Affiliate Program you join should give you a special username and password that you can use to access your own personal affiliate sales information right on their website. Many affiliate programs have done this, you don't have to worry about that, but incase they don't, you should reconsider to join them.
6. Look for a program that teaches you to maximize your affiliate sales.
A good affiliate program will provide you with everything you need to be successful. They'll provide you with traffic-generating banners, text-links, and recommendation letter templates. They'll tell you which techniques work well in which circumstances.
Find an affiliate program that is similarly dedicated to educating their affiliates.
7. Make sure they are reputable.
I still feel I should mention the importance of doing business with a reputable company. I know many people who have worked really hard, made a lot of sales for a company, but then they have never been paid or forced to wait months and months to get their money, I've been there too. If you have any concerns about a company that you are thinking of doing business with, ask for references and do some checks on them before you join them.
8. Be sure to read all contracts and agreements.
Before you join any affiliate program, just make sure that you read all contracts and agreements very carefully. Pay very close attention to exclusivity clauses in the agreement. Be careful that any affiliate agreement or contract you sign does not restrict you.
But the problem is… there are so much affiliate programs out there for you. In this article I will guide you to choose the most suitable and profitable Affiliate Program for you. I recommend you to follow this rule before choosing an Affiliate Program.
1. Find a great quality product or service
Remember that any recommendation you make will reflect directly on you. If you recommend a great quality product, the people you recommended will always trusted you and be interested in future recommendations that you make. If you recommend a bad quality product, and I'll guarantee that they will likely hesitate to act on any offers you recommend.
Don't get greedy. Only recommend products that you truly believe in.
2. Look for a program that offers top commissions.
I think it's perfectly reasonable for you to expect to be paid 30% to 50% of the profits on each product sold. 5% to 10% is very low. You should look for companies who understand the "lifetime value" of new customers you refer and appreciate your efforts.
Only consider joining programs that show a similar level of respect for their affiliates.
3. Make sure they have a high sales conversion ratio.
Make sure that the affiliate program is turning a reasonable number of visitors into sales. If not, then your efforts directing traffic to their website will be completely wasted. A 1% conversion ratio (1 out of every 100 visitors) is quite good, 2%+ is better.
4. Be sure you'll be credited for every sales you make.
You should find out what kind of tracking software the Affiliate Program that you're interested in joining uses. You MUST look for a program that uses quality affiliate tracking software that is reliable and tracks ALL (online, by phone, fax, mail orders, etc), because there are many companies only track online orders, and this means that you will never get credit for anywhere from 5% - 10% of your affiliate sales!.
Make sure they have a high sales conversion ratio and a good tracking software.
5. They should allow you to access your sales statistics real time.
What I mean is that the Affiliate Program you join should give you a special username and password that you can use to access your own personal affiliate sales information right on their website. Many affiliate programs have done this, you don't have to worry about that, but incase they don't, you should reconsider to join them.
6. Look for a program that teaches you to maximize your affiliate sales.
A good affiliate program will provide you with everything you need to be successful. They'll provide you with traffic-generating banners, text-links, and recommendation letter templates. They'll tell you which techniques work well in which circumstances.
Find an affiliate program that is similarly dedicated to educating their affiliates.
7. Make sure they are reputable.
I still feel I should mention the importance of doing business with a reputable company. I know many people who have worked really hard, made a lot of sales for a company, but then they have never been paid or forced to wait months and months to get their money, I've been there too. If you have any concerns about a company that you are thinking of doing business with, ask for references and do some checks on them before you join them.
8. Be sure to read all contracts and agreements.
Before you join any affiliate program, just make sure that you read all contracts and agreements very carefully. Pay very close attention to exclusivity clauses in the agreement. Be careful that any affiliate agreement or contract you sign does not restrict you.
3 Tips To Succeed With Affiliate Programs.
Dear friends, when it comes to promoting affiliate programswe all follow a certain defined process. We first go togoogle.com ,type affiliate programs in the search field. Whenthe results get displayed we look for "high paying" affiliateprograms. By "high paying" I mean those who pay 25% commissions.Then we visit each and every website listed and join theprograms becuse they are free! to join. We put all sorts of banners and text ads on our links page and expect to see a check in our mail box the next morning.Well, I am here going to reveal a very different way of promoting affiliate programs. Let us revise the processone-by-one.Step 1> Search for affiliate programs with your favoritesearch engine. Look for only those affiliate programs whcichhave products which interests you. For example if you are interested in "radio controlled airplanes" then look for suchproducts first. Don't start with promoting "herbal shampoos"or "yoga cd's" just because they pay 40% commissions.Since you already know a little about rc planes it wiil bemuch easier for you to promote various aspects of theproduct.So when selecting the affiliate prgram keep in mind the following sequencea)Product which you know about or are interested in.b)Qulaity of the product. To know the quality of theproduct it is advisavle to buy the product yourselffirst.c)The organisation associated with the product. Look forthe promotional material they are giving to affiliates.This shows the confidence of the manufacturer in their ownproduct.d)Commission structure. Some webmasters provide 2 tier commission structure. Some have a threshhold amout beforethe affiliates get paid. Here is a nice place to sart with.This is a list which contains 50 affiliate Programs That PayAT LEAST 50% commissions. Visit http://www.myfriendlyebooks.com/Aff/a1.htm) Step 2> Design a simple landing page to "presell" the productbefore sending the visitors to actual sales page. Now this stepis extremely imporant. Why do you to presell the product ?. Thisis because this is internet. No one knows you here or has seenyou personally.Normally when someone buys from the internet he is going to lookfor similar 4-5 products before he gets to the final decision.Here if he comes to your affiliate landing page it becomesmuch easier for him to compare the product you want to promotewith similar 4-5 products in the category.The landing page you have designed can have testimonials, whichyou can borrow from the sales page. It can also contain your own experience about the product. You can use before/after situations for describing the benefits of the product. You can use photographs of yourself using the product successfully. Thisadds instant credibility to the product you want to promote.Step 3>When the visitors reach your landing page you must havea system to capture their names and email addresses. Because as I said earlier there are many people who look for similar4-5 products before buying. By capturing email addresse you can"follow up" your subscribers later on using newsletters orproduct features using email autoresponders.The best way to capture email addresses is to provide a free gift related to the product. This free gift can bean eBook written by you or many webmasters already have anebook written for the affiliates. SO again this is a very importan tpoint, join only those programs where you will find a decent promitional material already prepared for the affiliates.That's it friends. I hope these words were helpful. I wish you good lick in your affiliate promotional journey.
Make Sure Affiliate Programs Pay for every Sale
When joining affiliate programs there are many decisions you have to make. Unfortunately, few people query what kind of tracking software the program uses. To overlook this can prove costly, and means you may never be credited with 5% - 10% of your affiliate sales. A good affiliate program will use quality affiliate tracking software that is reliable and tracks all of your sales. You must make sure that they not only track online sales, but also sales by phone, fax and mail order. Many companies only track online, and this means you will lose between 5% - 10% of your sales. Also, make sure that the affiliate program uses 'cookie tracking' software to ensure that you will be credited for sales from people who don't buy the first time they visit your website, but come back and buy at a later date. For those of you who don't know what a 'cookie' is. A cookie is a small piece of information that a web site puts on your hard drive so that it will remember you when you return later. This is how cookies can be used to track visitors to a web site. In this way the affiliate program will be able to track all the sales from your site, even though the visitor did not buy on the first visit to the web site. Many affiliate programs use software that only tracks about 80% of your sales. It has to be said that many of the popular affiliate companies are guilty of this. So beware big names! Some companies use tracking software that only pays if the customer visits your link and buys straight away. If the visitor returns to your site an hour later... a day later... week later... and buys, you will not be credited for the sale. Good 'cookie tracking' software ensures that this never happens. So, before you join any affiliate scheme make sure to ask about the kind of tracking software they use. It could save you a small fortune in the long term.
Choosing the Right Affiliate Program for YOU!
Encouraging piece on how to remain passionate and select the right affiliate program for you.The art of selecting an affiliate with passion.
Have you ever noticed that truly successful people are always passionate? Passionate about their field of endeavour. Passionate about life. And passionate about spreading success. We have seen it in all walks of life. It boomed with the likes of Dale Carnegie, Cavett Robert, and Frank Bettger, flourished further with Mark Victor Hansen and Bobbie Gee. They passed it on to all who were susceptible, it was like new cases of passion emerged on a daily basis!
The problem was, and has always been that very few recipients have gone on to display the full blown symptoms of infectious passion - success! You know the drill; you have this freshly acquired case of passion for your job and return to work bursting with enthusiasm, only to find everyone else seems to have had the shot that has prevented them from catching passion. Before you know it, like a dose of the flu you to are over the infection and back to the same old same old.
Fortunately if you have had passion in the past it is very easy to catch again. I say fortunately because once you have passion you generally aim to achieve bigger and greater things. In the past this has sometimes required a career change resulting in an element of risk. And once again it is all too easy to let this dose of passion pass with the advent of kids, bills and mortgage.
I can see our forefathers wishing they were around today, suffering a bad dose of passion. The internet means you can be passionate about something and find it instantly. It also means you can establish an online income with little or no out of pocket expense by way of an affiliate program. The internet is open 24/7 allowing you to continue with the same old same old whilst you retain passion and build your new and exciting affiliate business. It is simple and easy to establish your net presence in your spare time.
By reading this you are going to catch your next dose of passion! As part of the required treatment I want you to avoid passion killers.
If you are on a budget and lets face it most of us are, affiliate programs can help get your new successful business up and running. But here in lies the trap for new players. The first phase of the passion infection requires that you dont just jump on any old affiliate program. Select a topic that you have this acquired case of passion for........ Lets say it is gardening.
Go to some gardening chat rooms and get involved in the conversation. This should not be too hard to do since you already have a passion in the topic. Ensure you spend a fair degree of your spare time in the chat rooms as you need to make a list of the hot topics. One or two nights will not be enough. This research will probably take up to a month to complete. Dont rush this stage of your infection with passion. Diligence now will save you much frustration and heartache in the future. Keep recording and keep getting involved with the conversations. Donft be afraid to ask questions.
During the second phase of your passion infection you will need to analyze the results of your record keeping. Look for frequent or common chat room questions over the month long reports. You have probably even started to notice a trend already. Perhaps you have noticed that bird baths have been mentioned alot with additional questions about which are the best plants to have in your garden to attract birds.
From here you can set about building your website. Phase three. Your gardening passion will allow you to have a site loaded with knowledgeable content relating to gardening. You can pay special attention to content relating to bird baths and bird attracting flora.
Finally once you have "optimized your website for search engines" and had it listed you can then add your lucky few. Your passionate lucky few are the affiliate programs you have found that best suit your needs. There are many gardening sites with affiliate programs on offer and most pay between 10-15% commissions. DirectGardening.com and BloomingBulb.com are but two.
Be passionate and take the time to plan your destiny. If you fail to plan, you have planned to fail.
Have you ever noticed that truly successful people are always passionate? Passionate about their field of endeavour. Passionate about life. And passionate about spreading success. We have seen it in all walks of life. It boomed with the likes of Dale Carnegie, Cavett Robert, and Frank Bettger, flourished further with Mark Victor Hansen and Bobbie Gee. They passed it on to all who were susceptible, it was like new cases of passion emerged on a daily basis!
The problem was, and has always been that very few recipients have gone on to display the full blown symptoms of infectious passion - success! You know the drill; you have this freshly acquired case of passion for your job and return to work bursting with enthusiasm, only to find everyone else seems to have had the shot that has prevented them from catching passion. Before you know it, like a dose of the flu you to are over the infection and back to the same old same old.
Fortunately if you have had passion in the past it is very easy to catch again. I say fortunately because once you have passion you generally aim to achieve bigger and greater things. In the past this has sometimes required a career change resulting in an element of risk. And once again it is all too easy to let this dose of passion pass with the advent of kids, bills and mortgage.
I can see our forefathers wishing they were around today, suffering a bad dose of passion. The internet means you can be passionate about something and find it instantly. It also means you can establish an online income with little or no out of pocket expense by way of an affiliate program. The internet is open 24/7 allowing you to continue with the same old same old whilst you retain passion and build your new and exciting affiliate business. It is simple and easy to establish your net presence in your spare time.
By reading this you are going to catch your next dose of passion! As part of the required treatment I want you to avoid passion killers.
If you are on a budget and lets face it most of us are, affiliate programs can help get your new successful business up and running. But here in lies the trap for new players. The first phase of the passion infection requires that you dont just jump on any old affiliate program. Select a topic that you have this acquired case of passion for........ Lets say it is gardening.
Go to some gardening chat rooms and get involved in the conversation. This should not be too hard to do since you already have a passion in the topic. Ensure you spend a fair degree of your spare time in the chat rooms as you need to make a list of the hot topics. One or two nights will not be enough. This research will probably take up to a month to complete. Dont rush this stage of your infection with passion. Diligence now will save you much frustration and heartache in the future. Keep recording and keep getting involved with the conversations. Donft be afraid to ask questions.
During the second phase of your passion infection you will need to analyze the results of your record keeping. Look for frequent or common chat room questions over the month long reports. You have probably even started to notice a trend already. Perhaps you have noticed that bird baths have been mentioned alot with additional questions about which are the best plants to have in your garden to attract birds.
From here you can set about building your website. Phase three. Your gardening passion will allow you to have a site loaded with knowledgeable content relating to gardening. You can pay special attention to content relating to bird baths and bird attracting flora.
Finally once you have "optimized your website for search engines" and had it listed you can then add your lucky few. Your passionate lucky few are the affiliate programs you have found that best suit your needs. There are many gardening sites with affiliate programs on offer and most pay between 10-15% commissions. DirectGardening.com and BloomingBulb.com are but two.
Be passionate and take the time to plan your destiny. If you fail to plan, you have planned to fail.
Mining For Gold With The Best Affiliate Programs And Hitting
Colin McDougall tinkered around with affiliate programs earning a few dollars, nothing much to write home about, even had his own e-commerce site, known as the man’s mall. In theory that site was supposed to offer all sorts of gadgets for guys. Colin created the site with the concept “build it they will come” but in reality no one did. Like so many dot.com ventures, it was a huge disappointment, lots of hard work and no pay off.
Colin says, “The man’s mall failed because I started the venture blindly, I didn’t have a clue how the search engines worked or how to make money with affiliate programs. Without an action plan and a map on how to get the gold it was all pointless. But not anymore, I hit the internet gold mine, a virtual moneymaking machine.”
Read on to learn the facts about affiliate marketing and how Colin went from failing on the Internet to making serious money with affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is paying off for retailers
2003 online sales are bucking the retail trend. With traditional retail sales down, retailers are forced to do more with less. They’ve shifted budgets away from expensive portal deals to performance-based affiliate marketing and search engine marketing and it’s paying off. (Source: Forrester Research)
It’s no surprise that traditional advertisers such as American Express, National Geographic, Toshiba and even Disney are flocking to the emerging affiliate marketing model. Advertisers have a very low risk with affiliate marketing; they simply pay a commission for actual sales. No sales, no commission.
Affiliates love it too
Affiliates who understand the affiliate marketing business are earning huge incomes, even those who are doing it as a hobby, in many cases, are earning a few hundred to a few thousand extra dollars each month.
Jeff Pullen, President of Commission Junction, a third party provider of infrastructure and tracking told the crowd at a recent conference held in Santa Barbara that, “Commissions are up 80% over the previous year”. According to the Affiliate Summit, held in early November 2003 in New York City, affiliate marketing is already a $14 billion industry. (Source: Marketing Sherpa)
Online shopping is booming – the future is bright
Affiliate marketing works because the pay for performance model makes sense. Plus, people are flocking to the Internet in droves to shop online. According to Forrester Research, a Massachusetts-based research firm, nationally online sales are expected to total $96 billion this year and climb to $229 billion by 2008.
Affiliate marketing in a nutshell
An affiliate program is a business relationship where one website owner (a “merchant”) agrees to pay another website owner (an “affiliate”) a commission simply for referring customers.
Merchants typically manage their affiliate program by joining a commission network such as Commission Junction or LinkShare who provide third-party tracking and infrastructure or by purchasing and installing specialized tracking software on their own server.
See Commission Junction and LinkShare.com for a list of merchants who are looking for affiliates to promote their products and services.
How Colin got involved with affiliate marketing
Colin says: “I found the treasure map; the Affiliate Marketers Handbook written by James Martell,” an entrepreneur and successful affiliate marketer. The first time Colin read the Affiliate Marketers Handbook he mentions, that it was like looking at the horizon through binoculars; he could see where he was headed. The second time reading the book Colin, it was like looking at a road map and seeing how to reach the riches on the horizon.
Colin says, “With the book, you learn how to get organized, plan the site, run the business, and focus on the riches along the horizon.”
Colin learned firsthand, with the man’s mall, that without understanding the search engines, your business is dead in the water. The “build it they will come” mind set, just doesn’t cut it.
As Colin says: “The book’s system for using keywords really makes sense, after my prior experience it’s like this light bulb went off…so that’s how I’m going to attract visitors and making money. In my old business, I was set up to fail, with the handbook I’m set up to win.”
Got Dot: How did you go from failing at the Internet to make money?
Colin explains, “By reading James’ handbook. His book is real, it’s not the stuff of Internet legends, but it’s an honest, to goodness road map. James really shares what works. I’ve followed his 8-step system™ and now have a bigger house, a bigger car and financial independence.
At first, I was amazed at how much the book gives away, but that’s James. He really wants everybody to succeed, he’s got things all laid out in his book. If you follow it the money’s there, it’s up to the reader to go for the gold.”
Got Dot: What was it like getting started?
Colin says, “In the beginning I was skeptical, making money with affiliate marketing, just seemed unreal. After attending James’ original class in Vancouver, at the prodding of a friend Chuck Anderson, and actually meeting with other people, earning lots of money with affiliate marketing, the whole process really resonated. I knew I could do it, if they could.”
Got Dot: Why was that so hard to grasp?
Colin: “As a system tech I was working 50% harder for a measly 5% raise, all of $250/month. It was awful. In the class all these people were making a lot more money than me, working just a few hours a day. What a wake up call. I felt like a dummy slaving away at 60 hours a week, with practically nothing to show for it.”
Colin adds, “The hard part for me was getting over my past, removing the skepticism, and just running. My disbelief held me back four months. So I started off small spending one hour a day doing affiliate marketing.
The beginning search engine traffic and commission checks…just blew me away, talk about a real eye-opener. Nothing like numbers to get a techie excited.”
Got Dot: What’s the money like?
Colin: “When I first started I earned $400 a month, nearly double my raise as a system tech. By the end of the year I hoped to make $5k a month (my system tech salary). I hit that mark in six months. Within 9 months I earned $120K. The day job is now history. The money’s astounding, it just keeps growing.”
Got Dot: What is your product niche?
Colin says, “In the beginning, I went after the big paycheck, like credit cards. My newer sites feature things I want to learn more about or hobbies.”
Colin follows the same methods for web site construction developed by James Martell. These principals are incorporated into Colin’s successful sites featuring: mortgage loans, furniture slip covers and credit card applications.
Got Dot: What is a typical day like?
Colin says, “Its ideal. How many fathers can say they have time to play Barbie’s with their daughter? Everyday I work for two hours and spend an afternoon in the park with the family, then another hour or two of work and its dinner time, what a day!”
Got Dot: What tips do have for someone starting out?
Colin says: “Buy the Affiliate Marketers Handbook, follow it step-by-step. Don’t jump ahead. Devote one hour a day to affiliate marketing, when you get home from work. Make the sacrifice. The short term pain is worth the long term gain. Don’t settle for fool’s gold, searching through the “best affiliate programs”, find the real gold, James Martell’s 8-step system™, it’s within your grasp. Go for the gold.”
Colin McDougall followed a simple 8-step-system™ for affiliate marketing created by James Martell, entrepreneur, successful affiliate marketer, and developer of over 70 specialty shopping sites with topics that range from motorized scooters to treadmill comparisons; and also educates people who want to start a homebased business using affiliate programs and the Internet!
Colin McDougall is the editor of the credit review site, Only the best credit cards online. You can visit this site at http://www.only-the-best-credit-cards-online.com/.
Colin says, “The man’s mall failed because I started the venture blindly, I didn’t have a clue how the search engines worked or how to make money with affiliate programs. Without an action plan and a map on how to get the gold it was all pointless. But not anymore, I hit the internet gold mine, a virtual moneymaking machine.”
Read on to learn the facts about affiliate marketing and how Colin went from failing on the Internet to making serious money with affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is paying off for retailers
2003 online sales are bucking the retail trend. With traditional retail sales down, retailers are forced to do more with less. They’ve shifted budgets away from expensive portal deals to performance-based affiliate marketing and search engine marketing and it’s paying off. (Source: Forrester Research)
It’s no surprise that traditional advertisers such as American Express, National Geographic, Toshiba and even Disney are flocking to the emerging affiliate marketing model. Advertisers have a very low risk with affiliate marketing; they simply pay a commission for actual sales. No sales, no commission.
Affiliates love it too
Affiliates who understand the affiliate marketing business are earning huge incomes, even those who are doing it as a hobby, in many cases, are earning a few hundred to a few thousand extra dollars each month.
Jeff Pullen, President of Commission Junction, a third party provider of infrastructure and tracking told the crowd at a recent conference held in Santa Barbara that, “Commissions are up 80% over the previous year”. According to the Affiliate Summit, held in early November 2003 in New York City, affiliate marketing is already a $14 billion industry. (Source: Marketing Sherpa)
Online shopping is booming – the future is bright
Affiliate marketing works because the pay for performance model makes sense. Plus, people are flocking to the Internet in droves to shop online. According to Forrester Research, a Massachusetts-based research firm, nationally online sales are expected to total $96 billion this year and climb to $229 billion by 2008.
Affiliate marketing in a nutshell
An affiliate program is a business relationship where one website owner (a “merchant”) agrees to pay another website owner (an “affiliate”) a commission simply for referring customers.
Merchants typically manage their affiliate program by joining a commission network such as Commission Junction or LinkShare who provide third-party tracking and infrastructure or by purchasing and installing specialized tracking software on their own server.
See Commission Junction and LinkShare.com for a list of merchants who are looking for affiliates to promote their products and services.
How Colin got involved with affiliate marketing
Colin says: “I found the treasure map; the Affiliate Marketers Handbook written by James Martell,” an entrepreneur and successful affiliate marketer. The first time Colin read the Affiliate Marketers Handbook he mentions, that it was like looking at the horizon through binoculars; he could see where he was headed. The second time reading the book Colin, it was like looking at a road map and seeing how to reach the riches on the horizon.
Colin says, “With the book, you learn how to get organized, plan the site, run the business, and focus on the riches along the horizon.”
Colin learned firsthand, with the man’s mall, that without understanding the search engines, your business is dead in the water. The “build it they will come” mind set, just doesn’t cut it.
As Colin says: “The book’s system for using keywords really makes sense, after my prior experience it’s like this light bulb went off…so that’s how I’m going to attract visitors and making money. In my old business, I was set up to fail, with the handbook I’m set up to win.”
Got Dot: How did you go from failing at the Internet to make money?
Colin explains, “By reading James’ handbook. His book is real, it’s not the stuff of Internet legends, but it’s an honest, to goodness road map. James really shares what works. I’ve followed his 8-step system™ and now have a bigger house, a bigger car and financial independence.
At first, I was amazed at how much the book gives away, but that’s James. He really wants everybody to succeed, he’s got things all laid out in his book. If you follow it the money’s there, it’s up to the reader to go for the gold.”
Got Dot: What was it like getting started?
Colin says, “In the beginning I was skeptical, making money with affiliate marketing, just seemed unreal. After attending James’ original class in Vancouver, at the prodding of a friend Chuck Anderson, and actually meeting with other people, earning lots of money with affiliate marketing, the whole process really resonated. I knew I could do it, if they could.”
Got Dot: Why was that so hard to grasp?
Colin: “As a system tech I was working 50% harder for a measly 5% raise, all of $250/month. It was awful. In the class all these people were making a lot more money than me, working just a few hours a day. What a wake up call. I felt like a dummy slaving away at 60 hours a week, with practically nothing to show for it.”
Colin adds, “The hard part for me was getting over my past, removing the skepticism, and just running. My disbelief held me back four months. So I started off small spending one hour a day doing affiliate marketing.
The beginning search engine traffic and commission checks…just blew me away, talk about a real eye-opener. Nothing like numbers to get a techie excited.”
Got Dot: What’s the money like?
Colin: “When I first started I earned $400 a month, nearly double my raise as a system tech. By the end of the year I hoped to make $5k a month (my system tech salary). I hit that mark in six months. Within 9 months I earned $120K. The day job is now history. The money’s astounding, it just keeps growing.”
Got Dot: What is your product niche?
Colin says, “In the beginning, I went after the big paycheck, like credit cards. My newer sites feature things I want to learn more about or hobbies.”
Colin follows the same methods for web site construction developed by James Martell. These principals are incorporated into Colin’s successful sites featuring: mortgage loans, furniture slip covers and credit card applications.
Got Dot: What is a typical day like?
Colin says, “Its ideal. How many fathers can say they have time to play Barbie’s with their daughter? Everyday I work for two hours and spend an afternoon in the park with the family, then another hour or two of work and its dinner time, what a day!”
Got Dot: What tips do have for someone starting out?
Colin says: “Buy the Affiliate Marketers Handbook, follow it step-by-step. Don’t jump ahead. Devote one hour a day to affiliate marketing, when you get home from work. Make the sacrifice. The short term pain is worth the long term gain. Don’t settle for fool’s gold, searching through the “best affiliate programs”, find the real gold, James Martell’s 8-step system™, it’s within your grasp. Go for the gold.”
Colin McDougall followed a simple 8-step-system™ for affiliate marketing created by James Martell, entrepreneur, successful affiliate marketer, and developer of over 70 specialty shopping sites with topics that range from motorized scooters to treadmill comparisons; and also educates people who want to start a homebased business using affiliate programs and the Internet!
Colin McDougall is the editor of the credit review site, Only the best credit cards online. You can visit this site at http://www.only-the-best-credit-cards-online.com/.
How to start your own Affiliate Program – Internet Marketing
This is how most entrepreneurs become filthy stinking rich! EVEN Ebay has an affiliate program!The truth is its hard generating traffic on your own and if you want massive amounts of traffic this is the best way I know of. The great thing about creating your own affiliate program is you don’t have to pay a cent until one of your affiliates makes a sale.However in order to get affiliates to want to promote your product, you do need to make it enticing for them. If you’re selling a digital product where you make basically 100% of the profits then your affiliates will be expecting a decent cut of the profits. After all, advertising can be quite expensive. It needs to be worth “their” while.If your digital product sells for $97 ++ and you offer a 50% commission… your not going to have any troubles getting affiliates to sign on and promote your product (unless of course your salescopy isn’t up to scratch or your product has a bad reputation, I’ve seen that happen before).Writing up your affiliate page and making it easier for your affiliates to promote your product will be of great benefit to you as well. After all, writing up email promotions, ezines, banners etc… is going to be a whole lot easier for you then what it will be for your affiliate because NO-ONE knows YOUR products as well as you do!So how can you get an affiliate program?Well there are quite a few options… Probably the most popular affiliate program would be ClickBank’s. Once you make your first sale (and they also give you the option of making the sale yourself) then they will index your site in their affiliate programs to promote. This gives you a large audience to find eager and waiting affiliates.You can also get other affiliate programs that give you greater control and tracking, just do a search in Google for “Affiliate Software.
How to join Affiliate Programs – Affiliate Marketing
The first thing you may be wondering before you join an affiliate program is how much is it going to cost you? Well most of them are free to join! Affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn a little bit of extra cash on the side and some people actually make a full-time living from it. And you have some guru’s in the affiliate marketing industry that will earn more then the average person in one year compared to their 20 years.The most popular affiliate centre around to date would have to be ClickBank. They have thousands of affiliate programs ready and waiting for you to promote them. ClickBank deals with digital products only eg. E-books and software.ClickBank will send you a check every 2 weeks for the commissions you have earned. You get to choose your limit of when you want them to send the check to you, the minimum amount starting at $25. You can join ClickBank for free here http://clickbank.com/overview.htmlI give a description of what I look for before promoting a website in my book “Affiliate Marketing – Quick Start Guide”. You can get my book for free at http://www.joesy.comYou can also find a variety of affiliate programs with other products you can promote as well at places such as:www.affiliateguide.comwww.associateprograms.comwww.affiliatematch.comwww.cj.comwww.earnfind.comJust to name a few…Of course these aren’t the only products you can promote through affiliate marketing. You might be surprised at what company’s have affiliate programs. Even big name’s like Ebay and Dell computers have an affiliate program.Usually the best way to promote a product is a personal recommendation and review from your self. So if you’ve bought a product recently that your extremely pleased with, check around and see if they have an affiliate program so you can earn money for promoting a product that you have hands on experience with and love!
Are Affiliate Programs Sensible?
Have you ever wondered how "the big guys" earn so muchmoney on the internet? Sure, some of them have hugeadvertising budgets, which puts small business owners at adisadvantage.But some of the biggest names today started out just likeyou and me. They had low advertising budgets and fumbledtheir way around the internet trying to get visitors totheir websites and sell their products.Even though they had terrific products, they couldn't sellthem if no one knew about them. They put on their thinkingcaps to find the easiest and least expensive way to getvisitors and make sales.They finally came up with a plan that would benefit notonly them, but others as well. If they could get otherpeople to promote their products and websites, they couldearn more money.And so, Affiliate Programs were born! What a concept! Abetter way to get visitors to a website and sell moreproducts!They offer their visitors the opportunity to "partner" withthem, often for free, to help sell their products. And manyof them offer two-tier affiliate programs.So if I sign up as an affiliate I can get others to sign upunder me as my sub-affiliates. I earn a commission forsales I make directly to my customers. But I also earn asmaller commission for sales that my sub-affiliates make.It's a winning situation for everyone! The "big guy" mademoney because he sold his product. However, he might nothave made that sale if it wasn't for my advertisement. And Imade money because I advertised his products.The concept of affiliate programs is really not so new. It'ssimilar to selling cosmetics or other products for manywell-known companies.For instance, I have no idea how to invent a new cologne,but I know how to sell it. Therefore, I could sign up as arepresentative for a cosmetics company. They, in turn,would pay me a commission for selling their products.Why would they do that? Because they can't possibly reachall the potential customers by themselves.By becoming an affiliate for someone who knows much moreabout computers and digital products than I do, I have theadvantage of selling quality products that I can't createmyself.And they have the advantage of their affiliates doing someof the "leg work" for them because they can't possibly reachall the potential customers in this vast internet world.A few of the large companies on the internet today thatoffer free two-tier affiliate programs can be located atthe following links:http://www.moneyhome.com/cgi-bin/i.pl?c=a&i=69http://www.marketingtips.com/sr .x/775957http://www.mywizardads.com/cgi-bin/ra.cgi?adminid=253&id=559http://www.rtdwebsolutions.com/i/clickthru.cgi?id=dmh0226http://QuickPayPro.com/x/qpp.cgi?adminid=1946&id=40550http://www.ListFire.com/5159(For this last one you sign up for ListFire and get yourfree copy of Web Army Knife. Then you can sign up to becomean affiliate for free.)The next time you visit a website offering products youlike, check to see if they offer an affiliate program. Evenif you don't wish to place an order for a product at thattime, you can sign up as an affiliate.In the future when you do order you may be able to use your own affiliate URL and give yourself the commission. Most companies allow this procedure.In the meantime you can let your customers know that youhave new products available, as well as affiliate programsfor them to join. It's a great way to get backend sales.So there you have it! The reasons for affiliate programs andwhy it makes sense for people to sign up. By offeringwell-known products on your website or in your ezine youare in a win-win situation and can potentially earn bigmoney like the "internet gurus."
Affiliate Programs-An Easy Start to Online Income
If you have been longing to start a business online you maybe coming across terms you've never heard before. You mayalso have found the opportunities available areoverwhelming. Where do you begin? AFFILIATE PROGRAMS - EASY START Affiliate programs may be the easiest online business tostart running. Why? With any online business you must have a product or serviceto sell. First you must create this product or service andthen you must be able to fill orders. Selling your own product or service also means creating awebsite, learning how to write ad copy, setting up amarketing plan, being able to accept payments online andobviously doing the work. If you're selling a physicalproduct then you will need to make or buy the item, packageit and pay for shipping costs. If you provide a servicethan you will likely have to start by doing free jobs tobuild your credibility and then when you are charging foryour service you are still limited by how much work you canactually handle. THE MAGIC OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS Affiliate programs are a great way to get started in anonline business. In fact there are even some 'SuperAffiliates' who are making fabulous incomes from affiliateprograms. So, what ARE affiliate programs? Affiliate programs allow you to sell another company'sservice or product and make a commission on every sale orlead. You do not even need to build a website or handle thetransaction. Your job is to drive traffic (customers) toyour affiliate link. An affiliate link is a special URL code that will identifycustomers coming to the company's site from youradvertising. It will likely be the website address with acode attached to the end. Some affiliate programs also have tiers. That means ifsomeone who is interested in SELLING the product comesthrough your link and signs up you will also get a smallpercentage of THEIR earnings. HOW DO I CHOOSE A PROGRAM? You should research the popularity of some of yourinterests. Try to determine if people are buying thatproduct or service online. There are many sources forfinding that information including free ones such as theOverture keyword tool. When you have found an area that is popular then type thesubject along with 'affiliate program' into your searchengine and see which programs have services or products forthat area. You can also use an affiliate program directory. When you have found a program that looks interesting youshould read the terms of the program. Make sure that payoutsare not based on a high commission earning or you may neversee your money. Also try to choose programs with highcommission rates. Often you will find ebooks anddownloadable software has the highest rates as there is nophysical product to make or ship. If you are satisfied withthe terms then you need to sign up - usually a simpleprocess. START MARKETING The reason affiliate programs are so great for beginners isthat you only need to focus on marketing - not making - yourproduct. Many affiliate programs have information on how to marketand give you tools such as banners, product feeds and more.You can also look for other information on marketingincluding writing articles, creating pay-per-clickcampaigns, commenting in online forums etc. As you gainexperience marketing you will make adjustments to yourselling and start creating a wonderful income!.
How to Create a Lifetime Commissions Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs are a great way of marketing online.You pay only for the results you get - if someonereferred to your site makes a purchase.But if you want to make a really strong affiliate program,with adoring-sales-machines for affiliates, it must beVERY attractive to affiliates.The best way to do that is to offer lifetimecommissions. That means you pay commissions on EVERYpurchase a referred customer makes, not just on thefirst purchase.If you pay commissions for every purchase that yourreferred customers make, you offer your affiliates thechance to earn a lot more money than they otherwisewould.That will strongly motivate your smarter affiliates towork harder and be creative, and that is EXACTLY whatyou want them to do.There are lots of things that make an affiliate programgreat, but one of the most important is reliable tracking.==============================The magic ingredient: Tracking==============================If an affiliate sends you a customer, the affiliatemust earn a commission when that customer makes apurchase.You would not have that customer if the affiliate hadnot referred them, so the affiliate deserves to berewarded.To achieve this you must track all referrals reliably,both online and off.You should use cookies to store the referringaffiliate's ID number. You should set them with noexpiry date, but they will inevitably be lost wellwithin a few months, if not weeks, after they are set.Browsers have a limit to the number of cookies theycan store. A lot of web sites now use cookies. Thismeans that your cookies will often be overwritten bythose from other web sites.You must make sure that your cookies work with InternetExplorer 6, which will discard cookies not compliantwith P3P standards.Details:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpriv/html/ie6privacyfeature.aspTracking by IP address is not an accurate method oflong-term tracking, however it is an effective way totrack visitors during their FIRST visit to your site.It is a good idea to use IP tracking to catch anypeople who have cookies disabled.Every time your affiliates send someone to theiraffiliate URL, your server should send them to either adynamically generated or pre-generated page with theiraffiliate ID embedded in it. The affiliate's ID shouldalso be stored in the URL, so that if the customerbookmarks and returns, the affiliate is still creditedwith the sale.In your database of customer profiles, you should storethe ID of the affiliate who referred each customer.Whenever a customer "profile" makes a purchase (onlineor off) you should credit the appropriate affiliate(s)for the sale.Storing the affiliate's ID in the customer's profile isthe best, most reliable way to track in the long term,both offline and on.Some systems also allow you to track offline bysupplying the user with a fake phone extension. Thisextension is actually the referring affiliate's ID. Youcan also ask people faxing you to quote an order number- which includes the affiliate's ID.To catch any who "slip though the cracks", your orderprocessing software should scan your order history forany orders going to the same name, e-mail address orphone number of a customer, and pay the referringaffiliate their due commission.========================================Where to get affiliate tracking software========================================You have two options: build or buy.--------------------------------------------------Buying affiliate software--------------------------------------------------Buying affiliate tracking software is the way to go.It is so much cheaper than developing it yourself,and quality is guaranteed.There is only one merchant offering a system thatcan handle true lifetime commissions: My AffiliateProgram, with it's LifeTime Commissions module add-on.This is the only system custom-built for lifetimecommissions, and it's fresh off the production line(December 2001).There is one other good near-lifetime system - Ultimate Affiliate.It is not specifically designed for lifetime commissions,but it can handle residual commissions with ease.------------------------------------My Affiliate Program------------------------------------This is a great affiliate tracking software suite,recently made even better by the addition of theLifeTime Commissions module.It is run by Kowabunga Technologies, and was honoredwith the "Editor's Choice" Award by Dr. Ralph Wilsonof Wilson Internet, who called it "the 'Cadillac'of its category."Wilson Web:http://wilsonweb.comIt is hosted on Kowabunga's secure servers, thougha version hosted on your own domain is possible. Over500 Merchants use MYAP.It tracks primarily by a cookie for the firstpurchase. CGI/ASP tracking is also available,and it can even track sales made over the phone.Affiliate management is also simple, with automatedsign-up and a clear interface.You can even reward your top earning affiliates withbonuses that can be easily and securely awarded.The LifeTime Commissions module itself works bygenerating a "LifeTime identifier" when your customersmake a purchase.This field can be anything you want, like thecustomer's surname plus the last 5 digits of theircredit card, their name and phone number,or any other combination you can think of.When a sale is made this field is compared with atable that contains a list of these fields and theaffiliate that referred them. If it finds a match,it awards the due commission.If it doesn't find a match, it then looks for an affiliateID in the cookie and makes a new entry to the lifetimeidentifier database.A simple, yet highly effective system. Database trackingis the most reliable way to track in the long term.I highly recommend MYAP with the LifeTime Commissionsmodule for lifetime tracking.My Affiliate Program Software:http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com------------------------------------Ultimate Affiliate------------------------------------Ultimate Affiliate is a good PERL software suite forUNIX servers. Ultimate Affiliate tracks by cookie, IPaddress, and can produce dynamic or static web pagesthat have the ID of the referring affiliate embedded inall internal URLs. All your affiliates' details arestored in a MySQL database.With a knowledge of PERL and HTML you can customizevirtually any page created by the software.This software can easily handle recurring commissions,and has graphical stats for both you and youraffiliates. It can handle up to twelve tiers ofcommissions.I recommend you do not pay out on more than two tiers.More than two tiers is multi-level marketing, whichgenerally has a bad image on the Internet because itattracts spammers. MLM products also tend to be over-priced to pay for the many tiers of commissionsUltimate Affiliate:http://www.groundbreak.com================================================Give your affiliates the right tools for the job================================================One thing that really makes some programs stand head-and-shoulders above the rest is real-time tracking thatshows affiliates the conversion rates for their variouslinks.That means affiliates can see which of their variouslinks are performing and get an idea why, and whatlinks aren't and how they could be improved.Affiliates should be able to see the number of click-throughs to each of their different links, the numberof sales that each link has made, and the conversionrate for each link should be calculated for them.This enables them to figure out how to improve theirlinks, and thus make more money for themselves, and foryou.They should also be able to set the landing page forthese links, so that they can link to specificproducts.Affiliates who link to and promote specific productsare a lot more successful than those who simply promoteyour site in general.The shorter and less your links look like referral URLsthe better. Some people recognize affiliate URLs, andare suspicious of them.Consider the following (imaginary) URLs:http://www.pottery-store.com?more-infohttp://www.pottery-store.com/cgi-bin/affiliate-referral.cgi?affiliate12341The first one (where "more-info" is the affiliate'susername) is much more likely to lure a click-through.A big advantage of short referral URLs is they areeasier to put into newsletters, which are a highlyeffective way to advertise online.=============================Help your affiliates help you=============================Ninety percent of affiliates won't make a lot of moneyfor you. They need encouragement, motivation, and help.Consider giving performance bonuses to the top earners.Run a monthly newsletter and praise your top affiliatesin it.Tell your other affiliates how the top earners did it,and about the performance bonus you gave them. Give youraffiliates ideas on how to promote your products best.Your top earners will appreciate the ego massage, andyour other affiliates will find out what's possible ifthey put their mind to it.For more details see:How to make your affiliates enthusiastically loyalhttp://www.associateprograms.com/search/affiliate-loyalty.shtmlRemember, when you help your affiliates get sales, youhelp yourself get sales.==============The end result==============Starting a lifetime affiliate program is not easy, butthe rewards are worth it.To make your affiliate program successful, you need tomake it attractive to affiliates, and the best way todo that is offer good rewards.If you pay lifetime commissions you offer affiliatesthe opportunity to earn more money than they normallywould. They will work harder for the better commissionsand in the end, it will pay off with a better, moreeffective affiliate program, that is more profitablefor you.-Christopher Pearcehttp://www.LifetimeCommissions.com-=====================Links in this article:=====================Problems with Internet Explorer 6 and cookies:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpriv/html/ie6privacyfeature.aspWilson Web:http://wilsonweb.comMy Affiliate Program tracking software:http://www.myaffiliateprogram.comGroundBreak (Ultimate Affiliate) tracking software:http://www.groundbreak.comeLance.com, somewhere to start looking for programmers:http://www.elance.com/How to make your affiliates enthusiastically loyalhttp://www.associateprograms.com/search/affiliate-loyalty.shtml
Five Things to Look For to Join Any Affiliate Program!
Here's a really simple way... to find out which affiliate program provides all the 7 packages to join an affiliateprogram.When I wanted to start to join an affiliate program it took me awhile to pick the best one. My inbox was filled up with all these advertisements and I just didn't know how to pick the right program.Now how would you know which program is going to bring the best profit? I personally believe that a lot of the income is created from the effort an affiliate marketer puts into a program. I have 7 tips for you before you pick the best one.1. Look for the best commission. You need a program that will pay you a good commission rate. It should pay you at least 20% of each sale. A good rate is 50% and anything above that is ideal. You should also look for how often they pay. Some programs pay you twice a month and sometimes every week. Most programs also only pay youwhen you have earned a base amount.2. Look for a good Back Office Support.What is the support for your program like? Do they have a good list of Frequently Asked Questions "AKA", a contact email address with a quick response? Any more than 3 days for a response is too long. Programs that offer live chat is even better.3. Statistics for you to see.The program should offer an automated and immediate reaction to your statistics. They should automatically contact you when you receive a client, prospect, lead, customer or when you make a sale. It should also be ready to view in your downline as soon as you have the knowledge of the sale etc.4. The program must have Incentives.It is important to have marketing tools to keep track of business and weekly training from successful people that is making it. If it has marketing letters or articles that is a plus.5. Find out if you will get monthly reports or updates.Every good program will have news and training updates sent to your inbox so you can learn what works best for theprogram and what the top affiliates of the program are doing. You should also be able to read this on their website.------------------------------------------------------------Before you dive into anything, it is important to do your business. Learn as much as you can and make sure you feel comfortable with your decision before going ahead. If you look for these 5 Tips when you start looking for the best affiliate program, I guarantee you that you won't bedisappointed when you join that company. This will save you time and money. When I joined a program, I was pretty glad I joined a company with all the 5 packages.After reading this article, I believe you will be an expert once you see an affiliate program. It will take time to know a legitimate program.------------------------------------------------------------Do you want to find out if an affiliate program is legitimate? Visit http://tinyurl.com/d2pa6 and subscribe to our free newsletter and we will send you advantages and benefits of what's a good affiliate program.------------------------------------------------------------
FIVE FANTASTIC WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR AFFILIATE PROGRAM
If you belong to any affiliate program, you know that beingsuccessful at the affiliate game hinges on one simple concept:getting as many people to join as you possibly can.There are a lot of different programs out there and even moreways promote them, so I've narrowed things down to what I believeare the five absolute best ways to get the word out about YOURaffiliate program. So, without further ado, here they are:1) ON EVERY PAGE OF YOUR WEB SITEThat's right... every page. After looking through your site andseeing that link on every page, they're just bound to click on atleast one of them. Promoting your program on every page will notonly utilize the proven marketing method of repetition, but willalso display your enthusiasm, which is also a great tool.2) IN YOUR NEWSLETTERSince most of your core customers are already looking at it, yournewsletter is a terrific place to promote your affiliate program.Position an ad with a link right at the top of your newsletter,again somewhere in the middle, and also at the bottom.3) EZINE ADSEzines like DEMC and AIM have huge numbers of subscribers, andboth cater mostly to an audience of online businesspeople andopportunity seekers. Therefore, ads placed in these newsletterscan reach literally tens of thousands of the right kind ofpeople. Reaching a targeted audience like this is key if youwant a good return on your investment.4) PRESS RELEASESIf your affiliate program is new, unique, or especiallyprofitable, a press release sent to the right audience can reallygive you a boost. A well-written press release just placed onyour web site can give your program a "newsy" feel that mightreally impress people.5) WORD OF MOUTHI can't say enough about word-of-mouth advertising. If you'reexcited about your affiliate program, talk about it. Tell yourfriends, your family, your co-workers, and people on the bus allabout how you're making money. People who know you are morelikely to take you on your word, and if they tell their friendsand family... you get the picture.Promoting your affiliate program really isn't very hard, and itcan make the difference between success and failure. Use thesemethods, and you're likely to go far.
Finding the Best and Most Lucrative Affiliate Programs
One of the questions that is asked the most by both the beginning and experienced Internet Marketer is, What are the best affiliate programs?With literally thousands of affiliate programs on the Internet to choose from it is no surprise that people have problems deciding on the best ones to join and promote.Today I am going to focus on things you need to take into consideration when trying to tell the difference between an outstanding affiliate program and the ones you should avoid like the plague.Target Markets That You Have Some Knowledge InWhen you know something about the market you are entering into it will save you time and money because you will reduce the amount of research that will need to be done in finding products that target customers in that market need.If you already know the market you won't be spending a lot of time researching what the market needs because you will recognize these products when you find them.Focus Your Efforts on Programs in “HOT” MarketsThe best programs to promote are not only in hot markets but they also offer products that are needed by the target customers in that particular market but also are unique products as well so your competition is at a minimum.Look For Affiliate Programs with High Pay OutsThe best ways to promote affiliate programs will be the same no matter what the price of the product. When you sell “High Ticket” items you will be using the same marketing strategies that you would use for products with small price tags.So the question you need to ask yourself is “Why am I wasting my time and advertising dollars promoting products that will take me double or triple the effort to make good money?”It is not only common sense but it is simple math as well. If one affiliate program pays $20 dollar per sale and another pays you $40 dollars per sale it is going to take you twice as many sales to generate the same profits from the first program as it will the second.Seek Out Income StreamsIf it cost you $1 dollar in advertising to gain one paying customer which would you choose:1.A one time sale customer that you will have to continually promote other similar products to on a month to month basis so they spend additional money to increase your profits. -or-2.A customer that pays a reoccurring membership fee every month that you automatically receive a percentage from.You don't even have to bother answering the question for me. I already know your answer. If at all possible you want to focus your promotional efforts on the programs that are going to offer you the highest return (your commissions) for the lowest investment (your advertising dollars).Some businesses that offer multiple products will offer their affiliates life-time commissions. So if you were the first affiliate to get a customer to buy a product from them you will receive commissions on every product they buy in the future from them no matter how they ended up being referred back to the site. These are also very nice programs to put your efforts into.Start Your Own Mini-Affiliate ProgramSome affiliate programs setup what is called a “Two-Tier” commission schedule. With these programs you not only receive commissions on sales that you have referred to the program but you can recruit other affiliates to the program and receive commissions on their referred sales as well.The bottom-line is the more of these principles an affiliate program follows the more deserving of your time and effort they are.
Affiliate Programs
RichTrack.com explains what affiliate marketing is all about and how much money you can make. RichTrack.com will help you to become an affiliate. RichTrack.com has reviewed the best Affiliate Program Providers (APPs) and here you can find our top APPs ranking. Also you find a lot of resources which help you to promote merchant’s products and get money in the lucrative world of affiliate marketing.Basic IdeaAffiliate marketing is a type of marketing in which revenue sharing between online merchants and online salespeople (affiliates), whereby compensation is based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales (Pay Per Sale), clicks (Pay Per Click) and impressions (Pay Per Impressions). Merchants run affiliate programs to generate leads and sales from other Web sites. They pay an affiliate to generate sales from a button, banner, or link placed on affiliate’s website, newsletter, e-mail or pay per click ad. For example, if a site owner signs up for any merchant’s affiliate program, he will receive banners or links from this merchant that he can place anywhere on his site. Then, if a visitor clicks on this banner or a link on his site and buys something, he will receive a commission. The introduction of affiliate programs in the late 1990s brought Internet marketing to a new level. The first companies that offered these programs saw sales increase dramatically. These companies basically get free advertising and only pay their affiliates a percentage of the sales they generate. It's a win-win situation for the company that runs the affiliate program. Now there are thousands of companies in hundreds of industries that will pay commissions to you for sales, leads or impressions.How does it work?1. First of all you are looking for products and services sold online and used an affiliate program. 2. Then you should sign up for free as a reseller (affiliate). How to become an affiliate you can find below.3. After that you should advertise these products and services. How to promote them you can find below.4. After all you’ll receive commission checks.How to become an affiliate?There are two ways to become an affiliate:1. Some merchants have their own affiliate programs. You can join them on their sites.2. But the most typical is to use Affiliate Program Providers (APPs). There are several large APPs. They connect a lot of merchants and affiliates in different industries. APPs collect payments from merchants and consolidate affiliate reporting and payments. For example, the affiliate places links to the merchant on their website, email, newsletter, or Pay per Click ads. When a potential customer clicks through the link they are sent to a specified page of the merchant’s site. If this potential customer buys something, fills out a form, or completes any action desired by the merchant the affiliate is gotten a commission. The APP tracks all elements of the transaction.Joining an APP is absolutely free. You should only fill out a form. The affiliate should usually wait a few days for approval, sometimes applying is automatic. You can find the Top APPs at http://www.RichTrack.com.AdvantagesAffiliate Programs are the ideal way to get money quickly and easily online:You don’t need to launch a new product; You don’t need to handle any products; You don’t need physical inventory; You don’t need a huge investment. You can start with $10 and 2 hours a week;You don’t need a website because you can use Pay per Click ads.DisadvantagesThe very important disadvantage is a low click-through to conversion rate.Only a few percent of your visitors will click on a banner or link; of that percentage, a few percent will actually buy something. It can be disheartening to see that there have been thousands of visits to your site, and only small percent of them have bought something you promote.Recommendation: If you focus on the affiliate programs to the theme of your site and the interests of your audience then the better the results you will achieve. Also text links, "odd" ads (i.e. advertising that doesn't immediately look like advertising) will generally give rise to much better results than banners or buttons. You should be reliant on a merchant's ability to sell to the visitors the products that you're promoting. Of course you can improve the chance of a sale by effectively pre-selling the product or service, but it's still up to the merchant to close a sale. And if they don't sell anything to your visitors, you get nothing.Recommendation: Before promoting any product you should learn it and decide for yourself: “Would I buy it?” If the answer is “Yes” that's greate, but if “No” you should look for better productsto promote.
Vital Things To Check At Any Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs are now one of the most popular ways for webmasters with lot of traffic to their sites to earn good money.There are many factors which influence the amount of money earned by an affiliate. The most important is the quality of the affiliate program. So if you want to make lots of money, you must know how to choose an affiliate program.First of all you should look for a web site that has been on the net for some time. That's how you know that you can trust them and you will receive the money you make. There are many untrustworthy programs that fooled a lot of webmasters with promises but they never sent the money.Next step is to check the quality of the products the site is promoting. Don't advertise a product if you wouldn't use it for your self. You shouldn't be blinded by the high commissions an affiliate program is offering. If you join a program with bad products you will damage your image and you won't be able to advertise other products ever because people won't value your opinion.Try to find an affiliate program with a good commission rate because you don't want to waste your time if you can make much more money elsewhere. A good commission would be a 20% to 25% of the product price.We have discussed about the web site, the products and the commissions but none of this matter if the program doesn't have a great tracking system. You should look for programs that track visitors to their site using both CGI and cookies so you'll get your money for the sales you make.It's also good if you can check your stats in real time. Before you sign up in a affiliate program you should first check how long do they track visitors for. There are affiliate programs that track a visitor only once and if they come back another day and buy the product you won't earn ay money. So best for you is to find programs that track visitors for 30 days or more.Then you should be interested on how often the site sends your payment and if you have to earn a fix amount of money before they send them to you.So these are some tips in choosing an affiliate program that will bring you a high income. If a program has most of the things mentioned above then it's worth trying.
How To Profit From 2 Tier Affiliate Programs And Build A Sub
Before I get into depth with this article I first want you to have a good understanding of what a '2 Tier' affiliate program is and there advantages. Then from there I'll go on to explain how you can start recruiting Sub-Affiliate's by simply locating the Super-Affiliate's within your Niche market.
First... lets define what a '2 Tier' affiliate program is.
A '2 Tier' affiliate program is simply a program that is designed to work on a 2 tier payment structure. And what I mean by that is that you'll get paid on both the 1st tier(you) and 2nd tier(your sub-affiliates) of the program you choose to promote.
Now, with that said, let's go a little deeper into what the advantages of a '2 Tier' affiliate program are so that you'll be able to visualize in your head why these programs are being considered the most Powerful programs on the Net and more importantly... how they can put Profits in your hand, on Auto-Pilot, 24/7/365 with little effort on your part.
Lets first talk about the advantages and for the purpose of this article I'm going to give you three of the main ones:
you get paid 'Higher' commissions on your 1st tier (usually between 25% - 65% depending on the vendor)
you have the ability to 'Recruit' sub-affiliates(your 2nd tier) to promote the program for you
and you can form 'Joint Ventures' with other website and/or list owners within your specified Niche market
Is the 'Light-Bulb' starting to flicker inside your head?
Are you starting to see WHY these programs are so Powerful and Versatile?
I certainly hope so.
Now that you see the main advantages to these programs your probably asking yourself... "well, where can I find a complete listing of these programs so I don't have to spend alot of time looking for them on the web?"
Well... it just so happens that I know of a few top affiliate directories that have a complete searchable database full of '2 Tier' affiliate programs in whatever category you are looking for.
I will list two of the of Top affiliate directories for the purposes of this article that I use to locate these programs:
2 Tier Affiliate Directory
http://www.2-tier.com
Associate Affiliate Directory
http://www.associateprograms.com
I think these two directories alone will keep you busy.
There are many affiliate directories out there on the WWW, but these two I find are the most popular and have the best selection.
Now that you have an idea of what '2 Tier' affiliate programs are, there advantages and where to locate these programs on the web lets talk about 'How' you can start recruiting some Sub-Affiliate's within the next 24 hours by simply locating the Super-Affiliate's within your Niche market via the search engines.
In order to do this exercise properly you're going to need two Very important webmaster tools. These tools are Free so you don't have to worry about paying anything up front or any monthly subscription fee's for there use.
The 1st tool you need to get is the 'Google Toolbar'. This toolbar is used to gauge a websites PR(Link Popularity) within the search engines. Generally, a website with a PR of 5 or higher are the types of websites you want to find and are where the Super-Affiliate's usually reside.
Click the link I've provided below and install the toolbar.
- http://toolbar.google.com/
And the 2nd tool you need to get is the 'Alexa Toolbar'. This toolbar is used to gauge a websites overall Traffic Ranking. You'll want to find websites with a traffic ranking of 50,000 or lower. This is where you'll find the Super-Affiliate's.
Click the link I've provided below and install the toolbar.
- http://download.alexa.com/
Now that you have those two tools installed on your computer you Now have the ability to find Super-Affiliate's through gauging their websites overall 'Traffic Ranking' and 'Link Popularity' which brings use to the next step... "Locating the Super-Affiliates".
A 'Super-Affiliate', just so you know, is simply a webmaster who has a high traffic website and/or a large targeted mailing list and has the ability to sell more in a day then you could in a month.
Generally, and this is just a guideline I use when contacting these webmasters, I look for websites with at least a PR of 5 and a Traffic Ranking of 50,000 or less. This way, if they don't have a large mailing list they at least have a high traffic website or Visa-Versa.
This next step is where the fun begins because we'll be using search engines to locate the Super-Affiliate's and for this exercise lets go to the all famous 'Google' search engine at -- http://www.google.com
Now... once the page loads simply type in the Keyword or Keywords or Keyword Phrase that targets your particular Niche market you are targeting within the search form Google provides.
For the purpose of this exercise lets use the keywords 'internet marketing'.
By now you should be looking at a page full of listings under the Keywords or Keyword Phrase you targeted, which in this case was 'internet marketing'.
Now, simply start clicking on the links that you think might make a good 'Sub-Affiliate' to the program you are recruiting for.
By using the two toolbars you installed earlier you'll now be able to identify if this website is a Super-Affiliate by the websites overall 'Link Popularity' and 'Traffic Ranking' by using the guidelines I stated earlier.
If you like the web stats you see and you think they would make a suitable sub-affiliate to your program all you have to do from this point is look for the webmasters contact details listed on their website and send them a proposition to join your program.
If you can't find there contact details on there website you can usually find them by using the 'Alexa' toolbar. Just click on the 'Alexa' button in the upper left corner of your browser. This will bring you to there main page. You'll usually find there contact details listed mid-way down.
And if you're worried about being accused of 'Spamming', well... you don't have too simply because your not sending them an Unsolicited Advertisement, your sending them a Business Proposition.
There's a BIG difference.
Now, with that said, lets move on to the Final segment of this article... 'Joint Ventures'.
'Joint Ventures' are simply an collaboration or partnership undertaken by two or more entities(webmasters) for a mutual gain, usually profit sharing.
Who make the best JV partners and Why?
Ezine/Newsletter owners make the best JV partners simply because they have already done all the work and have built highly targeted mailing lists. Some have Large lists and some have Small lists. Point being... they're highly targeted to whatever Niche market you're targeting.
How do '2 Tier' affiliate programs work in this kind of arrangement?
They work just the same as recruiting website owners, but instead you're strictly contacting list owners with highly targeted lists and propositioning them to join your program for a share of the profits.
Where can you find these Ezine/Newsletter owners?
You can find thousands of them on the WWW through Ezine/Newsletter directories, but I'll only list just a few top resources to save you the hassle.
Ezine Universe
http://www.ezine-universe.com
Ezine Hub
http://www.ezinehub.com
Go-Ezines
http://www.go-ezines.com
Netter Web
http://www.netterweb.com
Ezine Search
http://www.ezinesearch.com
These directories have large searchable databases full of thousands of Ezine/Newsletters that target any category you are looking for to promote your program(s). And these are only a few of whats available to you on the Net.
Well... there you have it in a nut shell.
I just revealed to you some of the most Powerful marketing technique's being used online today by many of the Top internet marketers and how they are able to build there Sub-Affiliate army's and generate loads of Free targeted traffic to there websites without spending a penny on advertising.
And... the best part about this is... you can start doing the same within the Next 24 hours.
First... lets define what a '2 Tier' affiliate program is.
A '2 Tier' affiliate program is simply a program that is designed to work on a 2 tier payment structure. And what I mean by that is that you'll get paid on both the 1st tier(you) and 2nd tier(your sub-affiliates) of the program you choose to promote.
Now, with that said, let's go a little deeper into what the advantages of a '2 Tier' affiliate program are so that you'll be able to visualize in your head why these programs are being considered the most Powerful programs on the Net and more importantly... how they can put Profits in your hand, on Auto-Pilot, 24/7/365 with little effort on your part.
Lets first talk about the advantages and for the purpose of this article I'm going to give you three of the main ones:
you get paid 'Higher' commissions on your 1st tier (usually between 25% - 65% depending on the vendor)
you have the ability to 'Recruit' sub-affiliates(your 2nd tier) to promote the program for you
and you can form 'Joint Ventures' with other website and/or list owners within your specified Niche market
Is the 'Light-Bulb' starting to flicker inside your head?
Are you starting to see WHY these programs are so Powerful and Versatile?
I certainly hope so.
Now that you see the main advantages to these programs your probably asking yourself... "well, where can I find a complete listing of these programs so I don't have to spend alot of time looking for them on the web?"
Well... it just so happens that I know of a few top affiliate directories that have a complete searchable database full of '2 Tier' affiliate programs in whatever category you are looking for.
I will list two of the of Top affiliate directories for the purposes of this article that I use to locate these programs:
2 Tier Affiliate Directory
http://www.2-tier.com
Associate Affiliate Directory
http://www.associateprograms.com
I think these two directories alone will keep you busy.
There are many affiliate directories out there on the WWW, but these two I find are the most popular and have the best selection.
Now that you have an idea of what '2 Tier' affiliate programs are, there advantages and where to locate these programs on the web lets talk about 'How' you can start recruiting some Sub-Affiliate's within the next 24 hours by simply locating the Super-Affiliate's within your Niche market via the search engines.
In order to do this exercise properly you're going to need two Very important webmaster tools. These tools are Free so you don't have to worry about paying anything up front or any monthly subscription fee's for there use.
The 1st tool you need to get is the 'Google Toolbar'. This toolbar is used to gauge a websites PR(Link Popularity) within the search engines. Generally, a website with a PR of 5 or higher are the types of websites you want to find and are where the Super-Affiliate's usually reside.
Click the link I've provided below and install the toolbar.
- http://toolbar.google.com/
And the 2nd tool you need to get is the 'Alexa Toolbar'. This toolbar is used to gauge a websites overall Traffic Ranking. You'll want to find websites with a traffic ranking of 50,000 or lower. This is where you'll find the Super-Affiliate's.
Click the link I've provided below and install the toolbar.
- http://download.alexa.com/
Now that you have those two tools installed on your computer you Now have the ability to find Super-Affiliate's through gauging their websites overall 'Traffic Ranking' and 'Link Popularity' which brings use to the next step... "Locating the Super-Affiliates".
A 'Super-Affiliate', just so you know, is simply a webmaster who has a high traffic website and/or a large targeted mailing list and has the ability to sell more in a day then you could in a month.
Generally, and this is just a guideline I use when contacting these webmasters, I look for websites with at least a PR of 5 and a Traffic Ranking of 50,000 or less. This way, if they don't have a large mailing list they at least have a high traffic website or Visa-Versa.
This next step is where the fun begins because we'll be using search engines to locate the Super-Affiliate's and for this exercise lets go to the all famous 'Google' search engine at -- http://www.google.com
Now... once the page loads simply type in the Keyword or Keywords or Keyword Phrase that targets your particular Niche market you are targeting within the search form Google provides.
For the purpose of this exercise lets use the keywords 'internet marketing'.
By now you should be looking at a page full of listings under the Keywords or Keyword Phrase you targeted, which in this case was 'internet marketing'.
Now, simply start clicking on the links that you think might make a good 'Sub-Affiliate' to the program you are recruiting for.
By using the two toolbars you installed earlier you'll now be able to identify if this website is a Super-Affiliate by the websites overall 'Link Popularity' and 'Traffic Ranking' by using the guidelines I stated earlier.
If you like the web stats you see and you think they would make a suitable sub-affiliate to your program all you have to do from this point is look for the webmasters contact details listed on their website and send them a proposition to join your program.
If you can't find there contact details on there website you can usually find them by using the 'Alexa' toolbar. Just click on the 'Alexa' button in the upper left corner of your browser. This will bring you to there main page. You'll usually find there contact details listed mid-way down.
And if you're worried about being accused of 'Spamming', well... you don't have too simply because your not sending them an Unsolicited Advertisement, your sending them a Business Proposition.
There's a BIG difference.
Now, with that said, lets move on to the Final segment of this article... 'Joint Ventures'.
'Joint Ventures' are simply an collaboration or partnership undertaken by two or more entities(webmasters) for a mutual gain, usually profit sharing.
Who make the best JV partners and Why?
Ezine/Newsletter owners make the best JV partners simply because they have already done all the work and have built highly targeted mailing lists. Some have Large lists and some have Small lists. Point being... they're highly targeted to whatever Niche market you're targeting.
How do '2 Tier' affiliate programs work in this kind of arrangement?
They work just the same as recruiting website owners, but instead you're strictly contacting list owners with highly targeted lists and propositioning them to join your program for a share of the profits.
Where can you find these Ezine/Newsletter owners?
You can find thousands of them on the WWW through Ezine/Newsletter directories, but I'll only list just a few top resources to save you the hassle.
Ezine Universe
http://www.ezine-universe.com
Ezine Hub
http://www.ezinehub.com
Go-Ezines
http://www.go-ezines.com
Netter Web
http://www.netterweb.com
Ezine Search
http://www.ezinesearch.com
These directories have large searchable databases full of thousands of Ezine/Newsletters that target any category you are looking for to promote your program(s). And these are only a few of whats available to you on the Net.
Well... there you have it in a nut shell.
I just revealed to you some of the most Powerful marketing technique's being used online today by many of the Top internet marketers and how they are able to build there Sub-Affiliate army's and generate loads of Free targeted traffic to there websites without spending a penny on advertising.
And... the best part about this is... you can start doing the same within the Next 24 hours.
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