Affiliate Revenue: November 2012

Monday, November 12, 2012

Affiliate programs made easy

by: J. E. Johnson

Author - J.E. Johnson
(c) 2004. All rights reserved.
www.SponsorDirectory.com
==================================================

The Internet is the world's greatest market place. Hundreds of thousands of companies are selling their products and services online with each desperately trying to stand out from the masses. With millions of web pages on the Internet today it has become increasingly hard to be noticed amongst those masses. In order to sell any product a company will usually employ several marketing systems. One of these marketing systems is the affiliate program.

We've all come to know and love (or hate) them. Colorful banners, annoying pop-ups, pop-ins, pop-unders, unwanted email (Spam) and even messages on our instant messenger service (Spim) are all used to attract the attention of the crowd to a particular product or service. A lot of these advertisements will create an excess of 'useless' traffic (i.e. people that just go to the advertised site to see what all the hustle and bustle is about). As a result this method of advertising is often considered unreliable and inefficient and has to be used in large quantities to be successful. Enter the affiliate program.

Affiliate programs are essentially used to have someone other then the product owner promote and sell the product. This is done on the basis of commissions offered to website owners who are willing to advertise the product on their website. The affiliate program owner offers a fee to the affiliate whenever someone buys from the affiliate program owner's website via a link placed on the website of the affiliate. This leaves advertising for the product almost completely up to the affiliate who only receives a fee if a product is actually sold.

Affiliate programs can generate large networks of affiliated sites that can drastically increase the sales of a particular service or product. Affiliate program referral fees can be anything from a few cents per click to hundreds of dollars for a registration or a product sale.

Affiliate programs have the nice addition that they are incredibly easy to set up often only needing a few minutes per month of maintenance for potentially high returns. As an affiliate all we have to do is place the link of the affiliate program on our website or find some other means to link to the affiliate owner's website and money will start coming in all on its own.

As opposed to endless banners, popups, pop-unders, pop-ins and Spam mail affiliate programs often manage to be a more direct method of advertising. Only interested parties will generally click on affiliate links converting many of the casual surfers to actually interested buyers.

Today the affiliate program is one of the most popular tools for Internet marketing purposes.

About the author:

J. E. Johnson is the owner/operator of
a highly respected affiliate
program directory and internet marketing website.

For more informational articles and a listing of thousands
of affiliate programs please visit

Affiliate programs guide.

by: Joel De Gan

How to pick the best possible affiliate program for your type of website.
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. ----------------------------------------begin article-------------------------------------------- Affiliate programs guide. Joel De Gan, 2003
PICK THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAM.
Picking the right affiiliate program for your web site is essential if you want to generate any revenue from it. There are a wide assortment of affiliate programs to choose from and weeding through ones is tedious work which requires filling out a lot of forms and reviewing the pro's and con's of each program and if it would be of value to you and your visitors.
THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM HAS TO MATCH YOUR SITE.
That sentence sums it all up for me. If you are running a website doing movie reviews and your affiliate program banners are advertising baby products or health care you seriously need to rethink changing your affiliate program to one which better suits your target audience. For our example here, the movie review site, you might be better off with a movie-poster ad campaign, or perhaps even DVD's. Try to stick as close to your subject matter as possible.
READ THE FINE PRINT.
Some lesser know affiliate programs can discontinue your affiliation for no reason at any time. Some bind you into only displaying their advertising and disallow you to place them in rotation with other programs. Know what you are getting yourself into and what you are signing away.
WOULD YOU PURCHASE THE PRODUCTS YOU ARE ADVERTISING?
This question I have often found myself asking when choosing which advertising to place. I have found that I look for affiliations with sites I already use or feel is something I would like to see. This gives you a better spin when shifting users offsite to your advertisers site. You can recommend products or services which you have personal experience with, thus gaining confidence from your website users.
MONITOR YOUR PROGRAM.
Watch your affiliate program closely, try to check it once a day to see if they have added anything new. I have found that just by simply changing a banner ad the clicks have doubled for a period of several days. Your users notice things that are new at your site. They gloss over things which they have seen many times and fail to notice them. Keeping fresh content keeps people coming back.
If your advertiser does not have regular content changes or new banner advertisments, email them and ask for fresh content.
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO CHANGE PROGRAMS.
If your affiliate program is not making you money, start looking for one that might. Select several and roate them through over a period of several weeks and compare which ones do the best, select the top two or three and rotate through them until you find the right program for your site.
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO "REMEMBER" YOUR ADVERTISER.
If you send out a mailing list, make sure that you include a link to your advertiser, if it is an HTML formatted mail then use banners at the top and the bottom. mention them at once "in text" on each page, even if it just a small "thank you" at the footer, this increases user familiarity with the product.
SOME IDEAS FOR PROMOTION.
If you have long articles on your site, have a mid-section break, creates "Fun facts" section in a quotebox and right below or to the side have a "This fun fact brought to you by ..." This increases user interactivity with the product and begins the association process. With each mailing you do, invite your users to check back on your site for a "special promotional offer" which includes a link to your advertiser to one of their latest promotions.
====================================================== Joel De Gan is a well know open source programmer and has run many websites He has a reviewed list of affiliate programs at his website http://listbid.com/affil/ which has user contributed comments and ratings for affiliate programs. ======================================================
----------------------------------------end article--------------------------------------------
About the Author
Joel De Gan is a prolific opensource programmer who has worked on a multitude of projects and is highly interested in search engine placement.

Affiliate Programs Can Put Cash In Your Mailbox

by: Jackie Ulmer Read this next line carefully:

Affiliate Programs Are Like Free Money In Your Mailbox!

What do I mean by this?

Something is about to change. Actually, it's already changing and it involves the Internet!

And you, my friend, are in the right place at the right time.

Imagine if you had products to sell, but didn't have to worry about inventory, credit card
processing, customer service or order fulfillment.

All you have to do is market your products.That's the beauty of Affiliate Programs.

If you already have an existing web site, you can profit tremendously by aligning yourself
with programs that complement what you are already offering. And those programs are out
there...or will be!

These companies will PAY YOU FOR referring customers that buy!

If you don't have a web site, you can still have your mailbox stuffed with cash!

Affiliate Programs are, without a doubt, one of the fastest and most effective ways to build your Internet
business and begin earning a great income from home!

Now, having said that, let me also add that nothing is ever easy, but you can build it fast and very effectively, if you build
it the right way. More on that in a minute.

Affiliate Programs are simply "revenue sharing programs" where you align yourself with other
companies, marketing their products and services and you are paid a referral fee on each purchase made.

In a nutshell -

You send visitors to the company web site. The company tracks the visitors.

When the visitor makes a purchase, you get a commission.

And most will sign you up, create an affiliate web site for you and offer you marketing tips for FREE!!
That's totally without risk!

Are you currently involved in Network Marketing? Great! Affiliate programs can add income to your
bottom line. Many see these as a future trend in Network Marketing!

One of, if not THE best program out there today is Ken Evoy's 5 Pillar Program and "Make Your Site Sell."

The reason it's the best is because Ken forms more than an affiliate agreement with his affiliates. He forms
a partnership!

He has invested a great deal of time and money into developing a win-win program for everyone.

At very least, his FREE 5 Pillar Program Training will help you understand Affiliate Programs, how to select
and market them, and how stuff YOUR mailbox with cash.

Find out more by visiting
http://www.streetsmartwealth.com/sitesell.htm

When you sign up to be a 5 Pillar Member, you will get a FREE 225 page manual on how to get started, but more
importantly, how to succeed at Affiliate Programs!

Get it today!

Or, send a blank email to
tamswealth2106@sitesell.net

This will get you started on a FREE, 5 day email course on
how to succeed at Affiliate Programs!

Both are FREE, so I recommend getting them both!

If you want to get started right, build it fast, and start receiving
checks in your mailbox, don't let this one pass you by.

Point, Click, Earn! Get In On the Action!

For more details on how to win with Affiliate Programs,
what to look for in a good program, and some programs that
have worked very well for me, send a blank email to
mailto:associate@quicktell.net

Don't let the Internet Revolution pass you by!
About the Author
Jackie Ulmer, a veteran Home Business Owner, has coached
thousands of men and women on starting a successful home
business. Her free newsletter provides ongoing tips, resources and options
for home businesses.
Subscribe by email to
mailto:streetsmartwealth@quicktell.net
She can be reached through her web site at
http://www.streetsmartwealth.com/

Affiliate Programs: Can I REALLY Make Money?

by: Rosalind Gardner

As an Internet marketing consultant, I often hear the
question, "Can I REALLY make money online with affiliate
programs?"

To me, that question speaks of the asker's skepticism, so
let's put aside any question of whether money is REALLY
being made online before we look any further.

Thousands of merchants have put resources into developing
affiliate programs so that others can promote their products
in exchange for a commission, which is usually a percentage
of the product's price. If there wasn't money to be made,
Sony, Dell and those thousands of other merchants wouldn't
waste their time and money building affiliate programs.

I personally know at least a hundred people who make
marketing on the Internet their full-time occupation. If
there wasn't money to be made, that wouldn't be possible.

I am one of those people. The secondary title of my ebook
about affiliate marketing is 'How I Made $436,797 Last Year
Selling Other People's Stuff Online'. Although I dislike
that subtitleand its crass approach, it IS the truth, and
it IS effective proof that money can be made online. The
statement is backed up on the Super Affiliate Handbook
homepage with a picture of part of my income tax statement
from 2002 which shows my earnings.

See it for yourself at: http://SuperAffiliateHandbook.com

So, having dispelled any question about whether there is
money to be made online, let's proceed to the REAL question.
Let's take the emphasis off the word 'REALLY' and place it
where it belongs - on YOU.

Can YOU really make money online?

Sure you can! IF you REALLY want to.

Desire is the first key to success. But here's where it gets
a little tricky. If your desire is for money, as opposed to
what money can buy, your work will be made much harder, if
not impossible.

'Huh? Why is that?' you may wonder.

Money is a concept. In and of itself it does nothing for
you, unless you are very fond of small rectangular pieces of
colored paper.

If you focus instead on the good that money will bring to
your life, such as free time and all the fun ways to spend
it, then you'll give positive direction to your efforts.

Think about it.. what can that money buy you? The kids'
education, a new car, a new house, a second honeymooon...
how about a sailboat?

Dream a little - dream a LOT, but create some desire, and a
REASON to work hard for what you want to achieve.

And that's the second key to making money online - Work.

Too many people still hold onto the notion of 'get rick
quick'. I've got news for them - there's no such thing. You
can get rich a little quicker on the 'net, but the truth is
that nothing worth having comes without a price. You must
invest some time and money.

Not much money, but some. Compared to starting any other
business, the amount of financial investment required to
start an affiliate marketing business on the Internet is
negligible.

If you don't have one or two hundred bucks - or can't beg,
borrow or steal that amount - then maybe you can get a
part-time job and save up to start your online business.

No matter how you slice it, you won't find another
opportunity anywhere that has the potential for this much
reward for so little outlay. This IS one of the least
expensive businesses you can start.

Last but not least - can you stick with it over the long
haul?

Persistence is perhaps the MOST important quality shared by
all entrepeneurs. That's why you hear about those who make a
million, lose a million and then make another million. They
go up, then down, then up again, but they never gave up.

You can't let the ups and downs get to you. Not everything
will go your way all of the time. You'll have to make
some effort and it won't always be easy.

But, if you keep your goals foremost in your mind, learn
what you need to know and invest your resources wisely and
with persistence, you virtually can't help but succeed.

That's how you REALLY make money online!
Article by Rosalind Gardner, speaker, consultant and author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, sign up for Rosalind's "Net Profits Today" newsletter at:
NetProfitsToday.com

Affiliate Programs: Can I REALLY Make Money?

by: Rosalind Gardner

Affiliate Programs Can Be Very Beneficial To Internet Market

by: Eric White

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

About The Author

Eric White
http://aceturbo.com/theHub.html
PS: Brand NEW! People are getting paid instantly with this!
$10, $100, $1000 Stair Step Profits. http://edwinc.com/recommends/Instant
SHORT TIME ONLY- Get my Adsense Secrets e-Course zero cost
http://adsense-empire-pro.com/AdsenseSpecial.htm
eric@aceTurbo.com

Affiliate Programs Are Wonderlands Of Opportunities

by: Mal Keenan

Copyright 2005 Mal Keenan

We have previously discussed affiliate programs in passing. But in this article, we're going to get an overview of this subfield of Internet marketing and how it could help bring about some stable and generous earnings for you.

It has been said that affiliate programs are the easiest ways to online riches. There is a lot of truth in that statement, though it must be remembered that affiliate marketing is still a job, albeit one which you could do in the comforts of your own home, hence, you cannot make the most out of it without exerting some effort.

Even if you are not familiar with affiliate programs, I'm sure you have encountered some in your years on the Internet. For certain, you have visited a site that was suggesting a book from www.amazon.com to supplement the information its pages revealed. That site's webmaster, my friend, is an affiliate. And if you decided to purchase the book he recommended, he would have earned a commission from the merchant site.

Amazon, indeed, is the first business model for affiliate programs. There are more, of course, usually asking the affiliate partner to sell web hosting, domain names, and tangible products. But it's the affiliate programs which offer information products that often give the highest commissions.

But first, let's discuss how affiliate programs work. There are three parties in affiliate programs:

* The affiliate merchant
* The affiliate
* The buyer

The affiliate merchant is the one who has products to sell. He would establish an affiliate program to invite affiliates to pre-sell his products. Once the affiliate finds a buyer, he would recommend the same to the affiliate merchant. The affiliate merchant would then sell his products to the buyer. If the buyer buys, the affiliate merchant would give the affiliate his corresponding commission.

Selling and pre-selling are two different things. Pre-selling usually involves referrals and an earnest attempt to convince the buyer to try the products being endorsed. When an affiliate enrolls in an affiliate program, he is given a code which is called an affiliate link. This affiliate link has his designation embedded on it, so whenever a sale is consummated by virtue of the said link, the affiliate program's system would be able to determine that the commission due shall accrue for the affiliate.

Selling, on the other hand, is primarily the task of the affiliate merchant. This includes payment processing, delivery and shipment if applicable, and post-sales support.

Easy isn't it? All you have to do is to enroll in an affiliate program, market the products with your affiliate link, and you could earn wonderful commissions! Plus, you have the option of automating everything through your site, or through some creative strategies that have worked for many people.

But this shouldn't be taken to mean that affiliate marketing can only be carried out through your website. The fact of the matter is, you could be a very successful affiliate even without the benefit of having a website!

These matters we will reserve for another day, so again, I plead, bookmark this site and I promise that you will not regret it.

Affiliate programs can be fertile sources of plentiful earnings. All you have to do is to choose the right one. Here are some points to consider in deciding on an affiliate program:

* Quality of the products
* Salability of the products
* Commission rate dependent of salability of the products (a highly sellable product with an equally high commission is ideal, but a highly sellable product with modest commission is also good, as finding buyers would be easy)
* Credibility of affiliate merchant
* Support from affiliate merchant

Additionally, you could enroll in as many affiliate programs you want. But since you could only have 24 hours in a day to do the marketing, there are risks in diversifying. So proceed with prudence before engaging in many affiliate agreements.

About the author:
For An Affiliate Program You Can Believe In Click Below: http://www.workathomebiz.info/pluginprofitsite.html Discover the Secrets of Starting and Running a Successful Home Business and Receive Loads of Free Bonuses for Subscribing to Our Newsletter: http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/

Affiliate programs. Are they for you

by: Susan Prince

This article may be freely distributed if the bylines remain intact.

Affiliate programs. Are they for you

Affiliate programs can be a brilliant way to start in the world of online marketing. An affiliate program is simply a way to earn money by promoting and selling other people products. The companies do all the work once the sale is made but it is up the affiliate to drive traffic (customers) to the site to make the purchase.
The majority of affiliate programs pay a commission as a percentage of the revenue generated by the sales made. Each affiliate is provided with a tracking number this allows the company to track sales and keep a record of where the commission should be paid.
Affiliate programs vary widely when it comes to the quality of the program and the reliability of the company and the commission paid which can be anything from 1% to 50% and the amount of training support and help you will receive from them.
Always research any program you are interested in and pick a product or service you feel comfortably with You have little chance of promoting and selling something that you yourself would not dream of buying or using.
If you are inexperience try to pick a program with a proven track record which will offer you the support, training and backup you will require Many programs offer you a website to give you a start but most do not offer the facility to build a subscriber list which is a must for anybody marketing. Most people once they get started work towards getting their own website and newsletters so they can build a list. The affiliate website is a great starting point use it to learn and educate yourself.
Ignore any program that offers get rich schemes. Nobody unless they have a list of thousands earns hundreds of pounds in the first month, an online business is just like any other business you have to work and learn and put a lot of effort in before you can reap the rewards.
If you do have you own site choose an affiliate program that compliments your own site. Its no good trying to sell baby products on a site selling history books the two just don't mix.
Even with the drawbacks affiliate programs are well worth investigated as a business opportunity with a little research and care over which you choose they can offer you a real chance without the necessity of a large cash investment to start your own business.

All the best

Sue.

For ideas, opportunities and resources.
www.princehomebiz.com

For e-books, software and resources
http://www.cbmall.com/?storefront=storm1234
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am English married with two daughters and live near Nottingham in the East Midlands.I have been running my own business for the last year.

Affiliate Programs and picking the best one!

by: Sara Bonnet

Okay, so you have been looking at affiliate programs for a while now. Your inbox is filling up with all these advertisements and you just don't know how to pick the right program.

How do you know which program is going to bring the best profit?

Well, I personally believe that a lot of the income is created from the effort an affiliate marketer puts into a program. But I do have a few pointers as to picking the best one.

1. 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 some only once a month. Most programs also only pay you when you have earned a base amount.

2. Attraction. Is the website attractive? Or will your customers leave your site without even reading. The site needs to easy to read, but not boring. Also you don't want to pick a site that is full of garbage, advertising an array of different subjects. Your site needs to filled with common ground. Also make sure the sight doesn't seem to be screaming for attention (lots of large, bold lettering).

3. Support. What is the support for your program like? Do they have a good list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), a contact email address with a quick response (24 - 72 hours is good)? Any more than 3 days for a response is too long. Some programs even offer live chat. Now that is good!

4. Your Statistics. 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.

5. Incentives. Does the program offer free gifts, tools and advertising content (banners, pop-ups, email letters, articles etc.)
It is important to have marketing tools to keep track of business and change things that may not work for you. Advertising is also important your traffic won't come from no where, And gifts are a good bonus for your customers as well as learning from the gifts yourself. Usually the gifts are products to help you with your business.

6. Monthly Reports. Every good program will have news and training updates sent to your inbox so you can learn what works best for the program and what the top affiliates of the program are doing. You should also be able to read this on their website.

7. Reviews. Sometimes you will find that the program you are looking at has reviews in the search engines. All you have to do is enter the name of the program in the search engine form followed by "reviews". For example if you want to read about Strong Future International (SFI) you would type "Strong Future International Reviews" and click 'search'. Select any item that describes what you are looking for, and read what people think.

It is important to do your homework before you dive into anything. Learn as much as you and make sure you feel comfortable with your decision before going ahead. Remember that you will not make money overnight....Some of the best affiliates spent 3 years or more promoting before they got where they are today.
About the Author
For more info and great tips on Internet marketing, visit: http://www.profitableworkfromhome.com . Get your fully automated money making website setup free that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive residual profits for you right now. Guaranteed! Visit : http://www.profitableworkfromhome.com/pips.html

Affiliate Programs... A Not THAT Easy Start To Your Own Online

by: Elena Fawkner

"Where is all the help I'm supposed to get. I have been buying ezine and classified ad builders and signing up for Echecks and Virtual credit cards. In the meantime I have no business and no ads set up. When does all this happen? Let's go here. I spent all day on this. I'm running out of time."
I kid you not, this is the sum total of an actual email that hit my inbox this week. Not only did I not know this person from Adam, this was the first and only email I had ever received from her and to this day, I have no idea what she's talking about. Presumably, she signed up for one of the affiliate programs I promote from my site and was asking, in her own inimitable style, for my help. Although I am always ready and willing to help anyone I can, this is most definitely NOT the way to go about asking for it. Needless to say, I let her know what I thought of her approach in NO uncertain terms.

The attitude displayed in this person's email to me (and she is by no means an isolated example) exemplifies why so many people fail to make a success of their online businesses. Leaving aside the utter rudeness of the approach, notice the impatience, the expectation to be up and running in a day, the HURRY, the apparent belief that real world principles such as courtesy and good manners don't apply online (they do). Think this person is going to last the distance? What kinds of tactics do you think she is capable of resorting to in pursuit of the almighty dollar?

So, let's take a realistic look at affiliate programs, what they can and can't do for your business and how to maximize your chances of creating a successful, long-term business with them.

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?

An affiliate program (also known as a reseller, associate, referral or partnership program) is essentially a revenue-sharing arrangement whereby you, the affiliate, receive payment from the owner of a product or service that you promote on their behalf.

Affiliate programs are an excellent way for the new internet entrepreneur to start an online business.

TYPES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

There are various types of affiliate programs.

The most simple involves you, the affiliate, placing a banner ad, graphic or text link at your site which is linked to the site of the business you are promoting. This link is coded with your unique affiliate ID so that the site visitor is recorded at the target site as having originated from your site, thereby allowing you to be credited with the sale.

Payment is generally a fixed percentage of the sale value (commission) or "pay per click", where the affiliate is paid a certain amount for every time a site visitor clicks on the link at the affiliate's site, whether or not a sale is made.

The more sophisticated affiliate programs are multi-tier and allow the affiliate to earn commissions not only on the traffic they directly refer to the target site but also a proportion of sales generated by their sub-affiliates.

BENEFITS OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The greatest benefit of affiliate programs is that when you are just starting out in your own online business you don't have to worry about creating your own product or service. You just promote someone else's and get a share of the revenue pie for your efforts.

You also don't have to concern yourself with warehousing, transport or logistics headaches. All of this is handled by the business whose products/services you are promoting. All you need concentrate on is driving traffic to that business's website. This means that a high proportion of your revenue is profit.

The owner of the product/service is also responsible for collecting payment, customer service and the myriad other details that come up on a day to day basis in running the business.

DISADVANTAGES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The main and obvious disadvantage of affiliate programs is that it is the owner of the product/service who earns the lion's share of the profit on the sale.

You're working on commission. You will NEVER earn by way of affiliate program commissions as much as you can earn by way of profits from producing and selling your own product/service.

As a result, affiliate programs represent a high opportunity cost when you consider what you could earn if you instead channeled the time and energy you spend on promoting affiliate programs into creating and promoting your own product/service.

For this reason, it does not make sound business sense to rely solely on affiliate program income for the longer term growth of your business.

Instead, think of them as a way of dipping your toe in the water when you're first getting started, and a nice little sideline once you've created your own product/service. Do NOT build your business around affiliate programs with the intention this will always be the backbone of your business. You'll be stunting your own growth if you do.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

So, keeping in mind what affiliate programs can and can't do for your business, let's turn to what you should look for when choosing an affiliate program or programs to promote in your business.

=> Synergistic Products/Services

First off, and this is a cardinal rule, only promote those programs which will allow you to create synergies with your site. This means selecting programs that naturally complement the subject matter of your site and that will therefore be of interest and relevance to your site visitors. This will ensure your prospects (ie your site visitors) are pre-qualified which will result in a relatively higher conversion ratio (the ratio of visitors to purchases) than would be the case if your traffic is untargeted (which will be the case if you promote unrelated products and services from your site.)

=> Quality In All Things

Keeping the need for synergy uppermost in mind, look for quality programs first and foremost. The last thing you want to waste your time, money and reputation on is a shoddy product or service. There are just too many quality programs out there to settle for anything less.

=< Stability of Company

Look for a company that's been around for a while and that's reputable and stable (both financially and in its management). Any reputable company will have full contact details readily available so do your research.

=> References

Look for testimonials and references from other affiliates. If the company you're interested is not forthcoming when it comes to putting you in touch with other affiliates, move on.

=> Affiliate Agreement

Look for a professional, considered and detailed affiliate agreement (contract). This shows that the company is serious about its business.

Watch out for exclusivity clauses and other restraints. Some affiliate agreements will require that you not promote competing businesses' products and services. This is not to say you should avoid such agreements. As a general rule, it is your interests not to promote competing programs anyway. Just be aware of what the agreement says on the subject to avoid getting yourself into hot water.

Look also for an agreement that treats spammers harshly. This protects not only the company but other affiliates as well. The last thing you or any other reputable affiliate needs is to have your reputation and the reputation of the product/service you are promoting besmirched by these sorts of tactics.

=> High Commissions

Promoting someone else's affiliate program necessarily requires that you divert traffic away from your site and towards someone else's. Make sure you're properly compensated with a high commission structure. And be sure to set up your link so that when the visitor clicks on it, a new browser window is opened for the target site. This at least keeps your site in front of the visitor so they can go back to your site once they've finished at the site your link has taken them to.

=> Lifetime Commissions

Look for affiliate programs that will credit you with not only THIS sale but all other sales the customer may make in the future. Many programs are set up so that the customer is identified as "yours" so that when the customer returns to the target site in three months time, the sale is recorded as having been generated by you.

=> Residual Commissions

Include programs that offer residual commissions in your portfolio. Good examples are webhosting services, autoresponder services and the like where customers sign up for a continuous service that requires periodic, regular payments. You receive periodic, regular commissions as a result.

=> Tracking of Commissions

Look for programs that allow you real-time access to your stats so you can keep easy track of your commissions.

=> Reliability of Payment

When checking with affiliate references, find out what the business's record is on paying out commissions. If they're slow or there appears to be a pattern of problems, keep looking.

=> Frequency of Payment

Make a note of payment schedules too. Some programs pay weekly, some monthly, some quarterly. Some only pay once you accumulate commissions of a certain amount. None of these arrangements are necessarily good or bad in and of themselves. Just be sure you know what to expect.

=> Programs that Require Payment Up Front

Two words: MOVE ON!

=> Affiliate Support

Finally, take a look at what support the business offers its affiliates to make sales. Do they provide resources such as sample ads, banners, logos and the like? Do they provide useful advice about maximizing your sales? A good affiliate program provides affiliates with a LOT of support in these areas.

MAKING MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

OK, now you know what to look for in an affiliate program. Here's how to maximize your sales of those products and services and, therefore, your commissions:

=> Get Your Own Website

No ifs, no buts. DON'T rely on the you-beaut self-replicated job the company provides all its affiliates. Link to that site from your main site.

=> Get Your Own Domain Name

This presents a much more professional image. Many people won't give the time of day to a business that thinks so little of its prospects that the owner won't shell out 70 bucks for a domain name. So mean business and look like it.

=> Get Traffic To Your Site (Duh!)

As a rough guide, you will need at least 500 targeted unique visitors a day to your site to make reasonable money from affiliate programs.

=> You Must Have A Site That Will Attract Repeat Visitors

If your website is nothing more than a splash page consisting of little else other than banners for umpteen different affiliate programs, forget it. Your site must be worthy of your visitor's time and interest before you can even begin to think about converting that visitor into a paying customer. So create a real site with real content that will keep them coming back for more.

=> Personal Testimonials

A personal testimonial will result in more sales than a mere link or advertisement. So take the time and trouble to write a personal endorsement of the product or service you are promoting. And, of course, it goes without saying that in order to write a personal endorsement, you must know that of which you speak. NEVER promote a program you haven't first purchased yourself. If you don't think enough of your program to invest in it, how do you expect to persuade others to?

=> Promote With Your Sig File

Include a link to your site in the signature of every email you send.

=> Promote In Your Own Ezine

Finally, if you're not already publishing your own ezine or newsletter to stay in touch with your site visitors, start. It's a great way to promote not only your site but also the affiliate programs you promote from your site.

MAKING SERIOUS MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The only way of making SERIOUS money from affiliate programs is by creating your own product or service and recruiting affiliates to sell for YOU.

The affiliate program phenomenon is one of the Internet's true success stories. It provides a toe-hold for the would-be internet entrepreneur to begin a real, live business of his or her very own. But the real beauty of affiliate programs lies not in what they can do for you, as an affiliate, but what they can do for you, as a recruiter of affiliates for your own program. By all means jump on the bandwagon and start promoting other people's products to get your start. But don't wait too long to start developing your own product line. There is a ready-made salesforce numbering in the millions ready and waiting to sell it for you.

About The Author

Elena Fawkner is editor of the award-winning A Home-Based Business Online ... practical home business ideas, resources and strategies for the work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.fawkner.com/subscribe.html

Affiliate Programs 101!

by: BB Lee

Joining an affiliate program is one of the easiest ways to start an online business and generate income for your website. These revenue sharing programs are very popular on the net. And is the way many new entrepreneurs started online.

When you join an affiliate program your task is to promote the merchants services or products on your website or in your ezine. This is easier than you might think because the merchants supply members with banners or links back to their site to promote the product. Plus they tally up your clicks or sales.

But Beware!

Make sure you understand all the details of the program. Avoid MLM programs. Only the first tier group will reap rewards. Avoid any program where you recruit other affiliates. And your earnings are based on a percentage of their profits. Your profits plummet if your recruits abandon the program.

Affiliate programs pay their members a fixed amount for each sale, click through, lead, or banner impression.

Here's a simple breakdown of most payment plans:

-Pay per sale.

A commission is paid for each sale your site/ezine generates.

-Pay per click through.

You receive a payment for each valid click to the sponsors website.

-Pay per lead.

You receive a payment for each sales lead for a service or product.

-Pay per impression.

You receive a payment each time a merchants banner or link is displayed to the merchants site.

Joining an affiliate program is easy! Just be sure to select an affiliate program with appropriate services or products that match your targeted audience.

If your ezine/website attracts Rugged Out-doors motorcycle enthusiast, you certainly would not display maternity clothing or baby booties.

Or if your ezine/website attracts young teenagers, you certainly don't want to display senior citizen products like walkers or vitamins for older adults.

Always read the fine print. Make sure you understand the payment clause. Many affiliate programs will only send you payment after you've accumulated a certain sales amount. Anything from $10.00 and up.

Affiliates might pay every other week, per month or per quarter. You will receive a payment if you reach the minimum balance in sales during that pay period. Most balances are accumulative. So, if you do not reach the minimum during one pay period it will be rolled over to your next pay period and added to any sales balances. Once again, read the fine print in the affiliate agreement when you sign up for pertinent details.

Here are a few popular affiliate programs.

Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com

Commission Junction http://www.commisionjunction.com

To find more affiliate programs, go to one of the search engines like:

Google http://www.google.com

Type in affiliate programs. Click on the one's that interest you.

Are you a newbie and want an easy way to get into business fast? Join an affiliate program!

One Super Affiliate Rosalind Gardner shares her techniques and secrets in her newest ebook. Check it out if you want to get into business fast.

"Super Affiliate Handbook" Click Here: http://hop.clickbank.net/?xy123/webvista2

BB Lee is the editor and publisher of SmallBizBits Newsletter.

Join our list today and receive your ebook bonus.

http://www.geocities.com/smallbizbits

To subscribe... mailto:Smallbiz-subscribe@topica.com

Article Navigation Back To Main Page Your Ad Here Click Here for more articles Google Affiliate Programs - Which One?

by: Tom

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.

About the Author
Tom is webmaster of MakeMoney.biz, a directory of various ways to make money.

Affiliate Programs - What Are They

by: Lois R. Thompson

Affiliate Programs - What Are They
by Lois R. Thompson (c)

In recent years Affiliate Program marketing has taken the Internet by storm. Many surveys have demonstrated that Affiliate Marketing can be the most cost effective method to promote your website and quickly generate additional streams of income. For example, Forrester Research has rated Affiliate Marketing as the most effective of all online marketing methods.

Jupiter Communications claims that, "By 2002, 25 percent of the expected $37.5 billion in Internet retail sales, not including autos, will have originated on Affiliate sites."

Some of the giants offering affiliate programs are: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Microsoft, The Mail.com, and many smaller but well-managed companies.

Affiliate Programs offer a wide range of products and services, many of which are needed by All Internet marketers. The wide range of products and services offered by Affiliate programs are software, web hosting, auto-responders, marketing, art, books, e-books, music, movies, etc... Almost any type of product or service can be packaged and sold using an affiliate program. You'll find that many of the products and/or services needed to support your MLM are Affiliate Programs.

What Is An Affiliate Program?

Affiliate programs are also known as associate, reseller, or
referral programs. They are revenue sharing programs between
companies (the merchant) and individuals (the affiliate). An Affiliate can be likened to an independent contractor. Affiliates are basically self-employed people who are marketing the products and or services of another company. They are then paid by the company they represent for referring customers to the company's website.

This strikes a wonderful partnership between the company and the affiliate, offering a Win-Win situation for both parties. The benefit to the company in soliciting an affiliate to promote their product or service is, that they save in the cost of advertising. The benefit to the affiliate is that they do not have to develop their own product, stock inventory or worry about e-commerce, the order processing or payroll for that matter. It allows them to take an already developed product or service directly to market and focus on marketing.

Affiliate programs are fairly simple to work and will allow you to operate your on-line business much more efficiently while
increasing your income drastically.

The Best Affiliate programs, offer a Two-tier pay plan. First, you earn commissions for signing up associates on your first level, as well as earning additional commissions on their sales. However, if you find an Affiliate program which pays only on one level but allows you to earn residual income this is an excellent opportunity.

Developing Affiliate income is beneficial to you in that it builds a stable secondary income stream. For many people this could be the difference in income they need to maintain building their MLM into a profitable venture.

About 90% of people who try to make money from two-tier affiliate programs are missing it by simply signing up free, in hopes they will make money through others, who most likely also signed up free. This just does not work.

Why doesn't that work? Well, if everyone signs up to an Affiliate program free, no one is Actively Promoting it consequently no one makes any money. This is also true of MLM programs. If everyone has the option of a free sign-up, most will take it. If most people are signed up free and in turn promote that offer to others who also sign-up free, there is no revenue generated. Without revenue there are not profits. Remember, it's all Your business, You have to work it. You cannot depend upon the next person.

In Affiliate Marketing as well as any other type of business, You Must do the work yourself. Build your first level and
invest a little time and training to teach them, so they can then build their first level, which then becomes your second level. In Affiliate Marketing, your second level commission should be considered a Bonus.

There are many supporting products and/or services needed to build any MLM, which offer an Affiliate program. For example, the use of an Auto-responder is a must in any online promotional effort. Since the use of an Auto-responder is necessary in building your MLM, becoming an Affiliate of a good Auto-responder program would be a wise choice.

As you focus on building your MLM begin to look closely at the products and services you are using and determine if they offer an Affiliate program or not. I believe you'll be much surprised.

If you don't have an existing business, that's not a problem. A combination of a solid group of Affiliate programs working in synergy offers a great income producing potential, when effectively promoted. This could actually help you to begin earning income as you research and seek out the MLM opportunity that's best for you.

To re-cap, we have learnt that Affiliate Programs are offered in a variety of products and services. By choosing the right group of Affiliat programs in support of your MLM, you can quickly begin earning additional income.

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Affiliate Programs - The Fast Track to Wealth

by: Peter Dobler

Copyright 2005 Peter Dobler

Remember the day when you made the ultimate decision to change your life? Yes, it was the day when you decided to start your own home business. Gosh, I remember the anxiety when I uploaded my very first web site, waiting for something to happen. It's like going onto a stage and performing in front of a large crowd.

Ok, what has this to do with affiliate programs and how to make money with them? Not much other than this is the primary reason why people spending money online. Emotions are the number one selling factor, period. And newbie web masters are loaded with emotions.

When you started your home business, did you have a product to sell? Neither did I. That's why affiliate programs are perfect for startup home businesses. In a nutshell, an affiliate sells products from somebody else and keeps a commission from each sale. An affiliate id responsible for all the advertising and only gets paid whenever there's a sale.

Take a break and think about this for a minute. Every day there are thousands of people online, searching for products and ideas to make money with. They know that there's big money to make and they are eager to get started. When you started your home business it probably never crossed your mind to sell your own products and to run your own affiliate program.

If you're in the online business for a while with mediocre results it is time to switch sides. Why should you carry most of the risk with your advertisement spending with less than satisfactory sales results? Not to mention that you're at the mercy of somebody else's reliability to send you your hard earned money.

If you don't have a product to sell, go out there and search for products with master resale rights. This will grant you the exclusive rights to sell the product and keep 100% of the profits. Selling the product through affiliates doesn't violate this, because you're paying your affiliates for the advertising efforts, the final sale is still made by you.

Of course there are a million products with master resale rights available. Choose your product wisely. You don't want to start an affiliate program with products that are already over marketed and maybe available for free or as part of a bonus package. This takes some time and research, but it is well worth the effort.

One source is to research the public domain sector and compile your own information product. There are numerous publications available on this topic. Another source is to join a membership program that sells master resale rights products. Make sure that they offer unique products and check their rules. Many offer a trial membership, take advantage of this.

Once you have your product start your affiliate program. Don't join one of the many services that offer affiliate program services for a monthly fee. Here's why. Having thousands of affiliates advertising your product is a great thing. Having thousands of free links to your web site is priceless.

Create as many advertising samples for your affiliates as possible. Have these samples point to different entry points to your web site. Banners are the worst advertising tools, but newbie web masters love them. They are easy to implement. What do you care, you got your free link to your website. Make sure that you use search engine friendly affiliate links. Affiliate links with a "?" are recognized as such. Better are the affiliate links that look like a directory structure. The easy way to implement this is to use PHP as your language of choice.

Guess what will happen after a few months running your own affiliate program from your website? Your own web site will skyrocket in rankings on any search engine, because you got so many links to your web site without having a link farm on your own. This is every web masters dream. Now you have a choice. You either aggressively promote your affiliate program or you promote your products. Either way you win.

If you're still skeptical, go to Google or Yahoo and search for links pointing to your favorite affiliate program. Simply type 'links:' and your affiliate program's domain name into the search field. Make sure you don't have any blanks. This will return all the websites that are linking back to this affiliate program. Check out the number on the right upper corner where it says 'Results 1 - 10 of about x'. x stands for the total number of links. Now do the same for your website. Hmm, you got nothing? Well, that's the difference. I hope you see the power of this by now.

Before you go out there and slab together your own affiliate program. Do your homework and research as much as possible. You want to get it right the first time.

Good luck to you all,
Peter Dobler
© 2005
Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner. Learn more about wealth building methods at http://www.thefasttracktowealth.com

Affiliate Programs - Rags to Riches

by: Ratliff J

Rags to Riches with Affiliate Programs.

If you do not know what an affiliate program is, it is simply the process of merchants paying you to bring them sales or leads.

Here is why affiliate marketing is so easy and profitable:

1. Affiliate programs are free to join. The merchants do not charge you to become an affiliate, because they obviously want you to succeed.

2. Merchants spend hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in advertising, that very rarely results in a sale. Seen all the commercials on Television? Do you think everyone who see it will buy the product? Of course not!

3. Merchants love affiliate programs because they are able to pay you only if a sale is made. And because this advertising is a guaranteed sale for them, they are able to pay you very well, usually between 10-30%. They are happy to do so because the sale has already been made.

4. Since we are still in the early years of affiliate marketing, there is a large shortage of affiliates. There will be many people who sign up to become an affiliate, but either do not have the skills or the time to become very successful. They will then blow off future opportunities simply because they failed with one affiliate merchant.

I will list a few of my favorite affiliate programs near the end of this article, but if you want to know exactly how affiliate programs work and need a basic manual complete with sample listings for advertising, visit the Internet Cash System.

My favorite affiliate programs:

1. Progressive Health.

2. Zenmed Affiliate Program.

3. Quality Generics.

For a listing of many more, visit my Affiliate Directory.
About the Author
J. Ratliff is an avid affiliate and internet business guru. His affiliate directory is located at www.affiliate-directory.us.

Affiliate Programs - Points To Consider

by: Todd W. Winslow

It seems as though you can't visit a web site now without being asked to join
their affiliate program - they're everywhere! Affiliate programs are
attractive, as they offer a means of earning money from product sales without
having to actually take orders, ship merchandise, deal with customers, stock
inventory or take a financial risk. Post a banner to your web site and you're
in business. Affiliate programs do offer a means to make additional income
from your site, however, there are a few points to consider.

A Good Fit:

Before you run out and join a bunch of affiliate programs, take a moment to
think about your current web site visitors. What types of products and
information would they be most interested in? For example, if you have a web
site that deals with pets, joining an affiliate program that sells pet
supplies might be a good fit. This would be something your average visitor
would have an interest in. Joining a program that sells books on How To Kill
Your Neighbor's Pesky Pet, may not be such a good fit. That's a bit of an
exaggeration, but I think you get my point. If your affiliate program doesn't
appeal to your site's visitors, you will not have much success.

More Isn't Always Better:

If joining one affiliate program is a good deal, then why not join 500
programs? Don't stop there, why not post as many different affiliate banners
as will fit onto each web page? If this sounds like a good philosophy, think
again! Posting too many banners and text links on your pages will not only
look sloppy and slow down the time it takes to load your pages, but will
confuse your visitors, resulting in less click through traffic, rather than
more. (Click through traffic - People that actually click on your affiliate
banners and/or text links.) It's best to focus on just a couple affiliate
programs. And make sure to keep your pages simple, easy to read, and
aesthetically pleasing.

Increasing Your Click Through Traffic:

As I said before, your web pages should be simple. Too many banners,
especially those that change rapidly or flash, can be very distracting and
annoying to your visitors. Also, don't rely just on banners to generate click
through traffic for your affiliate program. Adding text links in addition to
banners will greatly increase your click through percentages. Banner ads are
becoming so common that many people don't give them a second look. By adding
simple text links on your web pages which explain a little more about your
affiliate program's product(s) you can capture the attention of your visitors
and increase your click through traffic. Also, the placement of these banners
and text links is important too. Putting these at the bottom of your pages
will not result in as many hits as you would have if they were displayed in a
more prominent place on your page.

Ask Questions Before You Join:

Doing a little research before you join an affiliate program will pay big
dividends later. Find out the answers to these questions before making a
commitment to join any program:

* Does it cost anything to join? Most affiliate programs offered today are
absolutely free to join.

* When do they issue commission checks? All programs are different. Some
issue once a month, some issue every quarter, etc. Also, many programs set a
minimum earned commission amount which an affiliate must meet or exceed prior
to a check being issued.

* What is the hit per sale ratio? (The average number of hits to a banner or
text link it takes to generate a sale - based on all affiliate statistics.)
This is extremely important, as this number will tell you how much traffic
you must generate before you can expect to earn a commission from a sale.

* How are referrals from an affiliate's site tracked, and for how long do
they remain in the system? You need to be confident in the program's ability
to track those people your refer from your site. This is the only way you'll
get credit for a sale. Additionally, how long those people stay in the system
is also important, as the visitor may not buy initially, but may return later
to make a purchase. Will you still get credit for the sale six months from
now?

* What kind of affiliate stats are available? Does the program offer detailed
stats? Are these online and available in real time? It's important to be able
to see your individual stats, so you know how many impressions, hits and
sales you have generated from your site. (Impressions are the number of times
the program's banner or text link was viewed by a visitor to your site. A hit
is simply someone clicking on a banner or text link - taking the visitor from
your site to the program site.)

* Does the program pay just commissions on sales, or do they also pay for
hits and/or impressions? Getting paid for impressions and/or hits, in
addition to commissions on sales, is important. This is especially true if
the program has a low sales to hit ratio.

* Who is the online retailer? Find out who you are doing business with. Is
this a solid company? How do they fill orders? What types of payments do they
accept? How long have they been in business? What are their return policies
and how do these affect you? What products do they sell and what is their
average sale amount? The more you know about the retailer offering the
affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to determine if this is the
program for you and your site.

* Is this a one or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for
the business you personally generate. A two tier program pays you for your
business, plus it pays you a commission on the sales generated by any
affiliate you sponsor into their program. Some two tier programs will also
pay you a small fee on each new affiliate you sponsor - a recruitment fee.

* Finally, what is the amount of commission paid? (And fee for
impressions/hits - if available.) 5% - 20% is common for commissions paid on
sales. $.01 - $.05 is common for the amount paid for each hit (click
through). If you find a program that also pays for impressions, don't expect
the amount paid to be much at all. From these numbers you can see that the
program's average sale amount and hit to sale ratio are extremely important.
This is especially true if yours is a low traffic site to begin with.

These are just a few of the main aspects of affiliate programs which you
should be familiar with if you plan to incorporate any such program into your
web site. I hope this provides the reader with additional insight and helps
them in selecting the right program for their site.
About the Author
Todd W. Winslow is the co-owner of TADD Marketing Group, L.L.C. He is also
the founder of TADD Publishing Group which publishes a variety of e-mail
newsletters http://www.taddgroup.com, and is co-creator of The Mystic Beagle
- a romance and relationship advice web site http://www.mysticbeagle.com

Affiliate Programs - How to Pick the Solid Ones

by: Farid Aziz

If you've surfed the internet long enough, you must've found so many merchants offering Affiliate Programs. But the tricky thing is to choose the solid ones for your niche.

This is very important, because your reputation is on stake here! Joining the wrong affiliate programs will only hurt your online business.

First of all, it is almost impossible for you to collect adequate informations on those merchant companies. You certainly can't investigate them thoroughly. Hence, you will never be able to predict their successes or failures.

That's why you must not stress on one single merchant only within your niche.

Pick a couple of the best quality products to promote. Still, you can do some critical researches to reduce risk.

OK, now let's see how we can pick the goods from the bads. Here are some factors that influences the dependability of an affiliate program. The more of these factors are present in a certain program, the more reasons you get to sign up to the program.

Let's see...

1. Great quality products. This is a must. How could you promote something you are not proud of?

2. Good affiliate sites.

3. Good comissions. Normally, solid merchants offer more than 25% of comissions.

4. Free to join.

5. Great Supports. Solid merchants usually train their affiliates through training calls, newsletters and other mediums. They also shows your real-time stats and earnings, send you an email whenever a sale is made.

6. Long-term cookie to lock on the visitors to your site. This way you still can make sales if your visitors return to your site months later.

7. Monthly payment with realistic minimum.

8. Two-tier comissions. Some merchants give you comissions on your referrals' sales. Meaning..if you refer someone to become an affiiate, you can earn comission everytime he makes a sale.

So do some researches before you sign up!

About the Author
Farid Aziz is a full-time Internet Marketer. Reveal more of his FREE tips and strategies on Internet Marketing and get a FREE Course on How to Make Money Online with Your Hobby at >>> http://www.InternetMarketerSells.com

Affiliate Programs : Golden Opportunity or Waste of Time?

by: Steven O. Ng

Now that the idea of doing business over the internet has been firmly established, many potential internet businessmen are searching for the best way to do business. Usually the choice comes down to whether you want to set up your own business and online store, or sign up for an affiliate program.

First of all, let's define what we mean by an affiliate program. An affiliate program is basically an internet business set up by someone else. They could be selling physical goods, education, information or any other products that can be sold online. By signing up as their affiliate, you are helping them promote their business or store. In return, they will pay you a commission for each sale you bring them. The amount of commission varies between different affiliate programs. Examples of affiliate programs include Amazon.com and Wordtracker, which you can visit at:

http://www.onlinebiz-help.com/links/wordtracker.html

1) EARNINGS

So how does an affiliate program differ from starting your own online store? Let's start by looking at the potential earnings. (After all, the main reason everyone wants to start an internet business is for the money). When you sign up for an affiliate program, you will be paid a commission for each sale you refer to the online store. This commission can range from 5% to 15% for physical products, and possibly up to 50% or more for virtual products such as subscriptions and ebooks.

On the other hand, if you start your own store, your profit can be much higher. For virtual products, your profit can be 100% of your selling price. After all, once the newsletter or ebook is created, you do not need to spend any more effort. When someone buys your ebook, they just download it from your website. If you are selling a physical product, your profit depends on whether you are manufacturing the product yourself, or buying from a wholesaler or dropshipping company. Your profit in this case could easily be more than 40% or 50%.

So, if you only consider the potential earnings, starting your own business is more lucrative than joining an affiliate program.

2) LOGISTICS

However, money isn't everything (Or so they say). When you are starting your own internet business, there are a number of logistic issues you need to look at. Here are a few things you would need to take care of:

a) Create your website
b) Design your product (if you are selling new products)
c) Create your product (if you are selling new physical products, or any virtual products)
d) Set up an online store
e) Set up a merchant account or payment gateway
f) Set up a warehouse or storage space (if you are selling physical products)
g) Have procedures and staff ready to fulfill orders
h) Set up an affiliate program to get others to market the products for you
i) Monitor for fraud
j) Monitor stock levels

As they say, "No pain, no gain". Having your own store pays very well, but requires a substantial time investment from you.

On the other hand, if you sign up for an affiliate program, all you need to do is set up a website to promote the program. All the ads, banners, marketing text etc will be provided to you by the affiliate program. Your only responsibilities would be to get people to visit your website, and hopefully click on the affiliate links to buy the products that you are promoting.

3) CONVERSION

Whether you have your own business or are promoting an affiliate program, the bottom line is the conversion rate, or the percentage of visitors that actually buy something from you. A number of factors influence this conversion rate. Factors as quality of the product, quality of the website, customer support are all important. However, I personally believe that the most important factor is trust.

When a potential customer arrives at your website, he will need to trust your site enough for him to be willing to buy from you. After all, on the internet you are just a faceless salesman. He doesn't know who is actually running the site and whether he will actually get the goods that he orders.

Having said that, one of the key methods of garnering trust is by recommendation and referral. If a store is being referred to or recommended by another website, the potential customer will feel that the store is trustworthy. After all, if the store is not trustworthy, why would the other website recommend it?

This is where affiliate programs shine. When you refer a potential customer to the store for which you are an affiliate, the customer will feel more relieved, since the store is being recommended by your site, a 3rd party. The customer will be more likely to buy from the store, benefiting both the store, and you as well.

There are both pros and cons to joining an affiliate program. You might earn less with an affiliate program compared to starting your own store, but I believe the benefits of not having to be responsible for the logistics makes affiliate programs are very viable "passive" source of income.

For more information on affiliate programs, do visit http://www.onlinebiz-help.com
About the Author
Steven is the webmaster of http://www.onlinebiz-help.com - Your Guide To Internet Business. His website contains various resources on affiliate programs and internet marketing advice to help you succeed in your internet business.

Affiliate Programs - 7 Red Hot Tips For Affiliates

by: AskProfessors.com

We often get asked by affiliates about how to successfully deal with affiliate programs. There are many ways - and different Internet "gurus" will give you different answers.

Here are the top seven tips that our top consulting editors normally give:

1. Make no mistake about it - merchants and Internet marketers are in business to make money for themselves. They are not interested in helping you to take cash away from them. Their mission is to make as much money as they can - and to give away the minimum they have to. Many merchants and marketers use "tricks" and "tactics" to ensure that they always get the best out of the deal.

2. You must be alert and awake - what tactics are merchants and marketers using to grab your traffic? Many of them will "steal" your traffic and you will not get as much as a simple "thank you" - let alone the bags of cash they all promise.

3. Do you carefully follow what the merchants and marketers tell you? They often give you "helpful advice" so that you may maximize your affiliate income. Here's the sad truth - if you follow them like "blind sheep" - you will increase their profits, not yours.

4. Do you monitor the level of traffic you generate for merchants and marketers? Does this convert to sales and cash? If not, what is happening to your traffic? You need to look into that.

5. Even when you get commissions, don't be too happy. The merchants and marketers will proceed to make 10 to 100 times more out of your traffic than they will ever share with you.

6. You are in business for yourself - when you market and promote affiliate programs, they must generate money and cash flow for your business. If you don't get reasonable returns on your time and cash investment, dump the merchant or marketer. The program is either not worth promoting or the merchant or marketer is abusing your efforts.

7. Promote affiliate programs under your own domain and branding - don't give free advertising to merchants and marketers who may not be interested in rewarding you for your efforts.

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About the Author
Consulting Editors, Authors and Mentors - http://www.AskProfessors.com - creators of the Affiliate Intelligence system. Don't throw away money or traffic - get free updates or consult the experts via
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Affiliate Programs

by: Helen Peshkova

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 Idea

Affiliate 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.

Advantages

Affiliate 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.

Disadvantages

The 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.

You can find books to read first and AdWords helping tools at http://www.RichTrack.com.
About the Author
Written by Helen Peshkova, RichTrack.com.

http://www.RichTrack.com is one of the first business oriented education portals. It's the leading online business information network for millionaires. The goal of RichTrack.com is to present business content in a professional, helpful and practical format that helps you getting rich.

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Monday, November 12, 2012

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