Monday, August 13, 2007

Affiliate Programs 101!

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
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7 Reasons Why You Should Start with Affiliate Program

There are thousands of business opportunities online. Most of them require some capital to start with. Not affiliate programs!Here are 7 reasons why you should consider joining an affiliate program as your home based business. 1. Joining an affiliate program requires no outlay of capital. That's right, none! You can join an affiliate program for free and start promoting the product immediately. 2. The internet marketing tools are already provided for you. A 'top' affiliate program will supply you with lots of affiliate marketing tools that are 'ready to go'. You just copy and paste and put your affiliate code in. Then you start selling. 3. You do not need a product. It takes a LOT of time to develop your own product to sell online. With affiliate programs, the product is already there. Someone else spent all the time developing it so you do not have to. 4. Affiliate statistics are already provided as part of joining an affiliate program. You do not have to go out and buy expensive software to track your sales because the product owner is doing that for you. You don't even have to pay for it,it's free!5. You do not have any 'time lag'. With most businesses it takes a certain amount of time in the 'start up' phase. With affiliate programs there is no such thing. Once you join you can start selling. 6. You do not have to worry about sales administration and technical support. The product owner takes care of the sales process and all the after sales service. All you have to worry about is receiving your affiliate check!7. You do not have to worry about direct contact with the customer. In an affiliate program you are a re-seller so if the customer has a complaint they contact the product owner, not you. Affiliate programs are simple to join, easy to start promoting and best of all they have no downside. If one affiliate programdoes not work out, you can leave and join a different one.
About the Author
David McKenzie is offering a Free Email Course "5 Tips to Being Successful with Affiliate Programs"==> http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.comClick now for your FREE course!

How to Find an Affiliate Program For Any Niche in 2 Minutes

There is a great trend lately of marketers finally moving to niche markets and not just focusing on selling to the “make money” industry. This is an excellent move and one that will prove to be very profitable for you. However, a problem that many affiliates are hitting is that they don’t know how to find good niche affiliate programs.
If there isn’t a program in Clickbank, most affiliates are lost! Also, since Clickbank doesn’t allow us to “search” their database, it’s too hard to find anything there.Well, here is a quick and easy way to find any and all of the best and most profitable affiliate program for any niche you desire.To find affiliate programs from now on you will use Google to help you. Google is a great tool to use because…1. It’s free2. Any site that comes up on the top results is likely reputable and has been around3. You get thousands of results you can search through4. You can make your search very specificAlright, let’s discuss in steps, how to Google to find affiliate programs.1. Go over to http://www.Google.com2.Type your “Niche Title + affiliate” – This is the step that a lot of people can get confused in so let’s clear it right now. Example/ If I am searching for an affiliate program on dog health, I will type this phrase into Google = dog health + affiliate3. Now the results that I get, all the pages that have the term “dog health” and the term “affiliate” will show up.4. Next open a program like Excel or just take out a piece of paper.5. Go through the results in Google and keep noting down the different programs that come up.6. Once you have 10 programs listed, go back and research each of them to find the most profitable one.Try this strategy on search engines like Yahoo as well. You will get different results and combined between Yahoo and Google, there is no way that you won’t find a good affiliate program.What if you don’t find any affiliate programs this way?Then most likely an affiliate program for your niche does not exist. A great way to make money now is to contact a few of these websites and introduce the concept to them! Perhaps help them set up an affiliate script and share in profits – actually, if there is no affiliate program in that nice, you and that company can make BIG profits from it!There, now you have NO excused not to find profitable niches and build websites for them. You can now find a profitable affiliate program for them all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article has been authored by Anik Singal, the founder of http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com. If you want to learn more about how to use articles to drive massive amounts of traffic to your website, please sign-up for our FR-EE course at:http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Build A High Profit Business With Online Affiliate Programs

Q: I am considering starting an ebusiness using affiliate programs, but there is so much hype out there I can't figure out which programs would work best for me. Everybody claims their program is best. I'd really appreciate some guidance here.A: Affiliate programs can be an excellent way to start an ebusiness. Before we dive into the specifics, let me explain how an affiliate program works.An affiliate program simply means that you sign on as an affiliate marketer for someone else's product. It's your job to market the product, send the company customers, and get a cut each time a sale is made from your efforts. Affiliate program commissions can range from as little as 2% for high ticket items up to 50% for ebooks and informational type products.As an example, let's say you sign up with Amazon.com's affiliate program. You are assigned an affiliate code which you use to promote Amazon's books on your website. When someone clicks to purchase an Amazon product from your website, your affiliate code is included in the URL and you get a commission for the sale. Some folks have built elaborate websites that sell nothing but Amazon.com's books, and each time they make a sale they get a piece of the pie.At dropshipwholesale.net we are affiliates for many products that fit our entrepreneurial niche. We market mostly ebooks and software, but we do have an Amazon page for business books.One of the most appealing aspects of affiliate programs is how quickly you can begin making money. You can literally sign up as an affiliate and begin making money in minutes. I've done it, I know it works.Admittedly, I am not an affiliate program expert, so I sought out the person that many call the Ultimate Affiliate Program Authority, Rosalind Gardner.Rosalind Gardner began making money with affiliate programs in 1997. She has since grown her affiliate business into a $400,000 a year business and is now considered the authority on the subject. Her book 'The Super Affiliate Handbook: How to Make a Fortune Selling Other People's Stuff Online' has been out since March and is already considered by many to be the affiliate marketers bible.I ordered Rosalind's book as research for this article and I have to tell you I found it to be one of the best books on the subject I have ever read. It's a hype-fr*e approach to what affiliate marketing is really all about and how to make it work. The book is 270 pages and leaves no stone unturned. For anyone serious about making money with affiliate programs, I highly recommend this book.The bottom line is this: you can make a lot of money with affiliate programs, if you pick the right product and do your part to promote it. As for which programs would be best for you, I advise that you concentrate your efforts on one or two products instead of starting with a shotgun approach. Pick only top quality products that hold some personal interest you. Never pick an affiliate product just because you think you'll make a ton of money with it.Remember, you are starting a business. If it's not a business that holds your interest, you won't be in business very long.Here's to you success!Tim Knox
About the Author
For more information on affiliate programs: THE SUPER AFFILIATE HANDBOOK Rosalind Gardner - http://hop.clickbank.net/?tknox/webvista2 CLICKIN' IT RICH Michael Campbell--- http://hop.clickbank.net/?tknox/dmcorp - http://www.prosperityandprofits.com

12 Tips For A Successful Affiliate Program

1. Look around at other competing businesses that offer affiliate programs, and think of ways that you can make youraffiliate program more attractive.2. Pay your affiliates well for their efforts.If you're thinking about offering a 10% commission for sales of your product and a competing business is paying a 50% commission for referrals, you'll lose affiliates to your competitor.3. Make your affiliate program more lucrative by offering residual commissions. This is an excellent choice if you offer a product that is paid for on a residual basis such as webhosting or access to your membership site.4. Offer lifetime commissions.Your affiliates will see the power of lifetime commissions, and work hard to promote your business and send you more sales.5. Make your affiliate program two-tier.Reward your affiliates by giving them a commission on the sales of people they refer to your affiliate program.6. Don't leave your affiliates out in the cold.Provide your affiliates with lots of sales items that they can use to successfully promote your products. Some items you could offer your affiliates:- e-zine ads (sponsor ads, classified ads, 2 liners)- signature file ads- sales letters/solo ads- brandable ebooks- sample recommendations- email courses- your articles that they can reprint with their affiliate URLs in your resource box.7. Be quick to respond to your affiliates' emails.An easy way to lose your affiliates is to not respond to their questions in a timely manner, or to not respond to their e-mails at all. It shows that you don't value them, and since their are tons of other affiliate programs, you would be losing potentially very good affiliates to other businesses.8. Provide your own tips and advice.Follow up with your affiliates with tips and strategies that they can use to increase their commissions.9. Reward your top affiliates with higher commissions and bonuses. You'll be able to achieve more sales over the long term because your top affiliates won't jump to another affiliate program where their efforts are more appreciated.10. Publish an affiliate's newsletter.Your affiliate's newsletter will help you to share your tips with your affiliates, and keep them going in the right direction.You could also use your newsletter to keep your top affiliates excited about your program. Some effective ways to do this are:- Share what your top affiliates do to earn big commission checks. - Showcase their sites and tell why their sites sell. - List your 5 or 10 highest earning affiliates for the month.11. Track your affiliates' sales accurately.Your affiliates will find out if they send you customers and you don't credit them with their commissions. Your affiliate program will lose credibility and you'll end up losing your affiliates as word gets around.12. Participate in affiliate marketing forums.Share your valuable advice and expertise with the members of the forums you participate in. Include your signature file that promotes your affiliate program, and always follow the rules of the forums you join.About the author:Article by Ken Hill. Want To Start Your Own Profit Driving Affiliate Program? Power packed solution has what you need. Includes affiliate program software, shopping cart, ad tracking and easy e-zine management. Automate your online business today at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5029

Getting Rich from Affiliate Programs

Some times it pays to work with others. In this article wewill discuss how to make money with affiliate programs.Affiliate programs (also called Referral Programs orPartnership Programs) are essentially commission-based salesschemes. You recommend a site to your users and pick up apercentage of any sales those users generate. You benefitfrom the commission and the site benefits from sales itwouldn’t otherwise have made. If you’ve ever gone to awebsite and seen links to Amazon, those were affiliatelinks.You can run an affiliate program from a site you’ve alreadyset up, or create a site specially to promote a product orservice. As long as it brings in more cash than you spend onbuilding it and buying traffic, you’re laughing.Affiliate ads work two ways: you can join them to makemoney, or you can run one to attract users.************************************************************Joining An Affiliate Program************************************************************As with any marketing venture, you need to be careful in theselection of an affiliate program. The benefit of anaffiliate program is that it gives you another way to makemoney from your users. Instead of selling them a productyourself, you send them to a partner and take a cut.On the downside though, your affiliate ads will take theplace of a different ad that you could have put in that samespot. You have to make sure that each advertising positionon your site is bringing in the maximum revenue possible. Ifyou’re not getting the most from your site, you’re tossingmoney away.The key to success is to choose the right program, rightfrom the beginning.Now, a lot of commercial sites run affiliate programs.That’s because they know that they only have to pay acommission if a sale is actually made; it’s a proven way togenerate revenue without risk. What that means for you isthat when it comes to choosing an affiliate program, you’regoing to have a huge range to choose from. What it all boilsdown to though is product and price.While it might be tempting to go for the program that paysthe highest commissions, the program won’t pay you a pennyif your users won’t go there or won’t buy once they getthere. You have to be certain that the service you’repromoting is of genuine interest to the kind of users youbuy, whether you’re buying them from search engines oranywhere else.Sure, you can work backwards: You find a high-payingaffiliate program and create a small site to send users toit, but do you know where to buy users for a program likethat? You’re going to have to research the field, check outthe most popular sites, and negotiate banner campaigns andlink exchanges.That’s fine if you want to invest the time and the effort.But it’s much easier to find an affiliate program operatingin a field you’re familiar with, and use that program toearn extra cash.For example, suppose you had set up a dating site. You mightmake bit of money selling subscriptions, but you might makeeven more by joining Match.com’s affiliate program andselling them your users. Unless you’re planning to be theInternet’s biggest dating site, you’re not going to be ableto compete directly and beat them, but you can join them—andearn money.Or rather than sell your users directly to a ‘competitor’,you can look for services that complement your own. Visitorsto your dating site, for example, might be interested inbuying flowers, books on relationships or tickets on singlescruises. Instead of selling just one product—membershipsubscriptions—you’d be selling a whole range of differentgoods to the same people, and increasing the sources of yourincome.Here are some tips to selecting an affiliate program that islucrative and right for you:* Don’t accept less than 25% commission. You can findaffiliate programs with great payment structures and highpercentages of the purchase price in just about everyfield.* Look for comprehensive statistics pages that list thenumber of click-throughs, sales and earnings so you canseehow you’re doing. The information should be broken downby month.* Look for programs that offer a wide variety ofpromotional tools to put on your Web page, including textlinks, banners and graphics.* Find out how often you will be paid and make sure thatthe payment schedule meets your expectations. Someprograms paymonthly, others quarterly; which is best for you?* Look for examples of marketing methods that successfulaffiliates are using to get the best results.* Make sure that top level support is given. If they can’tanswer your questions promptly and intelligently, youdon’t want to work with them.Affiliate programs offer a viable solution to competingagainst larger competitors and still make money. As thesaying goes, if you can’t beat them, joint them!Until next time,
About the Author
Eric WhiteLAUNCH SPECIAL - How to Become a Master Affiliate http://masteraffiliatemarketer.aceturbo.com/PS: Brand NEW! People are getting paid instantly with this! $10, $100, $1000 Stair Step Profits. http://edwinc.com/recommends/Instant

Affiliate Programs - Points To Consider

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

6 Things You Must Know Before You Chose An Affiliate Program

These are six tips you must understand deeply. But first, understand that affiliate programs work just like network marketing. I said it works like it because it involves down-lines.Now to get started. Once you understand these tips and use them wisely, you would make a real success out of the affiliate program you choose.1.Choose the Right Affiliate Program.Before you pick an Affiliate program, make double sure it is the right one. Check the company's profile. You cannot be in a moving vehicle and remain stagnant. If your affiliate program is one that makes steady progress, you also make progress. If it is stagnant, you inevitably will be stagnant. Check for the company's age. Companies in their first two years pay high, but they face the risk of quitting all too soon. They are but infants. Companies in their first seven years are more likely to be stable. Older companies are reliable. Very reliable. They have a track record which you can easily check out and have good organisation built from years of existence.2.What are the Companies' Products.Please be very careful. Only a thin line separates Multi-level Marketing (MLM) or affiliate programs from illegality. You are however safe if the company has a product it sells. Never join a pyramid scheme. I am not an expert at that but I suppose pyramid schemes are scams. If the company does not offer a product or service, you might as well forget it.3.Check the Compensation Plan.Your primary reason for joining an affiliate program is to make money! Should I say that again? To make money! So please, check the compensation plan. Make sure it suits you. When dose the company pay? At what rate? How does the company pay? If it doesn't go down well with you, just forget it and find yourself another affiliate program with which you feel comfortable.Note however that even if the commission schedule is small but sure, the work you do can help you blow it all up. Think of $1 in 1000 places ($1000). It can be achieved weekly. You can realise that with almost all affiliate programs.The bottom line, choose a program that suits you.4.Join Free Programs But....A lot of affiliate programs allow you to join for free. I suggest you join the free ones. My reason is; you can easily leave without much loss. I feel sorry for people who have tried several programs and paid heavily just to realise it is not the right one. But if you think you can afford it, then the choice is yours.Once you've made a choice, remember these last two tips!5.Build Your Team of Affiliates.This can be the most excruciating part of it all, but once you have a team of down-lines who are active, it is well worth it.Always remember, "for every twelve, there is always a Judas." There will always be bad apples in a barrel. Find the good ones, train them, help them and you have simply helped yourself. How do you know the good ones? Simple; watch out for those that ask questions, contact you and fulfil all requirements in short periods of time. Go for them and you are building a money spinning business.6.Put Yourself in the Shoes of Those you Want to Recruit.Make things easy for them. Put together all the information and deliver it to them. I know it took you sometime getting the information. Help them get it in a shorter time. Probably in few hours. Contact them always. Answer their questions. Give them all the help you can. Show them what to do and help them do it right. Remember, you help them; you simply help yourself. Put yourself in their shoes and do exactly what you would have loved if you were in their shoes.----------------------------------------** Anyone may republish this article freely in their ebooks, ezines, websites, online article directories etc as long as the resource box is included.----------------------------------------** If you want an affiliate program that really pays the bills, see http://www.quickinfo247.com/7767817.90/wyk and simply sign up free now! You will get Free Training, Free Internet Income Course, Free Advertising Resource Materials, Free Guidance and Consultations and a lot of other free resources.----------------------------------------** If you are already involved in an affiliate program, you need all the help you can get. See http://www.quickinfo247.com/7767817.91/iahbe NOW! Helps include lead generation, books, courses, advertising tips and lots more.----------------------------------------
About the Author
President Empower Wealth Creation Network Foundation

How to select an affiliate program that works for you

Affiliate programs are a great means of earning some handy cash; but not all affiliate programs are profitable. Some will only take up your time and energy and some others may even spoil your website reputation. This is why you got to carefully select your affiliate marketing programs and make sure that they work for you same as your work for them. Given below are a few points that will help you make better decision in choosing an affiliate program that works for you rather than working only for the affiliate merchant. Points to take into consideration before selecting an affiliate program1.) Your website and your visitorsIf you already have a website, make sure to go for best affiliate programs that jell with your website theme. If your website is about cars then promoting cycle related products is going to have very less or no impact. Secondly finding and scrutinizing your visitors and your target market is a good idea. In any affiliate program, your visitor is the one who is going to get you returns. So primarily get to know your visitors. Analyze your visitor behavior using your website statistics before deciding on which affiliate program to go for. Your objective should be to find out what your visitors are looking for and then promote products of their interest which also match with your existing products or services (if any). 2.) Affiliate merchant’s websiteMost affiliates don’t give much importance to the affiliate merchant’s website, forgetting the fact that here’s where the actual sales conversion is to take place. It’s very important that the affiliate merchant’s website is designed to sell. So check and make sure that the merchant’s website is free from unwanted banner advertisements/pop-ups and focus on the affiliate product. Other important things to check out are the sales copy, privacy policy, product guarantees, after sales service and special discounts/offers available with the product/service. Your main aim must be to find out if the product/service features would actually prompt the referred visitor to make a purchase.Some affiliate merchants promote more than one product/service on a webpage which can dilute the conversion rate. It is best to go for affiliate programs that focus on a single product/service per webpage.3.) Quality of goods/servicesJust imagine how you would feel, if you were referred by a website to a product that turned out to be of inferior quality? Your visitors will feel the same way about your website if you promote inferior or overly priced goods/services. Always make sure to know about the product/service you are planning to promote. Check for testimonials and references from existing customers to find out about the quality of goods. If possible you can even plan on using them yourself to be on the safer side. In addition, also make sure to compare similar products available over the internet for features and rates. There are many products that have trial periods or return policies associated with them. Products having return policies can increase the conversion rate but may also lead to debiting in case of a chargeback. Promoting products sold on a trial period basis requires cookie detection to track sales at the end of the period which is very unreliable. So it’s better to confirm with the affiliate merchant the tracking method used or the affiliate payment scheme, in case the products have trial periods.4.) Reputation of the affiliate merchantThe reputation of the affiliate merchant is important because the odds are against you. There are chances that some affiliate merchants may not payout or make deductions to your actual payments. So make sure to find out using references about the affiliate merchant’s history of making proper payments. Already existing affiliates of the affiliate merchant are your best source of information. In addition be sure to read their business literature to get an idea about their history of past and present operations. 5.) Commission scheme of the affiliate programThere are many different types of commission schemes that affiliate programs use to reward their affiliates. Some of the most popular ones are pay per click, pay per lead and pay per sale schemes. Some others even offer two tiered and multi tiered commission schemes. Some commission schemes can even be a mix and match of the above. In case of a pay per click/hit scheme the minimum commission that you can expect is $0.5 to $0.10 per click. For pay per sale a good commission rate would be 15% to 50%. Some companies even offer lifetime commissions, but as most of them are based on cookie identification, they may not work out well. With the competition increasing almost all merchants have started offering two tiered commissions, some even offer multi tiered ones. Joining these schemes can give you a chance to get paid for the direct sales you make and also for the sales made by affiliates referred by you. 6.) Tracking software usedTracking software is used by the affiliate merchant to track individual affiliate sales. An affiliate merchant can make use of in-house tracking software, join an affiliate network or use services of an ASP in order to track leads. In case the affiliate merchant makes use of independent tracking software or ASP services, make sure to find out if the software is reliable and has the ability to track all kinds of sales. If the software uses cookie tracking, find out the duration of the cookie. Although using cookies to track affiliates does not always work fine as the cookies can be deleted by the buyer. Most affiliate merchants today make use of affiliate network services. Affiliate network services are the safest when it comes to making payments on time, conflict resolution and accurate tracking. Affiliate Networks are also great sources to find good affiliate programs and can help you get payments from different merchants through a single cheque. So make sure to register at some good networks. Some reputed affiliate network services are commission junction, LinkShare, Clickxgalore, and ClickTrade.7.) Terms and conditions for paymentYou do all the hard work as an affiliate and hence you should make sure that you get paid for it. There are chances that the affiliate merchant might have some unwanted rules and regulations in his affiliate agreement; so in-case you don’t like to get a bitter shock in the aftermath, be sure to check out the terms and conditions with utmost care. Some things that you got to look out for in the terms and conditions are as follows, a.) Payment frequency/Payout rateMake sure that the affiliate merchant makes payments at the end of every month or with- in a few days afterward. Anything above 2 months for making payments is not advisable. Also find out the mode of making payments. Payment gateways are safer and faster as compared to cheques. b.) Payment for future salesMany visitors won’t buy products on their first visit. They might come back though after some time to make the purchase. Make sure that the affiliate merchant pays you for future sales made by a customer referred by you. Although the chances that you get credit for future sales is low due to cookie deletion possibilities, but it is better to have options open. c.) Minimum Balance Amount for payoutMost affiliate merchants and affiliate networks have a minimum amount for payout. An affiliate would require reaching that amount to get a payment. Find out the minimum balance and estimate if the target is easily achievable for the given product/service.d.) Roll over/carry over termsRoll-overs or carry-overs are related to the minimum balance. If the affiliate fails to achieve the minimum balance within a month (or the set payment date), the payment keeps rolling on. Although this is not a problem, some merchant’s may have a fixed rollover period after which the payments will not be issued. Joining such programs is not recommended. e.) Conditions for Charge-backs on product returnSome merchants have a product return policy which allows the buyer to get full refund in-case he is dissatisfied with the product. The period within which the buyer should return the product to get a refund is called the chargeback period. Make sure to take note of the chargeback period of the merchant and also find out how much of your commission will be debited if this happens. Although products having a return policy will have a better conversion rate they can also lead to the affiliate’s cash getting debited or completely taken back. In addition to the payment terms some other conditions that you got to check out are the ‘condition of exclusivity’ (which could mean the affiliate cannot promote any other product except the affiliate product/service or that he should not promote competitor products/services) and conflict resolution method of the merchant.8.) Additional facilities offeredIn addition to simply offering banner ads most good affiliate merchants offer other facilities like, real time sales statistics and tracking information, free training on how to promote the products/services, newsletters, affiliate help lines and even website improvement programs. Some affiliate merchants even offer their affiliates a say in their decision making process. Many good affiliate merchants also have a policy of rewarding better performing affiliates with incentives, over and above the commissions. Joining such programs can really be a rewarding experience. To succeed in the affiliate marketing game requires knowledge of promoting goods/services not only through your website but also using other online promotion means like email marketing, online advertisements etc. So, make it a point to do lots of reading and information gathering before plunging into the arena. There are many websites that offer quality resources and information on affiliate programs. Some good ones to refer are http://www.bizbrim.com, affiliate-programs-guide.com and affiliatesdirectory.com. About the author:Author Description http://www.buytemplates.netis a leading web templates provider and has hundreds of great looking, template membership in various categories that come at surprisingly affordable prices. Apart from offering copyrighted and non-copyrighted web templates, this site also offers allied services like custom templates, content insertion service, search engine optimization service and web hosting service making it the best portal for buying web related services.

How To Cash In Promoting Affiliate Programs

1. Build your site around a topic you enjoy.Becoming a webmaster will require a lot of time on your part. Make sure that you first build your site around a topic that you enjoy and can spend time on.Think about what topics you enjoy most, and that you know a lot about. This will allow you to easily write about that topic to your visitors and share your insight.2. Keep narrowing your focus until you find your niche that makes your site unique. For instance instead of sports, make your site about your favorite team or instead of marketing choose to make your site about ezine publishing.3. Once you've decided on a topic for your site, you have also selected your target audience, and are ready to join affiliate programs that sell products to that audience.4. When deciding on affiliate programs to join look for affiliate programs that offer a line of products -- this will allow you to earn further commissions when your referrals come back and order something else.5. Choose affiliate programs that offer a two-tier commission structure, where you get paid a commission on the sales of people that you refer to the affiliate program, or affiliate programs that offer you the chance to earn a residual income.6. Track your promotional efforts. This is essential in helping you identify what ad copy generates the most sales and what marketing techniques are most profitable.7. Generate repeat traffic to your site by making your site a valuable resource.Publish your own articles, tutorials, ebooks, your ezine archive, as well as the promotional materials provided to you by the affiliate programs you've joined.8. Keep your site updated regularly with new material.9. Write recommendations.Make a recommended links or products page where you share with your visitors the benefits that the products that you promote will provide to them -- how those products have helped you.10. To increase your commissions promoting two-tier affiliate programs, also provide a top rated affiliate programs page where you recommend your affiliate opportunities to your visitors.11. Follow up with your visitors by providing free e-mail courses.Your courses can be those provided to you by the affiliate programs you promote, or you can create your own free e-mail courses from your own articles or tutorials.12. Publish an ezine.Running an ezine will allow you to successfully drive more new and repeat traffic to your site, successfully market your affiliate programs to your visitors by keeping in touch with them, and also allow you to promote several different affiliate programs within your ezine's content.Publishing an ezine is also an excellent way to establish yourself as an expert or resource in your field which will generate more commissions for you as your subscribers respond to your recommendations.
About the Author
Article © 2003 by writer, Ken Hill. Learn How To Build Your Very Own First Website! 4 volume

Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Your Website

Which company has the best affiliate program? How do I choose the best affiliate program? Can you help me pick an affiliate program? I am often asked these questions. And, the answer many people expect is : the program that pays the most. However, the point that many rookie affiliates miss is that just because mortgage, gambling, and credit card programs are paying the most per sale or per lead dosen't mean that you will ever make any money promoting their products. In fact, the overwhelming majority of affiliates never earn a dime. Most are lured in by the promise of easy riches, discover that it's not so easy, shortly thereafter, and then give up before ever earning their first paycheck. So, how do you earn that first paycheck from an affiliate program?1. Pick an affiliate program that fits the theme of your site. This is obvious, but as I stated above, many people are lured in by the temptations of quick and easy money from higher paying programs. You should never have to change the content of your website to match your affiliate program, either. Make the programs work for you, not against you.2. Choose a program that pays per sale over per lead. Some affiliate programs pay a percentage for every sale made and some affiliate programs pay per lead, or a certain action taken by the prospective customer, such as filling out a loan application. The per lead programs seem like they should have the higher conversion rates, but this is just not true. I've repeatedly had more success with pay per sale, rather than per lead. My theory is that people are bombarded with these forms and applications and sales pitches everyday, so they tend to block them out. Time is extremely valuable, especially in today's society. To get credit for a sale with these programs, people must invest time that they simply don't have or don't want to use signing up for these offers. It is much easier just to buy something online, than it is to invest time online doing work. That's why information products sell so well online, despite the fact that many times the information for sale is available free online, if you have the time to spend gathering it.3. Pick an affiliate program that offers a wide variety of items for sale and preferably, one that offers dynamic content ads. You should always pay attention to what's hot and don't be afraid to rotate items that you promote. Just because something sold well yesterday, dosen't mean it will sell well today or tomorrow. If you run a website that promotes books, for example, you would probably want to rotate into your website ads promoting the current week's bestsellers. Visitors to your site will thank you for the fresh content, even if it is an advertisement. The easiest way to do this is with an affiliate program that delivers dynamically generated ads based on your established criteria.4. Choose a well-known merchant. Trust is a very important factor in converting sales. More times than not, a customer is going to buy from the merchant that they know and recognize. Many smaller merchants will increase the percentage they offer to affiliates as a way of try and drive more traffic to their site and to promote their brand. Not surprisingly, many of these merchants come and go. It's safer and more profitable to go with the big names. You're also more likely to get paid (and on time!) by these merchants.5. Pick an affiliate program that sells products that you have tried and like. If you have had a good experience making a purchase from a company, see if they have an affiliate program you can join. It is much easier to promote a product that you like, and your product endorsement will come across as more authentic. And, if the visitor to your site tries and like the product as well, you gain instant credibility and trust, which will lead to future sales. Hopefully, these tips will help you when deciding which products to promote on your site.
About the Author
Justin Hallman writes for www.publishprofits.com

Affiliate Programs – The Fast Track to Wealth

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/

5 Tips To Choosing The Right Affiliate Program

Affiliate programs can be a great way to make money online. You don't have to spend time developing your own product, worry about taking orders, or take care of customer service. If you already have a high traffic website or run an e-zine you can stand to earn a steady flow of commissions every month without a lot of extra work on your part.To help you get started promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following 5 tips to help you choose the affiliate programs that are right for you.1. Choose affiliate programs that match the content of your site. If your site targets a niche market than choose affiliate programs that offer products to that niche market.2. Choose affiliate programs that pay a high commission. For example 30%-50% on your direct sales.3. Join affiliate programs that pay two-tier commissions. This enables you to not only earn commissions on your own sales but also on the sales of people who you introduce to your affiliate program.4. Join affiliate programs that offer a line of products so that you can earn commissions when your referrals come back and purchase other services or products.5. Join affiliate programs that offer their affiliates great marketing support. Many affiliate programs offer their affiliates pre-written ads to use or get ideas from, sales letters, marketing courses, and articles to use in promoting their services.Remember, the best affiliate programs will see their affiliate program as a partnership with you and combine high commissions with excellent support so that you can start earning money promoting their products as quickly as possible.
About the Author
Article © 2002 by writer, Ken Hill. Discover proven strategies to generating more profit promoting affiliate programs. Get your FREE 10 Part Guide To Success With Affiliate Programs marketing course now at mailto:affiliatecourse@zipresponse.com

101 Affiliate Research Results: Affiliate Program that pays!

Are you an online marketer or an ezine publisher and you interested in Affiliate program? Let's start from basics. What is Affiliate Program?Affiliate program is a program introduced by web business owners where opportunity is been created for other people to participate in selling their products and service on the internet without necessarily buying the products or services and they are paid a percentage of the amount, paid for the products or service or a particular amount as comission made from sales of those products or service.If you are a web business owner, my advice to you as an online marketing strategist is you invest having an affiliate progam in your website, because it helps you create markerters for product or services free, there by boosting sales for your products and services real fast. For more information, visit www.clickbank.com, www.assoctrace.com Who is an AffiliateAn Affiliate is somebody who advertise the products and service of a web business owner for a comission of the product made from sales, all he does is register with the web master's Affiliate program and he is given an affiliate link which he will use to refer people to the website, write a good advertisement and advertise his link to draw customers to the website and when it results to a sale he is paid a part of the profit made from sales as comission. What Makes a Good Affiliate ProgramAs i browsed through the internet and visit search engines to search for a good affiliate program to join, though I get to join, some affiliate programs but i found out something that i should let you, do you know some affiliate progams are not worth joining despite the fact, they promise to pay you a "fat" sum as comission. So carefully read the next few listed points and I suggest you stick by it and always read these points before you join any affiliate program because i have learn't my lessons so i dont want to hide it and allow you make the same mistakes because it could be a very ugly situation you might not forgive me for not telling you because this article was written to empower you on what makes a good affiliate program and how to make good use of your time advertising good programs you 've joined.My Research ResultAlthrough my research on how to make money on the internet, the concept of Affiliate program has proved to be the easiest way on how to make money on the internet because, you (i) Don't need to have your products before you join an affiliate program, though some web marketers insist you buy their products and services before you can market them but it is very rare to find such programs online but they exist.(ii) You don't need a website, but in most cases, when you want to really earn a living onlne through affiliate program, i suggest you need a website to advertise as many programs as possible, all you need to do if you want to go into this kind of affiliate advertising, just place the programs in categories, i tell you this is the secret of making $10,000 a month without owing a product, but if you just want to go into part time Affiliate advertising, you don't need a website, effective affiliate advertising will be discussed in my next article coming up soon.(iii) You don't need to wait for long before you earn commissions except if you have not advertised your affiliate link or you did not write a good and catchy advert or promotion, there is every possibility you can earn a commission in the next six hours with a good advert. BELOW ARE THE POINTS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE JOINING ANY AFFILIATE PROGRAM.(i) Products and Services of the Web marketer, whether it is a one-product or multiple products web business, they must be market moving products (i.e fast selling) information or "how to" products.(ii) Is the website an interesting site that customers can really get in and dont want to go anymore they just keep reading the sales letter and eventually buy to know if the owner has put up a cachy salesletter, read it for your self does it entice you to buy or make you feel bored reading such letter tip. If it is a good and catchy salesletter, you can even catch some points in the letter and form a good advert for the program.(iii) Did the site owner create a way of following up visitors by inviting visitors to signup for his ezine or newsletter on his site, because that is an excellent way to ensure your visitors buy from you and that's commission for you as his affiliate. for referring customers to his website.(iv) Does (web marketer) after a two-tier affiliate program where people can sign with their affiliate program under you, thereby building a down line for your self and it is another way you can earn commission when members of your down line makes sales, you are paid a percentage commission (eg 6%)(v) How is the sign up process, do you spend up one hour signing up or a few minutes people tend to ignore joining his (webmarketer) affiliate program if the sign up process is difficult to complete, you should be able to tell this fact since you signed up with his affiliate program.You can get more of these facts on what makes a good affiliate program, if you sign up for newsletter. I advice you signup for my newsletter because there are still more to know on what makes a good Affiliate program if you know these things you still enjoy be earning fat residual income on monthly basis. So be empowered.Learn the basics and stick to it.It's worth knowing. To your success
About the Author
Emmanuel .N. Uduezue teaches what make good affiliate program and marketing offers free resources on starting and succeeding in an online business in his articles and newsletters, to subscribe to his article publication(E-BIZ INFORMANT),send an email to:emmanuel_nnamdiuduezue@yahoo.com

The truth about affiliate programs and how to make money on

The truth about affiliate programs and how to make money on the net! Have you ever wondered how to make money sitting at home or even keeping your job while you build a residual income on the internet? You may be struggling to make a living and wanting to find a way of building a residual income for yourself on the internet. I found the biggest challenge in joining the affiliate marketing scene on the web was the isolation I experienced. “Am I doing this correctly?” was the constant question I asked of myself. Like you, maybe, when I was starting off, I wasn't sure if my affiliate links were properly set, I continually worried about whether the search engines would rank me high enough to get traffic. Waiting for indexing was agonizing at times!!!!!Someone with a successful online business, who would have talked to me about their experience in establishing their affiliate networks would have been worth their weight in $$$$$. I would have appreciated a mentor!!! You can talk to us, we have done the homework for you and sorted out the best affiliate programs on the web today. You will have seen all the “hype” about how to earn enormous amounts of money on the Internet. Most of these people have never earned a dollar online!! All they are trying to do is sell you a gimmick that has no substance. It won’t earn you a dollar either.If you are fed up and are ready to hear some truth about the internet and affiliate marketing read on.Have you ever heard anyone say “there’s no money to be made by promoting affiliate programs”? NOT TRUE. They have either not tried it themselves, or are keeping the secret, not wanting you to share in the wealth.The truth is you can make money online by promoting affiliate programs. A lot of people have been able to leave their jobs and make a fantastic living just by promoting other people’s products.Look at this list, just a small sample of BIG brand name companies that use affiliate programs to promote their products online •Amazon.com •Barnes & Noble •Dell •Discover Card •Dollar Rent-a-Car •eBay •Eddie Bauer •Gateway •Gap •KMart •New York Times •NBC •Old Navy •Patagonia •PayLess Shoes •PetSmart •SONY •Sports Authority •Staples •TimeLife •USA Today •Verizon Wireless •Weight Watchers Read this and consider again the value of affiliate programs!!!Commission Junction, Linkshare and BeFree have been built solely to administer online merchants' affiliate programs. We can tell you, form experience, that any company trying to do business on the web WITHOUT an affiliate program nowadays, is going to have a tough time..The first step in making money online is to get your products! Making money online is not any different from making money anywhere. You need to have in demand, high quality products to sell and an effective method for marketing those products.Finding top quality products to sell is easy. All you have to do is join a reputable affiliate program and resell other people’s products for profit. You can make money online as an affiliate every time someone visits your website and clicks on a link to learn more about one of the productsHere's how it works: When someone visits your website and clicks on a product link, they will be redirected to a new sales page and have the opportunity to purchase the product. Just for providing the link to the product from your site, you will earn a generous commission every time a sale is made.In fact, all the actual selling, follow-up, product delivery and customer satisfaction issues will be handled for you automatically. Your ONLY job is to promote the website I setup for you (I'll show you how do that... In fact it's really easy!) and cash your checks each month. It really is that simple.Many people earn a full-time income working from home as an affiliate and many can earn over $10000.00 per year in this business.To make that happen, you absolutely must choose affiliate programs that pay generous commissions for top quality products that are in high demand!You can have a professionally designed website 100 % ready to take orders right now! Your new website will be designed to sell products from 5 of the MOST respected, MOST reliable and HIGHEST PAYING affiliate programs in the world.EmpowerismSFIInternet Marketing WarriorsTraffic SwarmInternet Marketing CenterThese affiliate programs include international moneymaking ventures like Empowerism who provides a powerful and proven system to take a one-time $25 investment and turn it into $2,000.00 over and over again!You can’t lose with all this support and expertise at your fingertips!! Click here http://www.pluginforprofit.com/pips.html and get your new website today. Guaranteed residual income for the rest of your life!
About the Author
I am a small business owner in New Zealand

How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program

There are thousands of affiliate programs offering wide range of benefits to their affiliates. However, many of these programs and the claims they make are not to be trusted. Good affiliate programs provide tremendous earning opportunities, but they need to be evaluated to distinguish them from doubtful ones. There are several factors to consider before someone decides to join any affiliate program.Products: Organizations which operate affiliate programs generally have some products to sell. These products can be in form of physical products, e-products or services. It is important to ascertain that the organization has some products to sell and that it recruits affiliates to help them in running their business. One should be very careful with any organization that has recruitment of affiliates as their main business. It is best to avoid such organizations because their affiliate structure is like a house of cards which can crumble at slightest impact.The organizations which have products to sell and market them thru affiliate programs cut down on the cost of advertising and distribution. This amounts to considerable savings which they share with their affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar with the products, this can be helpful but this is not a necessary pre-condition to join affiliate program. New affiliates can learn about the products quite fast.Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult to find out about the organization before joining it affiliate program. Search engines are one of the sources which can be used for this purpose. Verifying the testimonials presented by the organization is another source of information. The organization should have proven track record of operating their programs for several years successfully. If the organization is new or just starting, the person starting the program should be well known with good credibility. This is precaution against joining organizations which promise get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.Support Available to Affiliates : Most of the new affiliates joining any affiliate program are new to the field of marketing on the internet. They need guidance and support for promoting their business and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest of the organization to help their affiliates to succeed. These organizations are in their business for considerable longer time than the affiliates, are more knowledgeable about their market and about the ways of promoting their products. They are in best position to provide their affiliates with proper guidance. Many organizations have excellent support system by way of trainings, tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums just to name a few. These are generally available from websites accessible to the affiliates.Apart form the promotional material and information available from the website, personal guidance can be vital. A new affiliate may not be familiar with all the resources available and will look for mentoring at least in initial stages. It should be remembered by the affiliate that her success will add to the success of the organization, the organization is obliged to help her.Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode and frequency of payment to the affiliates. The affiliate should make sure that this suits her. Just to give an example - many organizations make payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit money to all the countries. Such details should be checked before putting time and effort for any affiliate program.Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways in which organizations build up their affiliate structure. Many organizations have single tier structure in which affiliate is only paid commission for sale. Other affiliate structures are 2-level or multi-level deep in which the affiliate earns also from the efforts of personally sponsored members. In turn, the affiliate is expected to help her sponsored members to earn for themselves. This is one great feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged earning. You can read my article on leveraged earning at this URL :http://www.sanjay-j.com/artlever.htmlThere are still more variations in the structure. Some organizations allow a limited number of affiliates directly under each affiliate. There is no "ideal" affiliate structure. But it is important to have clarity in the structure and the affiliate should understand the structure.Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in compensation plans starting from simple commission to more elaborate plan in which affiliates additionally earn thru the efforts of their sponsored downline members and also from a common pool. I personally favor plans which have provision for leveraged earnings where teamwork really counts. Residual earning is another attractive feature of affiliate marketing which can build into sizeable income over a period of time. I am not against any compensation plan so long as it is understandable and appears reasonable. You have perhaps noticed that I have put this factor as the last consideration. However it is an important consideration after all other considerations are found acceptable.Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business with any affiliate program, no matter how good the program appears. After joining any affiliate program after thorough evaluation, one needs to stay with the program giving it time to build the earning. Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they are rare exception rather than the rule and cannot be depended upon.This small slogan should be ingrained in the thinking when someone joins an affiliate program:PERSISTENCE PAYS.============================================Sanjay Johari regularly contributes articles on small business to various ezines. Benefit from International Success Mentoring! Earn while you learn - join the longest running internet business opportunity, because it works. http://www.sanjay-j.com/empowerism.html

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

How To Maximize Your Profit Promoting Affiliate Programs

Promoting affiliate programs can provide you with a good extra income or even a full time income online.To help you maximize your profit promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following tips to help you successfully market your affiliate programs more effectively to your site's visitors.1. Publish an e-zine.Running an e-zine will allow you to run prime position ads for your affiliate programs in every issue you publish, and is the #1 way for you to follow up with your site's visitors.You can also easily increase your commissions by sending out special announcements to your subscriber base whenever one of the affiliate programs you promote is offering a special bonus or a special limited time offer.Once you build up your circulation you can further increase your profits by charging for ad space in your publication.2. Use a pop up on your site that promotes your e-zine.Using a pop up as a well as a subscription e-mail or form on your site can substantially increase the number of your visitors that subscribe to your publication.Your pop up will draw your visitors' attention right to your e-zine, and if you offer your visitors free bonuses for subscribing to your e-zine such as free ebooks or free ads you can further increase the number of visitors who subscribe to your publication.3. Offer free e-mail workshops (e-mail courses) to your visitors.Making e-mail workshops will enable you to effectively promote one or several affiliate programs that offer products that relate to the subject of your workshop.Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with articles to post on their sites or run in their e-zines which you can use to successfully form the different parts of your workshop.If you already write articles, you can easily use your own articles to form the different parts of your workshop and transform your articles into yet another powerful marketing tool.To get the most out of your e-mail workshops, offer your workshops both on your site and by using a pop up, and use your workshops to increase subscriptions to your e-zine as well as repeat visitors your website.4. Publish your articles on your site.Posting your articles on your site is a great way to continually add content to your site and draw more repeat visitors.To successfully use your articles to promote affiliate programs offer a free e-mail workshop in your resource box or use your resource box to promote your e-zine.This will provide you with an effective way to successfully follow up with your prospects when your articles get published as well as when your visitors read your articles.5. Offer free ebooks on your site.Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with ebooks they can rebrand with their unique affiliate URL and these can be used as an effective marketing tool.The best way to promote your affiliate programs with ebooks, however, is to make your own ebooks.If you write your own articles, you can create a unique promotional item by making an ebook compilation of your articles with links to affiliate programs you promote.You can also create a best of compilation of your e-zine's top issues to drive more subscriptions to your publication or if you make e-mail workshops you can transform these into your ebooks content.To further increase your profits, offer your ebooks as a free bonus or part of a free bonus for subscribing to your e-zine, and/or allow your visitors to rebrand your ebook with a link to their own business, affiliate program or opportunity.

Choosing an Affiliate program

What should you consider when choosing an affiliate program? You need to think about two key things: what business are you in and what can the affiliate program provide to your customers.No matter what business you are in, the largest investment you make will be customer acquisition. If you have your own product, and have acquired a base of satisfied customers, then single product affiliate programs could work very well for you.However, if your business is acquiring customers for other businesses, that is, purely affiliate programs, then a better choice for you could be affiliate programs with multiple products or services. This will help you to capitalise on your investment in customer acquisition.The key to choosing successfully is to ensure that the affiliate program offers products that meet the needs of your potential customers. Coupled with this is the need for the products to be high quality and for the supplier to provide excellent customer service. Remember, your credibility is on the line every time you refer someone to buy through your affiliate relationship.Some of the other factors I consider when evaluating affiliate programs include:+ Is the affiliate program a reputable business? You can check out a business you are considering a relationship with in variety of ways. Talk to the Better Business Bureau in your local area or a similar body. In addition, I find web sites that monitor affiliate programs to be worth looking at. The best I have found is Associate Programs http://www.AssociatePrograms.com. Allan Gardyne pulls no punches and tells it as it is.+ Does the program enable you to share in the lifetime value of the customer? Great programs will give you commissions on all future purchases of the customers you introduce. This is where the real profits are. These types of programs, in effect, allow you to partner with the supplier.+ Does the program reward you for introducing other affiliates? This type of program is commonly referred to as a two-tier program. Often your customer may become an affiliate also and you will be rewarded for this.+ Is the supplier interested in your success as an affiliate? The top affiliate programs engage in a process of coaching or information sharing to help you succeed. Affiliates are provided with regular newsletters outlining what is working for successful affiliates and providing updates and details on new products.+ Is the commission reasonable? Commission rates on commodity products such as books and CDs are low. This is because there is very little margin in the products due to competition. Look for products that have a commission rate of 15% or more that are not commodities - that way you will be better able to recoup your customer acquisition investment.+ Are statistics provided? The higher the level of statistics provided, the better off you are. This will enable you to measure the success of your marketing efforts and to determine the best places to invest your marketing dollars. Insufficient statistics is a sign that the affiliate program is not sufficiently interested in your success.+ Are new products being developed regularly? To get the full value from lifetime commissions, new products need to be introduced on a regular basis. Without this, lifetime commissions can be worthless. Also, look for consistent high quality in new products introduced.+ How frequently are commissions paid? The more frequently commissions are paid, the better off you are. Good quality affiliate programs will pay you monthly. In some situations, commissions are not paid until a certain level is reached. If the program you are considering has this requirement, check how many sales need to be made before the level is reached.+ Have you read the affiliate agreement? This is a key area that you should look at. Some affiliate agreements are totally in favour of the supplier. Others are more balanced. Some agreements restrict your ability to promote similar products from other suppliers. Most agreements have anti-spam provisions. Look for agreements that are fair and that do not stack everything against you as the affiliate.While there are other factors that can be considered when choosing an affiliate program, following the suggestions above will help you to make superior business choices that will lead to long-term success

Affiliate Programs Are Wonderlands Of Opportunities

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 buyerThe 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 merchantAdditionally, 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

Why Two-Tier Affiliate Programs are Best

When you join an affiliate program or start an affiliate program of your own, you have to decide whether it will be a single tier or two-tier affiliate program. With a single tier program you earn a commission on any sales you make and that is it. If you are running your own affiliate program, you pay your affiliates a commission for any sales they refer and that is all. However, with a two-tier program, affiliates are allowed to recruit sub-affiliates and are paid a small percentage of the sales these sub-affiliates generate. For example, the affiliates may earn a 30% commission for selling product X himself; and when one of the sub-affiliates makes a sale, the affiliate may get a 10% commission as well. This is very profitable for the affiliate as he can recruit an army of sub-affiliates, all earning commissions for him without any effort on his part except for the initial recruiting process. If you are starting an affiliate program of your own should it be two-tier or single tier? Some might shy away from the seeming expense of a two-tier program. But is it really that expensive? Many affiliate program managers make the wrong decision on this. Let’s look at an example. You have an affiliate program up and running and an average affiliate joins your program. Mr.Average has a web site that receives average traffic. He also has an ezine with thousands of subscribers published monthly. Mr. Average posts your affiliate links to his web site and promotes your product to his ezine list. Initially, he generates good sales. However, a point comes when he saturates his market with your product and his sales begin to drop. He begins to lose interest in your program and your sales remain small. What happens if you set up a two-tier program? Rather than trying to keep your commission pay outs small, you motivate your existing affiliates to recruit other people to your program. This will exponentially increase your affiliate sales. Would it not be worth paying the referring affiliate a percentage of their sub-affiliates’ sales? Now when Mr.Average joins your affiliate program this is what would happen. When he has saturated his market with your product, he would now promote your affiliate program to his customers and ezine subscribers. Many of Mr.Average’s customers and subscribers decide to join the affiliate program. This in turn will motivate Mr.Average to continue promoting your products and recruiting affiliates. Now what is the situation? 1) Your income increases because of increased sales. 2) You have a much larger customer base to which you can sell ‘backend’ products. 3) An increase in your income because of the life time loyalty of the customers referred by your affiliate. 4) An army of sub-affiliates who will sell your products, and in turn promote your affiliate program to their customers and subscribers. The little extra in affiliate sales commission pay outs will be more than compensated for by the exponential sales increase. This is why the two-tier affiliate program is a guaranteed winner and should be the automatic choice for potential affiliates and affiliate program managers.

What To Look For When Choosing Affiliate Programs

So you've decided you want to become an Internet Marketer, huh? Will you sell someone else's products or sell your own?
If you choose to sell someone else's products, how will you know what to look for? After all, this is a new venture for you.
Or maybe it's not. Maybe you have been trying out some affiliate programs which have not brought you any money, or, worse, have not paid you for the affiliate traffic you have sent them.
If you are the new person, or the person who is floundering in Internet Marketing, this article will offer you some simple tips for choosing an affiliate program.
This article doesn't cover getting traffic to your site, which is another huge piece of the puzzle, and will be covered in a later article, but let's just start with choosing affiliate programs.
#1. You should find affiliate programs that:
a) are relatively easy to set up (code is either created for you or easy to create)
b) will pay you well. This depends on your definition of what being paid well means, but generally, for most beginners, and some novices, if you can see yourself being able to make more than $250/month, the program is at least worth looking at
c) give you products which people actually use. There are lots of products in the market which will sell, but do you really want to be selling pet rocks? If you do, please don't take offense. Most legitimate affiliate advice sites won't feature affiliate programs that are exclusively selling something like 8-Track players and tapes. While there are probably collectors out there who would love an 8-track player and cassettes, the fact is that the market is done with 8-tracks. The point is, there should be a genuine need for, or interest in, what you are selling/reselling.
So you find a program which meets the above criteria. Now what? Do a Google search on the company. Find out what people are saying about them. You may have to dig a bit, but the combined experience of the professionals (and not-so-professionals) who develop and contribute to the Internet on a regular basis is, collectively, the best source of advice you will find on making money, or affiliate programs, anywhere.
If you want advice on some great affiliate programs, you can visit sites which have already reviewed the information about companies and present it to you in a straightforward way. If you are ready to find some great affiliate programs, then you will be able to find categories of affiliate programs on these sites, which will generally represent the type of products you would like to sell.
Search engines love content, and so do your site visitors. Content is one of the most important aspects of getting people to your web site, and helping them to see the value in what you're selling. You should strive to choose programs with products which are related to your web site.
In other words, if you have a site which features information about the Toyota Camry, you're going to be pretty hard pressed to be able to get your page content matched up so that you could sell, say... baby rattles.
Find affiliate programs which relate to what you already do, and then promote those products.
Finally, see if you can find someone to actually talk to (ok, email would be okay) who has received regular checks or payments from marketing products. We think that this is, perhaps, the most important part of any affiliate program, because the main reason you promote their products is to receive a check for your efforts.
So there you have it, some simple tips for choosing great affiliate programs! Hope this helps you to reach your income goals, and also helps you to develop a long-term plan for on and off-line financial and personal success

7 Tips to Choosing a Successful Affiliate Program

When selecting an affiliate program to join you need to know how to choose a successful affiliate program. Look in the wrong place and you might find a dud but look in the right place and you might be on to a winner. Here are 7 tips to help you choose a successful affiliate program to join:1. Look at associateprograms.com This is the ‘affiliate central' of affiliate programs. You can virtually guarantee to find a successful program here and you can choose from tons of subject areas. 2. Look at clickbank.com Nearly every product they have for sale has an affiliate program. Many of them are extremely good and most pay very high commissions. (some over 50%)3. Affiliate resource sites usually offer their best affiliate programs. As affiliate resources sites are specialists in affiliate programs you can be pretty sure of choosing a successful affiliate program from them. 4. Look for affiliate programs that are offered through any ezines you receive. Chances are the ezine owner has an affiliate program and if they have a good ezine they probably will have a good affiliate program. 5. Think of things that ALWAYS sell. Like web site design, ebooks, music and travel. Stick to proven online sellers and the affiliate program will have a much greater chance of being successful. 6. Seek out articles on affiliate programs. There are many good writers out there who have been successful with affiliate programs. Try to find articles they have written to see what has worked for them. 7. Take courses. Many sites offer free online email courses for affiliates. Take some of these courses to learn more about what it takes to be a successful affiliate. Affiliate programs are a great way to make money but one of the secrets to affiliate success is to choose the right program in the first place. Use these 7 tips to help you succeed.

How to make money with Affiliate Programs - The Sensible Way

Every day, thousands of would-be marketers scour the internetlooking for any and every affiliate program, sign up, sit backand wait for the money to pour in and get frustrated just asfast when the bank balance still shows a big, fat ZERO!There are tons of guru's floating around and even more eBooksand articles claiming to know the latest and greatest trick tomake tons of money with no effort at all (oh and of course,unless you use their method then you will never, ever getanywhere in your online business and stay broke the rest ofyour life). We've all seen these before.Let's get real for a moment. If you don't put any effort into your marketing and don'tspread the word of whatever you are marketing, then you willget exactly that much out of your effort. Zero effort = Zero results!I hope that's plain enough and now let's have a look at thesensible way to market your affiliate programs, so you canactually earn some of that Internet-Money-Pie (and it's yummytoo).There are two types of affiliate programs generally. Those thatpay you (1-tier) and those that pay you, plus they pay you abonus for actions taken by visitors sent by other webmastersyou have referred (2-tier).Let's think about that for a moment. What's the easier way tomake money? You sell a bunch of products and get paid on thatalone, or if you sell product and also introduce the affiliateprogram to a bunch of webmasters who in turn also sell and theyearn a nice commission and you get a bonus every single timethey sell something, just for having referred them to theaffiliate program?Ok, I know you probably just smacked your forhead andsaid 'Duh' quite loudly and think I am stating the plain andobvious.If you can get others to do the same thing you are doing, bykeeping in touch with them and helping them and duplicatingyour efforts, then of course it stands to reason that the bonusyou receive for referring the webmasters will generatepotentially a large team of people making you money.So, your first task is to find good, well-paying 2-tieraffiliate programs. You can always use single tier programs asa back end sale or on other projects, don't get me wrong, theywill still make you money, but right now, we want to get youstarted off on the right foot to your own internet income.So, you've gone out and found a well-paying affiliate program,and you are ready to rumble and make money... Not So Fast!!!How are you going to promote it? What is your plan of attack?That's another problem many marketers run into, they just runoff and don't think before they act and that again results in alot less return for all of your efforts.Here's what I have done in the past and always do each time.Feel free to try this out and see the results for yourself.After finding the affiliate program I want to promote, I checkthe resource material provided by the program. Sometimes,depending on how new the program is, I use their material toget things rolling but almost every time, I start to write someads of my own, perhaps an article or even an ebook that I canuse to promote the product and the affiliate program with.Some of those resources are available to readers of theeBusinessCornerNews newsletter if you are interested.Another thing I do, after putting together all the marketingmaterial I want to use is to check out the competion that'salready in the market. I don't really care if there iscompetition, as a matter of fact, many times that is a goodindicator that there is a good demand for the type of product Iam promoting. You can do this pretty easily by just going to asearch engine and typing in keywords you associate with theproduct for example (there are a lot of additional ways to dothis that we discuss in our newsletter).There are a ton of places you can advertise your product, andthe marketing material you are using, such as articledirectories, free advertising forums or websites, you can evenfind a lot of ezines that allow you to place free classifiedsand websites you can post your ad on, at no cost.Another thing that is handy to have is a website of my own,where I can post my thoughts and comments (nothing sells betterthan your own, plain english comments and reviews) along withany other articles I can find that will help to draw visitorsin and make the search engines list my site better.Most of the time, I will take a few of my articles and turnthem into a free ebook, or post the articles in articledirectories where other webmasters are permitted to reprintthem in their own newsletter, provided they leave my resourcebox (see the bottom of this article for an example) in place.So now they are spreading the word for me, driving traffic onmy behalf and generating orders too. But I like to help, as much as I like to earn money too, sohere's what I do most of the time. When I find a good newsletter that I like then I touch basewith that publisher and offer him the article, but I also tellhim it's for a 2-tier affiliate program and if he would like,then he could use my article, if he either leaves my box inplace or signs up under me and then I let him add his link intomy box, so he can earn the bigger piece of the pie and I getthe bonus commissions from his sales. Now, why would I do that? Simple... I do that, because there's a much better chance that he willsend out my article sooner, rather than later because now hehas the potential to earn money with it too. Find a few publishers like that and you are well on your roadto getting a nice piece of the pie and the great thing is thatanytime you find a new affiliate program to promote and write anew article, you already have made contacts that you can sendit to, so it gets easier every time and takes a lot less efforton your part.Well, there you have the sensible way of making money withaffiliate programs. (Note: There are a lot of other methods available to marketyour affiliate program and earn money, but this is one of thebest methods I have ever used.)Here's to your success,XavierP.s. Quit reading this article already and get out there andfind yourself a good affiliate program and start making money.Now get moving...(Note: You have permission to reprint this article in it'sentirety, provided you do not change the article in any way andleave the Resource Box above intact. If you would like to earnmoney with this article, please visithttp://www.makemoneymarketingonline.com today and sign up forthe generous 2-tier affiliate program that pays 50% for anysales you make, plus an additional 20% for any sales generatedby webmasters you refer into the program)