There are thousands of affiliate programs to join, but only a select few that are worth your time. I tend to receive a lot of e-mails asking my opinion on affiliate programs x, y and z. Most of them I've never heard of, so I can't lend my support to these readers. Chances are they aren't one of the big networks.
When choosing an affiliate program, try to keep these points in mind.
1. What merchants do they work with? Are they reputable?
I've seen some affiliate programs that advertise companies I've never heard of, or ones that aren't even located in North America. One program I joined turned out to only feature adult merchants, but you'd never know it by the publisher sign up page.
2. When do you get paid? And how?
I only join programs that pay by check or PayPal. I don't like wire transfer payments for many reasons. The first one being I don't want to give away my bank account information. Secondly, there are usually fees associated with accepting wire transfers. Sometimes the fees outweigh your actual profit. If a program says you'll get paid every 2-3 months, pass on it. Usually you'll get paid once a month, or sometimes every two weeks (which I recommend). I don't like waiting to get paid and neither should you.
3. Does the affiliate program have an affiliate program?
This isn't absolutely necessary, but if the program you belong to has its own affiliate program where you can earn extra commission for signing someone else up, it's an added bonus. Most of the time you'll get paid a certain percentage for tier 1 sign ups and a lower percentage for tier 2 sign ups. Some programs offer lifetime payment from your referrals, but some will only pay you for one year from your referrals. Either way, it's extra money in your pocket.
4. Do your research. What's everyone else using?
When I chose to sign up with NeverblueAds, I already knew quite a bit about the program, because I had seen other bloggers using them. I contacted a few of the publishers with the ads on their site and asked their opinion on the program. I only heard positive feedback, so I decided to give them a try. Take notice and pay attention to what kind of ads other sites are serving. Most of the time the ads are high yielding and perform well, especially if you have a great amount of incoming traffic.
5. Are there incentives?
Some affiliate networks offer a sign up bonus, which basically puts free money in your account as soon as you open it. AuctionAds offered $25 immediately after you got approved during the month of September. Other programs will give you similar incentives, but you shouldn't make it a requirement when considering to join or not. Incentives are nice, but it shouldn't be your deciding factor.
Chris Jacobson is an Internet entrepreneur and freelance author who writes on various topics.His official website is http://www.MoneyMakingScoop.com.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Finding the Best and Most Lucrative Affiliate Programs
One of the questions that is asked the most by both the beginning and experienced Internet Marketer is, What are the best affiliate programs?
With literally thousands of affiliate programs on the Internet to choose from it is no surprise that people have problems deciding on the best ones to join and promote.
Today I am going to focus on things you need to take into consideration when trying to tell the difference between an outstanding affiliate program and the ones you should avoid like the plague.
Target Markets That You Have Some Knowledge In
When you know something about the market you are entering into it will save you time and money because you will reduce the amount of research that will need to be done in finding products that target customers in that market need.
If you already know the market you won't be spending a lot of time researching what the market needs because you will recognize these products when you find them.
Focus Your Efforts on Programs in “HOT” Markets
The best programs to promote are not only in hot markets but they also offer products that are needed by the target customers in that particular market but also are unique products as well so your competition is at a minimum.
Look For Affiliate Programs with High Pay Outs
The best ways to promote affiliate programs will be the same no matter what the price of the product. When you sell “High Ticket” items you will be using the same marketing strategies that you would use for products with small price tags.
So the question you need to ask yourself is “Why am I wasting my time and advertising dollars promoting products that will take me double or triple the effort to make good money?”
It is not only common sense but it is simple math as well. If one affiliate program pays $20 dollar per sale and another pays you $40 dollars per sale it is going to take you twice as many sales to generate the same profits from the first program as it will the second.
Seek Out Income Streams
If it cost you $1 dollar in advertising to gain one paying customer which would you choose:
1.A one time sale customer that you will have to continually promote other similar products to on a month to month basis so they spend additional money to increase your profits. -or-
2.A customer that pays a reoccurring membership fee every month that you automatically receive a percentage from.
You don't even have to bother answering the question for me. I already know your answer. If at all possible you want to focus your promotional efforts on the programs that are going to offer you the highest return (your commissions) for the lowest investment (your advertising dollars).
Some businesses that offer multiple products will offer their affiliates life-time commissions. So if you were the first affiliate to get a customer to buy a product from them you will receive commissions on every product they buy in the future from them no matter how they ended up being referred back to the site. These are also very nice programs to put your efforts into.
Start Your Own Mini-Affiliate Program
Some affiliate programs setup what is called a “Two-Tier” commission schedule. With these programs you not only receive commissions on sales that you have referred to the program but you can recruit other affiliates to the program and receive commissions on their referred sales as well.
The bottom-line is the more of these principles an affiliate program follows the more deserving of your time and effort they are.
With literally thousands of affiliate programs on the Internet to choose from it is no surprise that people have problems deciding on the best ones to join and promote.
Today I am going to focus on things you need to take into consideration when trying to tell the difference between an outstanding affiliate program and the ones you should avoid like the plague.
Target Markets That You Have Some Knowledge In
When you know something about the market you are entering into it will save you time and money because you will reduce the amount of research that will need to be done in finding products that target customers in that market need.
If you already know the market you won't be spending a lot of time researching what the market needs because you will recognize these products when you find them.
Focus Your Efforts on Programs in “HOT” Markets
The best programs to promote are not only in hot markets but they also offer products that are needed by the target customers in that particular market but also are unique products as well so your competition is at a minimum.
Look For Affiliate Programs with High Pay Outs
The best ways to promote affiliate programs will be the same no matter what the price of the product. When you sell “High Ticket” items you will be using the same marketing strategies that you would use for products with small price tags.
So the question you need to ask yourself is “Why am I wasting my time and advertising dollars promoting products that will take me double or triple the effort to make good money?”
It is not only common sense but it is simple math as well. If one affiliate program pays $20 dollar per sale and another pays you $40 dollars per sale it is going to take you twice as many sales to generate the same profits from the first program as it will the second.
Seek Out Income Streams
If it cost you $1 dollar in advertising to gain one paying customer which would you choose:
1.A one time sale customer that you will have to continually promote other similar products to on a month to month basis so they spend additional money to increase your profits. -or-
2.A customer that pays a reoccurring membership fee every month that you automatically receive a percentage from.
You don't even have to bother answering the question for me. I already know your answer. If at all possible you want to focus your promotional efforts on the programs that are going to offer you the highest return (your commissions) for the lowest investment (your advertising dollars).
Some businesses that offer multiple products will offer their affiliates life-time commissions. So if you were the first affiliate to get a customer to buy a product from them you will receive commissions on every product they buy in the future from them no matter how they ended up being referred back to the site. These are also very nice programs to put your efforts into.
Start Your Own Mini-Affiliate Program
Some affiliate programs setup what is called a “Two-Tier” commission schedule. With these programs you not only receive commissions on sales that you have referred to the program but you can recruit other affiliates to the program and receive commissions on their referred sales as well.
The bottom-line is the more of these principles an affiliate program follows the more deserving of your time and effort they are.
How To Create A Profitable Affiliate Program In 72 Hours
Associate Program (APs--also called Affiliate Programs and
Reseller Programs) are among the hottest moneymaking opportunities
available on the Internet today. Easy to join, you can be up and
running within an hour.
Success in the AP marketplace is not certain. Like any other
business venture--AP marketing success takes time, effort, and a
certain amount of investment before you receive a profitable
return.
Several articles have been written in the last six months about
how to build a successful Associate Program business. In fact,
I've written one of these articles [you can request a copy of
"Developing a Strategy That Will Earn You $3000.00 From Associate
Programs!" at mailto:earn$3000@infogeneratorpro.com].
One subject that hasn't been addressed is how the average person
can get an affiliate program up and running with a minimal
investment. In the next few moments I am going to show you
exactly how you can set up an affiliate program in less than 72
hours. With the exception of product development or acquisition,
your expense will be less than $100.00!
As a bonus, your bookkeeping responsibilities are going to be
limited. You see a third party, for a very minimal processing
fee, will do payment processing and affiliate recording keeping.
Ready to learn how to make some money? Great! Let's do it!
STEP ONE--GET YOUR PRODUCT
What are you going to be selling?
For starters, you will need a product or service that can be
delivered almost immediately via the Internet! Your options here
are not as limited as you may think. Perhaps you publish a
newsletter and want to increase your advertising revenue. Maybe
you've written an e-book and would like to earn some extra $$$ for
all your hard work. If you are a programmer, you might have a
handy software tool that you'd like to share with the masses. It
could be that you own the reprint rights to somebody else's
product and would like to sell these and start earning some
income!
For the purposes of this illustration, I have created an affiliate
program for selling advertising space in my Ezine, *The Success In
Life Newsletter."
==========SIDE BAR==========
There are hundreds of other authors/programmers who provide resell
rights for their products. You've just got to take the time to
find the RIGHT ONE. Unless you've got a product in hand right
now, it could take a day or two to find something that you want to
resell. But it will be worth the effort.
(Please note that I am making NO promises as to how much money you
will make selling this product. I am offering this simply to
illustrate how quickly and easily you can set up your very own
affiliate program. When you've finished with this little project,
you'll be able to repeat this technique for ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE
you want to market.)
==========SIDE BAR==========
Now that you have a product (or at least know what to look for) it
is time for...
STEP TWO--BUILD YOUR SALES PAGE
First you need web space! If you have a domain--that's great. For
our purposes, however, even one of those free sites will do.
[Remember--I am just showing you how to get started! When you've
finished this little project you'll be able to repeat it over and
over again in a much more sophisticated manner.]
1) Establish a FREE account right now with a free web host. This
should take you a little less that 30 minutes!
2) Write a sales letter to sell your product. If you need help
here I suggest you click over Yanik Silver's *Instant Sales
Letters* site. Yanik provides a terrific arsenal of powerful,
moneymaking fill-in-the-blank sales letter templates guaranteed to
sell your product or service. Learn more
at-->http://www.roibot.com/w.cgi
[Hint: Most of the better reprint rights distributors will provide
you with proven sales letters].
3) Use a site creation tool to build a simple sales page to
promote you product. Avoid flashy graphics pictures. What you
need in the sales letter/information about the product you are
selling, and a link(s) to your payment-processing page.
Here's my example: http://ezinesuccess.com/advertise/silads.htm
STEP THREE--ARRANGE FOR ONLINE PAYMENT
You want to get paid for your product--right? That means you need
to provide people with the ability to pay for the product or
service you provide.
You do want to pay huge fees for processing, order tracking, or
special equipment--right? You'll have NO FEES for tracking and
processing affiliate sales. You'll have NO MONTHLY FEES for using
this service-->no sales, no fees! You'll pay less than $40.00 to
set-up your affiliate account and a minimal % for every sale you
or your affiliates make--that it!
The company is called ClickBank. They will allow you to start
accepting credit cards online! They also have incredibly easy
instructions for using their service to start your own affiliate
program. Getting set up with ClickBank took less than an hour.
Learn more at http://hop.clickbank.net
Your affiliate partner can open a FREE account at the above link
and then start selling your product or service--being compensated
at whatever percentage you determine. ClickBank not only
processes the credit card, they also track affiliate sales and pay
your partners. Here's how it works!
Your affiliates join FOR FREE--and are provide/select an affiliate
ID-->expressed below as XXXX.
You provide them the site URL and they simply insert their ID
where the XXXX is listed below. Then they promote that link in
whatever legal fashion they desire-->and get paid whatever % you
determine up to 50%.
http://www.ezinesuccess.com/ads/silads.htm?hop=XXXX/nieporte
That's it!
You have now entered the world of being an affiliate program
owner. Congrats!
Reseller Programs) are among the hottest moneymaking opportunities
available on the Internet today. Easy to join, you can be up and
running within an hour.
Success in the AP marketplace is not certain. Like any other
business venture--AP marketing success takes time, effort, and a
certain amount of investment before you receive a profitable
return.
Several articles have been written in the last six months about
how to build a successful Associate Program business. In fact,
I've written one of these articles [you can request a copy of
"Developing a Strategy That Will Earn You $3000.00 From Associate
Programs!" at mailto:earn$3000@infogeneratorpro.com].
One subject that hasn't been addressed is how the average person
can get an affiliate program up and running with a minimal
investment. In the next few moments I am going to show you
exactly how you can set up an affiliate program in less than 72
hours. With the exception of product development or acquisition,
your expense will be less than $100.00!
As a bonus, your bookkeeping responsibilities are going to be
limited. You see a third party, for a very minimal processing
fee, will do payment processing and affiliate recording keeping.
Ready to learn how to make some money? Great! Let's do it!
STEP ONE--GET YOUR PRODUCT
What are you going to be selling?
For starters, you will need a product or service that can be
delivered almost immediately via the Internet! Your options here
are not as limited as you may think. Perhaps you publish a
newsletter and want to increase your advertising revenue. Maybe
you've written an e-book and would like to earn some extra $$$ for
all your hard work. If you are a programmer, you might have a
handy software tool that you'd like to share with the masses. It
could be that you own the reprint rights to somebody else's
product and would like to sell these and start earning some
income!
For the purposes of this illustration, I have created an affiliate
program for selling advertising space in my Ezine, *The Success In
Life Newsletter."
==========SIDE BAR==========
There are hundreds of other authors/programmers who provide resell
rights for their products. You've just got to take the time to
find the RIGHT ONE. Unless you've got a product in hand right
now, it could take a day or two to find something that you want to
resell. But it will be worth the effort.
(Please note that I am making NO promises as to how much money you
will make selling this product. I am offering this simply to
illustrate how quickly and easily you can set up your very own
affiliate program. When you've finished with this little project,
you'll be able to repeat this technique for ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE
you want to market.)
==========SIDE BAR==========
Now that you have a product (or at least know what to look for) it
is time for...
STEP TWO--BUILD YOUR SALES PAGE
First you need web space! If you have a domain--that's great. For
our purposes, however, even one of those free sites will do.
[Remember--I am just showing you how to get started! When you've
finished this little project you'll be able to repeat it over and
over again in a much more sophisticated manner.]
1) Establish a FREE account right now with a free web host. This
should take you a little less that 30 minutes!
2) Write a sales letter to sell your product. If you need help
here I suggest you click over Yanik Silver's *Instant Sales
Letters* site. Yanik provides a terrific arsenal of powerful,
moneymaking fill-in-the-blank sales letter templates guaranteed to
sell your product or service. Learn more
at-->http://www.roibot.com/w.cgi
[Hint: Most of the better reprint rights distributors will provide
you with proven sales letters].
3) Use a site creation tool to build a simple sales page to
promote you product. Avoid flashy graphics pictures. What you
need in the sales letter/information about the product you are
selling, and a link(s) to your payment-processing page.
Here's my example: http://ezinesuccess.com/advertise/silads.htm
STEP THREE--ARRANGE FOR ONLINE PAYMENT
You want to get paid for your product--right? That means you need
to provide people with the ability to pay for the product or
service you provide.
You do want to pay huge fees for processing, order tracking, or
special equipment--right? You'll have NO FEES for tracking and
processing affiliate sales. You'll have NO MONTHLY FEES for using
this service-->no sales, no fees! You'll pay less than $40.00 to
set-up your affiliate account and a minimal % for every sale you
or your affiliates make--that it!
The company is called ClickBank. They will allow you to start
accepting credit cards online! They also have incredibly easy
instructions for using their service to start your own affiliate
program. Getting set up with ClickBank took less than an hour.
Learn more at http://hop.clickbank.net
Your affiliate partner can open a FREE account at the above link
and then start selling your product or service--being compensated
at whatever percentage you determine. ClickBank not only
processes the credit card, they also track affiliate sales and pay
your partners. Here's how it works!
Your affiliates join FOR FREE--and are provide/select an affiliate
ID-->expressed below as XXXX.
You provide them the site URL and they simply insert their ID
where the XXXX is listed below. Then they promote that link in
whatever legal fashion they desire-->and get paid whatever % you
determine up to 50%.
http://www.ezinesuccess.com/ads/silads.htm?hop=XXXX/nieporte
That's it!
You have now entered the world of being an affiliate program
owner. Congrats!
How To Make $10,500 Promoting Affiliate Programs
I’ve heard some people say that no one is making money online anymore. Ever heard something like that?
Well it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m making plenty. So let’s put that myth aside right now!
You see, not so long ago I was struggling to pay my bills, relying on a tiny income from a few web sites that I manage. The money would trickle in. $20 here. $5 there.
Then I discovered a technique that’s made me as much as $10,500 in a single month!
While trying to find ways to make more money with my web sites, I was exploring affiliate programs. And I came across the concept of advertising affiliate products through Pay-Per-Click search engines.
The amazing thing was I didn’t even need a web site to do it!
But paying for clicks? It sounded more like a way to spend money than to make it! Anyway, I decided that at the very least it was worth checking out.
The concept is simple.
1. Choose a product – one that has an affiliate program.
2. Set up an advertising campaign at a PPC search engine like Google and choose how much you want to pay per click.
3. Write a three line advertisement and add your affiliate link.
4. Whenever anyone clicks through your ad and buys the product, you earn a commission.
I started by conducting several test campaigns and quickly had one or two showing some early promise. Over the next two weeks I tested around 25 campaigns for a whole range of affiliate products.
Three weeks after starting I had several profitable campaigns. So I boosted these campaigns using some techniques which I discovered and discuss in my book Affiliate Adventure.
In my second month my net profit was a little more than $10,500.
That’s around £6,000.
Or $14,000 Australian dollars.
Not a bad paycheck. And I’ve been earning similar amounts every month since then.
Does it sound easy? Well, if it was too easy then everyone from your granny to the mailman would be doing it.
In fact, while the concept is simple, getting your campaigns to run profitably takes some expertise.
That's where my book, Affiliate Adventure, will really help you. It will breathe life into your affiliate marketing campaigns by telling you exactly how to get started in this business and which mistakes to avoid from the very beginning.
I’m finally making the kind of money online that I always dreamed about.
By promoting affiliate programs at Pay Per Click Search engines, you can too.
Well it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m making plenty. So let’s put that myth aside right now!
You see, not so long ago I was struggling to pay my bills, relying on a tiny income from a few web sites that I manage. The money would trickle in. $20 here. $5 there.
Then I discovered a technique that’s made me as much as $10,500 in a single month!
While trying to find ways to make more money with my web sites, I was exploring affiliate programs. And I came across the concept of advertising affiliate products through Pay-Per-Click search engines.
The amazing thing was I didn’t even need a web site to do it!
But paying for clicks? It sounded more like a way to spend money than to make it! Anyway, I decided that at the very least it was worth checking out.
The concept is simple.
1. Choose a product – one that has an affiliate program.
2. Set up an advertising campaign at a PPC search engine like Google and choose how much you want to pay per click.
3. Write a three line advertisement and add your affiliate link.
4. Whenever anyone clicks through your ad and buys the product, you earn a commission.
I started by conducting several test campaigns and quickly had one or two showing some early promise. Over the next two weeks I tested around 25 campaigns for a whole range of affiliate products.
Three weeks after starting I had several profitable campaigns. So I boosted these campaigns using some techniques which I discovered and discuss in my book Affiliate Adventure.
In my second month my net profit was a little more than $10,500.
That’s around £6,000.
Or $14,000 Australian dollars.
Not a bad paycheck. And I’ve been earning similar amounts every month since then.
Does it sound easy? Well, if it was too easy then everyone from your granny to the mailman would be doing it.
In fact, while the concept is simple, getting your campaigns to run profitably takes some expertise.
That's where my book, Affiliate Adventure, will really help you. It will breathe life into your affiliate marketing campaigns by telling you exactly how to get started in this business and which mistakes to avoid from the very beginning.
I’m finally making the kind of money online that I always dreamed about.
By promoting affiliate programs at Pay Per Click Search engines, you can too.
You Too Can Earn From Affiliate Programs
The beauty of the Internet is you can own your own business and
earn good money without spending much time at it. You don't have
to mind the store or keep office hours. You don't even have to
be there to answer the phone.
I've known any number of successful Internet entrepreneurs who
got started earning profits online while still working demanding
full-time jobs. Kevin Needham of Memail.com became a major name
on the Web while still holding down his government job. The
media often tells the story of Jim Daniels who started his online
publishing empire while working as a middle-manager for a tech
firm.
Kevin Nunley was a DJ at an oldies station when his articles
started appearing on AOL. Superstar Internet biz person and tech
consultant Kate Schultz was a corporate manager when she
began posting her own ads online.
The moral of these stories is don't let your busy life stand in
the way of your desire to earn extra money or even a good living
online. The Internet will bend, twist, and adapt for you more
than any other kind of business.
But you have to go at it the right way or you will wind up
spending way more time and money than you intended. Here is a
simple plan to get you earning online while working at it just 10
to 20 minutes each day.
1. Choose your affiliate program wisely. You will want one main
program you can promote intensively. It is much easier to make
an impact with one good program you market heavily than spreading
yourself too thin over a dozen or more programs.
Right now affiliates report their biggest earners are information
products that tell affiliate program members and others how to
earn better profits. Ken Envoy's "Make Your Site Sell" course,
Corey Rudl's "Insider Secrets," and Jim Daniels' big "Make A
Living Online" are real winners in this category.
You can also do well working with a company that represents many
products and other affiliate programs. Check the many affiliate
products and services housed under the ClickBank.com umbrella.
QuinStreet.com features direct marketing services and ecommerce
technology.
2. Market to friends and associates using a simple signature
file in your email. This is dirt simple yet incredibly powerful.
Email messages have a very personal quality that sells. Your
email program will let you set this up.
Your sig file should start with a headline that tweaks the
reader's interest. Then follow with your web site address and
your autoresponder address (more on this later.) Here's what
your "sig" might look like.
3. Remember how I promised you would only have to work 10 to 20
minutes per day? The key to this is using the Internet's ability
to automate tasks.
No question about it, you will want a series of canned email
messages you can send to people who are interested. Use a
multiple autoresponder to do this (freeautobot.com is a good
one.) When someone emails your autoresponder address, they get
your messages, one each day.
Chances are the affiliate program offers sales letters you can
use. If not, get a professional writer to help you put together
three sales letters. A set of three often works as well as the
more common seven messages.
4. Finally, get your own web site. It is super easy to build a
nice page or two using the free systems at Tripod.com and
Homestead.com.
While most marketing on the Net is done with email, customers
expect you have a web site with additional information.
Rather than using the free site the affiliate program gives you,
create your own site. Your site can tell your story, help people
get to know you, tell why you support the affiliate product, then
link to your affiliate member site.
There are two reasons for this. Starting prospects with your own
site gives you a lot more power to sell. You can tell the story
of how you used the product and succeeded (very powerful!) and
display additional products or services that compliment your main
affiliate offer.
Most search engines won't list a canned affiliate site, but they
WILL list the original site you create. Search engines can be an
immense automated source of free visitors.
That's all it takes! Do these four things 10 to 20 minutes per
day and you will be well on your way to earning with affiliate
programs.
Recent stats show the average person spends 20 hours per week
online. If you get organized, there is no reason you can't use
at least a little of your weekly Internet time to work your own
small business.
earn good money without spending much time at it. You don't have
to mind the store or keep office hours. You don't even have to
be there to answer the phone.
I've known any number of successful Internet entrepreneurs who
got started earning profits online while still working demanding
full-time jobs. Kevin Needham of Memail.com became a major name
on the Web while still holding down his government job. The
media often tells the story of Jim Daniels who started his online
publishing empire while working as a middle-manager for a tech
firm.
Kevin Nunley was a DJ at an oldies station when his articles
started appearing on AOL. Superstar Internet biz person and tech
consultant Kate Schultz was a corporate manager when she
began posting her own ads online.
The moral of these stories is don't let your busy life stand in
the way of your desire to earn extra money or even a good living
online. The Internet will bend, twist, and adapt for you more
than any other kind of business.
But you have to go at it the right way or you will wind up
spending way more time and money than you intended. Here is a
simple plan to get you earning online while working at it just 10
to 20 minutes each day.
1. Choose your affiliate program wisely. You will want one main
program you can promote intensively. It is much easier to make
an impact with one good program you market heavily than spreading
yourself too thin over a dozen or more programs.
Right now affiliates report their biggest earners are information
products that tell affiliate program members and others how to
earn better profits. Ken Envoy's "Make Your Site Sell" course,
Corey Rudl's "Insider Secrets," and Jim Daniels' big "Make A
Living Online" are real winners in this category.
You can also do well working with a company that represents many
products and other affiliate programs. Check the many affiliate
products and services housed under the ClickBank.com umbrella.
QuinStreet.com features direct marketing services and ecommerce
technology.
2. Market to friends and associates using a simple signature
file in your email. This is dirt simple yet incredibly powerful.
Email messages have a very personal quality that sells. Your
email program will let you set this up.
Your sig file should start with a headline that tweaks the
reader's interest. Then follow with your web site address and
your autoresponder address (more on this later.) Here's what
your "sig" might look like.
3. Remember how I promised you would only have to work 10 to 20
minutes per day? The key to this is using the Internet's ability
to automate tasks.
No question about it, you will want a series of canned email
messages you can send to people who are interested. Use a
multiple autoresponder to do this (freeautobot.com is a good
one.) When someone emails your autoresponder address, they get
your messages, one each day.
Chances are the affiliate program offers sales letters you can
use. If not, get a professional writer to help you put together
three sales letters. A set of three often works as well as the
more common seven messages.
4. Finally, get your own web site. It is super easy to build a
nice page or two using the free systems at Tripod.com and
Homestead.com.
While most marketing on the Net is done with email, customers
expect you have a web site with additional information.
Rather than using the free site the affiliate program gives you,
create your own site. Your site can tell your story, help people
get to know you, tell why you support the affiliate product, then
link to your affiliate member site.
There are two reasons for this. Starting prospects with your own
site gives you a lot more power to sell. You can tell the story
of how you used the product and succeeded (very powerful!) and
display additional products or services that compliment your main
affiliate offer.
Most search engines won't list a canned affiliate site, but they
WILL list the original site you create. Search engines can be an
immense automated source of free visitors.
That's all it takes! Do these four things 10 to 20 minutes per
day and you will be well on your way to earning with affiliate
programs.
Recent stats show the average person spends 20 hours per week
online. If you get organized, there is no reason you can't use
at least a little of your weekly Internet time to work your own
small business.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Affiliate Program Checklist
Affiliate and other cooperative programs are announced almost
daily. Website owners are flocking to these programs. Enthusiasm
is high. But.........why not compare and evaluate first?
The following checklist was prepared from the point of view of one
seeking a program to affiliatae with. But it can also help a program
initiator compare current programs in order to make his better.
A. Does the Program Offer a Strategic Fit to Your Business?
1. PROGRAM PURPOSE - Define in broad terms
2. COMPLEMENTS YOUR PURPOSE - Does it help you better
realize your website long-range goals?
3. VISITOR LEARNING - Are your visitors interested and will
the
program help them learn?
B. Do You Trust the Business Initiating the Program?
4. SUCCESS - Does the business have a history of successes?
5. BELIEVABLE ADVERTISING - Does it promise impossible
rewards: get-rich-quick and MLM schemes? Or is it honest and
realistic?
6. REPUTATION - What does the business literature tell you about
their past operations?
7. WHAT CLIENTS SAY - Contact current clients and ask for
their opinions. Would they recommend this business
organization? Are they benefiting from it?
C. Is the Program Well Designed?
8. AFFILIATE QUALIFICATIONS - Are they signing up
everyone? Or are they being picky? Picky is better.
9. AFFILIATE RESPONSIBILITIES - Better, too, if there are
specific responsibilities. Are affiliates asked to do
promotion, communication with customers, sales?
10. INITIATOR RESPONSIBILITIES - Does the outfit offer help
in promotion, sales and after-sales support?
11. PAYMENT & TERMS - Is there a fee or commission
structure? How frequently are payments made? Does affiliate
get credit for future sales?
12. TRANSACTION TRANSPARENCY - How frequently are
transaction reports made? Are transactions independently
checkable by the affiliate? Is there a third-party audit?
13. CONFLICT RESOLUTION - Is there a SIMPLE method for
resolving conflicts?
14. RETURN TO SITE - Is there a simple way for a website
visitor to return to the site of the affiliate after a
transaction is executed?
D. Will You be Part of a Community?
15. COMMUNICATION MEDIUM - Does the program have a
newsletter, a mailing list, a forum, or some other means of
communicating among all affiliates?
16. AFFILIATE DECISION-MAKING - Does each affiliate have
a voice in making decisions that affect all affiliates?
17. MUTUAL PROBLEM SOLVING - Is there a method whereby
affiliates can pose problems and have them solved by the
affiliate community?- - - - - - - - - - - -
Be extremely careful when evaluating an affiliate program. Most
people dwell on the financial arrangements. These are important, of
course. But more important, I believe, are efforts made to achieve
community. These efforts may bolster your ability to achieve
greater financial goals.
Spend time in evaluation. It will pay off in the long run.
daily. Website owners are flocking to these programs. Enthusiasm
is high. But.........why not compare and evaluate first?
The following checklist was prepared from the point of view of one
seeking a program to affiliatae with. But it can also help a program
initiator compare current programs in order to make his better.
A. Does the Program Offer a Strategic Fit to Your Business?
1. PROGRAM PURPOSE - Define in broad terms
2. COMPLEMENTS YOUR PURPOSE - Does it help you better
realize your website long-range goals?
3. VISITOR LEARNING - Are your visitors interested and will
the
program help them learn?
B. Do You Trust the Business Initiating the Program?
4. SUCCESS - Does the business have a history of successes?
5. BELIEVABLE ADVERTISING - Does it promise impossible
rewards: get-rich-quick and MLM schemes? Or is it honest and
realistic?
6. REPUTATION - What does the business literature tell you about
their past operations?
7. WHAT CLIENTS SAY - Contact current clients and ask for
their opinions. Would they recommend this business
organization? Are they benefiting from it?
C. Is the Program Well Designed?
8. AFFILIATE QUALIFICATIONS - Are they signing up
everyone? Or are they being picky? Picky is better.
9. AFFILIATE RESPONSIBILITIES - Better, too, if there are
specific responsibilities. Are affiliates asked to do
promotion, communication with customers, sales?
10. INITIATOR RESPONSIBILITIES - Does the outfit offer help
in promotion, sales and after-sales support?
11. PAYMENT & TERMS - Is there a fee or commission
structure? How frequently are payments made? Does affiliate
get credit for future sales?
12. TRANSACTION TRANSPARENCY - How frequently are
transaction reports made? Are transactions independently
checkable by the affiliate? Is there a third-party audit?
13. CONFLICT RESOLUTION - Is there a SIMPLE method for
resolving conflicts?
14. RETURN TO SITE - Is there a simple way for a website
visitor to return to the site of the affiliate after a
transaction is executed?
D. Will You be Part of a Community?
15. COMMUNICATION MEDIUM - Does the program have a
newsletter, a mailing list, a forum, or some other means of
communicating among all affiliates?
16. AFFILIATE DECISION-MAKING - Does each affiliate have
a voice in making decisions that affect all affiliates?
17. MUTUAL PROBLEM SOLVING - Is there a method whereby
affiliates can pose problems and have them solved by the
affiliate community?- - - - - - - - - - - -
Be extremely careful when evaluating an affiliate program. Most
people dwell on the financial arrangements. These are important, of
course. But more important, I believe, are efforts made to achieve
community. These efforts may bolster your ability to achieve
greater financial goals.
Spend time in evaluation. It will pay off in the long run.
Affiliate Program Basics
Affiliate Program is a ground floor opportunity. All you have to do is send visitors to your affiliate web site by placing a textlink or banner on your website and receive a commission on each sale, without the complication and expense of selling anything yourself.
Instead, you earn a commission for producing a ransaction. Affiliate programs, also known as Referral Programs, Associate Programs, Profit Sharing Programs or Reseller programs, give affiliates the ability to create an online business selling thousands products and services.
One of the first affiliate programs was run by the mega- bookstore, Amazon.com. They still have the largest base of affiliates on the net although they may not be the best affiliate program for many! with over 600,000 web sites being affiliated.
Affiliate programs are generally offered by sites selling goods or services, although some affiliate programs reward other types of transaction such as getting a visitor to sign up for a free newsletter, or a download.
Some affiliate programs pay per lead rather than per sale, in other words, you bring them a prospective customer and they pay a fixed "finder's fee" for the chance to market to that customer.
This is a typical arrangement for affiliate programs in the insurance, real estate and credit card industries, for example:
Types of Affiliate Programs
Pay per sale: If you refer a visitor to the online merchant's site and if visitor makes a purchase you get a percentage of the sale as commission.
Pay per lead: You get paid a one-time fee for generating a lead for the merchant. Usually you get paid $2-$5 if the visitor you referred fills out an application.
Pay per click: You get paid for every visitor you send to the online merchant regardless of any sale or purchase. Usually companies pay $0.05 - $0.15 per click.
Two-Tier: You get commission on direct sales you generate and also you get commission on sales generated by affiliates you recruited. Usually companies pay 25% commission for direct sales and 5% for sales generated by your affiliates.
Bounty: You get a one-time finder's fee payment for the visitor you referred. You will not get commission on any future purchases that customer makes.
When you join an affiliate program, you will be given a specially formatted URL (Links) that you should use to link to the affiliate provider's site.
This will enable the affiliate provider to monitor traffic to your site and pay according to the type of affiliate program.
The Benefit of an Affiliate Program
Is that you just need to drive traffic to your affiliate site. Write a few articles and provide a few links.
You don't need to find or deal with brokers, wholesalers, inventory, process orders, shipping & handling, customer service, tech support, handle returns, warranties, employees, etc-
An affiliate doesn't even have to be present, your site will keep earning money while you're sick, on vacation, or just doing something else.
Another advantage of being an affiliate, is that you do it from almost anywhere in the world..
How The System Works?
Many affiliate programs pay a commission based on a percentage of the revenue generated by purchases made by visitors coming from your website.
For example; if you're participating in an affiliate program that offers a 25% commission and you
send a visitor who purchases US$100 worth of products, you've just earned US$25 in commissions.
The commission rate itself can vary from 20% up- to 50%+ in the case of intangible products such as eBooks or website subscriptions.
Affiliate programs vary widely in terms of overall quality, reliability, commission , statistics, the amount of help that the merchant site offers in marketing the products or services it sells, and so on.
By thoroughly understanding an affiliate program, you'll minimize the risk of not getting paid - and maximize your potential earnings.
Instead, you earn a commission for producing a ransaction. Affiliate programs, also known as Referral Programs, Associate Programs, Profit Sharing Programs or Reseller programs, give affiliates the ability to create an online business selling thousands products and services.
One of the first affiliate programs was run by the mega- bookstore, Amazon.com. They still have the largest base of affiliates on the net although they may not be the best affiliate program for many! with over 600,000 web sites being affiliated.
Affiliate programs are generally offered by sites selling goods or services, although some affiliate programs reward other types of transaction such as getting a visitor to sign up for a free newsletter, or a download.
Some affiliate programs pay per lead rather than per sale, in other words, you bring them a prospective customer and they pay a fixed "finder's fee" for the chance to market to that customer.
This is a typical arrangement for affiliate programs in the insurance, real estate and credit card industries, for example:
Types of Affiliate Programs
Pay per sale: If you refer a visitor to the online merchant's site and if visitor makes a purchase you get a percentage of the sale as commission.
Pay per lead: You get paid a one-time fee for generating a lead for the merchant. Usually you get paid $2-$5 if the visitor you referred fills out an application.
Pay per click: You get paid for every visitor you send to the online merchant regardless of any sale or purchase. Usually companies pay $0.05 - $0.15 per click.
Two-Tier: You get commission on direct sales you generate and also you get commission on sales generated by affiliates you recruited. Usually companies pay 25% commission for direct sales and 5% for sales generated by your affiliates.
Bounty: You get a one-time finder's fee payment for the visitor you referred. You will not get commission on any future purchases that customer makes.
When you join an affiliate program, you will be given a specially formatted URL (Links) that you should use to link to the affiliate provider's site.
This will enable the affiliate provider to monitor traffic to your site and pay according to the type of affiliate program.
The Benefit of an Affiliate Program
Is that you just need to drive traffic to your affiliate site. Write a few articles and provide a few links.
You don't need to find or deal with brokers, wholesalers, inventory, process orders, shipping & handling, customer service, tech support, handle returns, warranties, employees, etc-
An affiliate doesn't even have to be present, your site will keep earning money while you're sick, on vacation, or just doing something else.
Another advantage of being an affiliate, is that you do it from almost anywhere in the world..
How The System Works?
Many affiliate programs pay a commission based on a percentage of the revenue generated by purchases made by visitors coming from your website.
For example; if you're participating in an affiliate program that offers a 25% commission and you
send a visitor who purchases US$100 worth of products, you've just earned US$25 in commissions.
The commission rate itself can vary from 20% up- to 50%+ in the case of intangible products such as eBooks or website subscriptions.
Affiliate programs vary widely in terms of overall quality, reliability, commission , statistics, the amount of help that the merchant site offers in marketing the products or services it sells, and so on.
By thoroughly understanding an affiliate program, you'll minimize the risk of not getting paid - and maximize your potential earnings.
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