In affiliate marketing, there are many ways in which you can add to your pay check. Most of the techniques and tactics can be learned easily, they are not rocket science. No need to go anywhere and any further. They are available online, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
One of the best ways of increase affiliate marketing commission is through the use of product recommendations. Many marketers know that this is one of the most effective ways to promote their favorite product.
If the customers or visitors trust you enough, then they will definitely trust your recommendations. Be very careful in using this approach, though. If you start promoting everything by recommendation, your credibility will actually wear thin. This is seen especially when recommendations are seemingly exaggerated and without much merit.
Do not be afraid to mention things that you do not like about a given product or service. Rather than lose any points for you, this will make your recommendation more realistic and will tend to increase your credibility.
Just stick to handful of products and promote them often. That's the most effective way to use product recommendations.
Furthermore, if your visitors are really interested in what you are offering, they will be more than delighted to learn what is good about the product, what is not so good, and how the product will benefit them.
When you are recommending a certain product, there are some things to remember on how to make it work effectively and for your advantage.
Sound like the true and leading expert in your field.
Remember this simple equation: Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to trust. If your visitors feel and believe that you are an expert in your niche, they are more inclined to making that purchase. On the other hand, if you are not exuding any confidence and self-assurance in endorsing your products, they will probably feel that same way and will go in search of another product or service which is more believable.
How do you establish this aura of expertise? By offering unique and new solutions they would not get anywhere else. Show proof that what you are promoting works as promised. Display prominent testimonials and endorsements from respected and known personalities, in related fields of course.
Avoid hype at all costs. It is better to sound low key and confident, than to scream and seek attention. Besides, you would not want to sound unprofessional and have that thinking stick to your potential customers and clients, now would you? Best to appear cool and self-assured at the same time.
And remember; prospects are not stupid. They are actually turning to experts and may already know the things that you know. If you back up your claims with hard facts and data, they would gladly put down hundreds, or even thousands worth of money to your promotions. But if you don't, they are smart enough to try and look at your competitors and what they are offering.
While recommending a product, it is also important that you give out promotional freebies. People are already familiar with the concept of offering freebies to promoting your won products. But very few people do this to promote affiliate products. Try to offer freebies that can promote or even have some information about your products or services.
Before you add recommendations to you product, it is given that you should try and test the product and support. Do not run the risk of promoting junk products and services. Just think how long it took you to build credibility and trust among your visitors. All that will take to destroy it is one big mistake on your part.
If you are planning to offer products or services when you promote an affiliate product, make sure it's complementary. Don't offer an irrelevant freebie.
If possible, have recommendations of products that you have 100% confidence in. Test the product support before you begin to ensure that the people you are referring it to would not be left high and dry when a problem suddenly arouse.
Have a look at your affiliate market and look at the strategies you are using. You may not be focusing on the recommendations that your products need to have. You plan of action is sometimes not the only thing that is making your program works.
Try product recommendation and be among those few who have proven its worth.
Oh yes, now videos are the in-thing... So don't hesitate to use videos in your product recommendations.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Methods Affiliates Can Use To Earn Commissions
If you are starting out in affiliate marketing you have many options as far as marketing methods to use to make commissions. Some work much better than others. Here are some of the most common ways affiliates can make sales.
1. Blogging. This has become very popular in just a few short years. Because of the explosion in the number of blogs and competition most don't get traffic as easily as they once did. There is still plenty of opportunity to market with blogs though especially if you find a good niche.
2. Google adwords. Like blogging it is more difficult now to make money with adwords because of intense competition and quality scoring of sites and ads known widely as the google slap. If you are good at writing ad copy, have high converting pages and can find niche keywords you can still earn a good income from using adwords.
3. SEO. This is a good way to get free traffic and make money. Choosing the right niche is critical. It should be a good keyword or phrase that is searched for often and has little competition so you can get your site ranked easily.
4. Articles. This is one of the best affiliate marketing techniques. By writing articles you establish yourself as an expert in your subject and people reading your articles will be very interested in whatever product you are marketing.
5. Ezine adverting. This is a good way to make commissions. The conversions from advertising in ezines is not nearly as good as having your own list though.
6. Squidoo lenses. These are relatively new but they get a lot of traffic from google. Lenses are also very simple to set up. I am promoting one of my lenses with this article in fact. Lenses can be effectively used to show your expertise on a topic.
7. Online classifieds. You can put classifieds on sites such as usfreeads and craigslist to drive traffic and earn commissions.
8. Text link advertising. You can advertise links to your site on other websites. As long as the traffic comes from websites with a simaler topic as yours the traffic will be targeted and should convert well.
9. Newspaper advertising. Many marketers use this offline method to make some very nice commissions. This probably requires the most experimentation to find the right papers to advertise in and also the most effective ad copy to produce sales.
10. Forum posting. This will bring quality traffic to your affiliate sites through your signature links. It is important to contribute to the forums and not just spam them though.
Those are just a few examples of how you can promote and make sales. With online marketing you are only limited by your imagination though. Keep in mind the most successfull internet marketers find new ways of getting customers with little competition
1. Blogging. This has become very popular in just a few short years. Because of the explosion in the number of blogs and competition most don't get traffic as easily as they once did. There is still plenty of opportunity to market with blogs though especially if you find a good niche.
2. Google adwords. Like blogging it is more difficult now to make money with adwords because of intense competition and quality scoring of sites and ads known widely as the google slap. If you are good at writing ad copy, have high converting pages and can find niche keywords you can still earn a good income from using adwords.
3. SEO. This is a good way to get free traffic and make money. Choosing the right niche is critical. It should be a good keyword or phrase that is searched for often and has little competition so you can get your site ranked easily.
4. Articles. This is one of the best affiliate marketing techniques. By writing articles you establish yourself as an expert in your subject and people reading your articles will be very interested in whatever product you are marketing.
5. Ezine adverting. This is a good way to make commissions. The conversions from advertising in ezines is not nearly as good as having your own list though.
6. Squidoo lenses. These are relatively new but they get a lot of traffic from google. Lenses are also very simple to set up. I am promoting one of my lenses with this article in fact. Lenses can be effectively used to show your expertise on a topic.
7. Online classifieds. You can put classifieds on sites such as usfreeads and craigslist to drive traffic and earn commissions.
8. Text link advertising. You can advertise links to your site on other websites. As long as the traffic comes from websites with a simaler topic as yours the traffic will be targeted and should convert well.
9. Newspaper advertising. Many marketers use this offline method to make some very nice commissions. This probably requires the most experimentation to find the right papers to advertise in and also the most effective ad copy to produce sales.
10. Forum posting. This will bring quality traffic to your affiliate sites through your signature links. It is important to contribute to the forums and not just spam them though.
Those are just a few examples of how you can promote and make sales. With online marketing you are only limited by your imagination though. Keep in mind the most successfull internet marketers find new ways of getting customers with little competition
Important Ingredients Needed For An Affiliate Marketing Business
Anyone who is looking to build an income from affiliate marketing needs some basic tools to succeed. Here is the most important components needed in an internet marketing business.
1. A webpage. The days of being able to send traffic to an affiliate hoplink are over especially with recent changes in google adwords. A marketer must have webpages of their own to profitably earn commissions. This can be blogs, websites, squidoo lense or anykind of review or pre sell page. I don't recommend using turnkey pages provided by merchants. The reason for this is that there are likely thousands of others using these same turnkey sites. Your site should be unique. I also prefer squidoo lenses and blogs over websites because they are very easy to set up and offer seo benefits.
2. Traffic. After you set up your webpage you will then need traffic to make commissions. Large volumes of traffic is ideal but the quality of those visitors is actually more important than the quantity. Ways you can get quality traffic that is highly targeted and interested in the product you are promoting include ppc advertising such as google adwords, publishing articles like I am doing here, online classifieds and free traffic from SEO.
3. A System. To make your business more successfull you need a good system in place. This will make selling easier and more efficient. A good system will help you create webpages and articles quickly allowing you to grow your income faster. Just having a good plan and being well organized will make your business much more likely to succeed.
4. Good ad copy. You want to motivate people to go to your affiliate sites and make purchases so having good writing and ad copy is very important. Using words like free or free information in your ad copy will help get vistiors interested in your product.
5. Subscribers. Traditionally marketers use email lists. My personal opinion about email marketing is that with the spam problem and buyer resistance to email ads the days of email are numbered. That is why I prefer using blogs and lenses which people can subscribe to an RSS feed which is a good spam free substitute for email.
One that get a solid foundation in all those things I just mentioned should be well on their way to having a profitable online marketing business
1. A webpage. The days of being able to send traffic to an affiliate hoplink are over especially with recent changes in google adwords. A marketer must have webpages of their own to profitably earn commissions. This can be blogs, websites, squidoo lense or anykind of review or pre sell page. I don't recommend using turnkey pages provided by merchants. The reason for this is that there are likely thousands of others using these same turnkey sites. Your site should be unique. I also prefer squidoo lenses and blogs over websites because they are very easy to set up and offer seo benefits.
2. Traffic. After you set up your webpage you will then need traffic to make commissions. Large volumes of traffic is ideal but the quality of those visitors is actually more important than the quantity. Ways you can get quality traffic that is highly targeted and interested in the product you are promoting include ppc advertising such as google adwords, publishing articles like I am doing here, online classifieds and free traffic from SEO.
3. A System. To make your business more successfull you need a good system in place. This will make selling easier and more efficient. A good system will help you create webpages and articles quickly allowing you to grow your income faster. Just having a good plan and being well organized will make your business much more likely to succeed.
4. Good ad copy. You want to motivate people to go to your affiliate sites and make purchases so having good writing and ad copy is very important. Using words like free or free information in your ad copy will help get vistiors interested in your product.
5. Subscribers. Traditionally marketers use email lists. My personal opinion about email marketing is that with the spam problem and buyer resistance to email ads the days of email are numbered. That is why I prefer using blogs and lenses which people can subscribe to an RSS feed which is a good spam free substitute for email.
One that get a solid foundation in all those things I just mentioned should be well on their way to having a profitable online marketing business
Finding The Needle In The Affiliate Program Haystack
There are thousands of affiliate programs out there, and you can choose just about any product or service you want for your affiliate marketing business. However, finding the one right for you can be difficult.
First, you'll need to understand that for the business owner, affiliate programs are free marketing tools, giving them extra business without any major upfront costs. Being performance-based, affiliate marketing programs are very easy to offer and there can only be profit by bringing in as many affiliates as possible. As an affiliate marketer, however, your income is in generating sales.
So it comes back to identifying who your audience is going to be. Find your target audience, who your potential shoppers are going to be. These are the people you want to attract to your site.
To get them to visit, you have to offer them what they want. Choosing an affiliate program because it promises high commissions is no good if you don't have anyone visiting your site and making a purchase.
You need an affiliation program that relates to your interests, pays a good commission, and has a good reputation, good marketing materials, all tuned to attract the buyer! Sometimes, even if you earn less per sale, with sheer volume of targeted traffic, you might earn a lot more than you would have if you were selling a high priced product. The more targeted your leads, the more money in your pocket.
Don't go in for an affiliate program that does not offer the buyer a good deal. Make a comparison of commission structures, and look for affiliate marketing programs that have a good record of conversions into sales and quick payments. You will find it easier to push an affiliate program with good commission structures and fast conversion rate. And of course, at the end of the day, you want to get paid!
How many programs should you begin with? That is a great question, you can try a couple different strategies here. You can begin with trying out as many good programs as you can promote. If you are able to generate a lot of traffic on your website, you can have many affiliate programs running, and as a result you can get rid of the ones that aren't converting into sales. To know how well a program is performing however, you must give it a fair chance. You need patience and give it reasonable time to work.
Now to avoid getting overwhelmed right from the beginning, you can just focus on one program or product. This may be the way to go, simply because you can track one product easier than you can track six or seven. Also, if you give your customers too many choices, they too might become overwhelmed and not know which decision to make, and therefore they would probably just exit your site without buying anything. Simplicity is a great thing in affiliate marketing.
One very important thing to remember is to read the fine print in the affiliate terms, you want to know exactly what you are getting yourself in to, and whether or not you will gain from that affiliate relationship.
If you do all this in the beginning, then your foundation for success should be well set, and then you will be ready to build your business into a money making machine
First, you'll need to understand that for the business owner, affiliate programs are free marketing tools, giving them extra business without any major upfront costs. Being performance-based, affiliate marketing programs are very easy to offer and there can only be profit by bringing in as many affiliates as possible. As an affiliate marketer, however, your income is in generating sales.
So it comes back to identifying who your audience is going to be. Find your target audience, who your potential shoppers are going to be. These are the people you want to attract to your site.
To get them to visit, you have to offer them what they want. Choosing an affiliate program because it promises high commissions is no good if you don't have anyone visiting your site and making a purchase.
You need an affiliation program that relates to your interests, pays a good commission, and has a good reputation, good marketing materials, all tuned to attract the buyer! Sometimes, even if you earn less per sale, with sheer volume of targeted traffic, you might earn a lot more than you would have if you were selling a high priced product. The more targeted your leads, the more money in your pocket.
Don't go in for an affiliate program that does not offer the buyer a good deal. Make a comparison of commission structures, and look for affiliate marketing programs that have a good record of conversions into sales and quick payments. You will find it easier to push an affiliate program with good commission structures and fast conversion rate. And of course, at the end of the day, you want to get paid!
How many programs should you begin with? That is a great question, you can try a couple different strategies here. You can begin with trying out as many good programs as you can promote. If you are able to generate a lot of traffic on your website, you can have many affiliate programs running, and as a result you can get rid of the ones that aren't converting into sales. To know how well a program is performing however, you must give it a fair chance. You need patience and give it reasonable time to work.
Now to avoid getting overwhelmed right from the beginning, you can just focus on one program or product. This may be the way to go, simply because you can track one product easier than you can track six or seven. Also, if you give your customers too many choices, they too might become overwhelmed and not know which decision to make, and therefore they would probably just exit your site without buying anything. Simplicity is a great thing in affiliate marketing.
One very important thing to remember is to read the fine print in the affiliate terms, you want to know exactly what you are getting yourself in to, and whether or not you will gain from that affiliate relationship.
If you do all this in the beginning, then your foundation for success should be well set, and then you will be ready to build your business into a money making machine
You want to make money with affiliate programs. What is the main thing that you need? A list. And how do you get that list? You must have a website.
Many new affiliate marketers just promote the link that the affiliate program gives them. They may be making some money, but the truth is that customers rarely puchase the first time that they see a product. Now, ask yourself what happens if they decide to buy that product later. You lose your commission!
If you have your own website, you can capture those prospective customers' name and email address and "remind" them about the product that they were interested in.
Many of the successful affiliate marketers only have what is called a "squeeze" page or a landing page. They give out a free report or ebook to get people to subscribe to their list.
My approach is a bit different. I feel that people are visiting my websites because they want information. So, I do my best to give them that information. Sure, I have a newsletter subscription box on my site, but I am having more success with providing the information that people are looking for.
You don't absolutely HAVE to have a content site to have an affiliate website. There are different types of sites that can direct traffic to your affiliate merchant.
1. Price comparison sites. These sites are mostly dominated by the big corporations like Shopzilla so it is more difficult for an affiliate marketer to make any money with comparison sites. It is possible to have a product feed to take care of some of the technical aspects, but it's still difficult.
2. Product review sites. Product review sites are becoming more and more popular. Pick products that match your content topic.
3. "Mini" sites. These sites (as I mentioned before) that normally just have an optin page to gather the names and emails of prospects. Then, you create an autoresponder series to introduce these people to your affiliate products. Your messages are NOT sales letters. They are based on the good, quality information that they are looking for.
4. And, of course, the plain old content site. Although, these days, content sites don't have to be all that plain. Content can be defined as words, videos, audio and multimedia. The possibilities are endless.
Now that you know that you need a website, how do you go about getting one? Let's take a look:
1. Hire someone to create a beautiful site for you. This can run into big money. You CAN get a reasonably priced web designer if you do your research. If you do decide to go this way, be sure that you ask for references (yes, just like in the offline world), and check them out.
2. Blogging. I love blog sites because the search engines love them AND because they are "easy peasy." The two top choices for creating a blog are WordPress and Blogger.com (http://blogger.com). WordPress is free from http://wordpress.org. It can be installed with just a few clicks from your web hosting control panel (provided you have cpanel type hosting.) Blogger.com is an online service provided by Google. I prefer WordPress because Google has a habit of deleting blogs without notice for reasons that are known only to them. Have you heard the funny story about when Google deleted their own blog?
3. Design Dashboard, by Marlon Sanders: Point and click your way to a beautifully designed website. I have used this and so I know that this learn and you do system is terrific to those who have never created a website.
4. XSite Pro. I use this for the majority of my websites. XSite Pro is extremely easy for the newbie to use so that they don't have to have a website designer create a site for them. Just point, click and type. It has a built in template system plus third-party templates are available everywhere these days.
5. Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver. This software is a little more difficult to learn, but I did it - so you can do it if you want!
6. Nvu. (http://nvu.com). A free HTML editor that is pretty easy to learn. The best part? I'll repeat: FREE.
7. SiteBuildIt is the only all-in-one site-building, site-hosting, AND site-marketing system of software tools for affiliate marketers.
7. Squidoo. You can create a squidoo lens with articles that will promote your affiliate product. I would still recommend that you have your own domain name and website.
Also remember that you don't have to promote products that are in the internet marketing arena. Think about your hobbies, interests and talents. You might just come up with a niche that is very profitable.
Stick to affiliate products that fit your niche. People are not looking for gambling products on a fashion site! Yes, there are millions of people on the 'Net but they are looking for something specific. Give it to them.
Your affiliate website is your most important asset because it is where people come up to sign up for your newsletter. You've heard it before: the money is in the list. So, give your website a clean, professional look as well as providing the information that visitors are looking for.
Many new affiliate marketers just promote the link that the affiliate program gives them. They may be making some money, but the truth is that customers rarely puchase the first time that they see a product. Now, ask yourself what happens if they decide to buy that product later. You lose your commission!
If you have your own website, you can capture those prospective customers' name and email address and "remind" them about the product that they were interested in.
Many of the successful affiliate marketers only have what is called a "squeeze" page or a landing page. They give out a free report or ebook to get people to subscribe to their list.
My approach is a bit different. I feel that people are visiting my websites because they want information. So, I do my best to give them that information. Sure, I have a newsletter subscription box on my site, but I am having more success with providing the information that people are looking for.
You don't absolutely HAVE to have a content site to have an affiliate website. There are different types of sites that can direct traffic to your affiliate merchant.
1. Price comparison sites. These sites are mostly dominated by the big corporations like Shopzilla so it is more difficult for an affiliate marketer to make any money with comparison sites. It is possible to have a product feed to take care of some of the technical aspects, but it's still difficult.
2. Product review sites. Product review sites are becoming more and more popular. Pick products that match your content topic.
3. "Mini" sites. These sites (as I mentioned before) that normally just have an optin page to gather the names and emails of prospects. Then, you create an autoresponder series to introduce these people to your affiliate products. Your messages are NOT sales letters. They are based on the good, quality information that they are looking for.
4. And, of course, the plain old content site. Although, these days, content sites don't have to be all that plain. Content can be defined as words, videos, audio and multimedia. The possibilities are endless.
Now that you know that you need a website, how do you go about getting one? Let's take a look:
1. Hire someone to create a beautiful site for you. This can run into big money. You CAN get a reasonably priced web designer if you do your research. If you do decide to go this way, be sure that you ask for references (yes, just like in the offline world), and check them out.
2. Blogging. I love blog sites because the search engines love them AND because they are "easy peasy." The two top choices for creating a blog are WordPress and Blogger.com (http://blogger.com). WordPress is free from http://wordpress.org. It can be installed with just a few clicks from your web hosting control panel (provided you have cpanel type hosting.) Blogger.com is an online service provided by Google. I prefer WordPress because Google has a habit of deleting blogs without notice for reasons that are known only to them. Have you heard the funny story about when Google deleted their own blog?
3. Design Dashboard, by Marlon Sanders: Point and click your way to a beautifully designed website. I have used this and so I know that this learn and you do system is terrific to those who have never created a website.
4. XSite Pro. I use this for the majority of my websites. XSite Pro is extremely easy for the newbie to use so that they don't have to have a website designer create a site for them. Just point, click and type. It has a built in template system plus third-party templates are available everywhere these days.
5. Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver. This software is a little more difficult to learn, but I did it - so you can do it if you want!
6. Nvu. (http://nvu.com). A free HTML editor that is pretty easy to learn. The best part? I'll repeat: FREE.
7. SiteBuildIt is the only all-in-one site-building, site-hosting, AND site-marketing system of software tools for affiliate marketers.
7. Squidoo. You can create a squidoo lens with articles that will promote your affiliate product. I would still recommend that you have your own domain name and website.
Also remember that you don't have to promote products that are in the internet marketing arena. Think about your hobbies, interests and talents. You might just come up with a niche that is very profitable.
Stick to affiliate products that fit your niche. People are not looking for gambling products on a fashion site! Yes, there are millions of people on the 'Net but they are looking for something specific. Give it to them.
Your affiliate website is your most important asset because it is where people come up to sign up for your newsletter. You've heard it before: the money is in the list. So, give your website a clean, professional look as well as providing the information that visitors are looking for.
Affiliate Marketing - Not Just Selling Someone Else's Product
Perhaps you weren't blessed with the gift to write compelling information products, craft hot selling giftware, develop "killer app" software or any of the other product creation skills that some marketers have. Maybe it's not in your budget to buy up a wholesale lot of designer handbags for resale. In fact, you're totally new to Internet Marketing and you don't know what to do or what's worth investing in. Congratulations! You're the perfect candidate for affiliate marketing.
Affiliate sales are your ticket to earning a commission on the sale of goods or services provided by other people. Just as each person has unique strengths and skills, many companies can provide excellent products and services, but have a problem when it comes to marketing them. They have built the better mousetrap - but really suck at getting the word out to the general public. Rather than paying for expensive advertising campaigns, they hire an affiliate manager and create a batch of graphic advertising (called "creative") that affiliates can use to present the product or service to the consumer.
Each affiliate has a unique link or code that identifies who drove the sale to the merchant. Affiliates are often referred to as "publishers", since most have Web sites or blogs that contain information and content related to their offerings. These publishers choose among the many thousands of programs out there and develop a presentation aimed at "preselling" the merchant's wares. When a sale is made, a commission is credited to the publisher and will be paid according to the terms and conditions of the agreement between the two.
Commissions vary as to the amount paid. Some info-products that retail for $50 offer a 75% commission to the publisher. Diamond merchants typically offer 8%-12% of the sale price - but that amount can be substantial for a $5,000 diamond ring or $10,000 tennis bracelet. Some merchants pay a fixed sum for qualified leads or contacts; credit card companies and mortgage brokers are typical examples. Companies that offer memberships or services with recurring billing often give publishers a continuing commission for every paying member that is "retained".
There are also specific affiliate programs that have unusual terms and conditions. Some merchants want qualified leads so much, they'll actually pay up to 200% of the sale price of the product sold. Others have tiered or multilevel commission structures, where the person who bought from you will become an affiliate and earns you a small percentage of their sales, too. The number of tiers varies, but some can go as far as 4 or 5 "deep".
The ambitious marketer can also go out and solicit affiliate arrangements with companies that don't already have an affiliate program. Naturally, some experience and success in promoting other people's products can help in cases like these, but anyone with the motivation and drive can seek these out, both online and offline. All you have to do is ask.
Joint Venture arrangements between marketers and merchandisers are the ultimate in affiliate programs for Internet Marketers. By dealing directly with each other, they pool resources and customers to create a synergy of the best each has to offer. Yet another means of profiting by putting people together in this way is JV brokerage, where the middleman earns a percentage of the profits by putting together compatible partners. This can be a source of both one-time payments and recurring or "residual" income.
With all the possibilities available to the new Internet Marketer, affiliate sales are a great way to begin your online business. "Super Affiliates" can make more money in a month than most very successful job-holders make in a year - or even a lifetime, if the offer is the right one!
Perhaps you weren't blessed with the gift to write compelling information products, craft hot selling giftware, develop "killer app" software or any of the other product creation skills that some marketers have. Maybe it's not in your budget to buy up a wholesale lot of designer handbags for resale. In fact, you're totally new to Internet Marketing and you don't know what to do or what's worth investing in. Congratulations! You're the perfect candidate for affiliate marketing.
Affiliate sales are your ticket to earning a commission on the sale of goods or services provided by other people. Just as each person has unique strengths and skills, many companies can provide excellent products and services, but have a problem when it comes to marketing them. They have built the better mousetrap - but really suck at getting the word out to the general public. Rather than paying for expensive advertising campaigns, they hire an affiliate manager and create a batch of graphic advertising (called "creative") that affiliates can use to present the product or service to the consumer.
Each affiliate has a unique link or code that identifies who drove the sale to the merchant. Affiliates are often referred to as "publishers", since most have Web sites or blogs that contain information and content related to their offerings. These publishers choose among the many thousands of programs out there and develop a presentation aimed at "preselling" the merchant's wares. When a sale is made, a commission is credited to the publisher and will be paid according to the terms and conditions of the agreement between the two.
Commissions vary as to the amount paid. Some info-products that retail for $50 offer a 75% commission to the publisher. Diamond merchants typically offer 8%-12% of the sale price - but that amount can be substantial for a $5,000 diamond ring or $10,000 tennis bracelet. Some merchants pay a fixed sum for qualified leads or contacts; credit card companies and mortgage brokers are typical examples. Companies that offer memberships or services with recurring billing often give publishers a continuing commission for every paying member that is "retained".
There are also specific affiliate programs that have unusual terms and conditions. Some merchants want qualified leads so much, they'll actually pay up to 200% of the sale price of the product sold. Others have tiered or multilevel commission structures, where the person who bought from you will become an affiliate and earns you a small percentage of their sales, too. The number of tiers varies, but some can go as far as 4 or 5 "deep".
The ambitious marketer can also go out and solicit affiliate arrangements with companies that don't already have an affiliate program. Naturally, some experience and success in promoting other people's products can help in cases like these, but anyone with the motivation and drive can seek these out, both online and offline. All you have to do is ask.
Joint Venture arrangements between marketers and merchandisers are the ultimate in affiliate programs for Internet Marketers. By dealing directly with each other, they pool resources and customers to create a synergy of the best each has to offer. Yet another means of profiting by putting people together in this way is JV brokerage, where the middleman earns a percentage of the profits by putting together compatible partners. This can be a source of both one-time payments and recurring or "residual" income.
With all the possibilities available to the new Internet Marketer, affiliate sales are a great way to begin your online business. "Super Affiliates" can make more money in a month than most very successful job-holders make in a year - or even a lifetime, if the offer is the right one!
The promise of earning profits without really doing much of anything has enticed a lot of people towards affiliate marketing. But does affiliate marketing really work this way?
As an affiliate, all that is required of you is to simply place the merchant's ad on your website. Then after that, you virtually do nothing but wait for anyone to click on the merchant's ad and later collect your profits. Easy, right? Well, not quite often. Many affiliates earn almost nothing from their affiliate programs simply because they do nothing. Remember that affiliate marketing is but another form of marketing, and you'll definitely need to market your merchant's product for you to earn something.
Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply don't sit there and wait for money to come. Why? Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting. If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you've got to do something. Think of ways on how to promote your merchant's business and products better. Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant. Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!
So if you're new in affiliate marketing and you try to follow the easy go lucky pit that most unsuccessful affiliate marketers follow, then you're definitely on the wrong track. But we're not advising you to stop right there. No. Rather, we want you to take some steps to make your affiliate program work better and gain more commissions for you. How? Here are a few guidelines that may help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:
* Become an expert on your affiliate product.
You can promote your merchant's product better if you know a lot of things about it. To become an expert, the best thing you can do is purchase your merchant's product yourself. This way, you can tell your customers about your first-hand experience using the product. You can even write a testimonial or a personal endorsement ad about it. But if any condition does not permit you to purchase the product, you can at least make a thorough research about it.
* Host your own website.
Or at least have a domain name that is short and easy to remember. You certainly wouldn't expect a visitor to remember a very long and incomprehensible URL. And if that's so, you also wouldn't expect him to visit your website any time soon. That means less traffic for your page and the less chance for your affiliate ads and links to be clicked.
It is also a good idea to create a private website and offer access to it to anybody who clicks on any of your affiliate ads. Visitors usually get interested with these private websites. Private websites also gives you a venue to promote your back-end affiliate products.
* Write your own affiliate ads.
Many merchants usually wouldn't mind if you write and design your own ads for their products, for as long as you ask permission from them and present them your ad before posting it on your site. This gives you a greater advantage over a lot of other affiliates who must be advertising the same affiliate products.
* Participate in chat rooms, discussion boards, and forums related to your product.
If you use to ignore them before, then it is time for you to start focusing your attention on them. You can start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product. You don't have to promote your affiliate product at once, but find the chance to advertise and promote it as you go along. The same would be true for message boards, discussion boards and forums.
* Create a free ezine or newsletter.
Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject. In your ezines and newsletters, you don't always have to promote your merchant's product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers. Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter. Also, don't forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.
These are but a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks. Sure there can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we won't discourage you from following them. What's important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchant's products even outside the boundary of your website. If you can do these, there's no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.
Keyword Articles: http://www.keywordarticles.org
J
As an affiliate, all that is required of you is to simply place the merchant's ad on your website. Then after that, you virtually do nothing but wait for anyone to click on the merchant's ad and later collect your profits. Easy, right? Well, not quite often. Many affiliates earn almost nothing from their affiliate programs simply because they do nothing. Remember that affiliate marketing is but another form of marketing, and you'll definitely need to market your merchant's product for you to earn something.
Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply don't sit there and wait for money to come. Why? Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting. If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you've got to do something. Think of ways on how to promote your merchant's business and products better. Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant. Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!
So if you're new in affiliate marketing and you try to follow the easy go lucky pit that most unsuccessful affiliate marketers follow, then you're definitely on the wrong track. But we're not advising you to stop right there. No. Rather, we want you to take some steps to make your affiliate program work better and gain more commissions for you. How? Here are a few guidelines that may help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:
* Become an expert on your affiliate product.
You can promote your merchant's product better if you know a lot of things about it. To become an expert, the best thing you can do is purchase your merchant's product yourself. This way, you can tell your customers about your first-hand experience using the product. You can even write a testimonial or a personal endorsement ad about it. But if any condition does not permit you to purchase the product, you can at least make a thorough research about it.
* Host your own website.
Or at least have a domain name that is short and easy to remember. You certainly wouldn't expect a visitor to remember a very long and incomprehensible URL. And if that's so, you also wouldn't expect him to visit your website any time soon. That means less traffic for your page and the less chance for your affiliate ads and links to be clicked.
It is also a good idea to create a private website and offer access to it to anybody who clicks on any of your affiliate ads. Visitors usually get interested with these private websites. Private websites also gives you a venue to promote your back-end affiliate products.
* Write your own affiliate ads.
Many merchants usually wouldn't mind if you write and design your own ads for their products, for as long as you ask permission from them and present them your ad before posting it on your site. This gives you a greater advantage over a lot of other affiliates who must be advertising the same affiliate products.
* Participate in chat rooms, discussion boards, and forums related to your product.
If you use to ignore them before, then it is time for you to start focusing your attention on them. You can start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product. You don't have to promote your affiliate product at once, but find the chance to advertise and promote it as you go along. The same would be true for message boards, discussion boards and forums.
* Create a free ezine or newsletter.
Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject. In your ezines and newsletters, you don't always have to promote your merchant's product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers. Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter. Also, don't forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.
These are but a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks. Sure there can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we won't discourage you from following them. What's important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchant's products even outside the boundary of your website. If you can do these, there's no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.
Keyword Articles: http://www.keywordarticles.org
J
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