Affiliate Programs Make Your Dream Profitable

by: Terry Nicholls

Marketing affiliate programs is one of the most profitable ways of making money on the Internet! It's exciting, challenging, and very, very rewarding. What Is An Affiliate? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, affiliate means to associate as a member. So, as an affiliate, you associate yourself with the company who's product you want to sell. What Are Affiliate Programs? Affiliate programs, also known as associate programs, are set up by companies so that you -- the affiliate -- can sell their product and receive a commission for each sale. Many companies have more than one product available, giving you a variety to offer your visitors and a greater chance of making money. What Makes A Good Affiliate Program? The most important thing to look at is the product offered. You need to be enthusiastic about it so that you can recommend it honestly. That's why it's a good idea to actually use it, if possible. At the very least, you want to make sure that the product delivers good value to your customers so they will be happy when they buy it and will then rely on your recommendations for other products. Important Features Some points to look for:   How quickly do they respond to E-mail inquiries? Do they have an affiliate agreement on their site that you can read before signing up? A few companies don't let you see this agreement until after you've signed up, requiring you to cancel your account if you don't agree with the terms. Do they pay on time? Do they have good tracking and stats? This means real-time tracking, which lets you know immediately which of your promotions are working so you can concentrate on those that make you more money. What To Watch Out For Be careful of affiliate programs With reports of late -- or no -- payments With slow or poor support With no anti-spamming policy That allow spam or even send spam themselves These are all signs of an affiliate program that isn't looked after properly. Now, you're probably thinking, "So, how do I find affiliate programs and how do I market them?" Very good questions. Our answer? For a more detailed explanation of affiliate programs, and more great advice for your home-based business, please visit My Home-Based Business Advisor. Terry Nicholls My Home-Based Business Advisor my-home-based-business-advisor.com Copyright © by Terry Nicholls. All Rights Reserved. About the Author Terry Nicholls writes from his own experience as someone who wanted to start his own home-based business. Now that he has, visit My Home-Based Business Advisor - Helping YOUR Home Business Start and Succeed for free help for YOUR home business, including ideas, startup, and expansion advice.

Affiliate programs made easy

by: J. E. Johnson

Author - J.E. Johnson www.SponsorDirectory.com ================================================== The Internet is the world's greatest market place. Hundreds of thousands of companies are selling their products and services online with each desperately trying to stand out from the masses. With millions of web pages on the Internet today it has become increasingly hard to be noticed amongst those masses. In order to sell any product a company will usually employ several marketing systems. One of these marketing systems is the affiliate program. We've all come to know and love (or hate) them. Colorful banners, annoying pop-ups, pop-ins, pop-unders, unwanted email (Spam) and even messages on our instant messenger service (Spim) are all used to attract the attention of the crowd to a particular product or service. A lot of these advertisements will create an excess of 'useless' traffic (i.e. people that just go to the advertised site to see what all the hustle and bustle is about). As a result this method of advertising is often considered unreliable and inefficient and has to be used in large quantities to be successful. Enter the affiliate program. Affiliate programs are essentially used to have someone other then the product owner promote and sell the product. This is done on the basis of commissions offered to website owners who are willing to advertise the product on their website. The affiliate program owner offers a fee to the affiliate whenever someone buys from the affiliate program owner's website via a link placed on the website of the affiliate. This leaves advertising for the product almost completely up to the affiliate who only receives a fee if a product is actually sold. Affiliate programs can generate large networks of affiliated sites that can drastically increase the sales of a particular service or product. Affiliate program referral fees can be anything from a few cents per click to hundreds of dollars for a registration or a product sale. Affiliate programs have the nice addition that they are incredibly easy to set up often only needing a few minutes per month of maintenance for potentially high returns. As an affiliate all we have to do is place the link of the affiliate program on our website or find some other means to link to the affiliate owner's website and money will start coming in all on its own. As opposed to endless banners, popups, pop-unders, pop-ins and Spam mail affiliate programs often manage to be a more direct method of advertising. Only interested parties will generally click on affiliate links converting many of the casual surfers to actually interested buyers. Today the affiliate program is one of the most popular tools for Internet marketing purposes. About the author: J. E. Johnson is the owner/operator of www.SponsorDirectory.coma highly respected affiliate program directory and internet marketing website. For more informational articles and a listing of thousands  of affiliate programs please visit http://www.SponsorDirectory.com

Affiliate programs guide.

by: Joel De Gan

How to pick the best possible affiliate program for your type of website.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

PICK THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAM.

Picking the right affiiliate program for your web site is essential if you want to generate any revenue from it. There are a wide assortment of affiliate programs to choose from and weeding through ones is tedious work which requires filling out a lot of forms and reviewing the pro's and con's of each program and if it would be of value to you and your visitors.

THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM HAS TO MATCH YOUR SITE.

That sentence sums it all up for me. If you are running a website doing movie reviews and your affiliate program banners are advertising baby products or health care you seriously need to rethink changing your affiliate program to one which better suits your target audience. For our example here, the movie review site, you might be better off with a movie-poster ad campaign, or perhaps even DVD's. Try to stick as close to your subject matter as possible.

READ THE FINE PRINT.

Some lesser know affiliate programs can discontinue your affiliation for no reason at any time. Some bind you into only displaying their advertising and disallow you to place them in rotation with other programs. Know what you are getting yourself into and what you are signing away.

WOULD YOU PURCHASE THE PRODUCTS YOU ARE ADVERTISING?

This question I have often found myself asking when choosing which advertising to place. I have found that I look for affiliations with sites I already use or feel is something I would like to see. This gives you a better spin when shifting users offsite to your advertisers site. You can recommend products or services which you have personal experience with, thus gaining confidence from your website users.

MONITOR YOUR PROGRAM.

Watch your affiliate program closely, try to check it once a day to see if they have added anything new. I have found that just by simply changing a banner ad the clicks have doubled for a period of several days. Your users notice things that are new at your site. They gloss over things which they have seen many times and fail to notice them. Keeping fresh content keeps people coming back.

If your advertiser does not have regular content changes or new banner advertisments, email them and ask for fresh content.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO CHANGE PROGRAMS.

If your affiliate program is not making you money, start looking for one that might. Select several and roate them through over a period of several weeks and compare which ones do the best, select the top two or three and rotate through them until you find the right program for your site.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO "REMEMBER" YOUR ADVERTISER.

If you send out a mailing list, make sure that you include a link to your advertiser, if it is an HTML formatted mail then use banners at the top and the bottom. mention them at once "in text" on each page, even if it just a small "thank you" at the footer, this increases user familiarity with the product.

SOME IDEAS FOR PROMOTION.

If you have long articles on your site, have a mid-section break, creates "Fun facts" section in a quotebox and right below or to the side have a "This fun fact brought to you by ..." This increases user interactivity with the product and begins the association process. With each mailing you do, invite your users to check back on your site for a "special promotional offer" which includes a link to your advertiser to one of their latest promotions.

Joel De Gan is a well know open source programmer and has run many websites He has a reviewed list of affiliate programs at his website http://listbid.com/affil/ which has user contributed comments and ratings for affiliate programs.

About the Author

Joel De Gan is a prolific opensource programmer who has worked on a multitude of projects and is highly interested in search engine placement.

Affiliate Programs Can Put Cash In Your Mailbox

by: Jackie Ulmer

Read this next line carefully: Affiliate Programs Are Like Free Money In Your Mailbox! What do I mean by this? Something is about to change. Actually, it's already changing and it involves the Internet! And you, my friend, are in the right place at the right time. Imagine if you had products to sell, but didn't have to worry about inventory, credit card processing, customer service or order fulfillment. All you have to do is market your products. That's the beauty of Affiliate Programs. If you already have an existing web site, you can profit tremendously by aligning yourself with programs that complement what you are already offering. And those programs are out there...or will be! These companies will PAY YOU FOR referring customers that buy! If you don't have a web site, you can still have your mailbox stuffed with cash! Affiliate Programs are, without a doubt, one of the fastest and most effective ways to build your Internet business and begin earning a great income from home! Now, having said that, let me also add that nothing is ever easy, but you can build it fast and very effectively, if you build it the right way. More on that in a minute. Affiliate Programs are simply "revenue sharing programs" where you align yourself with other companies, marketing their products and services and you are paid a referral fee on each purchase made. In a nutshell - You send visitors to the company web site. The company tracks the visitors. When the visitor makes a purchase, you get a commission. And most will sign you up, create an affiliate web site for you and offer you marketing tips for FREE!! That's totally without risk! Are you currently involved in Network Marketing? Great! Affiliate programs can add income to your bottom line. Many see these as a future trend in Network Marketing! One of, if not THE best program out there today is Ken Evoy's 5 Pillar Program and "Make Your Site Sell." The reason it's the best is because Ken forms more than an affiliate agreement with his affiliates. He forms a partnership! He has invested a great deal of time and money into developing a win-win program for everyone. At very least, his FREE 5 Pillar Program Training will help you understand Affiliate Programs, how to select and market them, and how stuff YOUR mailbox with cash. Find out more by visiting http://www.streetsmartwealth.com/sitesell.htm When you sign up to be a 5 Pillar Member, you will get a FREE 225 page manual on how to get started, but more importantly, how to succeed at Affiliate Programs! Get it today! Or, send a blank email to tamswealth2106@sitesell.net This will get you started on a FREE, 5 day email course onhow to succeed at Affiliate Programs! Both are FREE, so I recommend getting them both! If you want to get started right, build it fast, and start receiving checks in your mailbox, don’t let this one pass you by. Point, Click, Earn! Get In On the Action! For more details on how to win with Affiliate Programs, what to look for in a good program, and some programs that have worked very well for me, send a blank email to mailto:associate@quicktell.net Don’t let the Internet Revolution pass you by!   About the Author Jackie Ulmer, a veteran Home Business Owner, has coached thousands of men and women on starting a successful home business. Her free newsletter provides ongoing tips, resources and options for home businesses. Subscribe by email to mailto:streetsmartwealth@quicktell.net She can be reached through her web site at http://www.streetsmartwealth.com/

Affiliate Programs: Can I REALLY Make Money?

by: Rosalind Gardner

As an Internet marketing consultant, I often hear the question, "Can I REALLY make money online with affiliate programs?" To me, that question speaks of the asker's skepticism, so let's put aside any question of whether money is REALLY being made online before we look any further. Thousands of merchants have put resources into developing affiliate programs so that others can promote their products in exchange for a commission, which is usually a percentage of the product's price. If there wasn't money to be made, Sony, Dell and those thousands of other merchants wouldn't waste their time and money building affiliate programs. I personally know at least a hundred people who make marketing on the Internet their full-time occupation. If there wasn't money to be made, that wouldn't be possible. I am one of those people. The secondary title of my ebook about affiliate marketing is 'How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online'. Although I dislike that subtitleand its crass approach, it IS the truth, and it IS effective proof that money can be made online. The statement is backed up on the Super Affiliate Handbook homepage with a picture of part of my income tax statement from 2002 which shows my earnings. See it for yourself at: http://SuperAffiliateHandbook.com So, having dispelled any question about whether there is money to be made online, let's proceed to the REAL question. Let's take the emphasis off the word 'REALLY' and place it where it belongs - on YOU. Can YOU really make money online? Sure you can! IF you REALLY want to. Desire is the first key to success. But here's where it gets a little tricky. If your desire is for money, as opposed to what money can buy, your work will be made much harder, if not impossible. 'Huh? Why is that?' you may wonder. Money is a concept. In and of itself it does nothing for you, unless you are very fond of small rectangular pieces of colored paper. If you focus instead on the good that money will bring to your life, such as free time and all the fun ways to spend it, then you'll give positive direction to your efforts. Think about it.. what can that money buy you? The kids' education, a new car, a new house, a second honeymooon... how about a sailboat? Dream a little - dream a LOT, but create some desire, and a REASON to work hard for what you want to achieve. And that's the second key to making money online - Work. Too many people still hold onto the notion of 'get rick quick'. I've got news for them - there's no such thing. You can get rich a little quicker on the 'net, but the truth is that nothing worth having comes without a price. You must invest some time and money. Not much money, but some. Compared to starting any other business, the amount of financial investment required to start an affiliate marketing business on the Internet is negligible. If you don't have one or two hundred bucks - or can't beg,borrow or steal that amount - then maybe you can get a part-time job and save up to start your online business. No matter how you slice it, you won't find another opportunity anywhere that has the potential for this much reward for so little outlay. This IS one of the least expensive businesses you can start. Last but not least - can you stick with it over the long haul? Persistence is perhaps the MOST important quality shared by all entrepeneurs. That's why you hear about those who make a million, lose a million and then make another million. They  go up, then down, then up again, but they never gave up. You can't let the ups and downs get to you. Not everything will go your way all of the time. You'll have to make some effort and it won't always be easy. But, if you keep your goals foremost in your mind, learn what you need to know and invest your resources wisely and with persistence, you virtually can't help but succeed. That's how you REALLY make money online! Article by Rosalind Gardner, speaker, consultant and author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, sign up for Rosalind's "Net Profits Today" newsletter at: NetProfitsToday.com

Affiliate Programs Can Be Very Beneficial To Internet Market

by: Eric White

An affiliate program is, simply defined, a sales job in which you earn a commission. You will be an independent representative of a company, offering their services and products to prospective customers. When one of the customers makes a purchase, you get a portion of the profit. Internet marketers can increase traffi'c to their own web sites and make money form the sales of others through affiliate marketing programs. Internet marketers can be affiliates for several products from multiple companies, on as many web sites as you operate, in as many businesses as you desire. You don't have to travel to remote locations, yet the internet places you in front of a worldwide marketplace. This gives you incredible diversity in the products you choose, markets in which you do business and neighbourhoods in which to sell, all from the comfort of your own home in front of your computer screen. You could possibly make several sales at once, but you will never have to deal with face-to-face rejection. When doing business on the internet, you don't necessarily need to make sales to earn lucrative commissions. Certain affiliate marketing programs will pay you if someone just clicks on a link you place on your web site, fills out an application, or even requests additional information. And here's the most attractive part - your web sites work for you twenty four hours a day, each and every day. Commission rates will depend on the types of products or services that are offered. Tangible goods that will have to be shipped to customers will pay lower commission rates than products like e-books or software that can be downloaded immediately. However, 10% of a $600 television is more money than 60% of a $40 software program, so you have to remember to consider the big picture when deciding what affiliate programs to join. For the best affiliate sales experience, you will want to offer products and services that will appeal to the targeted audience of your web site. As an internet marketer, you will need to appeal to the interests of your customers when placing affiliate links on your web site. There are various ways to join affiliate programs. Some retailers operate their own program, and you will join through the merchant web site. But many internet marketers choose to operate through an affiliate network. These independent companies offer sign-up, payment, tracking and affiliate program management services to retailers and affiliate marketers. A couple of well-known names are Clickbank and Linkshare. Simply perform a search for affiliate programs and you are sure to find more. Your sales and clicks are tracked by software. It is your job to make sure your links follow the procedures and rules posted by your merchant or affiliate network. Some browsers, a'd-blockers, and coding practices can prevent the tracking links on your web site from functioning correctly, and you might not get credit if one of your clicks results a sale. Most affiliate marketers encounter this problem eventually. When it happens, remember it's not intentional, so do not feel as if you have been victimized in some way. Internet marketing technology is very good, but it's not perfect. For almost all internet marketers, joining affiliate marketing programs give you a cheap and easy way to get started in an online business. These programs can help you produce income while you learn internet marketing techniques and work towards developing your own product or service. Two Affiliate programs I recommend. http://edwinc.com/recommends/turboAffiliate Clickbank Watch out! http://edwinc.com/recommends/paydot   About The Author Eric White http://aceturbo.com/theHub.html PS: Brand NEW! People are getting paid instantly with this! $10, $100, $1000 Stair Step Profits. http://edwinc.com/recommends/Instant SHORT TIME ONLY- Get my Adsense Secrets e-Course zero cost http://adsense-empire-pro.com/AdsenseSpecial.htm eric@aceTurbo.com

Affiliate Programs Are Wonderlands Of Opportunities

by: Mal Keenan

We have previously discussed affiliate programs in passing. But in this article, we’re going to get an overview of this subfield of Internet marketing and how it could help bring about some stable and generous earnings for you. It has been said that affiliate programs are the easiest ways to online riches. There is a lot of truth in that statement, though it must be remembered that affiliate marketing is still a job, albeit one which you could do in the comforts of your own home, hence, you cannot make the most out of it without exerting some effort. Even if you are not familiar with affiliate programs, I’m sure you have encountered some in your years on the Internet. For certain, you have visited a site that was suggesting a book from www.amazon.com to supplement the information its pages revealed. That site’s webmaster, my friend, is an affiliate. And if you decided to purchase the book he recommended, he would have earned a commission from the merchant site. Amazon, indeed, is the first business model for affiliate programs. There are more, of course, usually asking the affiliate partner to sell web hosting, domain names, and tangible products. But it’s the affiliate programs which offer information products that often give the highest commissions. But first, let’s discuss how affiliate programs work. There are three parties in affiliate programs: * The affiliate merchant * The affiliate * The buyer The affiliate merchant is the one who has products to sell. He would establish an affiliate program to invite affiliates to pre-sell his products. Once the affiliate finds a buyer, he would recommend the same to the affiliate merchant. The affiliate merchant would then sell his products to the buyer. If the buyer buys, the affiliate merchant would give the affiliate his corresponding commission. Selling and pre-selling are two different things. Pre-selling usually involves referrals and an earnest attempt to convince the buyer to try the products being endorsed. When an affiliate enrolls in an affiliate program, he is given a code which is called an affiliate link. This affiliate link has his designation embedded on it, so whenever a sale is consummated by virtue of the said link, the affiliate program’s system would be able to determine that the commission due shall accrue for the affiliate. Selling, on the other hand, is primarily the task of the affiliate merchant. This includes payment processing, delivery and shipment if applicable, and post-sales support. Easy isn’t it? All you have to do is to enroll in an affiliate program, market the products with your affiliate link, and you could earn wonderful commissions! Plus, you have the option of automating everything through your site, or through some creative strategies that have worked for many people. But this shouldn’t be taken to mean that affiliate marketing can only be carried out through your website. The fact of the matter is, you could be a very successful affiliate even without the benefit of having a website! These matters we will reserve for another day, so again, I plead, bookmark this site and I promise that you will not regret it. Affiliate programs can be fertile sources of plentiful earnings. All you have to do is to choose the right one. Here are some points to consider in deciding on an affiliate program: * Quality of the products * Salability of the products * Commission rate dependent of salability of the products (a highly sellable product with an equally high commission is ideal, but a highly sellable product with modest commission is also good, as finding buyers would be easy) * Credibility of affiliate merchant * Support from affiliate merchant Additionally, you could enroll in as many affiliate programs you want. But since you could only have 24 hours in a day to do the marketing, there are risks in diversifying. So proceed with prudence before engaging in many affiliate agreements. About the author: For An Affiliate Program You Can Believe In Click Below: http://www.workathomebiz.info/pluginprofitsite.html Discover the Secrets of Starting and Running a Successful Home Business and Receive Loads of Free Bonuses for Subscribing to Our Newsletter: http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/

Affiliate programs. Are they for you

by: Susan Prince

This article may be freely distributed if the bylines remain intact. Affiliate programs can be a brilliant way to start in the world of online marketing. An affiliate program is simply a way to earn money by promoting and selling other people products. The companies do all the work once the sale is made but it is up the affiliate to drive traffic (customers) to the site to make the purchase.   The majority of affiliate programs pay a commission as a percentage of the revenue generated by the sales made. Each affiliate is provided with a tracking number this allows the company to track sales and keep a record of where the commission should be paid.   Affiliate programs vary widely when it comes to the quality of the program and the reliability of the company and the commission paid which can be anything from 1% to 50% and the amount of training support and help you will receive from them. Always research any program you are interested in and pick a product or service you feel comfortably with You have little chance of promoting and selling something that you yourself would not dream of buying or using. If you are inexperience try to pick a program with a proven track record which will offer you the support, training and backup you will require Many programs offer you a website to give you a start but most do not offer the facility to build a subscriber list which is a must for anybody marketing. Most people once they get started work towards getting their own website and newsletters so they can build a list. The affiliate website is a great starting point use it to learn and educate yourself. Ignore any program that offers get rich schemes. Nobody unless they have a list of thousands earns hundreds of pounds in the first month, an online business is just like any other business you have to work and learn and put a lot of effort in before you can reap the rewards. If you do have you own site choose an affiliate program that compliments your own site. Its no good trying to sell baby products on a site selling history books the two just don’t mix.   Even with the drawbacks affiliate programs are well worth investigated as a business opportunity with a little research and care over which you choose they can offer you a real chance without the necessity of a large cash investment to start your own business. All the best Sue. For ideas, opportunities and resources. www.princehomebiz.com For e-books, software and resources http://www.cbmall.com/?storefront=storm1234 ABOUT THE AUTHOR I am English married with two daughters and live near Nottingham in the East Midlands.I have been running my own business for the last year.

Affiliate Programs and picking the best one!

by: Sara Bonnet

Okay, so you have been looking at affiliate programs for a while now. Your inbox is filling up with all these advertisements and you just don’t know how to pick the right program. How do you know which program is going to bring the best profit? Well, I personally believe that a lot of the income is created from the effort an affiliate marketer puts into a program. But I do have a few pointers as to picking the best one. 1. Commission. You need a program that will pay you a good commission rate. It should pay you at least 20% of each sale. A good rate is 50% and anything above that is ideal. You should also look for how often they pay. Some programs pay you twice a month and some only once a month. Most programs also only pay you when you have earned a base amount. 2. Attraction. Is the website attractive? Or will your customers leave your site without even reading. The site needs to easy to read, but not boring. Also you don’t want to pick a site that is full of garbage, advertising an array of different subjects. Your site needs to filled with common ground. Also make sure the sight doesn’t seem to be screaming for attention (lots of large, bold lettering). 3. Support. What is the support for your program like? Do they have a good list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), a contact email address with a quick response (24 - 72 hours is good)? Any more than 3 days for a response is too long. Some programs even offer live chat. Now that is good! 4. Your Statistics. The program should offer an automated and immediate reaction to your statistics. They should automatically contact you when you receive a client, prospect, lead, customer or when you make a sale, it should also be ready to view in your downline as soon as you have the knowledge of the sale etc. 5. Incentives. Does the program offer free gifts, tools and advertising content (banners, pop-ups, email letters, articles etc.)   It is important to have marketing tools to keep track of business and change things that may not work for you. Advertising is also important your traffic won’t come from no where, And gifts are a good bonus for your customers as well as learning from the gifts yourself. Usually the gifts are products to help you with your business. 6. Monthly Reports. Every good program will have news and training updates sent to your inbox so you can learn what works best for the program and what the top affiliates of the program are doing. You should also be able to read this on their website. 7. Reviews. Sometimes you will find that the program you are looking at has reviews in the search engines. All you have to do is enter the name of the program in the search engine form followed by “reviews”. For example if you want to read about Strong Future International (SFI) you would type “Strong Future International Reviews” and click ‘search’. Select any item that describes what you are looking for, and read what people think. It is important to do your homework before you dive into anything. Learn as much as you and make sure you feel comfortable with your decision before going ahead. Remember that you will not make money overnight……..Some of the best affiliates spent 3 years or more promoting before they got where they are today.   About the Author For more info and great tips on Internet marketing, visit: http://www.profitableworkfromhome.com . Get your fully automated money making website setup free that’s 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive residual profits for you right now. Guaranteed! Visit : http://www.profitableworkfromhome.com/pips.html

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

by: Elena Fawkner

"Where is all the help I'm supposed to get. I have been buying ezine and classified ad builders and signing up for Echecks and Virtual credit cards. In the meantime I have no business and no ads set up. When does all this happen? Let's go here. I spent all day on this. I'm running out of time."

 

I kid you not, this is the sum total of an actual email that hit my inbox this week. Not only did I not know this person from Adam, this was the first and only email I had ever received from her and to this day, I have no idea what she's talking about. Presumably, she signed up for one of the affiliate programs I promote from my site and was asking, in her own inimitable style, for my help. Although I am always ready and willing to help anyone I can, this is most definitely NOT the way to go about asking for it. Needless to say, I let her know what I thought of her approach in NO uncertain terms.

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

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

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?

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

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

TYPES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

There are various types of affiliate programs.

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

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

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

BENEFITS OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

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

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

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

DISADVANTAGES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

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

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

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

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

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

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

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

=> Synergistic Products/Services

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

=> Quality In All Things

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

=< Stability of Company

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

=> References

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

=> Affiliate Agreement

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

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

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

=> High Commissions

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

=> Lifetime Commissions

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

=> Residual Commissions

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

=> Tracking of Commissions

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

=> Reliability of Payment

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

=> Frequency of Payment

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

=> Programs that Require Payment Up Front Two words: MOVE ON!

=> Affiliate Support

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

MAKING MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

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

=> Get Your Own Website

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

=> Get Your Own Domain Name

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

=> Get Traffic To Your Site (Duh!)

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

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

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

=> Personal Testimonials

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

=> Promote With Your Sig File
Include a link to your site in the signature of every email you send.
=> Promote In Your Own Ezine

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

MAKING SERIOUS MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

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

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

About The Author

Elena Fawkner is editor of the award-winning A Home-Based Business Online ... practical home business ideas, resources and strategies for the work-from-home entrepreneur.

http://www.fawkner.com/subscribe.html

Affiliate Programs - Which One?

by: Tom

Promoting affiliate programs is probably one of the most popular and realistic ways of making money online. You really can make money doing this, and the money can be substantial with some work. The type of affiliate program you use or promote will depend on your particular situation. One of the most common types of affiliate programs is the pay per sale/pay per lead program. These are also called CPA or cost per action affiliate programs. These pay you for sales and for other actions that your referred customers make. This type of program can be promoted on websites and in other ways depending on the particular programs terms. It is very versatile. CPC (cost per click) programs pay you when vistors to your site click on your ads. You are paid per click. There are also PPC (pay per click) programs which are similar. CPC programs are great for websites with content. CPM (cost per mille) affiliate programs pay you for showing ads on your website. You are paid per 1000 impressions - per 1000 times the ad is shown on your website. This is great for websites that get a lot of traffic. All three types can pay very well. It is a good idea to experiment and see what works for you. Some people like to use multiple affiliate programs on a site, such as a cpc program and a cpa program, or some other combination. If you are thinking of doing non website based promotion, CPA programs are worth considering. About the Author Tom is webmaster of MakeMoney.biz, a directory of various ways to make money.

Affiliate Programs - What Are They

by: Lois R. Thompson

Affiliate Programs - What Are They In recent years Affiliate Program marketing has taken the Internet by storm. Many surveys have demonstrated that Affiliate Marketing can be the most cost effective method to promote your website and quickly generate additional streams of income. For example, Forrester Research has rated Affiliate Marketing as the most effective of all online marketing methods. Jupiter Communications claims that, "By 2002, 25 percent of the expected $37.5 billion in Internet retail sales, not including autos, will have originated on Affiliate sites." Some of the giants offering affiliate programs are: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Microsoft, The Mail.com, and many smaller but well-managed companies. Affiliate Programs offer a wide range of products and services, many of which are needed by All Internet marketers. The wide range of products and services offered by Affiliate programs are software, web hosting, auto-responders, marketing, art, books, e-books, music, movies, etc... Almost any type of product or service can be packaged and sold using an affiliate program. You'll find that many of the products and/or services needed to support your MLM are Affiliate Programs. What Is An Affiliate Program? Affiliate programs are also known as associate, reseller, or referral programs. They are revenue sharing programs between companies (the merchant) and individuals (the affiliate). An Affiliate can be likened to an independent contractor. Affiliates are basically self-employed people who are marketing the products and or services of another company. They are then paid by the company they represent for referring customers to the company's website. This strikes a wonderful partnership between the company and the affiliate, offering a Win-Win situation for both parties. The benefit to the company in soliciting an affiliate to promote their product or service is, that they save in the cost of advertising. The benefit to the affiliate is that they do not have to develop their own product, stock inventory or worry about e-commerce, the order processing or payroll for that matter. It allows them to take an already developed product or service directly to market and focus on marketing. Affiliate programs are fairly simple to work and will allow you to operate your on-line business much more efficiently while increasing your income drastically. The Best Affiliate programs, offer a Two-tier pay plan. First, you earn commissions for signing up associates on your first level, as well as earning additional commissions on their sales. However, if you find an Affiliate program which pays only on one level but allows you to earn residual income this is an excellent opportunity.Developing Affiliate income is beneficial to you in that it builds a stable secondary income stream. For many people this could be the difference in income they need to maintain building their MLM into a profitable venture. About 90% of people who try to make money from two-tier affiliate programs are missing it by simply signing up free, in hopes they will make money through others, who most likely also signed up free. This just does not work. Why doesn't that work? Well, if everyone signs up to an Affiliate program free, no one is Actively Promoting it consequently no one makes any money. This is also true of MLM programs. If everyone has the option of a free sign-up, most will take it. If most people are signed up free and in turn promote that offer to others who also sign-up free, there is no revenue generated. Without revenue there are not profits. Remember, it's all Your business, You have to work it. You cannot depend upon the next person. In Affiliate Marketing as well as any other type of business, You Must do the work yourself. Build your first level and invest a little time and training to teach them, so they can then build their first level, which then becomes your second level. In Affiliate Marketing, your second level commission should be considered a Bonus. There are many supporting products and/or services needed to build any MLM, which offer an Affiliate program. For example, the use of an Auto-responder is a must in any online promotional effort. Since the use of an Auto-responder is necessary in building your MLM, becoming an Affiliate of a good Auto-responder program would be a wise choice. As you focus on building your MLM begin to look closely at the products and services you are using and determine if they offer an Affiliate program or not. I believe you'll be much surprised. If you don't have an existing business, that's not a problem. A combination of a solid group of Affiliate programs working in synergy offers a great income producing potential, when effectively promoted. This could actually help you to begin earning income as you research and seek out the MLM opportunity that's best for you. To re-cap, we have learnt that Affiliate Programs are offered in a variety of products and services. By choosing the right group of Affiliat programs in support of your MLM, you can quickly begin earning additional income.

Affiliate Programs – The Fast Track to Wealth

by: Peter Dobler

Remember the day when you made the ultimate decision to change your life? Yes, it was the day when you decided to start your own home business. Gosh, I remember the anxiety when I uploaded my very first web site, waiting for something to happen. It’s like going onto a stage and performing in front of a large crowd. Ok, what has this to do with affiliate programs and how to make money with them? Not much other than this is the primary reason why people spending money online. Emotions are the number one selling factor, period. And newbie web masters are loaded with emotions. When you started your home business, did you have a product to sell? Neither did I. That’s why affiliate programs are perfect for startup home businesses. In a nutshell, an affiliate sells products from somebody else and keeps a commission from each sale. An affiliate id responsible for all the advertising and only gets paid whenever there’s a sale. Take a break and think about this for a minute. Every day there are thousands of people online, searching for products and ideas to make money with. They know that there’s big money to make and they are eager to get started. When you started your home business it probably never crossed your mind to sell your own products and to run your own affiliate program. If you’re in the online business for a while with mediocre results it is time to switch sides. Why should you carry most of the risk with your advertisement spending with less than satisfactory sales results? Not to mention that you’re at the mercy of somebody else’s reliability to send you your hard earned money. If you don’t have a product to sell, go out there and search for products with master resale rights. This will grant you the exclusive rights to sell the product and keep 100% of the profits. Selling the product through affiliates doesn’t violate this, because you’re paying your affiliates for the advertising efforts, the final sale is still made by you. Of course there are a million products with master resale rights available. Choose your product wisely. You don’t want to start an affiliate program with products that are already over marketed and maybe available for free or as part of a bonus package. This takes some time and research, but it is well worth the effort. One source is to research the public domain sector and compile your own information product. There are numerous publications available on this topic. Another source is to join a membership program that sells master resale rights products. Make sure that they offer unique products and check their rules. Many offer a trial membership, take advantage of this. Once you have your product start your affiliate program. Don’t join one of the many services that offer affiliate program services for a monthly fee. Here’s why. Having thousands of affiliates advertising your product is a great thing. Having thousands of free links to your web site is priceless. Create as many advertising samples for your affiliates as possible. Have these samples point to different entry points to your web site. Banners are the worst advertising tools, but newbie web masters love them. They are easy to implement. What do you care, you got your free link to your website. Make sure that you use search engine friendly affiliate links. Affiliate links with a “?” are recognized as such. Better are the affiliate links that look like a directory structure. The easy way to implement this is to use PHP as your language of choice. Guess what will happen after a few months running your own affiliate program from your website? Your own web site will skyrocket in rankings on any search engine, because you got so many links to your web site without having a link farm on your own. This is every web masters dream. Now you have a choice. You either aggressively promote your affiliate program or you promote your products. Either way you win. If you’re still skeptical, go to Google or Yahoo and search for links pointing to your favorite affiliate program. Simply type ‘links:’ and your affiliate program’s domain name into the search field. Make sure you don’t have any blanks. This will return all the websites that are linking back to this affiliate program. Check out the number on the right upper corner where it says ‘Results 1 – 10 of about x’. x stands for the total number of links. Now do the same for your website. Hmm, you got nothing? Well, that’s the difference. I hope you see the power of this by now. Before you go out there and slab together your own affiliate program. Do your homework and research as much as possible. You want to get it right the first time. Good luck to you all, Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner. Learn more about wealth building methods at http://www.thefasttracktowealth.com