Common Sense Ideas For a More Profitable Affiliate Program

by: John Karnish

Before you create your affiliate program, or in the early stages, you need to make it is as easy as possible for your affiliates to make a sale. You should have your site tweaked to the point that the only work your affiliates have to do is bring visitors to your site.   How do you do this? You have to keep testing your site, sales copy and so on till you get the best visitor to sale ratio you can.    Some of the things to test are the headline (extremely important), which benefits of your product you emphasize, price, your ad copy, and whatever you think may make a difference. You also want to test to see which ads bring in the most visitors. The same is true for banners. Then you want to share all of these with your affiliates.   If you find that a particular text link works well, share the wording with your affiliates.    Don't assume that your affiliates can write winning ads or create great banners, because they probably can't. Plus, by doing a little more work you'll be making a lot more money in the long run.   In my article, "Joining the Right Affiliate Program," I stress that it is important to realize that most of your success when you join an affiliate program depends on the amount of visitors you attract to your site.   Simply put, you can't sell a product if you don't have a buyer. You may want to make this clear to potential affiliates. A lot of people with affiliate programs complain about someone who builds their first web-site, joined their affiliate program, put a banner on his/her site, and a month later e-mail them to find out why they didn't make $1000 last month.   So what am I rambling about? You should decide whether you're going to let anyone sign up, only sites with good traffic, or maybe even warn of the difficulties sites with low traffic might have making sales.   The reason is that usually 10% of your affiliates make 90% of your sales. So it is a lot easier only having that 10%. They know what they are doing so you don't have to answer simple questions. It's easier sending out the checks. Basically you have more free time and less problems.   If you accept anyone who wants to join, you'll make some more money but you'll spend a lot more time on paper work, you'll have a lot more e-mail to answer and in general you'll just have more tedious work.   Only you can decide which is best for you. Some things to think about are how much money you want to make, how much free time you want to have, what kind of lifestyle you want to live and so on.   About the Author John Karnish of the Internet Marketing Professional website. Visit his site for a QUICK And EASY Way To Build A Profitable Business On The Internet. Start Today! Visit: http://internet-marketingpro.com

ClickBank Affiliate Program

by: Ross Dalangin

ClickBank has a remarkable affiliate program. ClickBank is both a payment processor and an affiliate network. ClickBank is an affiliate program manager as well, and it is very easy to sign up as an affiliate with them. All you need is to register with ClickBank, it does not cost one penny, and is open to websites located in any part if the world. Affiliates can earn anywhere from 5% to 50% commission on sales of products. This is dependent upon what they link to. There are hundred of merchants to choose from with over 10,000 products and services. There are definitely niche merchants within ClickBank. Linking to a ClickBank merchant has it advantages; such as you know you will be credited for all sales that go through the ClickBank network as the tracking is automated as part of the payment processing. One benefit of linking to ClickBank is that you will receive credit if the customer doesn't buy immediately. What this means is that if the customer comes from your link and decides not to buy, but changes his mind later and purchases, you will receive the credit on the commission, no matter how he got back to the site. This is controlled by cookies, which are maintained for 90 days after the initial click-through. Once you join you will select a nickname, after that part is complete you will browse through the ClickBank Marketplace to select products to sell as an affiliate. ClickBank will provide you with the URL for each program using your nickname. The other option is to use ClickBank as a merchant. As a merchant (vendor or seller) you can set up an account for a one-time fee. ClickBank let's you set up a sales and thank-you page and list that in their database. After they have approved your pages, you can set a price and presto ... you've got an affiliate program running. ClickBank checks and pays your affiliate sales. And they will list you in their Market Place. ClickBank affiliate program is not limited to people within the United States, however, payment are issued in US dollars and mailed every two weeks. You will also receive an email every time a payment is made through your referral. Real-time sales reports are available for your review 24 hours a day. You will not need a merchant account for this program. ClickBank tracks all visitors from your link, and then the commission is credited once an order is placed and accepted. ClickBank has a lot of products you can sell as an affiliate, and you should be able to make a lucrative income from it. Remember you will need to put forth some effort if you expect any type of results. The best way to maximize your profit at Clickbank's products is to create your own Clickbank Mall to CBJunction.Com because CBJunction automatically retrieve data from Clickbank Marketplace and you can automatically use all of the products into one website CBJunction.Com for FREE or purchase it to us. Remember your success will depend on the effort that you put in. However here's the eBook that can help you. http://www.webquartet.com/befamous About the Author Ross Dalangin Software Developer Since 1991 Computer Instructor Since 1994 Web Developer and Consultant Since 1995 Database and Network Administrator Since 1996 Search Engine Optimizer Since 2000 Web Publisher Since 2001 http://www.webquartet.com http://www.cbjunction.com http://www.recordname.com http://www.dalangin.com http://www.systemempire.com http://www.instant-weight-loss.com

Choosing the Right Affiliate Program for YOU!

by: Brett Egan

Encouraging piece on how to remain passionate and select the right affiliate program for you. The art of selecting an affiliate with passion. Have you ever noticed that truly successful people are always passionate? Passionate about their field of endeavour. Passionate about life. And passionate about spreading success. We have seen it in all walks of life. It boomed with the likes of Dale Carnegie, Cavett Robert, and Frank Bettger, flourished further with Mark Victor Hansen and Bobbie Gee. They passed it on to all who were susceptible, it was like new cases of passion emerged on a daily basis! The problem was, and has always been that very few recipients have gone on to display the full blown symptoms of infectious passion - success! You know the drill; you have this freshly acquired case of passion for your job and return to work bursting with enthusiasm, only to find everyone else seems to have had the shot that has prevented them from catching passion. Before you know it, like a dose of the flu you to are over the infection and back to the same old same old. Fortunately if you have had passion in the past it is very easy to catch again. I say fortunately because once you have passion you generally aim to achieve bigger and greater things. In the past this has sometimes required a career change resulting in an element of risk. And once again it is all too easy to let this dose of passion pass with the advent of kids, bills and mortgage. I can see our forefathers wishing they were around today, suffering a bad dose of passion. The internet means you can be passionate about something and find it instantly. It also means you can establish an online income with little or no out of pocket expense by way of an affiliate program. The internet is open 24/7 allowing you to continue with the same old same old whilst you retain passion and build your new and exciting affiliate business. It is simple and easy to establish your net presence in your spare time. By reading this you are going to catch your next dose of passion! As part of the required treatment I want you to avoid passion killers. If you are on a budget and lets face it most of us are, affiliate programs can help get your new successful business up and running. But here in lies the trap for new players. The first phase of the passion infection requires that you dont just jump on any old affiliate program. Select a topic that you have this acquired case of passion for........ Lets say it is gardening. Go to some gardening chat rooms and get involved in the conversation. This should not be too hard to do since you already have a passion in the topic. Ensure you spend a fair degree of your spare time in the chat rooms as you need to make a list of the hot topics. One or two nights will not be enough. This research will probably take up to a month to complete. Dont rush this stage of your infection with passion. Diligence now will save you much frustration and heartache in the future. Keep recording and keep getting involved with the conversations. Donft be afraid to ask questions. During the second phase of your passion infection you will need to analyze the results of your record keeping. Look for frequent or common chat room questions over the month long reports. You have probably even started to notice a trend already. Perhaps you have noticed that bird baths have been mentioned alot with additional questions about which are the best plants to have in your garden to attract birds. From here you can set about building your website. Phase three. Your gardening passion will allow you to have a site loaded with knowledgeable content relating to gardening. You can pay special attention to content relating to bird baths and bird attracting flora. Finally once you have "optimized your website for search engines" and had it listed you can then add your lucky few. Your passionate lucky few are the affiliate programs you have found that best suit your needs. There are many gardening sites with affiliate programs on offer and most pay between 10-15% commissions. DirectGardening.com and BloomingBulb.com are but two. Be passionate and take the time to plan your destiny. If you fail to plan, you have planned to fail. About the Author It's a goldmine. Capitalise your site with a positive cash flow. Simple to understand tips that can quickly improve traffic and sales. FREE additional article request or opt in to informative newsletters and ezine

Choosing the Right Affiliate Program

by: Keegan Michaels

Affiliate Programs can be a great source of extra cash. Depending on the program, you either set up an affiliate website, or place an affiliate link on your already existing website, then you just sit back and watch the cash roll in, right? Well, in a perfect world, yes. But we all know this world isn't perfect. If you sign up with the wrong program, you may find yourself disappointed or even frustrated, and certainly no richer.   As affiliate programs are becoming more and more popular it seems that just about every business out there is starting to offer one. With so many options, you want to make sure that you're going with the best program, so how do you know which to join? Here are a few simple checks you can use to make sure you're going with a potentially successful program.   First of all, really think about the product being offered. Is it something that a lot of people want or need? Is it something you would buy? Ask a friend or three if the product in question is something they might go for. If the consensus seems to be that it is a stale or tapped out market, then don't do it.   Second. Do a web search. Go on to several search engines and do a few searches using various keywords describing the product in question. How many sites come up? Does the amount of sites  coming up seem proportionate to the demand for the product, or does the market seem to be flooded? If there are hundreds of sites coming up offering the same thing, you'll probably end up lost in the shuffle. You might want to reconsider.   Third. Look closely at the program's webpage. Is it attractive, clear and professional looking? Is the writing clear and direct? Does it answer all your questions? Remember, if you think the webpage is clunky looking or that it's hard to follow, so will a lot of potential customers. Only go with a program that has a flawless homepage.   Fourth. Look at the payment and sales update schedules. Will you be paid once a month? Once a quarter? How will you be notified of your sales? Really go over all the payment information. After all, this is the reason you're joining, right? Before you join you must make sure that everything about the payment process is clear and to your liking. If anything about the system seems unusual or unclear, walk away.   Now, there's no way of guaranteeing that a program will work, but if you follow these simple steps, you'll have a much better chance of success. There's a lot of money zinging around on the net, and if you just do a little homework, you can do quite well in the booming affiliate world.   About the Author Keegan Michaels knows affiliate programs. He knows what to look for and what pitfalls to avoid. Let him show you the roadmap to affiliate profits. Contact him today at keeegan@affiliateteacher.com or 801-328-9006. Get his Extra Money Newsletter FREE at http://www.AffiliateTeacher.com

Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Your Website

by: Justin Hallman

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

Choosing the Best Affiliate Program - What You Absolutely Mu

by: Michael Turner

Choosing the best affiliate program means that you are aware of what affiliate programs are and what their ultimate benefits and drawbacks are. To choose the best affiliate program, you will want to decide on one that has the most benefits with the least drawbacks. There are many affiliate programs available online, many of them which are not worth even reading about. Because of this fact, you will need to do your research, talk to other affiliate members, and be 100% sure about the type of affiliate program you are looking for. There are some really good programs available, you just need to be persistent, patient, and ask a lot of questions. The following suggestions will help you choose the best possible affiliate program for you.   * Commission Of course, if you are joining an affiliate program you are doing so for the commissions. There are affiliate programs available online that offer great commissions to their affiliates in order to keep them active and working hard. Then there are other programs that do not pay well, do not keep up with referrals, and basically cheat the affiliate out of hard earned money. Make sure you know exactly what kind of program you are getting involved with and that you will make good money for your time and effort.   * Good Products Another important aspect of the affiliate programs you are looking at are the products. You might see an affiliate program that has the equivalent of a mall with links to thousands of products. The thought might enter your head that more links equals more business, but in this scenario it is not necessarily true. Generally, the affiliate programs that recognize the most success sell one quality product that a large percentage of the population can use, need, afford, and will actually want. This is the best type of affiliate program to associate yourself with and what you should be looking for.   * Experience Experience is also important when it comes to affiliate programs. You want to work for an affiliate program that is settled in the market, that knows how to handle the business it is involved in as well as its employees, and is concerned with treating workers fairly and rewarding them for hard work. An experienced affiliate program knows what works and what doesn’t, so don’t be tempted to sign up for a brand new affiliate program just because you want to be one of the first people to join... this might not work to your advantage. It is very important to always do your research before jumping in!   About the Author Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Choosing an Affiliate program

by: Kevin Sinclair

What should you consider when choosing an affiliate program? You need to think about two key things: what business are you in and what can the affiliate program provide to your customers.   No matter what business you are in, the largest investment you make will be customer acquisition. If you have your own product, and have acquired a base of satisfied customers, then single product affiliate programs could work very well for you.   However, if your business is acquiring customers for other businesses, that is, purely affiliate programs, then a better choice for you could be affiliate programs with multiple products or services. This will help you to capitalise on your investment in customer acquisition.   The key to choosing successfully is to ensure that the affiliate program offers products that meet the needs of your potential customers. Coupled with this is the need for the products to be high quality and for the supplier to provide excellent customer service. Remember, your credibility is on the line every time you refer someone to buy through your affiliate relationship.   Some of the other factors I consider when evaluating affiliate programs include:   + Is the affiliate program a reputable business? You can check out a business you are considering a relationship with in variety of ways. Talk to the Better Business Bureau in your local area or a similar body. In addition, I find web sites that monitor affiliate programs to be worth looking at. The best I have found is Associate Programs http://www.AssociatePrograms.com. Allan Gardyne pulls no punches and tells it as it is.   + Does the program enable you to share in the lifetime value of the customer? Great programs will give you commissions on all future purchases of the customers you introduce. This is where the real profits are. These types of programs, in effect, allow you to partner with the supplier.   + Does the program reward you for introducing other affiliates? This type of program is commonly referred to as a two-tier program. Often your customer may become an affiliate also and you will be rewarded for this.   + Is the supplier interested in your success as an affiliate? The top affiliate programs engage in a process of coaching or information sharing to help you succeed. Affiliates are provided with regular newsletters outlining what is working for successful affiliates and providing updates and details on new products.   + Is the commission reasonable? Commission rates on commodity products such as books and CDs are low. This is because there is very little margin in the products due to competition. Look for products that have a commission rate of 15% or more that are not commodities - that way you will be better able to recoup your customer acquisition investment.   + Are statistics provided? The higher the level of statistics provided, the better off you are. This will enable you to measure the success of your marketing efforts and to determine the best places to invest your marketing dollars. Insufficient statistics is a sign that the affiliate program is not sufficiently interested in your success.   + Are new products being developed regularly? To get the full value from lifetime commissions, new products need to be introduced on a regular basis. Without this, lifetime commissions can be worthless. Also, look for consistent high quality in new products introduced.   + How frequently are commissions paid? The more frequently commissions are paid, the better off you are. Good quality affiliate programs will pay you monthly. In some situations, commissions are not paid until a certain level is reached. If the program you are considering has this requirement, check how many sales need to be made before the level is reached.   + Have you read the affiliate agreement? This is a key area that you should look at. Some affiliate agreements are totally in favour of the supplier. Others are more balanced. Some agreements restrict your ability to promote similar products from other suppliers. Most agreements have anti-spam provisions. Look for agreements that are fair and that do not stack everything against you as the affiliate.   While there are other factors that can be considered when choosing an affiliate program, following the suggestions above will help you to make superior business choices that will lead to long-term success.   About the author: Article by Kevin Sinclair, CPA, of Be Successful! Business & Personal Success Resources ( http://www.ksinclair.com/ ). He is the author of 2 free ebooks: "Success Secrets" & "How To Choose A Home Based Business". Kevin is also the publisher of "Be Successful News" - a free ezine dedicated to your online business success - to subscribe, visit http://www.ksinclair.com/pbs_news.htm.  www.ksinclair.com

Choosing Affiliate Programs, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

by: Adrian Ryder

For many people who would like to get involved with e commerce, the thought of finding a product, creating a website, organizing payment systems and marketing that website is just too much of a challenge to start with. The good news is that there is an alternative choice, which takes care of at least three out of these four challenges for you, and that alternative is to join an affiliate program.   So, just what is an affiliate program? It’s a program offered by an established website owner/operator,whereby he distributes copies of his site to affiliates, enabling them to sell his product line for a commission. In most cases, the affiliates only responsibility is to market the site, everything else is handled by the website owner. The beauty of an affiliate program, is that it allows anyone who owns or has access to a computer, the opportunity to have their own online business, fully operational, literally in a matter of minutes and in many cases, completely free of charge.   The temptation for many people when they realise the wealth of free affiliates programs on the internet is to jump in with both feet, and join programs left right and centre, lured by the promises of wealth made by program operators. Whilst this wont do any harm, a far better plan of action is to choose one or two quality programs, and concentrate on building an income from these before adding more programs to your portfolio.   So, just how do you choose a good affiliate program, what criteria do you look for?   Here are a few suggestions to get you started, which I will expand on later in this article. 1/ First and foremost, a good quality in demand product. 2/ A good quality, visually stimulating easy to navigate site. 3/ A fair compensation plan. 4/ A responsive company contact / support system 5/ Good affiliate marketing info and advice 6/ Testimonials from other affiliates. 7/ Cost    1/ There are a huge array of products and services looking for affiliates, so you have plenty of choice. If you have a passion shared by others you may like to choose products within that category, or you may have a particular area of expertise. There are a number of excellent tools available on the internet to access info on product popularity and viability.   Affiliates Alert, is an excellent system which enables you to view product rankings in the Clickbank marketplace [ whats hot and whats not based on sales made through the Clickbank marketplace] A Alert also allows you to do a keyword search for a particular product or product group. At time of writing you can pick up a free version of this program at http://affiliatesalert.com . Another excellent keyword search tool based on the number of searches for a product or product type on the net over the preceding month is available at www.overture.com . Its called the keyword selector tool. Using either or both of these tools should give you a good picture of current demand for affiliate products which appeal to you.   2/ A good quality site which catches the eye, and is easy to navigate and purchase from is a must. Have a good look around a potential affiliate site yourself If you have problems navigating round the site so will others. Do the products look appealing,are product descriptions clear and accurate, would you buy from this site? Check for FAQ [ frequently asked questions] links, and ensure that there is a clear Contact the Company link.   3/ Obviously a fair compensation plan is essential. There is no hard and fast rule with this. Downloadable info products often offer a higher commission rate than physical products [ in many cases 50%] Often with physical products, your compensation is the difference between wholesale and retail. Many affiliate programs offer a two tier compensation system, where you too can recruit affiliates, and earn income from their efforts, well worth exploring as it gives you two streams of income from one source.   4/ Good company support is an important factor for the new affiliate. Check out the quality and timeliness of the company support system yourself. A rapid quality response is a sign that the company is organized and efficient [ 24- 48 hrs is reasonably acceptable] . If your still waiting after 3-4 business days, don’t get involved.   5/ A good company will offer you specific advice and tools to assist you in your marketing efforts, check out whats on offer before making your decision. The better affiliate programs often offer online advice tools and tips, and downloadable e books on marketing free of charge.   6/ Testimonials cost nothing, and are a very powerful sales tool. The more testimonials on site both on the products and the affiliate program the better. If contact details are available, don’t hesitate to e mail testimonial providers personally, and ask them questions abut the opportunity.   7/ Many good quality affiliate programs are available completely free of charge, so do think seriously before spending anything more than $100-200 dollars to buy an affiliate site. Some affiliate programs do offer to actively market your site on your behalf, and some few even offer income guarantees. It may be worth paying a higher price for a quality site, if the company is making this commitment to its affiliates, but only after your research has shown the opportunity to be legitimate. This is by no means an exhaustive list of considerations, but bearing these in mind, should enable you to choose a program with a saleable product, and reasonable income potential. To end on a note of warning, there are still a few programs out there that are the internet equivalent of the chain letter, no product, deposit $10 in xyz acct to join, and soon you will have hundreds of people giving you $10 each. Yeah right!!! , the majority of people have heard it all before { like those e mails telling you that have just won the Peruvian $10 million dollar lottery which you didn’t even enter } and will give programs like this a wide berth, and so should you.  About the author: Adrians affiliate site at http://nzpom007.freestoreclub.comoffers a free affiliate website and the opportunity to participate in a two tier program

Changing faces of affiliate programs?

by: Chuck McCullough

Its hard to have a discussion about affiliate programs without mentioning Amazon.com. They are considered to be the pioneers of affiliate programs. And with over 300,000 affiliates, its hard to argue that point.   But affiliate programs are changing. Many, many companies are realizing that the best way to sell products and services on the Internet is to recruit affiliates. Along with this comes a form of competition. Affiliate program managers want you to sell their products, not the products of their competitors. How do they make sure that you stick with them and not defect to the other side? They do their best to make their program more attractive to you.   There are many ways to make a program more attractive to potential affiliates. They can offer a higher percentage of the profits, and/or they can offer more benefits. Benefits can come in many forms, but the topic of this discussion will be the benefits that come from the way sales and visitors are tracked.   Let's bring Amazon.com back into the limelight for a minute. They are huge...everyone knows about them...everyone knows that you can create a site, add some good content, bring in a highly targeted audience, and sell them books! Simple enough...create a site with a good topic, drive traffic to it, send them to Amazon, and get rich. But...its been tried before...and guess what...not that many of those 300,000 affiliates even earn enough to get the minimum $25 check in the mail every quarter.   Why? Is it because you have 299,999 competitors out there selling Amazon.com books just like you are? I'm sure that plays a part, but the real reason is the way you are credited for a sale. You work hard to create a website full of content, and work even harder to promote it and bring visitors to your site. Then, what do you do with that coveted visitor? You wisk them off to Amazon to become their life-long customer, and never to return to your site again!   That may not seem fair to you, but can you complain? They give you a whopping 5% of the sale, maybe even 15% on some of the books if you are lucky. Or, worse yet, they bookmark Amazon.com, and go back to buy the books tomorrow and you don't even get the 5%. Either way they are gone. That precious visitor that could have been a life-long customer of yours is now off to Amazon.com. They will buy a book or two to test out the process. Then after their books arrive, they will merrily open up their browser and type in http://www.amazon.com and spend their entire paycheck buying books.   How much do you get from this return visit? Well, it WAS your visitor after all, right? Unfortunately every penny of that visitor's paycheck will fall into Amazon's pocket. Of course you have to feel sorry for Amazon, though. They aren't making any money after all (violin music playing in the background).   What happened? The same that happens with many affiliate programs. You get paid per click, per lead, or per sale. From that point on, they own that customer.   But I'm happy to report that times are changing! Companies are starting to look for better ways to compensate their affiliates for referring customers to them.   Don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning affiliate programs...my entire site is dedicated to the topic. I just want you to know that some companies are starting to look at new methods of rewarding you for sending them customers. After all, you are a salesman for them. How many brick-and-mortar companies do you know of that will have a salesperson make a sale, pay them their commission, and then never pay them another cent for future business from that same customer?   Why should the Internet be any different? It shouldn't...and program administrators are finally figuring that out.   There are many companies that will track the visitor that came from your site, and credit you for the sale even if they don't purchase something until the next day, or week, or month. Others will make that visitor your lifetime customer. If they come back two years later and buy something, you will get a commission for that.   A good example of this is Ken Evoy's 5 Pillar Affiliate Program. If you sell one of your visitors a copy of his book: "Make Your Site Sell!"( http://www.sitesell.com/helpmakemy.html ), you will not only get a commission for that sale, you will also get a percentage of all future sales from that customer, no matter what product or service they purchase.   A new idea being offered by companies such as Vstore ( http://affiliatematch.com/vstore ), is to allow your visitors to buy products without ever leaving your site. This means that the visitor has the time to spend on YOUR site, and get to know what excellent content you have to offer, and to hopefully return to YOUR site for future purchases.   This concept allows you to sell products such as magazines, gifts, luggage, hats, cooking accessories from your site, without having to give up the customer that you worked so hard to get.   Here is an example of the power of this idea: I have a site that gives tips and hints for those hoping to become Microsoft Certified. An excellent product for me to sell from that site is books. Everyone studying for this certification will need books at some point or another to help them pass the exams. They come to my site for information, and I sell them a couple of books while they are there. Does pretty well for me, but can I quit my day job? Not exactly. I get a great deal of traffic...highly targeted traffic at that.   I should be rich! I'm not. Problem is, they visit my site, I do my best to sell them on the idea that they will need books to help them study for the exams, then I send them off to Amazon, and they're gone. If I'm lucky, they might remember my site when they get ready for their next exam. But chances are that they will still have the Amazon shipping box sitting on their desk, and will go directly to them to purchase the additional books.   So what can you do about it? Look for programs that will compensate you for future sales, or give you credit for the sale the next day, or month after they first visited them from your site. Or, look for programs that allow you to sell products directly from your site, without the visitor ever having to leave.   About the Author Chuck McCullough is the owner of http://AffiliateMatch.com offering FREE articles, tips, hints, and real-world advice on how to make money with your website. Visit his site or join his FREE newsletter, The AffiliateMatch Informer by sending a blank email to mailto:newsletter@affiliatematch.com

Cashin' Out with Affiliate Programs

by: Ratliff J.

If you are not making a ton of money with affiliate programs, you will need to try and figure out why. We all know a good affiliate program can be hard to come by.    Before spending a lot of time and money marketing an affiliate program, always check it out first. There are a number of ways to do this.   1. Search through the hundreds of affiliate directories online and look for comments about it.   2. Ask them how many affiliate they have, and what the top earners are making, as well as the average affiliate.   3. Give the program a trial run - just enough to make a few sales that will allow you to recieve a payment from them. This will ensure they pay as offered.   4. Spread the word! Lots of affiliate money stays on the table because we do not refer others. If you know other affiliates, send them an email and let them know about your new program. Of course, send your affiliate link id to earn 2nd tier revenue if possible!   To see my favorite affiliate programs, please visit the affiliate directory at www.affiliate-directory.us.   About the Author J. Ratliff is the author of the widely used Affiliate Program Directory.

Cashin' In with Affiliate Programs

by: J. Ratliff

If you are not making a ton of money with affiliate programs, you will need to try and figure out why. We all know a good affiliate program can be hard to come by.    Here are a few that I really like, and have been with for a while: 1. Progressive Health 2. Zenmed Before spending a lot of time and money marketing an affiliate program, always check it out first. There are a number of ways to do this. 1. Search through the hundreds of affiliate directories online and look for comments about it.   2. Ask them how many affiliate they have, and what the top earners are making, as well as the average affiliate. 3. Give the program a trial run - just enough to make a few sales that will allow you to recieve a payment from them. This will ensure they pay as offered. 4. Spread the word! Lots of affiliate money stays on the table because we do not refer others. If you know other affiliates, send them an email and let them know about your new program. Of course, send your affiliate link id to earn 2nd tier revenue if possible!   To see my favorite affiliate programs, please visit www.free-affiliate-program.us   About the Author Jamie Ratliff has been in the affiliate marketing business for years. He currently offers advice to beginner and intermediate affiliate marketing websites. He has a website at www.free-affiliate-program.us

Building A Business With Affiliate Programs

by: Tim Fulcher

>>= Building A Business With Affiliate Programs >>= What In The World Is an Affiliate Program ?   For those who are a bit new to all this e-commerce - let me just explain An Affiliate Program is where someone has produced an outstanding product they want to sell. But... [here is the good bit] They will let you sell it for them and you keep anything up to 80% of the money!! Sounds cool - hey!! Yeah well nothing in life is a simple as it seems - but just stay with the idea - because I did, and I dont go to work anymore!! >>= Why Dont They Sell It Themselves??   OK   Here's a good FAQ (frequently Asked Question if ive lost you!!) Say you've produced a great product and you want to sell it online - then why would you want a load of other people to sell it for you?? Its actually quite simple. On the web there are thousands **correction** billions of websites!! So if you simply let other people sell your product for you then before you know whats happened a link is there to your product on thousands **correction** billions of websites!! And.... You are not paying anything for the advertising If you're a Merchant - thats the guy thats produced the product. Then think how much money you could save just by paying NOTHING in advertising.   >>= What Sort Of Products?? Lets take a look at the products You might be thinking well OK. So I can make a load of money selling someone elses products. But what sort of products are they.   >>= All Kinds Of Products Their are all sorts of products that you can sell online by joining an Affiliate Program. Things like perfume, clothes, bags, cameras, slimming formulas, advertising, ebooks, umbrellas, holidays, car cleaning kits, actually just about anything.   >>= OK Lets Get Back to The Billions Of Websites!! Now you remember I said there were Billions of websites out there. Now do a search on Google - how many sites do you come up with. The answer is a measly 10!! Google only give you 10 sites out of billions when you do a search. So how do all the other sites get noticed?? One Word - NETWORKING!!   >>= Links Pages Use Networking You must have seen the "links page" on websites all over the place How did those links get there?? By NETWORKING!!   Webmasters work TOGETHER and agree to put your link on their page if you put their link on your page!! But not all the links on all the links pages are the same. So if I link to your page then everyone from my site that clicks your link will ALSO get ALL your links. Can you see after a few websites the number of links someone might see is THOUSANDS!! The power of NETWORKING is massive!!   >>= Using Networking With Your Affiliate Program The power of NETWORKING with your Affiliate Program is to make sure your link appears on millions of websites so that all round the net people are buying your product as a result of TEAM WORK!!   >>= How Do We Get From The Small Guy with No Money To The Big Guy Making Millions?? OK Well of course it takes time BUT Anyone can do it, YOU can do it - with Team Work!!   >>= Finding Out More There are lots of places you can find out more, or just watch out for more from my other articles!!   About the Author: Tim Fulcher - http://www.winningratings.com/affiliate_website_cash_generator.html Source: www.isnare.com

Build A High Profit Business With Online Affiliate Programs

by: Tim Knox

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

Are Your Affiliate Programs Eating Away Your Money And Time

by: Arun Pal Singh

So many times I have heard this. So many examples I do remember. People have left the internet business after being disappointed with their so called affiliate programs.   An affiliate program is an excellent way to earn money especially in the beginning. I said beginning because at that time one does not understand the market and is too naïve to bring his own product out in right way. Affiliate programs fill that gap nicely. You have got a readymade product and a readymade webpage too (though you can develop your own and you should be doing that).There is only one aspect left to make that money.   Making sales. But you need to choose your affiliate program carefully. An affiliate program should be free to join. You should be cautious of the programs that will charge you upfront to be able to become their affiliates. Sometimes you buy a product and get affiliate status as bonus. That is acceptable. But a good affiliate program should not charge you a membership fee monthly or yearly whatever the case may be.    There are some programs which charge you a monthly fee for becoming a member and you are expected to recruit more for getting a commission. These are not affiliate programs but MLM programs.   Be cautious when you join such programs. They do not offer a good product to sell. The only thing that you have to sell is the membership. Such programs may eat up a lot of your money before you realize their worthlessness. In such programs you sell a membership and your recruit is expected to sell the same in return.    This kind of sale is not only hard to accomplish but also associated with high attrition. That means the rate of members dropping out is very high.   Also you should get a good commission. Check the percentage offered. Good programs offer 50-60% commissions. Though high priced products seem quite lucrative due to apparent volume of money in commission but selling a high priced product may not be that easy task too. It is because the market for those may not be that large. So you need to select your product carefully.   One very important factor that is often ignored is your aptitude for the particular product. Select a product that you can associate your interests with. For example if you like gardening then a product that caters the gardening needs will be easier to sell than a selling a real estate product.   Because in sales first of all you need to be convinced about the usability and benefits of the product before you attempt to sell it. If the product is around the area of your interest you can easily identify the beneficial aspects. Then you will find it easier to convince your potential customers.   Study the market and demand for that product. If the demand is high the sales are easier. To study the demand go to Overture or Google and look for the search made around the keywords of your product. It will give you a fair idea about the demand.   Plan your market strategies beforehand. It is better if you make your own website instead of promoting the copy of the original page laced with your link. Having your own website gives you a unique identification and professional look. The other advantage is that you can promote multiple products on the same page rather than promoting different pages separately.    Web hosting is quite cheap now a days and webpage can be easily built in front page. Try and give your full efforts into promoting what you have got. Affiliate programs are good way to learn the market tactics. Learn and try them best to your abilities.   Stick with the product you have chosen instead of jumping to the new offer of some other product. New products are being released everyday but being new does not mean that it is better and easier to sell.  Analyze regularly. Test regularly and keep working. Your commission graph would definitely rise.   Wish you success. Author is a doctor, marketer and writer. Visit his website http://www.homeforprofits.com to know more about success in online business. To avail his free Income Course, send an e-mail to subscribe@homeforprofits.com with subject ‘subscribe’.