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.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Your Website
Which company has the best affiliate program? How do I choose the best affiliate program? Can you help me pick an affiliate program? I am often asked these questions. And, the answer many people expect is : the program that pays the most. However, the point that many rookie affiliates miss is that just because mortgage, gambling, and credit card programs are paying the most per sale or per lead dosen't mean that you will ever make any money promoting their products. In fact, the overwhelming majority of affiliates never earn a dime. Most are lured in by the promise of easy riches, discover that it's not so easy, shortly thereafter, and then give up before ever earning their first paycheck.
So, how do you earn that first paycheck from an affiliate program?
1. Pick an affiliate program that fits the theme of your site. This is obvious, but as I stated above, many people are lured in by the temptations of quick and easy money from higher paying programs. You should never have to change the content of your website to match your affiliate program, either. Make the programs work for you, not against you.
2. Choose a program that pays per sale over per lead. Some affiliate programs pay a percentage for every sale made and some affiliate programs pay per lead, or a certain action taken by the prospective customer, such as filling out a loan application. The per lead programs seem like they should have the higher conversion rates, but this is just not true. I've repeatedly had more success with pay per sale, rather than per lead. My theory is that people are bombarded with these forms and applications and sales pitches everyday, so they tend to block them out. Time is extremely valuable, especially in today's society. To get credit for a sale with these programs, people must invest time that they simply don't have or don't want to use signing up for these offers. It is much easier just to buy something online, than it is to invest time online doing work. That's why information products sell so well online, despite the fact that many times the information for sale is available free online, if you have the time to spend gathering it.
3. Pick an affiliate program that offers a wide variety of items for sale and preferably, one that offers dynamic content ads. You should always pay attention to what's hot and don't be afraid to rotate items that you promote. Just because something sold well yesterday, dosen't mean it will sell well today or tomorrow. If you run a website that promotes books, for example, you would probably want to rotate into your website ads promoting the current week's bestsellers. Visitors to your site will thank you for the fresh content, even if it is an advertisement. The easiest way to do this is with an affiliate program that delivers dynamically generated ads based on your established criteria.
4. Choose a well-known merchant. Trust is a very important factor in converting sales. More times than not, a customer is going to buy from the merchant that they know and recognize. Many smaller merchants will increase the percentage they offer to affiliates as a way of try and drive more traffic to their site and to promote their brand. Not surprisingly, many of these merchants come and go. It's safer and more profitable to go with the big names. You're also more likely to get paid (and on time!) by these merchants.
5. Pick an affiliate program that sells products that you have tried and like. If you have had a good experience making a purchase from a company, see if they have an affiliate program you can join. It is much easier to promote a product that you like, and your product endorsement will come across as more authentic. And, if the visitor to your site tries and like the product as well, you gain instant credibility and trust, which will lead to future sales.
Hopefully, these tips will help you when deciding which products to promote on your site.
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.
5 Tips To Choosing The Right Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs can be a great way to make money online. You don't have to spend time developing your own product, worry about taking orders, or take care of customer service.
If you already have a high traffic website or run an e-zine you can stand to earn a steady flow of commissions every month without a lot of extra work on your part.
To help you get started promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following 5 tips to help you choose the affiliate programs that are right for you.
1. Choose affiliate programs that match the content of your site. If your site targets a niche market than choose affiliate programs that offer products to that niche market.
2. Choose affiliate programs that pay a high commission. For example 30%-50% on your direct sales.
3. Join affiliate programs that pay two-tier commissions. This enables you to not only earn commissions on your own sales but also on the sales of people who you introduce to your affiliate
program.
4. Join affiliate programs that offer a line of products so that you can earn commissions when your referrals come back and purchase other services or products.
5. Join affiliate programs that offer their affiliates great marketing support. Many affiliate programs offer their affiliates pre-written ads to use or get ideas from, sales letters, marketing courses, and articles to use in promoting their services.
Remember, the best affiliate programs will see their affiliate program as a partnership with you and combine high commissions with excellent support so that you can start earning money
promoting their products as quickly as possible.
If you already have a high traffic website or run an e-zine you can stand to earn a steady flow of commissions every month without a lot of extra work on your part.
To help you get started promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following 5 tips to help you choose the affiliate programs that are right for you.
1. Choose affiliate programs that match the content of your site. If your site targets a niche market than choose affiliate programs that offer products to that niche market.
2. Choose affiliate programs that pay a high commission. For example 30%-50% on your direct sales.
3. Join affiliate programs that pay two-tier commissions. This enables you to not only earn commissions on your own sales but also on the sales of people who you introduce to your affiliate
program.
4. Join affiliate programs that offer a line of products so that you can earn commissions when your referrals come back and purchase other services or products.
5. Join affiliate programs that offer their affiliates great marketing support. Many affiliate programs offer their affiliates pre-written ads to use or get ideas from, sales letters, marketing courses, and articles to use in promoting their services.
Remember, the best affiliate programs will see their affiliate program as a partnership with you and combine high commissions with excellent support so that you can start earning money
promoting their products as quickly as possible.
The truth about affiliate programs and how to make money on
Have you ever wondered how to make money sitting at home or even keeping your job while you build a residual income on the internet? You may be struggling to make a living and wanting to find a way of building a residual income for yourself on the internet.
I found the biggest challenge in joining the affiliate marketing scene on the web was the isolation I experienced. “Am I doing this correctly?” was the constant question I asked of myself.
Like you, maybe, when I was starting off, I wasn't sure if my affiliate links were properly set, I continually worried about whether the search engines would rank me high enough to get traffic. Waiting for indexing was agonizing at times!!!!!
Someone with a successful online business, who would have talked to me about their experience in establishing their affiliate networks would have been worth their weight in $$$$$. I would have appreciated a mentor!!!
You can talk to us, we have done the homework for you and sorted out the best affiliate programs on the web today.
You will have seen all the “hype” about how to earn enormous amounts of money on the Internet. Most of these people have never earned a dollar online!! All they are trying to do is sell you a gimmick that has no substance. It won’t earn you a dollar either.
If you are fed up and are ready to hear some truth about the internet and affiliate marketing read on.
Have you ever heard anyone say “there’s no money to be made by promoting affiliate programs”? NOT TRUE. They have either not tried it themselves, or are keeping the secret, not wanting you to share in the wealth.
The truth is you can make money online by promoting affiliate programs. A lot of people have been able to leave their jobs and make a fantastic living just by promoting other people’s products.
Look at this list, just a small sample of BIG brand name companies that use affiliate programs to promote their products online
•Amazon.com
•Barnes & Noble
•Dell
•Discover Card
•Dollar Rent-a-Car
•eBay
•Eddie Bauer
•Gateway
•Gap
•KMart
•New York Times
•NBC
•Old Navy
•Patagonia
•PayLess Shoes
•PetSmart
•SONY
•Sports Authority
•Staples
•TimeLife
•USA Today
•Verizon Wireless
•Weight Watchers
Read this and consider again the value of affiliate programs!!!
Commission Junction, Linkshare and BeFree have been built solely to administer online merchants' affiliate programs. We can tell you, form experience, that any company trying to do business on the web WITHOUT an affiliate program nowadays, is going to have a tough time..
The first step in making money online is to get your products! Making money online is not any different from making money anywhere. You need to have in demand, high quality products to sell and an effective method for marketing those products.
Finding top quality products to sell is easy. All you have to do is join a reputable affiliate program and resell other people’s products for profit. You can make money online as an affiliate every time someone visits your website and clicks on a link to learn more about one of the products
Here's how it works: When someone visits your website and clicks on a product link, they will be redirected to a new sales page and have the opportunity to purchase the product. Just for providing the link to the product from your site, you will earn a generous commission every time a sale is made.
In fact, all the actual selling, follow-up, product delivery and customer satisfaction issues will be handled for you automatically. Your ONLY job is to promote the website I setup for you (I'll show you how do that... In fact it's really easy!) and cash your checks each month. It really is that simple.
Many people earn a full-time income working from home as an affiliate and many can earn over $10000.00 per year in this business.
To make that happen, you absolutely must choose affiliate programs that pay generous commissions for top quality products that are in high demand!
You can have a professionally designed website 100 % ready to take orders right now! Your new website will be designed to sell products from 5 of the MOST respected, MOST reliable and HIGHEST PAYING affiliate programs in the world.
Empowerism
SFI
Internet Marketing Warriors
Traffic Swarm
Internet Marketing Center
These affiliate programs include international moneymaking ventures like Empowerism who provides a powerful and proven system to take a one-time $25 investment and turn it into $2,000.00 over and over again!
I found the biggest challenge in joining the affiliate marketing scene on the web was the isolation I experienced. “Am I doing this correctly?” was the constant question I asked of myself.
Like you, maybe, when I was starting off, I wasn't sure if my affiliate links were properly set, I continually worried about whether the search engines would rank me high enough to get traffic. Waiting for indexing was agonizing at times!!!!!
Someone with a successful online business, who would have talked to me about their experience in establishing their affiliate networks would have been worth their weight in $$$$$. I would have appreciated a mentor!!!
You can talk to us, we have done the homework for you and sorted out the best affiliate programs on the web today.
You will have seen all the “hype” about how to earn enormous amounts of money on the Internet. Most of these people have never earned a dollar online!! All they are trying to do is sell you a gimmick that has no substance. It won’t earn you a dollar either.
If you are fed up and are ready to hear some truth about the internet and affiliate marketing read on.
Have you ever heard anyone say “there’s no money to be made by promoting affiliate programs”? NOT TRUE. They have either not tried it themselves, or are keeping the secret, not wanting you to share in the wealth.
The truth is you can make money online by promoting affiliate programs. A lot of people have been able to leave their jobs and make a fantastic living just by promoting other people’s products.
Look at this list, just a small sample of BIG brand name companies that use affiliate programs to promote their products online
•Amazon.com
•Barnes & Noble
•Dell
•Discover Card
•Dollar Rent-a-Car
•eBay
•Eddie Bauer
•Gateway
•Gap
•KMart
•New York Times
•NBC
•Old Navy
•Patagonia
•PayLess Shoes
•PetSmart
•SONY
•Sports Authority
•Staples
•TimeLife
•USA Today
•Verizon Wireless
•Weight Watchers
Read this and consider again the value of affiliate programs!!!
Commission Junction, Linkshare and BeFree have been built solely to administer online merchants' affiliate programs. We can tell you, form experience, that any company trying to do business on the web WITHOUT an affiliate program nowadays, is going to have a tough time..
The first step in making money online is to get your products! Making money online is not any different from making money anywhere. You need to have in demand, high quality products to sell and an effective method for marketing those products.
Finding top quality products to sell is easy. All you have to do is join a reputable affiliate program and resell other people’s products for profit. You can make money online as an affiliate every time someone visits your website and clicks on a link to learn more about one of the products
Here's how it works: When someone visits your website and clicks on a product link, they will be redirected to a new sales page and have the opportunity to purchase the product. Just for providing the link to the product from your site, you will earn a generous commission every time a sale is made.
In fact, all the actual selling, follow-up, product delivery and customer satisfaction issues will be handled for you automatically. Your ONLY job is to promote the website I setup for you (I'll show you how do that... In fact it's really easy!) and cash your checks each month. It really is that simple.
Many people earn a full-time income working from home as an affiliate and many can earn over $10000.00 per year in this business.
To make that happen, you absolutely must choose affiliate programs that pay generous commissions for top quality products that are in high demand!
You can have a professionally designed website 100 % ready to take orders right now! Your new website will be designed to sell products from 5 of the MOST respected, MOST reliable and HIGHEST PAYING affiliate programs in the world.
Empowerism
SFI
Internet Marketing Warriors
Traffic Swarm
Internet Marketing Center
These affiliate programs include international moneymaking ventures like Empowerism who provides a powerful and proven system to take a one-time $25 investment and turn it into $2,000.00 over and over again!
How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program
There are thousands of affiliate programs offering wide range of benefits to their affiliates. However, many of these programs and the claims they make are not to be trusted. Good affiliate programs provide tremendous earning opportunities, but they need to be evaluated to distinguish them from doubtful ones. There are several factors to consider before someone decides to join any affiliate program.
Products: Organizations which operate affiliate programs generally have some products to sell. These products can be in form of physical products, e-products or services. It is important to ascertain that the organization has some products to sell and that it recruits affiliates to help them in running their business. One should be very careful with any organization that has recruitment of affiliates as their main business. It is best to avoid such organizations because their affiliate structure is like a house of cards which can crumble at slightest impact.
The organizations which have products to sell and market them thru affiliate programs cut down on the cost of advertising and distribution. This amounts to considerable savings which they share with their affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar with the products, this can be helpful but this is not a necessary pre-condition to join affiliate program. New affiliates can learn about the products quite fast.
Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult to find out about the organization before joining it affiliate program. Search engines are one of the sources which can be used for this purpose. Verifying the testimonials presented by the organization is another source of information. The organization should have proven track record of operating their programs for several years successfully. If the organization is new or just starting, the person starting the program should be well known with good credibility. This is precaution against joining organizations which promise get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.
Support Available to Affiliates : Most of the new affiliates joining any affiliate program are new to the field of marketing on the internet. They need guidance and support for promoting their business and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest of the organization to help their affiliates to succeed. These organizations are in their business for considerable longer time than the affiliates, are more knowledgeable about their market and about the ways of promoting their products. They are in best position to provide their affiliates with proper guidance. Many organizations have excellent support system by way of trainings, tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums just to name a few. These are generally available from websites accessible to the affiliates.
Apart form the promotional material and information available from the website, personal guidance can be vital. A new affiliate may not be familiar with all the resources available and will look for mentoring at least in initial stages. It should be remembered by the affiliate that her success will add to the success of the organization, the organization is obliged to help her.
Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode and frequency of payment to the affiliates. The affiliate should make sure that this suits her. Just to give an example - many organizations make payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit money to all the countries. Such details should be checked before putting time and effort for any affiliate program.
Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways in which organizations build up their affiliate structure. Many organizations have single tier structure in which affiliate is only paid commission for sale. Other affiliate structures are 2-level or multi-level deep in which the affiliate earns also from the efforts of personally sponsored members. In turn, the affiliate is expected to help her sponsored members to earn for themselves. This is one great feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged earning.
There are still more variations in the structure. Some organizations allow a limited number of affiliates directly under each affiliate. There is no "ideal" affiliate structure. But it is important to have clarity in the structure and the affiliate should understand the structure.
Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in compensation plans starting from simple commission to more elaborate plan in which affiliates additionally earn thru the efforts of their sponsored downline members and also from a common pool. I personally favor plans which have provision for leveraged earnings where teamwork really counts. Residual earning is another attractive feature of affiliate marketing which can build into sizeable income over a period of time. I am not against any compensation plan so long as it is understandable and appears reasonable. You have perhaps noticed that I have put this factor as the last consideration. However it is an important consideration after all other considerations are found acceptable.
Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business with any affiliate program, no matter how good the program appears. After joining any affiliate program after thorough evaluation, one needs to stay with the program giving it time to build the earning. Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they are rare exception rather than the rule and cannot be depended upon.
Products: Organizations which operate affiliate programs generally have some products to sell. These products can be in form of physical products, e-products or services. It is important to ascertain that the organization has some products to sell and that it recruits affiliates to help them in running their business. One should be very careful with any organization that has recruitment of affiliates as their main business. It is best to avoid such organizations because their affiliate structure is like a house of cards which can crumble at slightest impact.
The organizations which have products to sell and market them thru affiliate programs cut down on the cost of advertising and distribution. This amounts to considerable savings which they share with their affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar with the products, this can be helpful but this is not a necessary pre-condition to join affiliate program. New affiliates can learn about the products quite fast.
Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult to find out about the organization before joining it affiliate program. Search engines are one of the sources which can be used for this purpose. Verifying the testimonials presented by the organization is another source of information. The organization should have proven track record of operating their programs for several years successfully. If the organization is new or just starting, the person starting the program should be well known with good credibility. This is precaution against joining organizations which promise get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.
Support Available to Affiliates : Most of the new affiliates joining any affiliate program are new to the field of marketing on the internet. They need guidance and support for promoting their business and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest of the organization to help their affiliates to succeed. These organizations are in their business for considerable longer time than the affiliates, are more knowledgeable about their market and about the ways of promoting their products. They are in best position to provide their affiliates with proper guidance. Many organizations have excellent support system by way of trainings, tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums just to name a few. These are generally available from websites accessible to the affiliates.
Apart form the promotional material and information available from the website, personal guidance can be vital. A new affiliate may not be familiar with all the resources available and will look for mentoring at least in initial stages. It should be remembered by the affiliate that her success will add to the success of the organization, the organization is obliged to help her.
Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode and frequency of payment to the affiliates. The affiliate should make sure that this suits her. Just to give an example - many organizations make payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit money to all the countries. Such details should be checked before putting time and effort for any affiliate program.
Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways in which organizations build up their affiliate structure. Many organizations have single tier structure in which affiliate is only paid commission for sale. Other affiliate structures are 2-level or multi-level deep in which the affiliate earns also from the efforts of personally sponsored members. In turn, the affiliate is expected to help her sponsored members to earn for themselves. This is one great feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged earning.
There are still more variations in the structure. Some organizations allow a limited number of affiliates directly under each affiliate. There is no "ideal" affiliate structure. But it is important to have clarity in the structure and the affiliate should understand the structure.
Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in compensation plans starting from simple commission to more elaborate plan in which affiliates additionally earn thru the efforts of their sponsored downline members and also from a common pool. I personally favor plans which have provision for leveraged earnings where teamwork really counts. Residual earning is another attractive feature of affiliate marketing which can build into sizeable income over a period of time. I am not against any compensation plan so long as it is understandable and appears reasonable. You have perhaps noticed that I have put this factor as the last consideration. However it is an important consideration after all other considerations are found acceptable.
Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business with any affiliate program, no matter how good the program appears. After joining any affiliate program after thorough evaluation, one needs to stay with the program giving it time to build the earning. Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they are rare exception rather than the rule and cannot be depended upon.
How To Maximize Your Profit Promoting Affiliate Programs
Promoting affiliate programs can provide you with a good extra income or even a full time income online.
To help you maximize your profit promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following tips to help you successfully market your affiliate programs more effectively to your site's visitors.
1. Publish an e-zine.
Running an e-zine will allow you to run prime position ads for your affiliate programs in every issue you publish, and is the #1 way for you to follow up with your site's visitors.
You can also easily increase your commissions by sending out special announcements to your subscriber base whenever one of the affiliate programs you promote is offering a special bonus or a special limited time offer.
Once you build up your circulation you can further increase your profits by charging for ad space in your publication.
2. Use a pop up on your site that promotes your e-zine.
Using a pop up as a well as a subscription e-mail or form on your site can substantially increase the number of your visitors that subscribe to your publication.
Your pop up will draw your visitors' attention right to your e-zine, and if you offer your visitors free bonuses for subscribing to your e-zine such as free ebooks or free ads you can further increase the number of visitors who subscribe to your publication.
3. Offer free e-mail workshops (e-mail courses) to your visitors.
Making e-mail workshops will enable you to effectively promote one or several affiliate programs that offer products that relate to the subject of your workshop.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with articles to post on their sites or run in their e-zines which you can use to successfully form the different parts of your workshop.
If you already write articles, you can easily use your own articles to form the different parts of your workshop and transform your articles into yet another powerful marketing tool.
To get the most out of your e-mail workshops, offer your workshops both on your site and by using a pop up, and use your workshops to increase subscriptions to your e-zine as well as repeat visitors your website.
4. Publish your articles on your site.
Posting your articles on your site is a great way to continually add content to your site and draw more repeat visitors.
To successfully use your articles to promote affiliate programs offer a free e-mail workshop in your resource box or use your resource box to promote your e-zine.
This will provide you with an effective way to successfully follow up with your prospects when your articles get published as well as when your visitors read your articles.
5. Offer free ebooks on your site.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with ebooks they can rebrand with their unique affiliate URL and these can be used as an effective marketing tool.
The best way to promote your affiliate programs with ebooks, however, is to make your own ebooks.
If you write your own articles, you can create a unique promotional item by making an ebook compilation of your articles with links to affiliate programs you promote.
You can also create a best of compilation of your e-zine's top issues to drive more subscriptions to your publication or if you make e-mail workshops you can transform these into your ebooks content.
To further increase your profits, offer your ebooks as a free bonus or part of a free bonus for subscribing to your e-zine, and/or allow your visitors to rebrand your ebook with a link to their own business, affiliate program or opportunity.
To help you maximize your profit promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following tips to help you successfully market your affiliate programs more effectively to your site's visitors.
1. Publish an e-zine.
Running an e-zine will allow you to run prime position ads for your affiliate programs in every issue you publish, and is the #1 way for you to follow up with your site's visitors.
You can also easily increase your commissions by sending out special announcements to your subscriber base whenever one of the affiliate programs you promote is offering a special bonus or a special limited time offer.
Once you build up your circulation you can further increase your profits by charging for ad space in your publication.
2. Use a pop up on your site that promotes your e-zine.
Using a pop up as a well as a subscription e-mail or form on your site can substantially increase the number of your visitors that subscribe to your publication.
Your pop up will draw your visitors' attention right to your e-zine, and if you offer your visitors free bonuses for subscribing to your e-zine such as free ebooks or free ads you can further increase the number of visitors who subscribe to your publication.
3. Offer free e-mail workshops (e-mail courses) to your visitors.
Making e-mail workshops will enable you to effectively promote one or several affiliate programs that offer products that relate to the subject of your workshop.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with articles to post on their sites or run in their e-zines which you can use to successfully form the different parts of your workshop.
If you already write articles, you can easily use your own articles to form the different parts of your workshop and transform your articles into yet another powerful marketing tool.
To get the most out of your e-mail workshops, offer your workshops both on your site and by using a pop up, and use your workshops to increase subscriptions to your e-zine as well as repeat visitors your website.
4. Publish your articles on your site.
Posting your articles on your site is a great way to continually add content to your site and draw more repeat visitors.
To successfully use your articles to promote affiliate programs offer a free e-mail workshop in your resource box or use your resource box to promote your e-zine.
This will provide you with an effective way to successfully follow up with your prospects when your articles get published as well as when your visitors read your articles.
5. Offer free ebooks on your site.
Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with ebooks they can rebrand with their unique affiliate URL and these can be used as an effective marketing tool.
The best way to promote your affiliate programs with ebooks, however, is to make your own ebooks.
If you write your own articles, you can create a unique promotional item by making an ebook compilation of your articles with links to affiliate programs you promote.
You can also create a best of compilation of your e-zine's top issues to drive more subscriptions to your publication or if you make e-mail workshops you can transform these into your ebooks content.
To further increase your profits, offer your ebooks as a free bonus or part of a free bonus for subscribing to your e-zine, and/or allow your visitors to rebrand your ebook with a link to their own business, affiliate program or opportunity.
Choosing an Affiliate program
What should you consider when choosing an affiliate program? You need to think about two key things: what business are you in and what can the affiliate program provide to your customers.
No matter what business you are in, the largest investment you make will be customer acquisition. If you have your own product, and have acquired a base of satisfied customers, then single product affiliate programs could work very well for you.
However, if your business is acquiring customers for other businesses, that is, purely affiliate programs, then a better choice for you could be affiliate programs with multiple products or services. This will help you to capitalise on your investment in customer acquisition.
The key to choosing successfully is to ensure that the affiliate program offers products that meet the needs of your potential customers. Coupled with this is the need for the products to be high quality and for the supplier to provide excellent customer service. Remember, your credibility is on the line every time you refer someone to buy through your affiliate relationship.
Some of the other factors I consider when evaluating affiliate programs include:
+ Is the affiliate program a reputable business? You can check out a business you are considering a relationship with in variety of ways. Talk to the Better Business Bureau in your local area or a similar body. In addition, I find web sites that monitor affiliate programs to be worth looking at. The best I have found is Associate Programs http://www.AssociatePrograms.com. Allan Gardyne pulls no punches and tells it as it is.
+ Does the program enable you to share in the lifetime value of the customer? Great programs will give you commissions on all future purchases of the customers you introduce. This is where the real profits are. These types of programs, in effect, allow you to partner with the supplier.
+ Does the program reward you for introducing other affiliates? This type of program is commonly referred to as a two-tier program. Often your customer may become an affiliate also and you will be rewarded for this.
+ Is the supplier interested in your success as an affiliate? The top affiliate programs engage in a process of coaching or information sharing to help you succeed. Affiliates are provided with regular newsletters outlining what is working for successful affiliates and providing updates and details on new products.
+ Is the commission reasonable? Commission rates on commodity products such as books and CDs are low. This is because there is very little margin in the products due to competition. Look for products that have a commission rate of 15% or more that are not commodities - that way you will be better able to recoup your customer acquisition investment.
+ Are statistics provided? The higher the level of statistics provided, the better off you are. This will enable you to measure the success of your marketing efforts and to determine the best places to invest your marketing dollars. Insufficient statistics is a sign that the affiliate program is not sufficiently interested in your success.
+ Are new products being developed regularly? To get the full value from lifetime commissions, new products need to be introduced on a regular basis. Without this, lifetime commissions can be worthless. Also, look for consistent high quality in new products introduced.
+ How frequently are commissions paid? The more frequently commissions are paid, the better off you are. Good quality affiliate programs will pay you monthly. In some situations, commissions are not paid until a certain level is reached. If the program you are considering has this requirement, check how many sales need to be made before the level is reached.
+ Have you read the affiliate agreement? This is a key area that you should look at. Some affiliate agreements are totally in favour of the supplier. Others are more balanced. Some agreements restrict your ability to promote similar products from other suppliers. Most agreements have anti-spam provisions. Look for agreements that are fair and that do not stack everything against you as the affiliate.
While there are other factors that can be considered when choosing an affiliate program, following the suggestions above will help you to make superior business choices that will lead to long-term success.
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.
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