Affiliate Marketing - The Basics
by: Kathleen Gagne

Imagine that you could earn commissions on a popular brand-name product just by placing a link on your website or in your email. That, my friends, is "Affiliate Marketing"!

OK... So it's not quite that simple, but it doesn't have to be much more complicated either.

Let's start with a few definitions. An advertiser, or merchant, is the company who is selling a product. An affiliate, sometimes referred to as a publisher or partner, is another person or company who assists in the promotion of the product and earns a commission for doing so. (That could be you!). In between is the account management service that partners the advertisers with the affiliates and keeps track of the sales and commissions.

If you want to become an affiliate, you first need to choose either a product you want to sell, or an account management service. You will end up with both, but the choice of one will determine the choice for the other. If you choose the product first, the advertiser will direct you to the account management service that they already work with. If you choose the account management service first, they will provide you with a list of merchants that they do business with.

To see if your favorite product or company offers an affiliate program, go to their website and check the menu bar or the bottom of the screen. Look around for the word "affiliate". Click on that link, read about their program and requirements, and fill out their application. Some companies require specific types of websites to place their links on. They will email you all you need to know to get started.

If you don't know what specific product you would like to promote, or if you want to promote several, I recommend browsing the participating merchants on the account management service's website.

Try to stick to products or ideas that you are familiar with and passionate about. It will be much easier to market to your visitors if you can add value to the link you want them to click on. Personal recommendations or stories will get way better results than just a banner or solo text link. Give them a reason to "click here".

Welcome to the world of Affiliate Marketing! Good luck with your new venture!

Source: ArticleCity.com

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The Newbie World of Affiliate Programs

Submitted by paul16442

An affiliate program is a relationship with an on-line merchant where the affiliate earns a commission for referring potential customers to the merchant’s site, which subsequently results in a sale.

Over recent years the number of Affiliate marketing programs has increased dramatically. This is due to several reasons. Firstly an increase in the number of people seeking a work-from-home, low start-up cost business. Secondly the attraction to the merchants of having an army of salespeople selling their products has meant that more and more merchants are offering such schemes. Thirdly the increase is partly due to the ease with which it is now possible for most people to have a web presence. Some affiliate marketing schemes even provide completed web pages that only require simple personalization and the site can be up and running almost immediately. Sadly, another factor having its influence is the false impression created by some marketers that the Internet provides the means to get rich quickly and easily with minimum of effort. Some skilled affiliate marketers earn thousands of dollars a month. Some of the reasons why you should consider such a scheme are

No experience required

No stock to purchase

Low set-up cost

No premises to rent or buy

Can be operated from home

No sales experience needed

No goods to ship

Potentially good income

Addressing a world marketplace

Operates 24x7

So what factors do you need to take into account if you are just starting out as a newbie affiliate?

What commission does the affiliate scheme pay?

Commission rates vary considerably depending upon the type of product chosen. These can range from, say, 5% on a range of garden products to 50% and over on ranges of ebooks. Initially you should consider the high paying rates usually to be found on books and software.

How frequently are the commissions paid?

The frequency of commission payment varies from company to company. Determine whether your selected affiliate schemes pay weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly. Some companies require a minimum accumulated amount of commission before making a payment.

What form of tracking cookies does the company operate?

Tracking cookies, which have a set like, are used by the marketing company so that they can trace a customer back to you as an affiliate. Often purchases are not impulse buys, consequently the longer the life of the cookie, the greater chance you have of earning commission. The life of a cookie can range from several days to several years.

Does the affiliate scheme cater for second purchases and beyond?

Some schemes pay commission only on the product that you are promoting. Better schemes credit you with commission on any future products that the customer you introduced subsequently makes. If you can, therefore, opt for this latter group, and check that this applies if the customer, in future goes directly to the merchants site.

What marketing materials are available on the merchant’s site? As nearly all affiliate programs are free to join you can easily gain access to the resource pages of your intended merchants. Examine the quality of the material. Do they provide free gifts for you to offer? Do they offer any means of branding ebooks so that you can stamp you affiliate identity on them?

Do they respond to emails?

A future relationship between you as an affiliate, your customer and a merchant of your choice, can be partly dependant upon the ease with which you, can communicate. Send the merchant an email with a question about their affiliate scheme and look at how you are treated. Discount the affiliate if there is a delayed reply, or worse still, no reply at all.

How popular is the merchant’s website?

Alexa at www.alexa.com carries out a continuous process of site ranking. And will tell you how your merchant’s site ranks in popularity against all of the other sites on the web. Ranking somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 might be considered ideal. A word of caution here, however. If the ranking is below 100,000 there may already be too many affiliates associated with that merchant. If the ranking is greater than 500,000 it could just be that you have come across a new product where you have chance to make money as one of the first affiliates. Always examine the product in detail, and do a Google search to find any adverse postings. Join the forum at www.warriorforum.com and post a topic asking the members if they have any experience of the merchant. Again a word of caution. Be aware that any glowing report may be coming from an existing affiliate.

About the Author

© Paul Lewis 2006. All rights reserved. Reprints welcomed with article and resource box unedited. You can see the authors first web site, with an in-depth review of the product that created it, at http://www.re viewxsitepro.com Paul is also CEO of Demovision, a company specializing in talking heads. You can see examples if you go to the "Contact Us" page at http://www.re viewxsitepro.com You will need Internet Explorer to view.

Source: ArticleTrader.com

Are Affiliate Programs Good Business Opportunities?

Submitted by Guest

Affiliate programs are great business opportunities, as well as a great business idea. Here’s the scoop. You join an affiliate company and they give you a unique URL called an, "Affiliate Link," that only you have. When people click on your affiliate link it not only takes them to your affiliate website but it also alerts the affiliate company that you directed this person to their website. Now if that person makes a purchase you will be paid a commission as a reward for generating business for that company. Commissions can be as high as 75%! Dose that sound exciting to you? If so read on!

How can you find an affiliate program? There are literally 1000's of websites eager for new affiliates. One way is to do a search for, "affiliate programs" using a search engine such as Google. Another way is to join ClickBank. ClickBank works with 100's of affiliate companies. After you join ClickBank, You then choose from a list affiliates ClickBank is affiliated with. You then promote an affiliate link that is a combination of ClickBank’s and whatever affiliate site you are promoting. ClickBank then pays you instead of the company you are an affiliate for. You can also find a link usually labeled, "affiliates" on websites that have affiliate programs. You will usually find this link at the very bottom of the homepage in very small text size.

Depending on which Affiliate program you join they will pay you weekly, biweekly, monthly or bimonthly but most often biweekly or monthly. They will usually give you the option of how you will get paid via company check or Electronic Bank Transfer. I prefer Electronic Bank Transfer because payment is immediate and you don’t have to worry about your check getting lost or stolen.

The greatest thing about running an affiliate business in my opinion is this. When you run a business, any business whether it is internet based or not, you must deal with a host of things including, but not limited to, inventory, storage, packing, shipping, complaints, returns, phone calls, emails, checks and credit cards just to name a few. When you’re an affiliate, "they" take care of all of that for you! Your only job is to advertise for them. Once you have directed someone to your affiliate website via your affiliate link your job is done. They will take over from there. What could be a sweeter deal?!

Advertising your affiliate link can be accomplished in a number of different ways. Google AdWords is one way. Article submission is another way. There are 1000's of Article submission sites where you can submit your articles to for free. As an example you can check out, IdeaMarketers. Click on the link at the upper right part of their homepage entitled, "Learn How This Site Works." There are a number of ways you can find other article submission sites far too numerous to approach here, so I will only say that one way is to do a search using any search engine and typing in, "Article Submission Sites." Another way to allow your affiliate link to be made known to the world is through discussion forums. One of the best out there is the AssociatePrograms.com forum. Discussion forums allow you to attach a signature file to the bottom of all your posts, where you may include your affiliate link.

All right. We’ve discussed all of the exciting aspects to joining an affiliate program like receiving commissions as high as 75%, not having to deal with inventory, storage, packing, shipping, complaints, returns, phone calls, emails, checks or credit cards etc., getting paid most often biweekly or monthly and usually having your choice of payment via check or Electronic Bank Transfer. We also discussed, how to advertise your affiliate link using little or no money. Now it is up you. Dose having an affiliate business sound good to you? If so find, join, and promote your affiliate business and/or businesses using the techniques discussed here. And remember, affiliate programs are fabulous business opportunities as well as a great business idea!

About the Author

Bill Jason, "The Affiliate King," is the owner of FabulousWealthOnline.com. A home based business ideas and opportunities website that helps people make money with their own home based business. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit http://www.fabulouswealthonline.com

Source: ArticleTrader.com

Ten Steps to Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Today

by James Bradley

Interested in boosting your affiliate commissions? There isn't one "magical" secret to increase your affiliate commissions, but here are some simple steps you can take to make more money through affiliate programs right now.

1. Capture e-mail addresses with an "opt-in" list before sending your visitor to the merchant vendor web site.

2. Write an un-biased review article about the product or program you are promoting. Be sure that you mention some weaker points of the program and keep your article honest. This will lower the audiences defenses, as well as increase your articles click through ratio.

3. Promote products that offer residual or recurring income commissions, such as web hosting packages, auto responders, and membership sites.

4. Give away free Viral E-book PDF's loaded with your affiliate links throughout.

5. Create your own Internet marketing ebook, and sell it for $25-35 while giving your customers full resale rights. Fill the e-book with 5-10 of your own affiliate links.

6. Create an affiliate marketing blog and update your content and keywords often. Occasionally, place some affiliate links to quality merchant products, this helps affiliates succeed.

7. Create simple yet affective internet marketing formula that can be condensed into a 10-20 page free PDF. Load the e-book with your affiliate links, products needed for your specific forumla to prosper.

8. Use your opt-in list and start your own affiliate marketing newsletter with valuable information on the best multi-tier affiliate marketing programs. If you had a list of 1000+, and each person were your sub-affiliate to 4 or 5 of the top affiliate programs, not to mention many of them will also buy the products, your affiliate commissions would be through the roof.

9. Join some two-tier affiliate programs and create an affiliate programs review directory of the top ten affiliate programs on the web. Optimize your pages for the keywords "two-tier affiliate program", "multi-tier affiliate program", "free affiliate programs", etc.

10. When running a Yahoo Overture or Google Adwords ad, capture people's e-mail addresses with your opt-in list, instead of sending a prospect directly to a merchant from your site page. You can easily entice prospects to join your opt-in mailing list by offering a free PDF e-book. Of course, this will contain affiliate links of your own! Make it a viral PDF to increase your income from all of your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Start using these 10 steps today and boost your affiliate marketing campaign now!

http://www.supermoneymakingsecrets.com

About the Author

James Bradley has been involved in internet marketing and affiliate marketing for over 4 years. He has been featured in Entrepeneur Magazine. http://www.supermoneymakingsecrets.com