AFFILIATE MONEYMAKING BUSINESS
If you're not yet ready to develop your own business product or service, then launch your business as an Affiliate. It is simple, cost-effective and requires no start-up budget. In most cases you don't even need to have a website to get started. The affiliate program you join might assign you with a unique website template and URL. All you do is promote a product or service that has already been created.
UNLOCKING THE AFFILIATE MONEYMAKING MACHINE CODE
Affiliate marketing as a “get paid for performance” business:
Affiliate marketing is a method of promoting Internet businesses in which an affiliate (you, for instance) is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer, and or sale provided through your efforts. You earn commission based on a certain value for each:
• Exposure — Cost Per Thousand or CPM
• Visit — Pay Per Click or PPC
• Registrant or new customer — Pay Per Lead or PPL
• Sale — Pay Per Sale or Revenue Share
• Or any combination of the above
Presently the most active sectors for affiliate marketing are the adult, gambling and retail sectors. Other sectors such as the mobile phone, finance and travel sectors are expected to see growth. The software, entertainment (particularly gaming and music) and Internet-related services (such as broadband) sectors are also growing in the Internet marketplace.
You simply partner with a company to promote and sell their products or services online, and you earn money for your efforts. You are the one between the Affiliate Merchant and the Customer. You are the Middleman or Salesperson. The interesting part is that you don’t have to travel to the company to collect samples of the products they sell, and go from door to door to sell. The marketing strategy depends on you, and the company will help you with marketing strategies. In most cases you don’t need to have a website to become an E-Rep for a company. The company will provide you with a unique template loaded with web content. This is quick, and you don’t have to deposit any money to sell products via your affiliate link.
RULE #1: Never pay money to any company simply to sell their products.
RULE #2: Always remember Rule #1.
Some companies will charge you to join their affiliate programs. That is sheer nonsense. Never pay a dime for any affiliate program. The only money you should have to deposit is the cheque you’ll receive from your affiliate earnings… which you should deposit into your personal bank account. As an affiliate you do not resell products. All you do is to educate and direct the consumer to a product, and you get paid. The more sales you direct, the more money you and the merchant will reap.
Getting started?
You need one basic thing to get you started… and that is an access to a computer with a connection to the Internet. If you own one, that’s excellent. If you don’t have a PC that is connected to the Internet, visit an Internet lounge. Getting started depends on your particular circumstance. If you own a PC and are connected to the Internet, then you can work from the comfort of your living room or garage. Design a simple website to promote the affiliate programs you subscribe to. This would cost you less compared to using an Internet lounge where it is a pay-as-you-go business.
Deciding on what to sell — choosing an affiliate program
There are quite a large number of affiliate programs out there, each inviting you to apply and promising there is so much cash to earn through your efforts. The Internet marketplace is very huge, and so is the competition. You need to decide what to sell. The products and services you want to promote and sell online should suit your interest. Don’t follow the crowd, and decide to sell just anything. If you are an architect, you wouldn’t want to promote a porn site just because it is promising so much cash to affiliates. Would you? Practically you want to sell what you’re interested in, so that you can promote it with passion.
Don’t fall for the vague impression that all that is required to start reaping money from an affiliate program is simply plugging a link or a banner onto your website, and then you would start downloading money onto your desktop. That is not the case. You need to develop strategies to promote your affiliate website. More importantly, either your personal business website that links to your affiliate website or the actual affiliate store must be of an acceptable standard. Visitors to your website would judge you according to the theme of your website templates. Always assume that you have only one chance to impress. You have to be selective, and fussy about quality standards. The Internet is a vast business world, and very public. Do something silly, and your website will be in a topic-related online forum. You’ll become a topic… And you will be discussed. You’ll be named and embarrassed.
In terms of keywords, make a list of products and services you are interested in or that relate to your profession or website that you want to sell. Then use one or two of the popular search engines to look for Affiliate Merchants. In deciding what to sell and whose stuff to sell, put your interest first. When it comes to Affiliate Business, you come first. Trust me. Read the terms and conditions set by the Affiliate Merchant thoroughly before accepting their policies. Do not rush into anything. Affiliate merchants run affiliate programs simply to acquire customers. Some merchants design their programs such that the affiliate website may be cut out of the loop on subsequent purchases. This then becomes a monkey works, baboon draws business. If you’re looking for long-term relationship with the merchant, ensure you carefully read their terms.
Areas worth investigating for your selection criteria:
1. When, how much and how do you get paid? — Does the affiliate program pay you fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, etc.? How much do you make per sale, considering the fact that you’ll be investing in marketing campaigns? What is the minimum payout amount? What are the modes of payment? Set up your own selection criteria, and match them against affiliate program offers. Put your interest above everything.
2. Is the affiliate company a reputable one? — A reputable affiliate company will have a well-managed affiliate program. They normally have dedicated staff that manages the affiliate programs, usually referred to as Accounts Manager or Affiliate Manager. Beware of affiliate sites that have no contact information.
Creating a win-win situation:
When you decide to become an affiliate marketer, you will be placing affiliate promotional banners and text links on your website and or ask the affiliate company to also place your logo on their website. The latter increases traffic for both… and hopefully increases sales. Ensure you have a rich web content to get a top web-based company to put their logo on your website.
Regardless of the fact that you want to increase traffic to your site, you need to be selective of which company you partner with. Affiliate companies are equally selective of who they choose to get on their affiliate programs. To be precise, you need to avoid creating unfair competition. Do not promote the same type of products or services or particular labels you sell on your website. You may offer similar brands through an affiliate program, but not the exact items you sell. You don’t want to perish your own market, do you?
Marketing campaign — promos:
Once your application as an affiliate is approved by the company you select, it’s up to you to get the word out via a number of different marketing techniques. Whether you use your own business website or your unique affiliate website, you’ll need to explore an extensive marketing campaign to get buyers to find you. I’ll put my thumb up on having your own simple domain name for your small but content-rich website rather than using the usually long URL the affiliate company assigns to your so-called unique website. You can place banners and text links to your own unique affiliate website on your content-rich website. Update your website regularly.
In later sections you will learn more about decoding the marketing campaign secrets; how to increase traffic and attract visitors to your website; and convert each click on your website into potential sales. You will also learn how to write a salesletter, and explore result-oriented marketing tools, such as email marketing, offline marketing schemes, autoresponder, etc.
Increasing and protecting your payments:
An excellent way to protect your payments from affiliate merchants is to sign-up for affiliate programs that are well-established advertising networks. It is also good to select the affiliate programs of other well-established sectors, if you want to get paid for your work. Above all, it is safe to work with major companies especially those in the ad network business. Google Adsense affiliate program, for example, is excellent for you to generate money that accumulates rapidly to allow you reach the payout threshold in a shorter time.
REMEMBER
"Never pay a dime upfront to become an affiliate. It should be absolutely free."
To increase your income, you can choose to partner with 100 companies. Target ad networks for advertisers who pay Affiliate Merchants hefty money, granting you the opportunity to get a percentage of their earning. Yahoo! and Google Adsense are typical examples. There are thousands of other affiliate programs on the Internet. Do extensive search to find the right ones that meet your particular interest and field.
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Thank you for your time. See you on Saturday March 6, 2010.
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