Have You Been Struggling To Earn Money With Your Affiliate Business?
Looking to Get The Edge!
Let's Start By Answering, What is an affiliate?
The affiliate model is a "high reward/low risk" Web site monetization option... you don't have to develop excellent products -- it has already been done for you. You simply judge and pick the best available ones, from the best available merchants!
You don't have to spend large amounts to manufacture and store inventory no need to take and process a single order, or worry about getting paid (you don't even need a merchant account!) -- you simply send people to your affiliated merchants, then get paid when they buy.
You don't have to spend large amounts to manufacture and store inventory no need to take and process a single order, or worry about getting paid (you don't even need a merchant account!) -- you simply send people to your affiliated merchants, then get paid when they buy.
You don't have to handle or ship a product -- your merchants do that, you'll never have to answer customer e-mail (inquiries and support are 24/7 issues that can easily eat up 50% of your day) They cost nothing to join (beware of the few that do) your affiliate business can be started part-time, on a shoestring.
Sounds great... and the "affiliate model" has mushroomed since Amazon.com first brought it into public prominence in 1997. Millions of affiliates send billions of visitors to tens of thousands of companies in return for a payment. Major research houses like Forrester Research project the affiliate model to grow exponentially over the next few years.
Sounds great... and the "affiliate model" has mushroomed since Amazon.com first brought it into public prominence in 1997. Millions of affiliates send billions of visitors to tens of thousands of companies in return for a payment. Major research houses like Forrester Research project the affiliate model to grow exponentially over the next few years.
So What Is Your Job As An Affiliate Marketer?
As an affiliate, YOU can join these programs and promote them to earn commissions. You can earn commissions by referring customers that buy products or services, or by referring visitors that complete a certain action on the merchant's website, eg. signup for membership, complete a form/survey, download something, etc.
So, affiliate marketing is about users like YOU, sending referrals to merchant sites and then gaining commissions if those visitors complete a certain action.
If you're still not sure what affiliate marketing is, you can find a load more definitions here - Google Search.
So How Can I Send Visitors To Merchants?
There are basically 5 ways you can start sending visitors to a merchant as an affiliate;
Website - the most popular and obvious method is to create your own website. Takes time to build a website and produce content to make it interesting for visitors, which is vital to generate referrals.
Newsletter - most programs allow you to place affiliate links in your newsletter to help generate traffic. This does NOT mean you can send unsolicited SPAM emails though!
Blogging- one of the most effective forms of free advertising is through blogging. What is a blog? A blog is a series of short stories, or thoughts and ideas.
Social Networking- another good way to stay connected with and gain new customers, is to join several social networking sites. Make some friends, apply the three foot rule here, instead. It's much more natural of a process on the net.
Pay Per Click Search Engines - some programs will also allow you to place bids on Pay Per Click Search Engines (PPC) so you can drive referrals to their site. You don't need to build a website or get a newsletter started but you do have to pay for every visitor.
How Do I Get Started?
First you need to know what kind of merchants you want to join. Don't just join every merchant you come across. Figure out what merchants your visitors would be interested in and then select them.
Plastering your site with irrelevant merchants doesn't help you earn commissions, plus it makes your website look bad. Have a few select merchants that are relevant to your visitor's interests.
Once you have found a merchant you like, review the Affiliate Agreement and then check the box - then click the Signup Button. You will then receive a confirmation page confirming that you have just joined a merchant.
The next step is to now get a link to place on your site.
Now you'll have a few options to help you narrow down the search for links.
You'll now see a list of different links for that particular merchant. Have a look through them and choose which one you'd like to use. Once you have chosen one, click on the 'Get HTML' option. It will open up a pop up box with the code you need (along with some other options if you require them).
The code will probably look something like this:
Text Link Code
<a href="http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com?kbid=1001">Click Here</a> Banner Link Code
<a href="http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com?kbid=1001"><img src="http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/a/images/banner3.gif" border="0"></a><img src="http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/myap/showban.asp?id=1001" border="0">
Simply copy all the code in the text box and then paste it onto your page where you want the link to appear. Once done, save your page and then upload it to your website. Now when you view your webpage, or newsletter, you should see the link appear. Click on them to make sure they work.
If you are looking for links to use in the Pay Per Click Engines, then you should only search for text links, as the PPC engines do not display banners in their results.
Moving Forward.
Once you know how to add links to your pages then you need to learn more about where to place your links, how to make landing pages, how to build your website so you can include more merchants and increase the opportunities to earn commissions and a whole lot more.
Introduction to The
Affiliate Monetization Model In 1997, Amazon.com launched the concept of affiliate programs into prominence (they weren't the first, but they were the first to do it big-time!). For the one person on the Net who doesn't know, Amazon sells books (and tons of other merchandise now) online... and only online.
Books, of course, offer information on millions of different specialized subjects. And there are millions of Web sites out there, on an incredible variety of subjects.
So Amazon figured, "Why not convert those sites into specialized, niche book shops for us? We'll pay a commission when a site refers a customer who buys a book."
And that's how Amazon started one of the first affiliate programs (AKA associate or referrer programs).
Here's how an affiliate program works, using Amazon as the example...
The affiliate provides links from his site to certain books on the Amazon site, books that are related to the affiliate's site content. Amazon uses special software that tracks who sends each visitor. If and when the visitor buys, Amazon pays the affiliate a commission.
The affiliate never has to...
- write a book
- process an order
- ship a book
- answer customer support e-mails.
It is one of the best opportunities for the average person interested in e-commerce. And it is a tremendous monetization model for those who publish information (whether as their primary business, or a means to attract and PREsell traffic for their primary business). But... affiliates are not immune to the standard rules of the business world. Those who work, and work well, succeed. Those who are looking to "get rich quick" are once again heading for disappointment.
Site Build It! shows you how to work well... extremely well.
P.S. I made the part about "sheep" up. But just about every other product that you could imagine is, or will soon be, sold via an affiliate program.
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