Find the Markets

Now that you’re considering opening your own affiliate marketing website, you have to pick a product to sell. In previous articles, we’ve talked about how important it is to pick a product you know a lot about since you’re responsible for writing articles that try to get people to buy your product.

But there is more to it then just writing snappy articles and providing a link at the bottom of the page. Knowing how to market your articles will go a long way in determining if your site is a success or a failure.

In the process of picking out a product, don’t be afraid to go “niche.” What that means, essentially, is don’t worry about picking an item that may only appeal to a small number of people. If you pick something like televisions or books, people can go down to their local Best Buy or Barnes and Noble and get those items. If you deal with a company that most people don’t have in their towns like L.L. Bean or Tower Records, people will be more likely to shop with your affiliate site because of the prestige of those companies. People can get a pair of boots or a CD anywhere, but getting those items from those stores is extra special.

Make sure your content relates to the demographic your after. If you’re selling life insurance, you probably want to have content that is going to connect with older folks, not the skateboarding crowd. And this advice goes the other way, too. If you’re selling skateboards, make sure your content is going to appeal to that generation. You wouldn’t want your content to read like an ad for life insurance. Of course, there are some products, like books and CDs, that cross generations, but you can still write your content so it aims at a particular audience. This is the other side of “niche marketing;” making sure that your content is written for exactly the people you want to buy from you.

Niche marketing can be a hard skill to master. Most people want to create a broad affiliate marketing site that doesn’t have a lot of focus so that it appeals to the most people. While this is tempting, you can be left with a site that appeals to no one at all. By zeroing in on the group most likely to buy the product you sell on your site, you can lock yourself into a niche market and, chances are, your sales will explode.

How Maximizing Affiliate Sales ?

Any marketer knows very well that there are dozens of ways to advertise a product, any product. It’s not a big deal to come up with an idea that has a good chance of catching the eye of some surfer and get him to click on your affiliate links.

The real problem is to come up with something that makes surfers click through and actually buy something, because this is what puts money in your pocket. Nevertheless, affiliates are not in control of the conversion process, since this is the job of the merchant website, and the only thing you should focus on is to find the top selling products and the best places to advertise them.

Spotting the top sellers with MoreNiche™ is simple. You can check the live stats on the testimonials page and make up your mind about what you want to promote and where. Promoting MoreNiche™ products is easy and could turn out to be a very profitable thing for you to do.

However, the trick is to reach out and find ways of putting links in the path of surfers, because a single website will never get you far enough. But rest assured that the thing is easier than it sounds. There are lots of places to promote MoreNiche™ products.

Like chat rooms. Go on the popular chat programs and join the conversation if the topic borders on the things you are trying to sell or start a conversation yourself. Just be polite, be on topic and push your products in an honest and non-offending way. Don’t rush in yelling: “LOOK Y’ALL WHAT I’VE GOT HERE!” This will only get you banned.

If you think the company ads aren’t creative enough, or if you have specific information about your target customers, then feel free to adapt existing ads or write new ones from scratch. Nobody’s forcing you to go with an ad that could be improved.

Or write an e-book about the problem that the product you’re selling is designed to solve and present the said product as a very good solution. Put the e-book on your website and invite everybody to download it free of charge. People like freebies and will certainly welcome the chance to become informed without paying anything. Submit it to free e-book directories in order to reach more people.

People need to know that a product is actually working before they decide to buy it. If you’ve tried the program yourself, then write about your experience and a personal endorsement. Let everybody know what kind of benefits they can expect from using the product.

Maximize your chances by subscribing to more than one affiliate program and list all the links on your website on a directory page. Advertise your directory far and wide and then you may have affiliate networks trying to get your attention in order to be listed with the existing ones. Submissions are good, so accept every request.

Create your own signature file. Use a spiffy headline that’s bound to grab attention, talk about the product you’re promoting and keep everything simple and to the point. If the text is longer than five lines, nobody’s going to bother to read it, so take care.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to advertise products on the Internet, because the Internet is nothing else but communication. Therefore feel free to mix and combine promotion techniques to suit your product and your view of how marketing should be done.

What is the best way to select an affiliate program?

The world of affiliate marketing is full of opportunity. There are very few jobs in life that take such little effort and can lead to such big rewards. But as is the case with most jobs, what you put into it will closely reflect what you get out.

So, how can you maximize your time as well as your dollars? Here are a few tips to point you in the right direction when it comes to picking out the affiliate marking opportunity for you.

In the process of picking out a product, don’t be afraid to go “niche.” What that means, essentially, is don’t worry about picking an item that may only appeal to a small number of people. Make sure your content relates to the demographic your after. If you’re selling life insurance, you probably want to have content that is going to connect with older folks, not the skateboarding crowd.

Why Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is becoming more and more available to the average individual as a means for others to increase their income from their products. No longer does having your own product even matter. Most of us regular people, "so to speak", do not even have any type of product or service to offer, let alone the money or resources to come up with something.

This is where people like you and I get the opportunity to be part of a money making experience with very little effort once the fundamentals of affiliate marketing are understood and put into place. Becoming an affiliate is usually a pretty easy process when you find something you can be an affiliate for. There are many websites these days that offer you the chance to affiliate for them somewhere throughout their pages. Whether it be at the top or bottom of a web page, and sometimes off to the side, you will usually find (Affiliates) or something on that order that will bring you to a sign up page.

Once you have signed up to be an affiliate you are typically emailed a user name and password to gain access to a control panel where you can choose your own methods for advertising, such as banners or text links. Some websites even offer you your own free website that may or may not include hosting fees and be quite similar to thiers. Normally, both of these methods will contain an affiliate I.D. code that particularly brands you as the person responsible for the generated business and allows only you to receive the commissions.

You can also join a website hosting company and there are alot of them available that allow you to choose and modify your own templates including background colors and text. This method enables you to design your own website for marketing affiliate products and make it more personal. And if you are just a beginner, there is nothing to fear because most have help sections and even video tutorials where you can learn to design as you go.

The next process is to contemplate your marketing strategy. You can start out small with your advertising campaign and keep your cost down until you are getting some revenue coming in. One easy way to advertise and is free is to simply put an email signature into your outgoing emails. This is usually done under "options" in your email program. You just write a short sentence and add a link to your website that people can click on and take them right to it. Whenever you write, or forward an email, there goes your free advertising right along with it. There are also many free classified sites available. When your budget increases you can move up to several other forms of advertisement such as newspaper and magazine articles, opt in email programs, and even pay per click programs.

Affiliate marketing is a very gratifying and rewarding experience. Not only is it a source for additional income, it is fun and a great learning process in itself. I wish to you all much success

Resources to Make Money Online: Affiliate Networks and Programs

Amazon Associates By linking to Amazon products and services you can add compelling content for your site visitors enjoyment and receive up to 10% in referral fees for doing so.

ClickBank is the Internet’s largest digital marketplace, where thousands of the web’s most popular products are sold every day. Whether you’re looking to buy, sell, or promote digital products, ClickBank is for you.

Commission Junction maximizes your revenue opportunities by developing sustainable relationships with top-tier advertisers. Perform and get paid for every sale and lead you generate. For qualifying publishers, take your program to the next level with our industry exclusive solution for top-performers.

LinkShare’s technology is not cookie-based, so it avoids the risks of tracking discrepancies that can result from cookies. It gives you the ability to use individual product links on your site and generate revenue from sales.

Affiliate Fuel is one of the world’s largest affiliate networks, with a record for performance and service second to none. It helps advertisers and publishers work together to create promotions that are exciting, enticing, well-managed, fair, and profitable for everyone involved.

LinkConnector marketing is an excellent way for affiliates to earn money with minimal start up costs. It gives website owners the opportunity to generate revenue by placing merchant promotions on their websites, in their email campaigns, on their blogs, or in search engine listings.

Forex-Affiliate is a world leading and highly paying Forex affiliate program. The Forex industry is the biggest market on earth today, with a daily turnover of 3 trillion dollars. Anyone today can trade Forex online. The participants in this market include central banks, organizations, commercial banks, institutional traders, and private individuals throughout the globe. This is a highly exciting market, though risky! Affiliating in the Forex market offers you a great earning potential, with online access to your traffic performance and your commission. The affiliates are provided with online support, marketing creatives and professional tools – free of charge.

IncentaClick Affiliate Network is a leader in performance based online marketing featuring CPA advertising (Cost Per Action). IncentaClick brings to the table the highest level of online marketing ethics coupled with aggressive execution. Our team of seasoned media veterans will take your online marketing initiatives to the next level. Whether you are looking for Sales, Lead Generation or Brand Development, through our various properties and media avenues we guarantee the largest reach and fastest ROI in the industry.

AdPlosion offers online marketers all they need in order to fully bask in the glow of success. Quality affiliate partners for our advertisers and exclusive offers for our publishers are just a few things we bring to the marketing table for you to feast on. You can earn revenue by selling leads, clicks and products from their advertisers. Also runs an incentive points program in addition to your commissions.

AffiliateFuture -If you are responsible for a website and want to increase its earning potential, join AffiliateFuture’s network to earn more revenue from your visitors. It works by allowing Merchants to advertise on your site, and AffiliateFuture pays you monthly when these adverts generate visits, leads or sales.

ClixGalore is an affiliate network consisting of 7500+ advertisers for you to choose from.

ThinkAction focuses is on maximizing revenue for each and every one of our partners through top offers and exclusive programs. It claims to have the top payouts and the possibility of earning over $100,000 dollars per month.

RocketProfit is an affiliate network, pays via check after your commissions reach $25 dollars.

With CafePress you can earn affiliate commissions by selling your personally branded merchandise.

Resources to Make Money Online: Paid Social Media Programs

Dada.net is a social site with a revenue sharing program that pays you for referring friends and driving traffic.

Jyve is an online knowledge exchange where users worldwide share experience and expertise. A place for people to meet and professionals to market, Jyve is the place to go when you know–or need to know–right now. It pays you for answers, advice and peer support to people in need of some help.

Cruxy provides powerful marketing, monetization and performance tools for digital creators, whether filmmakers, musicians or artists of any kind. Cruxy’s tools give artists the power to share their work on Cruxy or across the web using the Cruxy Social Player. Cruxy also gives creators the ability to sell their work as digital downloads. Artists can sell just about any type of media file at the price they choose. It just takes a small fee (10% + $.15 per transaction) with the rest going to the creator. Fans can buy content using PayPal, Google Checkout or any major credit card.

BitWine pays for giving advice and answering questions for people, on subjects of your interests and choice. You just need to sign up for a BitWine Advisor account, downloading the BitWine Taskbar, and set up a payment method for your Clients.

Ether allows you to earn money. If you are a computer expert, a blogger, or a good gossiper, you can earn money selling what you say to others over the phone or through email. You set your rates and call availability.

JustAnswer If you are an expert in your field and you want to share your knowledge with others, just look through the question list, and find yourself answering the questions with ease, put your skills to work by applying to become a Just Answer expert.

MetaCafe is one of the world’s largest video sites, attracting more than 25 million unique viewers each month. You can upload your videos and earn money based on the number of views you receive.

ChaCha is the first search engine that uses the brainpower of really smart people to find anything you want on the Internet. If you are a motivated self-starter that shares our commitment to building a world-class organization, you might be the right person for ChaCha.

AssociatedContent is a platform that enables everyone to publish their content in any format on any topic and then distributes that content to engaged audiences through its website and content partners. Those who contribute to Associated Content’s ad-supported collection of original text, video, audio and images gain exposure and often earn cash for their participation.

myLot is a growing community of individuals from around the world who enjoy sharing information, meeting new people, and helping each other out. It pays you for posting, commenting and using their social network.

KnowBrainers Questions are asked by members of our community in a wide range of subject areas including entertainment, history, science, pet care, parenting, automotive, home contracting, computer help, health, and law. It pays you to get involved with the community and answer questions.

Start Affiliate

Affiliate Program is a ground floor opportunity. All you have to do is send visitors to your affiliate web site by placing a textlink or banner on your website and receive a commission on each sale, without the complication and expense of selling anything yourself.

Instead, you earn a commission for producing a ransaction. Affiliate pograms, also known as Referral Programs, Associate Programs, Profit Sharing Programs or Reseller programs, give affiliates the ability to create an online business selling thousands products and services.

One of the first affiliate programs was run by the mega- bookstore, amazon.com. They still have the largest base of affiliates on the net although they may not be the best affiliate program for many! with over 600,000 web sites being affiliated.

Affiliate programs are generally offered by sites selling goods or services, although some affiliate programs reward other types of transaction such as getting a visitor to sign up for a free newsletter, or a download.

Some affiliate programs pay per lead rather than per sale, in other words, you bring them a prospective customer and they pay a fixed "finder’s fee" for the chance to market to that customer.

This is a typical arrangement for affiliate programs in the insurance, real estate and credit card industries, for example:

Types of Affiliate Programs

Pay per sale: If you refer a visitor to the online merchant’s site and if visitor makes a purchase you get a percentage of the sale as commission.

Pay per lead: You get paid a one-time fee for generating a lead for the merchant. Usually you get paid $2-$5 if the visitor you referred fills out an application.

Pay per click: You get paid for every visitor you send to the online merchant regardless of any sale or purchase. Usually companies pay $0.05 - $0.15 per click.

Two-Tier: You get commission on direct sales you generate and also you get commission on sales generated by affiliates you recruited. Usually companies pay 25% commission for direct sales and 5% for sales generated by your affiliates.

Bounty: You get a one-time finder’s fee payment for the visitor you referred. You will not get commission on any future purchases that customer makes.

When you join an affiliate program, you will be given a specially formatted URL (Links) that you should use to link to the affiliate provider’s site.

This will enable the affiliate provider to monitor traffic to your site and pay according to the type of affiliate program.

The Benefit of an Affiliate Program

Is that you just need to drive traffic to your affiliate site. Write a few articles and provide a few links.

You don’t need to find or deal with brokers, wholesalers, inventory, process orders, shipping & handling, customer service, tech support, handle returns, warranties, employees, etc-

An affiliate doesn’t even have to be present, your site will keep earning money while you’re sick, on vacation, or just doing something else.

Another advantage of being an affiliate, is that you do it from almost anywhere in the world..

How The System Works?

Many affiliate programs pay a commission based on a percentage of the revenue generated by purchases made by visitors coming from your website.

For example; if you’re participating in an affiliate program that offers a 25% commission and you

send a visitor who purchases US$100 worth of products, you’ve just earned US$25 in commissions.

The commission rate itself can vary from 20% up- to 50%+ in the case of intangible products such as eBooks or website subscriptions.

Affiliate programs vary widely in terms of overall quality, reliability, commission , statistics, the amount of help that the merchant site offers in marketing the products or services it sells, and so on.

By thoroughly understanding an affiliate program, you’ll minimize the risk of not getting paid - and maximize your potential earnings.

Tips to choosing the right Affiliate

How to choose the right affiliate?

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 commissions.
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.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is a revenue sharing venture between a website owner and an online merchant. The website owner will place advertisements on his websites to either help sell the merchant's products or to send potential customers to the merchant's website, all in exchange for a share of the profits.