Affiliate Marketing - The Basics

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!

5 Simple Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Programs - Without Spending A Fortune On Advertising!

So, you want to make money online, but you’re having trouble getting visitors to your website? If so, you’re not alone. Many people think that running an online busy is easy &ndash just build a website, and in no time you’ll be making money.

Well, running an online business is no different than running any business &ndash you need to find ways to reach people who want and need (and are willing to pay for) your product or service.

Affiliate marketing (selling other people’s products) is a great way to make money online.

Yet, it is still a business, and the same rules apply to affiliate marketing &ndash you need to find people who need what you are selling.

The best way to be a successful affiliate is to create your own website, provide information to get people ready to buy, and then encourage them visit the programs you are representing.

How do you do this, without spending a fortune on advertising?

1) Learn how to get free traffic from search engines

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means getting the search engines (like Google and Yahoo) to place your website at the top of the rankings. Getting “free advertising” from the search engines is great. However, it is not easy, and it does take some time. The key is make your site the best possible site for your theme &ndash tricks and scams may provide you with an instant “boost” but this rarely lasts (and sometimes even gets you banned permanently!) Over the past few years, I’ve made lots of money by having high rankings &ndash and I’ve lost money when my rankings have fallen. It’s part of the process, so you shouldn’t count only on free traffic from the search engines.

2) Create your own newsletter

By creating your own newsletter, you can contact each person who signs up more than once, increasing your chance for a sale. Don’t have any ideas for a newsletter? How about a free course. Or monthly tips about the topic of your website. Sign up for a few newsletters in your industry to get an idea of how other websites maintain this important relationship with their current &ndash and future &ndash customers!

3) Write articles

Writing articles provides you with several benefits at the same time &ndash by writing an article you are positioning yourself as an expert; when your article is published, you get a link back to your site (which helps SEO; you can promote your newsletter so you can contact readers more than once. You don’t need to have your article published in USA Today to get these benefits. In fact, getting your articles listed in an article directory (such as EzineArticles.com), can help you get listed in more specialized websites, newsletters, and magazines, helping you reach the right people!

4) Place newsletter, magazine, & newspaper ads

When spending money on ads, especially for the first time, start out small. It’s very easy to spend a ton of money, without getting any responses (a tough lesson many advertisers learn the hard way!) Email newsletters or ezines are a great way to start (start with the ones in your industry that you subscribed to in order to get ideas for your newsletter above). Make sure you offer something valuable &ndash like your newsletter &ndash to get as many people to respond as possible.

5) Watch out for scams!

Buying 10,000 visitors for only $29.95. Submitting your website to 150 search engines for $19.99. Getting your site listed #1 on all the search engines for just $50. Most of these sound very tempting, especially when you are just starting out. Unfortunately, most of these are great ways to drain your bank account very quickly &ndash and make other people rich.

So learn from the real experts how to build your online business: sign up for newsletters (HighRankings.com is a great resource), read the forums (IHelpYouServices.com and WebmasterWorld.com), read articles (EzineArticles.com).

Yes, you can make money online. So, get started, keep learning and trying, and don’t ever give up!

How To Write Press Releases That Gets Published Every-Single-Time.

Press releases are one of the effective means of generating “instant buzz”. Although they are typically viewed as short-term traffic generators, they can also be a source of long term traffic when properly optimized.

A well-written press release will send traffic to your site via links from dozens of high traffic news and content sites. Here’s what happens - you submit your press release to a press release distribution network or “news wire.” The “news wire” distributes submitted press releases across a network of subscribers.

These subscribing sites pull in the headlines from that day’s news feed and will display them wherever they want it to be shown.

They may also have filters in place to sort through the news feed, allowing them to choose news content based on relevance. Let’s look at a real world example:

You’ve just completed a press release announcing the launch of your new site that sells blue widgets. You go online to .prweb.com, one of the oldest and most trusted sources for news distribution on the web. This is where you will submit your press releases.

You have a couple of distribution options. The free distribution service will get your press release onto a network of independent web sites which subscribe to the news feed service.

On the other side, the advanced distribution options allow you to submit your press release to an even larger number of sites, including very high-traffic portals like Google News, Yahoo! News as well as major newspapers and magazines.

You pick the option best suited to your needs and within about twenty four hours your release gets picked up, people read it and, if they’re curious enough, they follow the links you included in the press release. Instant traffic boost!

Press releases, in general, get indexed more frequently and more quickly by the search engines. However, their ranking depends on keyword optimization. You can through careful optimization, achieve a top ten ranking in the major search engines on targeted keywords within your press release.

This is great because your site effectively gets improved positioning by proxy. You must have targeted keywords. The trick is to optimize the press release with relevant keywords that draw searches, but are not saturated or overly competitive.

Just like advertisements, press releases must be placed in strategic areas. Search the Web for outlets to run your release. A few ones which receives good responses are:

.businesswire.com

.internet.com

.prnewswire.com

One very common error is submitting a press release without first doing a research on the publication. It is literrally impossible to provide timely, news-oriented information to a site or magazine if you have no idea what interests their readers have.

Do a little homework before submitting your press release. You can look around the web for some stories each site offers. Buy a copy of magazine or newspaper and see the common interests of readers. By understanding what the publication is looking for, you will be able to fulfill the need and receive much better response from your press release.

To Your Success,

Seth Chong

With So Many Affiliate Programs, Which One Should I Choose?

The number one thing you need to do when looking into the myriad of affiliate programs available is to ask questions first before you join any program. You have to do the research about the choices of each program that you are thinking about joining. Get the answers before joining because they will be the deciding factors of what you will be achieving later on.

I have listed here some of the main questions that you need to ask any retailer offering an affiliate program.

“Will it cost me anything to join?” The majority of affiliate programs offered today are free of charge, so why pay for those that charge you something before joining? Unless there is only a very small fee and a very large ROI (Return On Investment), paying to be an affiliate just doesn’t make sense.

“When do they send out the commission checks?” Each program is different, so this is an important question. Some issue their checks once every month, every quarter, etc. Find the one that is best suited to your payment schedule choice. There are many affiliate programs that are setting a minimum earned commission amount that you must meet or exceed in order for them to issue you a check, so be sure to ask if they have a minimum.

“What is their hit per sale ratio?” This very important question tells you what the average number of banner or text link “hits” it takes to generate a sale. A “hit” occurs when someone clicks on the banner or text links. This is based on all affiliate statistics. This ratio is extremely important, as it will tell you approximately how much traffic you need to generate before you can start earning commissions from the sale.

“How will the referrals from my affiliate’s site be tracked and also how long do they stay in the system?” You need to have the confidence that the program will track the people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you will get credit for the sale. The period of time that your referrals stay in the system is also extremely important. The reason is because some visitors do not initially buy the product, but may want to return at a later time to make the purchase. You need to know if you are still going to get credit for the sale, even if it is done a few days or months from a certain day. Most programs track between 45 and 60 days, though some programs track referrals for as long as a year or more.

“What are the kinds of affiliate stats available?” The affiliate program you choose should be offering detailed statistics for your review. These should be available at anytime online. By constantly checking your individual stats, you know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. “Impressions” are the number of times your banner or text links are viewed by the visitors of your site.

“Besides the commissions on sales, does the affiliate program also pay for hits and impressions?” It’s best if you can find a program where impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to your earnings along with the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers a low sales point to be able to hit any ratio requirement they may have.

“Who is the online retailer you’ll be dealing with?” You need to find out whom you will be doing business with to know if they are a really solid company. Check out the products they are selling and the average sales amounts they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering the affiliate program, the easier it is for you to decide if that program is really the right one for you and your site.

“Is the program a one tier or two tier affiliate program?” A single tier affiliate program pays you only for the business you yourself generate. A two-tier program pays you for the business/sales you bring in, plus it also pays you a commission on the sales generated by any sub-affiliate you sponsor under you in the program. Some two-tier programs even pay a small fee for each new affiliate you sponsor. This is a recruitment fee, which usually only goes down one level.

Lastly, “what is the amount of commission paid?” Depending on which market you get into, you’ll find that 5% - 20% is fairly standard commission that most programs pay out. .01% - .05% is a typical amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays you for banner/text-ad impressions, the amount paid is usually not much at all. As you can see from the figures above, you now understand why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is a very important fact to know about before getting into any affiliate program.

These are just some of the questions that need to be answered first before you join an affiliate program. You should also become familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program has before incorporating them into your marketing campaign and website. Ask your affiliate program choices these questions. They can help you select the right program for you and your site from among the many available.

My recommendation for one of the best Affiliate Commision sites going is Commision Junction. They have a wide variety of both affiliate programs and payouts. CJ is certainly worth a look if you want to get serious about this type of Affiliate Marketing.

To your continued success!

Ross “The Pit Boss”

The Top Three Main Tactics Affiliate Marketers Must Do

Most all Affiliate Marketers are constantly looking for successful markets that give them the biggest and fattest paycheck, and the best ways to achieve that goal. Some think there is a magic formula that they can find if they look in just the right place. In truth, there is indeed a formula, but it’s not magic. It really just comes down to making good marketing decisions and following proven practices and tactics that have worked for others over the years. Methods that through hard work and dedication have shown to be the most effective in producing excellent results. Indeed, why re-invent the wheel when all of the “heavy lifting” has already been done for you?

Here are the top three affiliate marketing tips that have been proven and that you will be able to use to very effectively increase your sales and thrive in affiliate marketing online.

What are the three main tactics?

Tactic 1. You have to use a unique web page to promote each individual product you are marketing. You do not want to lump all of them together on one page just to save some web hosting costs. It really is better to have one page focusing on each and every product by themselves. This is a critical mistake many marketers make. If you have more than two items for sale on one page, the potential buyer can get overwhelmed and confused pretty quickly. By putting just one item per page, they have no choice but to focus on that item. This makes it much easier for them to make a decision. You can get away with having two items on one page if they are fairly similar in nature or content, but having just one works the best.

Along with the product description, you want to always include at least one product review on the website so your visitors will have a full understanding of what the product can do for them. It is also a great idea to include testimonials from actual customers who have already tried the product/service. You want to make sure that these customers are willing to let you use their names and photos on the page of each product you are marketing, so get permission from them first.

Be sure to make the pages attractive and compelling and include “calls to action” on the information/product. Every headline should attract the readers to read more of the page, or even to contact you for more information. Highlight the products “special points”. Give your readers as much information as possible to help them learn what the product is about, but leave some out so that they will want to find out more.

Tactic 2. A great way to help attract buyers is to offer free reports along with the product, or even for just their name and email address, and use great autoresponder messages. Whenever possible, try to position the “free report” option at the very top of the webpage at the left side, so that they cannot be missed. Studies show that people scan web pages from the top down and from left to right, so the upper left is usually the first thing they see. Always create a warm and welcoming autoresponder message that will be immediately emailed to whoever gives you their personal information through your opt-in box. According to very valid research, a sale is closed usually around the seventh contact with a new customer/prospect. The more personal you make each contact, the more likely the customer will purchase from you, even if the product is available from someone else. My personal experience is that I buy faster from people who reply to my emails and who genuinely want to help me. As for autoresponders, you can pay a monthly fee to one of the big name companies, or you can do what I did and get your own desktop autoresponder that you control every aspect of. I have a lot more peace of mind knowing that I have complete control over when and how my emails go out.

With the web page alone, there are only two things that can possibly happen: you will get a sale or the prospect will leave the page and possibly never return again. By giving them useful information in their inboxes at certain intervals, you are reminding them of the product they thought they might want later and it will keep you, your site and the product(s) fresh in their minds. You want to be sure that the content is directed toward the actual and specific reasons to buy the product. One thing you don’t want to do is make it sound like a sales pitch.

Instead, focus on the important points. For instance, show them how your product can make their life and working on-line easier and more enjoyable. Make sure to use compelling subject lines in each email. Try to avoid using the word “free” as much as possible, because there are plenty of spam filters out there that will dump that kind of content into the junk folder before anyone even reads them. Plus, using the typical disguises for these words, like “F*R_E_E” to avoid the spam filters just look terrible. I for one delete those immediately, as I know they are trying to “sell” me something. You want to use your autoresponder emails to convince those who have signed up for your newsletter/free reports that they will be missing out on something big if they don’t take advantage of your products and services, but do it without looking like your “selling” something to them. The more a person thinks it’s their decision to buy; the more likely they will buy right away.

Tactic 3. Now let’s talk about what is probably the most important item. Traffic. More to the point, traffic that brings in customers. And not just any customers; you want to get the kind of targeted traffic to your product that will be more than likely to buy what you are selling. Look at it like this, if the person who visits your website has zero interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be the first ones to hit the back button and move on, never to come back. How do you get this good, targeted traffic? Writing articles for e-zines, article sites and e-reports is a great method. This way you can find publications and article sites that are much more focused toward your target customers and what you have available might just grab their interest.

If you can write a minimum of 2 articles every week, with a minimum of 300-600 words in length, you will get a lot more attention and more focused traffic. By maintaining articles and writing continuously every week, these articles can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day. One thing to remember is that generally only 1 out of 100 people who visit your site are likely to buy your product or services. Once you can generate as many as 1,000 targeted traffic hits to your website a day, you can comfortably guesstimate that you will make 10 sales from that traffic, based on average statistics.

Another method that I have found to work very nicely is to use “traffic exchanges”. There are many free and paid exchanges around and the principle with all of them is basically the same. You sign up, look at other members’ web pages/ads and they in turn look at your ads and web sites. I belong to a few of these and my favorite is TrafficSwarm. It’s got a very simple interface; you can put up a bunch of short ads with links to your products and web sites within minutes of joining, your ads are targeted to the traffic you want and it’s free. Since signing up with TrafficSwarm, my “unique visitors” stats have jumped up 250%, my page views have had a similar increase and sales are steadily improving each day. You can’t ask for more than that.

The strategies given above are not really very difficult to do at all, if you think about it. They do require a little bit of your time, effort and an action plan on your part to insure success. Use these tips for all of your affiliate marketing products, and you will end up with a good source of steady income and make your way easily in this business.

To your continued prosperity!

Ross the Pit Boss