Affiliate Marketing Review

2005-11-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

6 Things to Increase Your Affiliate Income by Nell Taliercio

So you've signed up for affiliate programs, posted links around the net but you're still only making pocket change? Wonder what others are doing that you aren't? Below you will find 6 things that every affiliate marketer needs to increase their income.

#1 - Your own Website:

Build a website to promote the product. Make sure it has its own paid for domain name (yourproduct.com), not a free site like (yourproduct.othersitename.com). If you don't know how to build a website there are lots of places that offer simple site builders or you could choose to have someone build a site for you.

#2 - Write reviews:

You need to know your product and preferable use it yourself so that you can write honest reviews about it. What better way to promote a product and get people to believe it's great than to say you use it too? Post these reviews on your website, in your newsletters, articles and any other site you visit that gives you an opportunity to do so.

#3 - Use a Blog:

I recommend that you get a Blog and link back and forth to your website. This will allow you to create discussions on the blog about the product you are selling and list any updates to your regular website. Active Blogs are indexed quicker by many search engines than are new sites, and after the blog is indexed, the pages you have linked to the blog will also get indexed.

#4 - Write Articles:

One of the best ways to become an expert on your product is to write articles on the Internet and include a link to your website in the resource box. There is a plethora of places to submit articles and the more you write, the more people will trust what you are saying. You get more exposure, more people coming to your website; more click thorough of your affiliate link to purchase the product thus making you more money.

#5 - Put your links in your signature lines:

Never allow a sale to pass you by! If you are a member of even one forum, you need to have your affiliate link in your signature line. It's free advertisement and you never know who will see it and click through to check out your product.

#6 - Use Links instead of banners or buttons:

Due to the overwhelming amount of pop-ups and flashy text that we get each time we visit a website, people have learned to block out these as well as banners and buttons. It's much more professional looking and effective to have a text link with a few lines about the product.

If you are serious about increasing your affiliate income I suggest you at least do some further research on the things I have listed. If you choose to use these suggestions and take the time to do them correctly, I believe you will see an increase in your income.

About the Author
Nell Taliercio is the owner of a leading work at home mom resource website packed full of fresh content for the telecommuter, business owner and virtual assistant. Visit http://www.mommysplace.net today!

2005-11-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Guitar Affiliate Programs by P.J. Murphy

To find out how to make money from your guitar website - provided you already have valuable content - visit my Affiliate guide page at http://affiliates.guitarsongs.info

I have tried and rejected dozens of affiliation 'opportunities' over the past six years - this article will show you the sites which will provide what you seek - value-added content to your website... and checks in the mailbox.

P.J. Murphy
Webmaster,
PJ's Guitar Chords and Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Mail: pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info
About the Author
Webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords and Lyrics ( www.guitarsongs.info ). Website has been supplying resources to learning guitarists since 1999 and has had over 7 million visitors.

2005-11-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

Top eBay Affiliate Paid 1.2 Million in December by Howard Young

REQUIREMENTS FOR REPRINT: You have permission to publish this article free of charge in your ezine, newsletter, ebook, print publication or on your Website ONLY if it remains unchanged and you include the copyright, author information, and an active link to the authors Website (Resource Box) at the end. You may not use this article in solicited or unsolicited commercial email.

Top eBay Affiliate Paid 1.2 Million in December

Copyright2004 Howard Young

When eBay sent an e-mail to all of its Commission Junction Affiliates that its top affiliate was paid over 1.2 million for December 2003, I hurriedly ran to the Post Office to see if my check was there. It wasn't there, of course, nor was "the check in the mail."

Considering that eBay pays $0.05 per "Buy it Now" or bids and $5.00 per active registration, you can visualize the massive amount of traffic one affiliate had to send to eBay to receive a gross revenue of 1.2 million.

We can only speculate the spread between bids and registrations, but for simplicity sake, let's only review the higher payoff of registrations. eBay has a seven-tiered active registration program starting at $5.00 and increasing to $16.00 as you register more users. The second tier -- or breakeven point -- starts at 250 registrations where registrations increase to $8.00.

The metrics collected by Commission Junction indicate that the conversion rate for eBay is about $5.00 per 100 clicks or $0.05 per click. Coincidentally, this is the lowest price you can bid for an ad on Google Adwords.

After you register your first 250 eBay users, your gross revenue is $1,250 while your advertising costs are $1,250 -- a net profit of zero. With your next 250 registered users, your gross revenue increases to $3,250 while your Adwords cost only increases to $2,500 for a net profit of $750.

If you solve all the equations, you'll find that to gross 1.2 million it takes roughly 76,360 active registrations. Moreover, if the affiliate used Google Adwords to generate the traffic to eBay, the advertising costs were about $381,800 with a net profit of $818,200.

As indicated, this is all speculation on how the eBay affiliate generated this type of cash flow. However, I can testify that the process of using Google Adwords is a valid business model that we use 24/7 to generate affiliate leads and sales.

Although, with trail and error, you could implement a Google Adwords campaign to generate sales, it will cost you a signification portion of your advertising budget to fine-tune and optimize your ads. Or, you could read "Google Cash - How to Earn Thousands Writing Google Adwords Part Time" and take the headache out of a pay-per-click campaign.

Google Cash is a well documented step-by-step process on how to use Google Adwords -- in conjunction with Affiliate Programs -- to generate affiliated leads and sales. The author, Chris Carpenter, outlines several case studies which he uses to generate substantial revenue. Follow his advice and you will operate successful Adword campaigns.

Based on our experiences, the processes outlined in Google Cash generate revenue. But keep in mind that you have to find the correct products to sell that give you the highest leverage for your advertising dollar. Remember our 1.2 million eBay affiliate? The breakeven in advertising cost was $1,250 using Adwords. Read Google Cash and you won't need a large budget to generate positive cash flow and the check will be in the mail!

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Author: Howard Young
About: Howard Young is a freelance writer and site administrator for Fizziebooks where you can read reviews and commentary on ebooks and eproducts.
Website: http://www.fizziebooks.com
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About the Author
Howard Young is a freelance writer and site administrator for Fizziebooks where you can read reviews and commentary on ebooks and eproducts.

2005-11-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

7 Powerful Tactics To Promote Any Affiliate Program Instantly by Ewen Chia

Copyright 2005 Ewen Chia

Affiliate marketing is truly one of the most powerful and easiest models online to generate massive cash quickly, fact is you can get started in minutes from now without the hassle of creating your own products or websites.

While there're many factors to consider in the affiliate marketing business, one of the most critical questions I get every time from newer marketers is always...

Ewen, How Do I Promote My Affiliate Link?"

Here then are 7 powerful tactics you can use today to promote any affiliate program with:

==> Tactic #1: Your Own Opt-In List

If you've your own existing opt-in list this would obviously be the quickest way to start. However I'd like to provide you with some ideas to maximize the response and results you wouldn't otherwise get if you never applied them.

It's always a good tactic to provide some kind of time-sensitive bonuses to entice your list to buy through your affiliate link. It has always work and it'll continue to work.

You should also do at least 3 follow-up mailings as statistics have proven that you will get the most sales from your 2nd and 3rd mailings.

Now what if you don't have your own list to begin with?

The most logical action would be to seriously consider building your own money-making list without delay. A complete course to build and profit from your own opt-in list is at http://www.ewenchia.com/listsecrets.htm

Alternatively a 'second-rate' method is to use...

==> Tactic #2: Other People's Lists

What do I mean by this? One quick method to leverage on someone else's list is through ezine advertising, particularly with solo ads.

As in all kinds of advertising, what you want to do besides advertising the affiliate program is also to build your own list. A simple way to do this while promoting the affiliate program is by using a catchy one-two sentence signature file after your name.

The best advertising you can get is to pre-qualified targeted lists of like-minded people, especially people with money in hand. While these are rare and even harder to identify, an amazing resource can be found here
http://www.ewenchia.com/ultimatetraffic.htm

==> Tactic #3: Google AdWords

You can start promoting any affiliate program in less than 15 minutes with pay-per-click advertising, especially Goolge AdWords.

Since Jan 6th 2005, there had been some changes to Google's policies regarding advertising of affiliate products on Google AdWords.

Without going into boring details, you can still advertise affiliate programs by using landing pages customized to the affiliate program you're promoting.

As I've provided in detail exactly how you can use Google AdWords in "Striking Affiliate Gold", I won't repeat it again. You can download a copy of the manual at http://undergroundsalesletters.com/strikegold.pdf

==> Tactic #4: Article Marketing

This is one tactic you got to get started on because it works.

I've made tons of affiliate sales purely from articles. In fact, one of my articles generated over 25 affiliate sales in a little over 3 days on autopilot.

The key to successful article writing is to provide real information and tips. Make sure it doesn't sound like an outright sales pitch. Any recommendations you make should be added value to the article. The recommendation should not be its main purpose.

Again I won't be repeating information I've already covered. If you're interested in using articles as an affiliate promotional weapon, download these two revealing reports I've written:

http://www.marketingebookreview.com/LifetimeTraffic.pdf
http://www.stuffyourinboxwithcash.com/lazy.zip

==> Tactic #5: Leverage On Your Existing Web Pages

There're 3 main ways to go about doing this...

One is to simply promote your affiliate programs on highly trafficked and relevant pages of your website. Check your website statistics to see which pages visitors view the most. These are great target areas for your promotions, especially if they are relevant to the affiliate product in question.

Two, recommend affiliate products on your thank you pages. After a visitor has made a purchase from you or sign up for your ezine, all you've to do is add in a short recommendation of an affiliate product prominently on the thank you page.

Third, use your custom error (404) pages as affiliate marketing tools. This is the page that shows up when visitors enter a wrong URL or extension, there's no point in wasting this space so why not use it to promote an affiliate product?

==> Tactic #6: Capture Exit Traffic On Demand

You can quickly make extra affiliate sales just by using an exit window or pop up window to promote your affiliate programs.

While there're popup killers out there, you'll be surprised just how many percent of people actually install them - I don't.

Fact is, pop ups, especially exit pop ups still produce good results. Stick with one tasteful pop-up targeted to your visitors and youll see great results.

==> Tactic #7: Other Quick And Simple Tips

Recommend affiliate products in your 'thank you emails'.

This is a no-brainer, whether youre saying thanks for joining your ezine or for buying a product, always give your email recipients an affiliate recommendation for a targeted product you've personally found useful.

You can also create autoresponder courses on topics related to the affiliate program you're promoting as a form of follow-up preselling.

That's it for now and I hope this article has been useful. If you're interested, you can read the FULL article at
http://www.ewenchia.com/affiliate.html

Go and profit from your affiliate programs with confidence!
About the Author
Ewen Chia's Free Secret Manual "Web
Money Formula" Reveals How You Can
Start Making Quick Cash Online In As
Little As 7 Days...Even From Scratch!
Click Now For Instant Download:
http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com

2005-11-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

6 tips on becoming a successful affiliate by Damon Willis

As most of you know it takes a lot more than just a great product to translate into dollars in your bank account. The six tips I want to share with you are the same tips I give my partners (also known as affiliates) who sell my product. We all know myself included that becoming an affiliate for a product you believe in can be very exciting, but lets channel that energy and enthusiasm into success!

1.The first tip is extremely important; you need to know your product! I know that most affiliate programs are free and it can be frustrating when you have to consider spending money on the product youre selling, but sometimes spending as little as thirty bucks to start a career seems like a great investment to me.

2.The second tip is to build a great website. If you dont have any web publishing skills there are tons of free sites with web templates that make your job easy such as Tripod or Lycos who will host your website for free. After youve built a great site ask yourself a few questions, would you visit this website? And more importantly; what would make you revisit this website. Remember only one out of every hundred visitors will purchase the product you sell so make sure the quality of your website isnt the reason they go elsewhere.

3.Offering free stuff is the best way to draw traffic to your website. You can usually increase your web traffic up to 400% just by offering something free like an article or maybe a free e-book. Now that you have visitors to your site its up to you and the quality of your product to keep them there.

4.Advertising your website is vital to your companys survival because without different forms of advertising nobody knows that your product exists. It takes a while to figure out which advertising methods are the most effective for your company so concentrate on the hits and get rid of the misses. I go further into depth on the subject of advertising in another article which is available on my website.

5.The fifth tip is that you must choose the right keywords and the right Meta tags to insert into your website. The reason is that, this is the way search engines decide on what your ranking will be when someone types in a keyword. Now choosing the right keywords can be a tough challenge but there are tools to help, such SEOs or search engine optimizers as well as a host of other tools that will help you get that top 20 ranking. Remember 80% of your website hits will probably come from search engines, so your keywords are vital.

6.Last but not least, our sixth tip is to trade links with reputable websites. What this does for you is increase your website credibility and it usually makes your web ranking skyrocket when you link to sites that have a higher ranking. Remember to choose sites relevant or similar to the content on your website because that click-through from another website could turn into a paying customer.

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Damon Willis is the author of a new book titled
How to start a successful daycare business
http://www.startadaycarecenter.com or email to:damonwillis@startadaycarecenter.com
The article is free to publish with my permission but you must run the article as it appears.

About the Author
Damon Willis CEO of Open Arms Information Services and author of the new book titled "How to start a daycare business" has worked countless hours improving the Pasadena community. Whether it's charity work or providing information Damon Willis delivers.

2005-10-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing- Part I by John Benjamin (ProMinds Inc)

"A system of advertising in which site A agrees to feature buttons from site B, and site A gets a commission on any sales generated for site B. It can also be applied to situations in which an advertiser may be looking for marketing information, rather than a cash sale. Popular among startups with very small marketing budgets."

This is what you get when you do a search in Google for the definition of Affiliate Marketing.

I still remember, my early days of induction into the world of Internet Marketing, more specifically "Affiliate Marketing."

Till then, I was completely oblivious to this term. For most of us, Affiliate marketing is a term that has different meanings. Let me first move to the other side of the line and say that affiliate marketing is nothing but unnecessary pop ups, newsletter spam, affiliate tracking code cloaking and much more.

Now from the other side of the line, Affiliate Marketing is a way to market your products online by signing up affiliates who have websites and are willing to advertise your products on their site, in return earning a certain percentage of the commission from the sales they generate.

If you take a closer look, for one particular product or a company, you will find server loads of affiliates, marketing the company or a product. Now this is an indicator to itself of the way you market your products on the Internet.

To talk about Affiliate Marketing, this one article would not suffice. Hence, I have divided it into a series of articles. Although I am very tempted to first write about "The tools to improve an affiliate's conversions" let me stick to the chronology.

Why does a company need an affiliate program?

Having defined, affiliate marketing, the next obvious question that arises is, why a company needs affiliates when it can market its products on its own.

To answer this, while a company may be very huge in terms of the infrastructure, or has a really successful product, it cannot sit silent and bank on its own strengths.
Further to this, a company cannot customize the look and feel of the site to suit the tastes of the local markets. Although there are tools where you can cloak your website, it would involve a lot of complexity in terms of the technical and marketing demands. Hence, arises the need for affiliates.

What makes a company look for affiliates?

Lets face it. Every website which has a decent hit rate does enjoy a certain niche market. It is mostly for the smaller sites that you see a higher percentage of customer loyalty. There are various reasons to this; one most obvious factor is the service and the personalization provided by the smaller sites. It is sites like these which attract companies to negotiate them into signing up as an affiliate.

The mistakes most companies make:
In my experience, working with the affiliate program, one huge error made was that most companies which are into affiliate marketing just design the specs and set it up on their website and wait for webmasters to sign up with them.

Now you never know the kind of traffic you would be attracting. This where the 80:20 rule comes in the picture and that is how most of the companies strategize their affiliate marketing efforts.

A more detailed article about this can be found, entitled: "Eliminating the 80:20 rule"

Do you think you are ready to sign up as an affiliate?

Perhaps, for most of us, this question never seem to arise because of the fact that the commissions offered to an affiliate is huge enough to blind us from the most basic and simple facts to begin with. Lets face it, if a company offers you a huge commission for selling their products, you can rest assured that it will take you a lot of time and effort to make a single sale. I would not quote any numbers here as the commissions differ from one market sector product to another.

A few pointers to keep in mind before signing up as an affiliate:

1. Take stock of the situation.
Or as the "Gurus" call it, make a SWOT analysis of your site. This will present your website in a very plain and subtle way. Through this you would know where your website's strength lies in.

2. Scout for the right product for you.
This is common sense, but let me reiterate this fact. Always sign up for products you think will fit in with your website's theme. You would not want to be a web host and sign up as an affiliate, selling another web host who promises to give you a 50% commission. Now that would be very silly to do. The bottom line is that sign up for services that will "Add Value" to the services provided by your website.

3. The Affiliate Terms & Conditions.

This is the saddest part of affiliate marketing. In my experience, I used to come across at least 2 cases of misunderstood affiliates who feel they are cheated out in the deal. Always ensure that you read the terms & conditions carefully and clarify with the company incase you have any further queries.

4. Prepare your site.
Another major problem in affiliate marketing is tracking. Always ensure that you have some tools and logs to monitor the traffic on your site and if possible the outgoing links, clicks, etc. Lets face it, no matter how big a company is, setting up the perfect affiliate tracking tools is something which I have not come across so far. So there will always be a situation where in you will have to lose out on a conversion. Make sure that you have your back covered with the tools so that your case will have credibility.

Remember, a company would never want to deny an affiliate, especially if the affiliate is really genuine. Why? Im sure you know the reasons.

5. Affiliate Networks or Direct Affiliate?
Now that you have all the details with you, the next question is whether to sign up with an affiliate network of to sign up directly as the company's affiliate. There are a few things to consider here. I would not restrain you from signing up with either of the entities as both have their pros and cons.

a) If you are looking at a reasonably good tracking system and hassle free set up, then Affiliate Networks would be the right place for you.

b) If you are not quite sure of the products you want to sell, but you want to set up some affiliate banners, then affiliate networks is the best place to sign up.

c) If you think you can handle the terms & condition put forth by the company and if you are fairly adept in setting up a foolproof system on your site then sign up with the company directly. It will also help you negotiate a custom deal which will offer you much higher payouts as compared to signing up with networks.

Keep in mind that affiliate networks are nothing but sites just like yours who sign up as a master affiliate. By setting up their infrastructure, tracking, etc they allow various other people to sign up through them. What happens in this case is that the affiliate networks are the master affiliates, while you become the sub affiliate. So what this means is that the extra commission earned by the networks for the sales you bring, a part of it is used towards providing you with better service. And there are a few networks which also charge you a certain fee for the transactions.
But do not think that signing up directly will be a better deal. Because although this will provide you with direct interact with the company and in most cases, with the account manager, you will have to be 100% of your tracking and other problems that might arise.

So if you are ready to make some serious money and efforts towards marketing a product, then go ahead, there is no better way to do it than through affiliate marketing and no, I am not talking about Google AdSense here.
About the Author
John Benjamin works as a freelance consultant for Internet Marketing. His website has various articles listed at http://www.promindsinc.com

He also has a forum where you can find all the articles, discussions at http://www.promindsinc.com/bb/

2005-10-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Programs that Earn a Profit by Ratliff J

This information may be helpful for everyone, regardless of how long you have been in the affiliate business, or even if you are just getting started.

First, a good affiliate program can be hard to come by. It needs to offer decent commissions, accurately track sales, and most importantly, pay their affiliates in a timely manner.

Many webmasters and internet gurus are doing very well with only a handful of affiliate programs. Once you find a good one, you kind of seem to get stuck on it until you are positive you are making every penny possible.

Before spending a lot of time and money marketing an affiliate program, always check it out first. There are a number of ways to do this.

1. Search through an affiliate directory online and look for ratings or comments. I have my Affiliate Directory setup so people can rate programs, which helps everyone.

2. Ask them how many affiliate they have, and what the top earners are making, as well as the average affiliate.

3. Give the program a trial run - just enough to make a few sales that will allow you to recieve a payment from them. This will ensure they pay as offered.

4. Keep records.

To see my affiliate program directory, please visit the Affiliate Program Directory.

TO learn more about becoming an affiliate, or to join a great affiliate program, check out Make Money Online.

About the Author
J. Ratliff is an affiliate marketer since 1999. He is also the author of the Affiliate Program Directory.

2005-10-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Creating Webmasters by Jess Marion

Most webmasters know that to get paid by the sites you advertise, you need to find a way to get traffic to your site. This is because a small percentage of people that visit your site will look at your ads, and an even smaller percentage will actually make a purchase. This process takes alot of time and money.
Most affiliate programs have several forms of advertisement including banners, text links and free content. There is one in particular that is often overlooked. Many companies pay alot more for a webmaster referal than an actual sale. If not a straight forward sum of money, they usually give you a percentage of the refered webmaster's sales. These seem to be the greatest payoffs because getting another webmaster to advertise for a company that you yourself are advertising is very rare. This is because the type of traffic you are targeting does not include experienced webmasters. You would have to have a website targeted toward this target category.
So how does one get webmaster traffic to their webmaster ads? Well, why not create them?
Experienced webmasters usually pick a niche and stick with it, basing their sites around certain targets. This makes it even more difficult to refer webmasters to a very specific advertising category. The most ideal traffic would be people who want to make money advertising who haven't chosen a niche in internet marketing. So how does one attract fresh meat? Easy. Offer something for free. Now what can you offer for free in exchange for deciding to be a webmaster and advertise with your companies? Something that they don't yet have and will most definitly need: a website.
This sounds like alot of trouble to go through, considering the time you've put into developing your own site, and the cost of registering a domain name. But think about it. If you can guarantee a refered webmaster in exchange for registering their domain, you'll be making a huge profit. I register my domains with a registrar that charges $6.95 a month. If you only register their domain for the first month, thats not alot out of your pocket, considering that some affiliate programs I advertise for pay as much as $100 per webmaster referal! That's a profit of $93 for a single referal. Now for the site design. All you would have to do would be to create a one page website centered around the product or service you promote. This way, you can attract the costomer by not only a very cheap, completely set up site and domain name, but also making money in the process. Most companies provide lots of free selling tools, content, and information. Your costomer would have to sign up for the affiliate programs through your code so you can make your money, and they can make theirs. You would not have to download any materials again after this, because you can use the exact same code for the exact same site over and over again.
So basically, you are offering a complete one page web site which requires that they sign up as a webmaster through your codes, which anyone would be willing to do for cheap webpage and the chance to make money. Therefore, you can charge as little as one cent for copying and pasting html code into the free page of the domain's registrar, and make all your money from the companies you promote. You could even give this service away for free and make as much money as you want!
The best part about this system is that anyone can be a potential costomer, because everyone wants something free and easy, no matter what it is. Advertising a free website will make almost everyone who visits your page will make you a large sum of money. Even though this works with any company, I find it is easier to offer adult websites because the payout is usually higher for a webmaster referal. They also offer alot of free content which can be used as the content of the entire site. Using this method, I am finally making all the revenue that these companies promised me.
About the Author
Jess Marion is an expert webmaster. He specializes in affiliate marketing. He looks forward to a long career in advertising.

2005-10-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

10 Profit Boosting Tips To Increase The Success Of Your Affiliate Program by Ken Hill

1. Develop credible, benefit rich ad copy, along with a well designed site to increase your sign ups, and also your affiliates' conversion rates.

2. Submit your affiliate program to directories that list affiliate programs.

These directories attract lots of people interested in joining affiliate programs, and will increase your sign ups by giving you good ongoing promotion of your affiliate program.

3. Pay your affiliates well for promoting your products.

Offering your affiliates a high commission rate for their referrals of your products will increase the number of affiliates that join your affiliate program and also help you to better compete with other businesses for affiliates.

To make your affiliate program even more appealing to your visitors, pay residual commissions if you sell a product or service that your customers pay for on an ongoing basis such as webhosting or access to your private members only site.

In addition, you can increase your sign ups by making your affiliate program two-tier, where your affiliates earn commissions on their own referrals and also on the referrals of affiliates they've personally referred to your affiliate program.

4. Track the sales you get from your affiliates fairly and accurately.

Track phone orders and mail in orders. Only offer payment options to your customers that your affiliates will get paid a commission on if they refer that customer to you.

In addition, pay your affiliates promptly for the sales they refer to you. Don't make your affiliates wait months to receive their checks from you or set minimum payment requirements that are too high for the majority of your affiliates to meet.

5. Provide your affiliates with resources that they can use to get more sales of your products such as ads, banners, button ads, and sample recommendations.

Also include promotional items such as marketing courses that your affiliates can use to promote your products or ebooks that they can rebrand with their affiliate URL.

If you write articles allow your affiliates to run these in their ezines or post them on their sites with their affiliate URLs in your resource box.

6. Answer any questions you get about your affiliate program from your visitors or affiliates as quickly as you can.

Remember that nothing will turn your visitors or affiliates off of your affiliate program faster than an unanswered email. Strive to answer all your emails quickly and in a professional and friendly manner.

7. Provide ways for your affiliates to network with each other.

You could provide a message board or chat room where your affiliates can interact with one another, and learn more about how to successfully promote your products.

Your message boards or chat rooms will also provide you with an excellent chance to show your support for your affiliates and to help them to get started marketing your products with your own tips and advice.

8. Give special recognition to your top earning affiliates by giving them bonuses for the sales they bring you or by paying them a special higher commission based on their performance.

9. Publish an affiliates only newsletter.

Your newsletter will help you to successfully provide your affiliates with tips and techniques that they can use to get more sales of your products.

Publishing your newsletter will also help you to keep your affiliates up to date on any new products you've added that your affiliates can promote, and can help you to increase your profits by notifying your affiliates when you're running a special sale or promotion.

10.Show your appreciation of your top affiliates by mentioning them, their sites, and strategies they use to promote your products in your newsletter.

This will provide you with an effective way to increase their loyalty to your program while providing your other affiliates with excellent tips and strategies for them to use to successfully promote your products.

About the Author
Article by writer, Ken Hill. Start Your Own Profit Creating Affiliate Program! Amazing all-in-one solution includes affiliate program software, newbie friendly shopping cart, unlimited autoresponders, easy newsletter management and much more to increase your sales! Get your no cost 30 day trial now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5029

2005-10-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

What You Need To Know Before Joining Affiliate Programs by Shelia Garrett

What You Need To Know Before Joining Affiliate Programs
@2004 by Shelia Garrett

An affiliate program is a revenue-sharing arrangement, whereby the affiliate (you), receive payment from the owner of a product or service that you promote on their behalf. They are also called Associate Programs, Re-seller Programs, Commission or Pay-Per-Sale, Pay-Per-Click and Click-Through
Programs.

Affiliates refer surfers to someone elses product or service, and get paid a referral fee or commission for
every sale that is made. It's a win-win situation! You get extra traffic and sales, and they get a piece of the action for their products being sold.

An affiliate makes a commission that may vary between 5% and 15% of the purchase price. Some programs offer as much as 50%.

There are two types of affiliate programs. They are Single-Tier and Two-Tier. With a single-tier you are paid a
commission for any sale that you refer and thats it. With a two-tier you are paid a small percentage of any sales
generated by affiliates that you recruit to join their program. The best tier to join is the Two-Tier.

Who should join Affiliate Programs?

- People looking to start Internet businesses that do not have a product or service of their own.

- Established e-business owners looking to diversity their income

- E-business owners who have an established Affiliate Program of their own

These are some benefits to joining an Affiliate Program:

- it allows you to start a home business immediately

- you do not need to develop a product or service yourself to sell

- it is a great way to start earning a sizeable income on the internet without many of the hassles that come with
running your own business

- They are great tools for promoting your web business

Remember to always read the Affiliate agreement before you sign up for a program. You do not want to do business with a company that has a really high pay out. These programs
require you to accumulate hundreds of dollars in sales before they will issue you the first check.
About the Author
Written by Shelia Garrett
Shelia Garrett has been on the net for two years. She has joined the number one affiliate program, The Internet Marketing Center (IMC) Affiliate.
This program can be found at this website:
http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/792559

2005-10-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Earn a 6 Figure Income the EAS by Terah J. Logan

Business Reviewed: Six Figure Income
Price: Free To Join.
Author: Terah J Logan, Chief Critic, www.simplesteps2success.biz

My favorite business opportunity hands down is Six Figure
Income (SFI). This program has been around for many years
and there is good reason for this. Clearly explained and
realistic, if you give this business a chance to grow and
you tend it like you would your most precious garden, a
full time income with this business will, without doubt,
happen.

SFI is free to join with free promotional banners, gateway
sites, and printable flyers that you will have no problem
getting leads from. You simply generate traffic to your
site(s) and SFI does the rest. Even the most seasoned
marketer leaves the recruiting and sales up to SFI. Why
not? They do an awesome job and you can focus on one
thing.... traffic. (Even the traffic they help with through
free training, manuals, and if you are ambitious, you can
buy into the co-op advertising; I myself do this.)

The system is so complete. I simply love working this
program! Do what you love and the money just comes.... 100%
true!

How does it work?

Like I mentioned you join for free and you take a fast
start training program (takes about 10 minutes). You
quickly learn the nuts and bolts of this proven money
making system. The system clearly explains your goals and
how you work up the ladder to success with SFI. First you
become an affiliate, then Multi-Qualified, then you become
a Power Team Leader. You will have no problem reaching
these goals with the step-by-step help from SFI.

What is the product?

SFI markets alot of things! Internet Marketing products,
books, ebooks, home business associations, cleaning
products, pet products, plus the SFI business opportunity
itself. Depending on the approach you want to take, each
product has it's own gateway site, so there is still focus
despite the diversity. You can target and market this
opportunity to many niches.

Should you join?

If you are looking for a business that is complete with
impressive affiliate support and is free to try why not
give SFI a go? Visit
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/8489211/FREE

Here's to your success!

About the Author
========================================================
Are you serious about making money online? Do you want to
know what marketing products are valuable and what are a
waste of your valuable time and money?

Visit http://www.simplesteps2success.biz for Internet
Marketing ebooks, programs, and software reveiws. Find out
what's hot and what's not before you potentially waste your
time and money.
========================================================

2005-10-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing: Make $$ on your own Website! by Gloria Cohen

So, how can you make affiliate marketing successful for you? With the proliferation of goods and services on available on the Internet, advertisers and web site owners galore are looking to individuals, companies and other website owners to help sell their products utilizing the power of other sites and companies to spread the word. Its another great form of marketing medium and heres the best part, to have the ability to make extra funds on the side. Many businesses are jumping in on the affiliate wagon to generate additional revenue in addition to their online niche. Whats even more interesting about affiliate marketing is that many people are in the affiliate marketing business without actually having a product or service to sell!

Affiliate marketing can be in a number of forms such as banner advertising on affiliate sites, text links, and reviews written by affiliates, direct email and so forth. The advertisers compensate webmasters by paying them for displaying the ads, or for click throughs sent to them, or (as is most common these days) a commission on the sales resulting as a referral from their web site or email message.

Many website owners and businesses are swapping ads in place of paying upfront for advertising on the other site. The only time money actually changes hands, is when you pay out a percentage for each time your link is clicked on, and the other website owner pays you for when his links get hit on from your site. One hand washes the other when it comes to affiliate marketing. The tricky part here is which program do you participate in. There are thousands of programs out there, all claiming to be number one. Being a successful affiliate will require a bit of work. With the nature of the web and hundreds of new websites going live each day, the competition becomes much more fierce, which means you will definitely have your work cut out for you. Understanding how affiliate marketing works and how much time will be required on your part would be a good place to start before you make any decisions before venturing out starting an affiliate business.

The question remains.

How do I make money and how do I use my website space to accommodate for affiliate marketing?

These are the two most important questions when it comes to affiliate marketing. First things first. You must have your own website, with your real domain hosted on a real web server with real features. Dont get any of those freebie sites please! Those sites will lose you money. If youre serious about having an affiliate program, then you must spend a little bit of money to get your own domain name that contains preferably your own keywords and/or keyword phrases. Dont forget the hosting company. Having a good hosting company is crucial to the success of your affiliate program. ( You can refer to one of eMA previous articles. "Web Hosting: Selecting the Right Host!" or go to WebHostingRebates). By having your own domain name, and your own affiliate website will guarantee you more traffic than a self-replicating website. Look legit and be legitimate.

The second important thing about affiliate marketing is how to utilize your website space for your affiliate program. The hottest things out on the affiliate market right now are in the form of text link ads. Text link ads are bandwidth friendly, dont require much space and can be implemented in most page layouts. The shorter the text links, the better the display in terms of stating your product or company name. By linking, the user can find further information of related articles and reviews about this particular link. Another way to generate money with affiliate marketing on your web site is to offer simple banner ads.
The key with banner ads is to go simple and choose the right one. With the large variety of banner ads out there, it can be a bit overwhelming when it comes to the decision process. Banners should load quickly and should not appear in the form of Spam. You wont get linked if it takes too long to download, or if it appears to be a junk banner. Do your research when it comes to banner ads for affiliate marketing. These are just a few forms of affiliate advertising you can use on your website. One more important factor is how easily it is to implement links or ads on your site, how quickly it can be set up and go live. Technical expertise will be required for work in this area.

There are many other forms of affiliate marketing programs you can take advantage of. Just hop online and begin your journey. Successful affiliate marketing will require a lot of patience. The major blunder that many people do when they start out with affiliate marketing is that they dont sit on it for a while to see it turn over. What they do is bop from one affiliate program to the next because they become so discouraged with the outcome in a very short period. Things will only go upward by being patient and allow it the chance to prosper. Like I always say-Good things come to those who wait.
About the Author
About the Author:
Gloria Cohen has a strong background in Internet marketing in helping businesses find new customers by using effective marketing strategies. Gloria is currently an editor of eMarketing Answers.

Reprint Rights:
You are free to reprint this article in your web site, newsletter, e-zine or ebook. However, please keep the authors section at the bottom of the article as is.

2005-10-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Mastering Google Adwords For Profit by James O'Keefe

Mastering Google Adwords?

Lets be honest here, Google is certainly one of the biggest players as far as search engines go. The results returned by Google are fairly accurate, and while we take them for granted we cannot forget about all the days of work that must have gone into the algorithms that sort the wheat from the chaf. As this must have cost them some serious money, it would have been unfair to expect Google to keep paid advertisers from their site and it was only a matter of time before paid advertising became an option.

Getting the Balance Right

One of the problems associated with adding paid for listings to search results is that you can't simply hide the paid for links into the results of a search term. In the early days of cost per click searches it was often the companies with the deepest pockets that were guaranteed top spot for a term. The only thing such companies had to prove was that the keyword was relevant to the term, if of course the advert had to be reviewed before going live.

Search engines that offer paid for and free listings should really differentiate between the two types of link. I know that whenever I've used a traditional pay per click search engine the top few paid for terms aren't always relevant to what I was looking for, so I like to know before I click on a link if it was paid for or not.

Paid for results are fine, so long as visitors are aware they are paid for. Any pay per click engine that clearly makes the distinction between the two keeps some of its credibility by declaring its interest in a particular link.

Google Adwords Select

I'll admit I wasn't surprised when I heard that Google was offering a new cost per click program (Adwords Select); it was only a matter of time. However, having read through the way the program works, I was pleasantly surprised. Google's approach to their pay per click program is the way forward, not only does it filter out the obvious spammers in real time, but it can cut needless costs to the advertisers while maximizing their own revenue!

There is a $5 setup fee if you want to use the Adwords Select program, and the minimum charge for a click is 5 cents. While this can work out cheaper than the normal Adwords program that is based on the cost per number of impressions, it is still enough to keep some of the much smaller web site owners out of the game as it were.

Having said that the Select program offers features that can help out those that are on a pretty tight budget. To begin with there is no minimum monthly charge, so once you've paid your setup fee you will only be charged for what you use. Another handy feature that will save you any unexpected costs you can't afford is the ability to set yourself a daily budget. As soon as you've reached your daily limit, Google will temporarily remove your adverts from the keywords you're targeting.

To make your Adwords money stretch even further, you are able to set the demographics for each of your keywords. So if you are looking for visitors from a specific region or in a particular language you can tailor your adverts accordingly, which makes it easier to deal with those quirky problems normally related to cultural differences.

The most striking difference is that you don't have to pay the most per click to get the top advertising spot for a particular keyword! Your eyes are not deceiving you, a company will have to have more than deep pockets to be able to keep your site away from that top spot.

In theory, your position in the order for sponsored links will depend on the amount you are willing to pay as well as your click through rate. These figures are multiplied together to produce a rank, which is then used to determine your position in the sponsored listings. So anyone fortunate enough to have a very healthy click through rate will be able to stay near to the top.

Room for Improvement

While Google's Adwords Select program is likely to prove to be successful, I can see scope for improvement; that is, assuming they have overlooked one point that seems so glaringly obvious.

Anyone who is capable of writing a convincing advert for the program can easily achieve a high click through rate. If the positions are determined by click through and maximum price per click alone, then it could still be possible for a search engine spammer to come in and take the best position simply by writing the most convincing advert. If spammers can make the system work for them, this could potentially be harmful to the way that Google's visitors perceive them.

The fact that Google Adwords has immediate advertisement rotation removes a certain level of protection in that a human editor does not have the chance to review the advert and make sure that it is suitable. Perhaps what is needed is for each advert to be regularly monitored to make sure that the keyword they bid on is deemed to be important in the page that they link to.

Surely Google will have the technology to be able to cope with such checks whenever an advert is submitted or changed, as well as to check that it is still relevant whenever Googlebot pays its regular visits. If they haven't implemented it already, then I think such checks will benefit everyone; Google, site owners and searchers alike!

Want to check out a fantastic product for Mastering Google Adwords? This is the best guide I have found on the market so far. And it can be tried risk free for 90 days.

Return to My Millionaire Friend

About the Author
Jim O'Keefe is a serial entrepeneur and the owner/webmaster of MyMillionaireFriend.com, TheParentalAdvocate.com and AboutRSD.com

2005-10-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

How cloaking your links can save you both time and money by Hannes Johnson

How cloaking your links can save you both time and money
(c) 2005 Hannes Johnson

You've most likely seen them in ezines, websites, etc. and quite
possibly clicked on a few of them. If you've been in affiliate
marketing you might have even used them yourself... or at least
you should have. Because it can save you both time and money.

What I'm talking about are cloaked affiliate links. That is,
small HTML files that hide your referral ID, username, member #,
etc... and/or shorten the full URL.

How Do They Work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usually the HTML file you use to cloak your affiliate URL
forwards the user to the actual affiliated website just moments
after clicking your cloaked link (or entering it into the web
browser). The HTML file can also be frame-based, meaning that it
will put the affiliate URL in an invisible frame so the user will
only see the URL to your cloaked link and not the URL of the
website you are directing the user to.

What Is The Purpose?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many dishonest people will do anything they can to prevent
affiliate marketers from getting their commission for their hard
work. When people see a link that they recognize as an affiliate
link they might cut your username off and buy directly from the
website or even worse, they might replace your username with
theirs and take your commission.

Also, some people might be uncomfortable clicking on a link they
recognize as an affiliate link.

What link would you rather click on:
http://www.madisondynamics.com/index.php?13523.artcl
or
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/madison.html

Tests have shown that up to 30% of all affiliate commissions are
STOLEN by people who replace with their own link to "buy at a
discount" and it's a serious problem.

How Can You Prevent That?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the service you are affiliated with uses cookies or other
tracking devices using a cloaked link that refreshes to the
affiliate URL should make sure that you get the commission/
referral you deserve. Because once the user clicks your cloaked
link and is redirected to your affiliate URL a cookie with your
referral ID is saved on the user's computer and the user should
be less likely to succeed in stealing your commission.

Here is a sample of the HTML code you can use to create a HTML
file that refreshes to your affiliate URL:

Loading... please wait

Loading... please
wait
If you are not redirected in 10 seconds
click here.

Just replace "http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com" with the referral
URL your affiliate program gave you.

However, if your affiliate service/program doesn't use cookies or
if you're not sure, it would be safer for you to use framed
cloaked links because then the user won't see your full
affiliate URL and won't be able to cut off your referral ID.

Here is a sample of the HTML code you can use to create a HTML
file that puts your affiliate URL into an invisible frame:

Name of your affiliate program

(Note from author: In order for the HTML code to be seen
correctly I've added "#" signs. If you intend on using this code
just remove the "#" signs.)

Just replace "http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com" with the referral
URL your affiliate program gave you. You should also change the
title to the actual name of your affiliate program or something
else you think is appropriate.

You should know though that people will always be trying to get
passed the cloaked links so there is never a 100% way of ensuring
your rightful commissions. But using cloaked links will
definitely decrease the chance of you losing out on a commission.

But How Can It Save You Time?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that we have seen how cloaking your links can save you money
how can it save you time?

Well, I realized this recently when I decided to drop out of a
certain affiliate program. I had been promoting this program
on several places on the internet and the URL I was promoting was
a cloaked link I had created on my domain.

You can understand that I no longer wanted to promote a program I
was not affiliated with any more. So I was looking forward to at
least a half hour of searching the internet for places where I
had put a link to this program and either change it or delete it.

But that's when I realized I didn't have to hurry and delete all
these links so I wouldn't be wasting money and credits on this
program. All I had to do was log in to my website and edit the
HTML file I had created to cloak the program's URL and make the
file direct people to another URL I was comfortable promoting.

I could then later on when I had the time go find the places
where I had been promoting the program and update the information.
I could even just skip that if I didn't want to, and if the
information promoting that URL wasn't misleading, related to the
new URL. But even if you want to update the information or delete
the link sometimes you can't. For example, on certain places
where you buy text links, etc.; then instead of that link
promoting a program you're no longer affiliated with you are able
to promote another website, without any major effort.

* Tip: Even after you've gone through the websites where you had
put your cloaked link and removed it I would recommend keeping
the file on your domain because there might be a few "ghosts"
left out there on the internet who still link to this file.

Also, if the product or service you're promoting changes its
affiliate system and you have to use a different URL to get
commissions you can just easily update the URL through your cloaking
file - and you'll not lose commissions by having an old, unusable
link out there on the internet.

Resources To Help You Cloak Links
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you don't know how to create HTML files and edit them or if
you don't trust yourself to do it there are many services
available to help you:

* AdTrackz Software (highly recommended). This one creates a
frame-based cloak file automatically and javascript-encodes the
source code which makes it close to impossble for people to steal
your hard earned commission:
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/adtracker.html
* Affiliate Link Cloaker - makes it all easy and secure:
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/cloaklinks.html
* NameStick - cloak a link with an easy to remember domain:
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/cloakdomain.html
* TinyURL - cloak a link with 1 click:
http://www.tinyurl.com
* shorlify - like TinyURL, but with statistics too:
http://www.shorl.com
* CJB.net - one of the many free forwarding services out there:
http://www.cjb.net
* Here.is - another free forwarding service:
http://www.here.is
* Free .tk domain - get your own domain for free, pretty cool:
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/freetkdomain.html

Here are some places that provide you with free webspace where
you can put your cloaking HTML files:

* http://www.geocities.com
* http://www.angelfire.lycos.com/
* http://www.tripod.lycos.com/
* ...if you want more places just do a Google search.

Although free webspaces are nice I would recommend putting the
cloaking files on your own domain, where you have total control
and don't risk losing your files or being blocked by bandwidth
limits. Therefore I would recommend these hosting solutions >>

* Host4Profit - 300 MB webspace, 10 GB bandwith, great support:
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/host.html
* iProBuilder - set up a profit-pulling website in 24 hours or
less... - unlimited storage space!:
http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/iprobuilder.html

Conclusion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As an extra bonus, while you're using your cloaked links to
promote on various websites you automatically increase your
search engine rankings because of all the incoming links to your
domain ;) Plus, you'll also be increasing your Alexa ranking
because of the extra page views.

So, to save you both time and money:

* Cloak your affiliate URL using the methods and services I
mentioned above
* Promote that cloaked link wherever you can
* Cash in those bigger commission checks
* ..and if you decide to leave the program just edit that one
file you created on your domain :)

Thanks for reading.

About The Author
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hannes Johnson is the author of the book "Residual Website Traffic"
( http://www.residual-traffic.com ) and maintains The Home Biz
Blog ( http://blog.workathomemadeeasy.net ), where this article
was first published. To subscribe to his Home Business Tips
Newsletter send a blank e-mail to:
mailto:workathomemadeeasy@SubscribeMeNow.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author
Hannes Johnson is the author of the book "Residual Website Traffic"
and maintains The Home Biz Blog, where this article was first
published. To subscribe to his Home Business Tips Newsletter
send a blank e-mail to:
mailto:workathomemadeeasy@SubscribeMeNow.com

2005-10-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

What is a Tier in Affiliate Marketing? by Clay Mabbitt

The word "tier" shows up a lot in the affiliate marketing industry. In a general sense a tier is a step or level, but what does this mean in the context of affiliate marketing. The answer is: it depends.

Downline Levels
The most common meaning of tier is a carry-over from the compensation plans of network marketing companies that were in place before the Internet boom. When you introduce a new entrepreneur to the program, he is placed on your second tier. If that new entrepreneur then introduced his sister to the program, she would be placed on your third tier.

If the sister brought in a paying customer, she would receive a first tier commission. Her brother would receive a second tier commission, while you received a third tier commission (if the compensation plan included a third tier). In practice, an affiliate program can offer commissions on any number of tiers, although the vast majority of online affiliate programs only pay commissions on one or two tiers of activity.

Sales Volume
You would get a different picture of the word tier from Amazon's compensation plan, where it refers to your sales volume. (The following numbers don't reflect Amazon's actual compensation plan, but they serve as an example.) On the first $500 worth of merchandise you sell, you receive a 10% commission. Up to $500 is the first tier. The second tier is for sales up to $1500. If you manage to sell between $500 and $1500, you will earn 11% commission. Each tier is an additional range of monthly sales in which you earn a higher commission (or receive other forms of compensation).

The Problem
The confusion arises when affiliate programs emphasize that they run a 2-tier compensation plan in their affiliate recruiting efforts. In most cases, this refers to the downline levels definition, and participants can expect to receive compensation based on the performance of affiliates they introduce to the program.

Occasionally, a program makes this claim when referring to sales volume tiers. This isn't inaccurate, but it is misleading. The managers of these programs are almost never intentionally trying to mislead. More often, they have thoughtfully crafted a compensation plan that rewards affiliates who perform well, and they want to announce that feature to all potential affiliates.

Who's Right?
You could make an argument for either definition of tier. If you're trying to communicate with other people in the affiliate industry, though, you need to give strong consideration to which meaning is generally accepted by most people. That is the downline levels definition.
About the Author
Clay Mabbitt writes articles about online income opportunities. He is the founder of a community of Internet entrepreneurs sharing knowledge and experience at http://www.affiliatescreen.com

2005-10-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

Can you succeed marketing an affiliate based program? by Ian Bosworth

Internet Marketing can be an enjoyable and profitable experience, but it can also be very frustrating, time consuming, money draining and anti social.

So why do we keep putting ourselves through all this pain?

Well, Im sure that for everyone there is a different answer depending on your driving force, but for me its the thought that one day Ill succeed and make a tidy income. God knows how many Get Rich schemes are out there but experience has taught me that 95% of them are simply schemes for making the owner rich and not the affiliate. On the plus side, they do teach you the pitfalls of Internet Marketing and hopefully move you that little further down the line towards your ultimate goal.
You may think that this article is simply a moan about the chaos which is Internet Marketing but I assure you thats not the case. My aim is to pass on the good and bad of this type of venture and to hope that I can help someone to avoid the many obstacles and reach there goal reasonable unscathed.

Can you make money from a program which doesnt sell a tangible product?

Time and time again youll see these type of programsTheyll say pay $5 as a one off payment and well give you thousands in return. The word that comes to mind is Pyramid. Logic tells you that $5 can never become $1,000 without you sponsoring thousands of people and then theyve got to sponsor thousands of people and so on. At some point you run out of people and the system fails. You loose your money but the owner makes a tidy sum. Maybe the answer is to invent your own Get Rich scheme but then, how do these people sleep at night?
Personally, these schemes should be outlawed because all they do is serve to undermine the ethics of Internet Marketing.
So, can you make money from these types of programsMy experience tells me No
Should you avoid them?
Most certainly Yes

What about programs where you pay a monthly fee but again there isnt a product?

These are very much the affiliate based programs and do have some merits. They tend to offer the same, old same old, free resource tools, safe lists to join and a type of ad co-op guaranteeing leads and/or sign-ups. Of course, the tools are usually obsolete in todays market, the safe lists are more geared towards the owner making an advantage by you joining using their affiliate ID and the guaranteed leads are too old to be of any use. Im sorry for being a cynic but Im sure there are people out there who are reading this article and nodding there head because theyve been there.

On the plus side these programs do have a sustainable growth because of the monthly income and so getting personally sponsored affiliates can recoup your loses over time. The problem however, is that people tend to be reticent to join because of the fees and then become despondent when they struggle to get affiliates for themselves. Most of the programs offer free membership and Yes you will get tens to hundreds of people joining the free program but the ratio from free to paid is very poor.

People enter these programs believing, that by simply joining, they will be given thousands of Dollars for doing zilch! Like I said these programs do have there merits and if you stick in and spend loads of your money on advertising, hours of your time promoting to rotators and safe lists then you may come out the other side breaking even or with a small profit. Dont get me wrong I still have some involvement with these types of programsWhy?Because I believe the hype that I can be the one success story and come out the other side, a rich man!

What about the programs where you pay a monthly fee and promote a product?

If the product is unique in some way, affordable to the masses, useable and needed and you can get in on the ground floor then you could be onto a winner. In my experience, its the product which brings in the serious marketer not the affiliate program. Think back to the early days of mobile phones, when they use to be very bulky and expensive and people were saying Theyll never catch on
However, the marketer with vision saw the mass potential and stuck in. Oh how I wish Id been in this game then because now I wouldnt be here typing this article, Id be on a beach somewhere and my secretary would be typing this article. There are other types of product based affiliate programs out there which will also give you a chance for success, but finding it is like crawling through a minefield. Dont simply sign up because its free membership or the site looks professional, read all the pages and understand the ethics of the owner. Consider the product(s) on offer and think about your target audience. The product(s) should be affordable, useable, sellable, exciting and hopefully unique in its market. The affiliate program should be affordable and sustainable. Look at the Compensation plan and consider how feasible it will be for you and your potential team, to reach the profit line. Some plans may look impressive but sometimes they dazzle you with big Dollars. Look at the amount of paid sign-ups required together with the percentages paid and compare this to the cost of the program and the cost of advertising needed to reach those required sign-ups. Work out how long it will take you to break even, for instance, if the cost of the program is $20 a month and you spend $20 a month on advertising you may get 1 or 2 sign-ups a month. If the comp plan pays you $5 a sign-up youll need 8 sign-ups to break even but it may take you 4 to 8 months to get to that point. So it could cost you between $160 and $320 to get there.

Do your sums or you may never really break even?

You should look at the make-up of the down line and how it fits in with the matrix/comp plan. Some down lines have legs, in that you build so far down and then the line splits off and begins again. This usually happens when you reach another level in the comp plan, but the resulting effect can make it hard to progress to the next level. Some have a straight down line so everyone who joins will be in your line. This can be misleading in that you believe that its your sign-up and youve earned money.
However, it does allow you to assess the popularity of the program and help you decide if you should continue.

Now Image youve come across an affiliate site (Not hard to do with todays Internet) Ask yourself the following questions:-

Does the site look impressive?
Does it make you want to read on?
Does it have a product that excites you?
Could you use the product?
Could you sell the product?
Would you buy the product?
Is the product affordable?
Do I get the product as part of the affiliate program?
Can I afford the monthly payment?
Do they have a worthwhile Compensation Plan?
Do they have a matrix or a straight down line?
How quickly will I break even?
Can I make a profit?

SO CAN YOU SUCCEED BY MARKETING AN AFFILIATE BASED PROGRAM?

Find todays Mobile Phone with an affordable affiliate program, offering you a good compensation plan, workable matrix and responsive down line and the answer is undoubtedly

YES

Thanks for reading my article. If you want to subscribe to my newsletter then go to

http://www.profitmashine.com/biztipspop.html
About the Author
The author is Ian Bosworth who has 2 years experience in Internet marketing. He has put together a website and newsletter designed to help other marketers looking for a home based business
http://www.profitmashine.com

2005-10-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Let Others Promote Your Business! by Katy Terrega

What if I told you that with very little outlay in time or money
you could get others to promote your website? And what if I
said that these people would post your banners and links on
their sites *for free* and would actively seek sales on your
behalf?

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

Luckily for those of us who make our living online, affiliate
programs are the real deal and they're helping to sell products
on all kinds of sites, from the smallest sole proprietorships to
the largest conglomerates.

People use affiliates because they're a win-win situation for
all concerned; others promote your site and get a cut of each
sale and you get more sales overall.

Let's say you sell cute products for pets on your website and
you also run a monthly ezine that features pet news and sales.
You want to increase your sales by letting your "affiliates"
promote your site.

Here's how it works...

1. You sign up with an affiliate tracking program.

2. You decide how much you're going to pay your affiliates
for each sale; it could be a percentage or a straight figure, and
it can vary for each item.

3. You work with the affiliate program to set up a system
tailored to your needs; for example, you may want to write the
checks to your affiliates yourself or you may want the affiliate
tracking company to write them.

4. You design a page on your site and write a blurb for your
newsletter that describes how your affiliates can make money
promoting your site.

5. You design some buttons, banners and text links that your
affiliates can use to promote your site.

6. You sit back and wait for the affiliates to sign up and start
selling your products!

The tracking program takes care of the rest, and you or your
affiliates can look up your stats at any time.

So, how do you find affiliates? You have several options when
it comes to promoting your program.

1. Your customer base: Your site and your newsletter are good
starting points, after all, these people already like your products.
Put a link on your homepage that says "Webmasters: Make
Money!" and talk up your affiliate program in the newsletter on
a regular basis, stressing that your affiliates can sign up for free
and start making money right away.

2. Other businesses: Target business that, say, focus on pets, but
that are not your direct competition. Send an email to each
business inviting them to join and put "Affiliate invitation" in
the subject line of your email. Also mention each business
and/or business owner by name in the body of your message to
lessen the chances that it will be deleted as spam.

3. Your friends and acquaintances. Come up with a short blurb
that talks about your affiliate program and ask everyone in your
address book to send it to everyone in their address book.

4. Professionals: Veterinarians, breeders, etc. Anyone who
deals with pets is a potential affiliate.

Which program should you use?

There are so many affiliate programs that choosing one can be a
daunting task.

I use AffiliateTracking.net ( http://wetrack.it/az/af.cgi?36854 )
for all of my sites, mainly because their customer service and
support is phenomenal - they had my first affiliate program up
and running in just days - and they're also very reasonably
priced. In addition, multiple sites can be promoted in the same
basic package; there's no need to spend extra for every site.

I heartily recommend AffiliateTracking.net,
( http://wetrack.it/az/af.cgi?36854 ) but you can find other
similar companies by doing a simple search for "affiliate
tracking" in your favorite search engine.

No matter which company you go with, you could have others
promoting your site and making sales for you in just a couple
of days!

About the Author
======================================
Katy Terrega is a writer and webmaster who uses
AffiliateTracking.net ( http://wetrack.it/az/af.cgi?36854 )
for two of her sites: The-Write-Resume.com
( http://www.the-write-resume.com ) and
Sex-Writer.com ( http://www.sex-writer.com ).
======================================

2005-10-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

Ten Tips for Affiliate Marketers Using Google AdWords by Patrick Carlow

One of the hottest ways to sell affiliate products is using Google AdWords. Follow these tips and strategies to maximize your earning potential.

1. Seek out affiliate products that generate fifteen dollars or more in commission. Anything in the twenty-dollar range works well. Paying for clicks can add up quickly and when you do make a sell, it should be profitable.

2. The vendor must present a high quality website with first-rate graphics. If the site appears to be unprofessional, any potential buyer will loose confidence and leave before the sell is made.

3. Make it a requirement that the vendor website only displays one product or service on the referral page. Nothing kills a sell faster than having to many sells messages.

4. The vendor needs to include outstanding sales copy. It's easy to realize the importance of this principle; words are what turn shoppers into buyers on the Internet.

5. When evaluating a potential affiliate program ask yourself if this product or service is something you would feel comfortable buying. Put yourself in the place of the buyer. If you wouldn't buy it, why would they?

6. It's preferable if the vendor site does not obviously advertise for the recruitment of more affiliates. An affiliate link is fine as long as it is low key.

7. The best affiliate programs will attempt to secure the email address of your referrals. Some prospects need to see a sales message at least seven times before they will buy. Make sure you still get credit for sales made during the follow up.

8. The vendor should provide testimonials. Testimonials create confidence and trust leading your prospects to make a purchase.

9. You will recognize a profitable affiliate program because at least one in fifty clicks creates a sell. Constantly monitor your expense versus profit for each set of keywords.

10. Track your keywords and delete any that do not get clicked on after two hundred impressions. The higher your click through rate, the higher position you receive in relation to your competitors.
About the Author
Patrick Carlow
Reciprocal Link Exchange Directory
Free Internet marketing resources, traffic generators and reciprocal link exchange directory.

Permission is given for this article to be reprinted by anyone as long as the entire text up to and including the author information, the link and this statement are kept intact in its entirety.

2005-10-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Why do many people fail in Affiliate Marketing! by Jonathan White

Affiliate marketing has been around on the Web for quite sometime now, but there are still a lot of people who doesn't know much or even nothing about it. Most of the people that don't know about affiliate marketing and has just discovered it normally thinks that they can make a quick buck or two. Well that's not the case.

To do well in affiliate marketing is not just a one-day task. Affiliate marketing is like an on going assignment where you have to try different things out like different advertising techniques, different ways of adding affiliate banners and text links to your site, etc. You may even have to join a number of affiliate programs just to see which ones performs the best with the other content that you already have on your site.

Another thing is that many affiliates expect to do well from just having a list of about 20 affiliated banners on one page of their site. Well thats not exactly true as people will see your web page and won't even bother clicking on any of the banners to go to your affiliated sites as your web page just looks like a link farm. How people think they can make money this way, I really don't know as affiliate marketing takes time and effort before any results can be seen.

If you are adding affiliate banners or text links to your site, then the best thing to do is for you to add affiliate links or banners to your site that is on the same topic as the other information on your web page. By doing this, you will not want to add too many affiliated banners or text links as it will just look like a page of links and will only turn your visitors away, about three affiliated links should be enough depending on how large the web page is.

Another important aspect in affiliate marketing is advertising. You can't expect to add affiliate material to your site and expect to receive sales straight away. If you have no traffic coming to your site, then you will not get any sales. Infact, directly advertising the affiliate links or adding the affiliate links to your website and advertising that is probably one of the most important things that you will need to do to have any chance of succeeding. This is because the more you promote your affiliate link or site that contains the affiliate links, then the more clickthru's your affiliate links are likely to receive, which is then most likely to result in more sales.
About the Author
Jonathan White has been doing affiliate marketing on the Web for over three years now and is the Webmaster of http://www.affiliateseeking.com - a categorized affiliate programs directory that lists over 700 programs.

The above article can be reprinted as longs as the bio line stays in place. If the article is reprinted on a website then the urls must also be hyperlinks.

2005-10-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

"AdWords + ClickBank" Breaks PROFIT Records by Fazly Mohamed

The latest trend in online marketig today is running Google AdWords campaigns to market ClickBank products. This article explains everything in layman style, so if you are familiar with some concept, please skip that section. Make sure you save this valuable article to refer later.

What are AdWords? Can you picture the small rectangular boxes that appear next to Google search results? If you cannot, goto Google now and make a search to find out related advertisements to that particular search in small boxes next to the search results. These are called AdWords. Goto http://adwords.google.com to get an idea about this, before you read the rest of this article.

What is ClickBank? It's one of the major eBook and Software companies in the market today and known to pay very high commission rates to its affiliates. With their huge catalog, it's not difficult to search a product to suit any target market, and the average profit you can make per item sold is around $10 mark. They pay you bi-weekly with a minimum payout of $10, to any country in the world. Which simply means, if you can search and recommend a product to some of your friends by email with a special link ClickBank gives you, and if only one person buys, you can get a paycheck addressed to your home. If you don't have an account with them, get one for free and browse the site to get an idea. Goto http://zzz.clickbank.net/r/?hfahadh

Why ClickBank and AdWords? ClickBank products are easily sellable and AdWords gives you the chance to meet a target market. Whats the difference between targeted and untargeted markets? If there are 100 click throughs to a motor parts website and if the visitors are sent in from a Humor site, the sales ratio would be much lesser compared to a visiotor stream from a Vehicle site. More related the product to the visitor is, a better sales ratio you can expect. Highly targeted market means there is a very close relationship between the user's interests and the product.

Google AdWords can give you a very cost effective way to reach highly targeted markets. Your ads have a great exposure, as they will also be shown on Google partner search engines and in many websites, while making sure that the ad will only be shown to targeted visitors. You will only pay for the clicks, not the impressions - you don't pay for showing your ad. As an example, if you pay $0.20 per visitor and if it takes 20 visitors per sale (since it's highly targeted traffic), and if you average profit is $10 per item, you spend 20 * $0.20 = $4 dollars per sale to make a $10 profit. A very good return on investment.

The results can be so much better or can be the worst, depending on how you manage the campaigns. If you have a great knowledge on how google AdWords works, optimizing techniques, how to manage your budget and how to keep the costs low while maintaining a good click through ratio (thus in turn the sales ratio).

This is a whole new business and comes with an initial investment with an operating cost while gaining a very good profit in return. The investment is really low, considering an investment for an offline business, and even the break even time is much smaller, while the profit is very good.

Your full investment is shown below.

1. Account at ClickBankFree
2. Account at AdWordsFree
3. AdWords Activation$5
4. AdWords Initial Budget$50
(Payable later)
5. A Good Book on AdWords$50
(Variable)

** NOTE: You must refer a good AdWords report / guide before spending a penny on it, since it can be extremely successful if operated properly or can be disastrous otherwise. The price can vary, but an average estimation is shown.

** AdWords Initial Budget is not payable right now and it is not a set amount. You may use AdWords after activating for $5 and may set your campaigns to any budget you wish, even for $10. We reserved $50 so you can get a decent return on investment initially, which will motivate you to carry the business on. It's payable only at the end of the month. If you did the things right, you may pay these operating costs off after you get the profits every month.

So your initial investment is,
$50 for the book
and after you buy,
$5 for AdWords activation

for a TOTAL of just $55 to start a BIG BUSINESS.

This isn't a get rich quick scheme or an illegal money making program, but a big business, which can be very profitable if managed successfully and can be a real waste of money if it goes wrong, as the case with any other business. But the advantage is, that the initial investment for this is really low, can expect a very good return on investment, can become an established business quickly and no great risk.

I highly recommend you to read a very good book on AdWords even before you activate the AdWords account, so you can make every penny count. There are many great books on this subject, but the best one I found is located at http://fzgoogle.cjb.net, which is good for its price and is very informative.

In summary, the steps needed to establish this business is as follows:

1. Open an account at ClickBank (http://zzz.clickbank.net/r/?hfahadh)
2. Open an account at AdWords (http://adwords.google.com)
3. Buy a good book on AdWords (http://fzgoogle.cjb.net)
* Then you need to start advertising campaigns with Google. Your AdWords reference book should contain everything you need to know, optimization tips, etc. and you should be able to start and manage campaigns like a pro.

4. Activate the account
5. Get the paychecks
6. Pay for advertising in AdWords (operating cost)

This is all you need to do to get your business started and rolling along.

My final piece of advice is, plan all your expenses and expected minimum return on investment out. This will keep you to your budget and is the most essential to succeed as an online marketer. Spend less, less and less, BUT earn more, more and more..

Make sure you save this valuable article to refer later.

Thank You
About the Author
Fazly Mohamed is a successful Internet Marketer and is currently an undergraduate of BSc in Computing & IT at the Staffordshire University, UK.

2005-10-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

5 top things that set off my BS Alarm by Rick Hendershot

The web is overflowing with scams. Thousands and thousands of otherwise normal people are looking for ways to make big money by doing NOTHING.

Still, we have faith that there are some legitimate opportunities on the web. But how do you tell the scams from the real things?

Here are five things that set off my BS Alarm.

Number 1 BS Alarm Tripper

"You can make thousands of dollars a week, almost immediately."
There are thousands and thousands of sites that make claims like this. But this kind of BS is not limited to the web. The other day I saw a TV ad where the testimonial guy said he was soon going to be making $20,000 per week. Think about that for a minute. That is more than a million dollars a year, selling products of questionable value. This guy is going from zero to a million dollars in just a few weeks. Maybe Donald Trump can pull that off (at least in his own mind), but not your average Joe Trump.

Click!

Number 2 BS Alarm Tripper

No actual product is being sold.

This is not always easy to detect. Many "marketing" schemes claim to be selling "valuable information", but in fact are only selling you the "rights" to resell the same program (ebook, etc.) to other suckers. This is what you might call "the 24 hour plan": I'll sell you a "report" for $5, then you sell it to all your friends and relatives, then they can do the same. You aren't buying my report because of the information in it. You are just buying it to resell it. The actual content of the report is irrelevant. It could just be a blank report or a page of nonsense.

Click!

Number 3 BS Alarm Tripper
"We will throw in a bunch "e-books" worth "thousands of dollars"

Generally speaking, nothing of value is ever given away free. This is an immutable law of the universe. But web "entrepreneurs" are always telling us they will throw in a valuable set of info products, worth thousands, if you just buy their $50 product.

Does this make sense? No it does not. These info products are usually available many other places for free. And the chances are you will download them and then forget about them completely. In fact the whole concept of the "valuable e-book" has been so corrupted by this practice that it devalues ALL e-books. Giving away worthless stuff is not necessarily a bad thing. But it tells me the seller is a hustler and cannot be trusted.

Click!

Number 4 BS-Alarm Tripper

Any time I see the term "downline" I immediately think "scam".

Why? Because this is a term used in the MLM (multi-level marketing) "industry", and generally indicates you will not be selling products, but rather, trying to get other people to sell stuff for you.

This is the dream of every salesman and would-be entrepreneur: "To make money by getting other people to do all the work." I'm not saying MLM schemes never work. Some real world MLM schemes are notoriously successful. But these schemes generally sell real products that we all need -- stuff like toilet paper and whiz wipes. Aunt Minerva is going to buy this stuff somewhere, so she might as well buy it from you (or your "downline").

But by its very nature an MLM scheme runs out of suckers very quickly. And since most web schemes like this are not selling real products -- that would be too complicated -- the sucker pool is even smaller. The only people interested in buying into these things are suckers like you -- you know, other "opportunity-seekers" prepared to sell their friends and relatives $5 "memberships". And most people (not surprisingly) are not interested in doing that.

Click!

Number 5 BS Alarm Tripper

"We will do all the work for you."

I've already implied it a few times, but in case you've missed my main point it is this: There is no free lunch on the web or anywhere else. If somebody tells you they can make money for you without ANY work on your part, they are either nuts or simply lying to you. Think about it. Why would somebody set up a website, stick your name on it, and then start sending you checks just because you let them use your name? Wouldn't it be a lot more profitable for these guys just to make up names and send the checks to themselves.

Yes, it would. What they really want is get you on board so you can start buying their "products" (more BS), and promoting the system as a member of their "downline". Sorry. Not interested.

Click!

I can think of many more BS Alarm stimulators, but these five eliminate at least 90% of the "opportunities" I've run into. If you have any comments, I'd be pleased to hear from you. Check out my website and drop me an email.

About the Author
Rick Hendershot is based in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He spent many years as an advertising consultant, and small business owner. He currently publishes several small business websites and ezines, and provides web design and online marketing services to small business owners wanting to jump start their online marketing efforts. He can be reached at rh@small-business-online.com.

2005-10-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

The Problem with the Affiliate System by Rick Hendershot

I've recently been reminded that product reviews and recommendations from "affiliates" are completely unreliable and untrustworthy.

Anybody who has dabbled in web marketing knows that a prime source of revenue for web marketers is selling "affiliate" products. If you don't have your own productand many of us do notthen all you have to do is get your web visitors to click thru to "gurus" like Jim Daniels, Cory Rudl, or Ken Evoy, and they will gladly give you anywhere from 25% to 60% of the retail price just for the click thru.

Everybody in the business seems to think this is a wonderful system. What could be better? You build traffic to your site and gradually gain credibility as a reliable source of marketing information. And you leave the product development to the guys who really know what they're doing.

You send them the prospects. They send you the checks. Cha-ching.

Just another "marketing expert"

Unfortunately the only products worth selling are "info-products" that pay large commissions. Companies that sell "real" products like golf balls, computers, and books pay such a small commission it is hardly worth your while sticking their link on your site.

So this means that in order to make money as an affiliate, you have to become another of the thousands of Mini Marketing Gurus out there. And because there are so many of us, your chances of actually making any money are pretty slim.

Mini Gurus are just lemmings

Even worse, while you build your business and (maybe) develop your own products and services, you must prostitute yourself to the gurus who already have the products.

Because as far as I can tell the "affiliate" relationship turns us into lemmings.

It encourages newly created Mini Gurus to latch onto affiliate products in an absolutely uncritical way. Many of these products are nothing more than glorified "how to" manuals, but intense hype by experienced marketers turns them into "super products". And a bevy of willing affiliates cannot offer objective information about them because they think their livelihood depends on selling them.

For instance, Ken Evoy has thousands and thousands of affiliates for his SiteSell products -- including his flagship product called Site Build It. Do you think the fact that someone stands to make money by selling a product affects his or her objectivity about it?

Is there any question? The truth is, I have never read a critical review of Site Build It from someone who sells it. Why would you be objective about a product if you stand to make money every time it is sold?

In fact, this is an unwritten rule about web marketing products. No criticism. Ever. I'm sure just the fact that I dare mention "critical review" and a product name in the same sentence will draw gasps of disbelief. But, the truth is I think Site Build It is a really good program. Not perfect (gasp!). But a lot better than than almost anything else I've seen.

As a result of the Mini Guru's utter dependence on sales of products like this, it is virtually impossible to get objective third party information about them.

Do you see what a beautiful system this is for enterprising marketers? Create a product. Make it available to affiliates. Offer a handsome commission. And no one (except the poor suckers who buy it) will ever say a negative word about your product again.

Do affiliates mislead their own customers?

In fact, it gets worse. Not only are affiliates uncritical about products, but they can be downright misleading in their praise of them.

For instance, I was recently searching for an autoresponder program, and because I was an affiliate for Cory Rudl's products, I thought I would try his much-hyped program called "My Email Manager". One of the reviews I read about the product praised it up and down and gave it a glowing "five star" rating.

After struggling with My Email Manager for a week or so I concluded it was a turkey. It just didn't do the things it claimed it could do. The product promotion was clearly misleading, and the review I had read bore no resemblance to my experience. I doubt very much whether this person had actually tried the program.

But that's how the affiliate system works.
About the Author
Rick Hendershot is based in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He has spent many years as an advertising consultant, and small business owner. He currently publishes several small business websites and ezines, and provides web design and online marketing services to small business owners wanting to jump start their online marketing efforts. He can be reached at rh@small-business-online.com.

2005-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

AMAZING INCOME by Howard J. Riemer

$1000+ Monthly 100% Risk Free for only $35, 1-800-605-8482 #11589 or visit www.HJvitamins.com
About the Author
None

2005-10-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

Let The Market Choose Your Price? by Stuart Reid

This article is available via Autoresponder at:
pricing@netpreneurnow.com

And is available on-line at:
http://www.netpreneurnow.com/articles/pricing.html

Or in plain text at:
http://www.netpreneurnow.com/articles/pricing.txt

Let The Market Choose Your Price?

By Stuart Reid

Setting the correct price is hard for any on-line business, and there are plenty courses and manuals dedicated to this delicate subject.

You want to have a price that will make you a profit, obviously. But you also want to have happy customers who feel you've charged a "fair" price.

The problem is too low a price will make your product seem inferior. Give-away products suffer even more from this "perceived value".

Conversely, if you charge too much (even though the price may well reflect the time and effort put into the product) you may get many disgruntled customers and many complaints which can have disastrous knock-on effects.

So is there a middle ground?

I'm sad to say not really, but there are a few methods you could try including a "crazy" trial I'm currently testing myself...

The most obvious way to decide your price is to see what the rest of the market is charging. This is not as easy as it sounds, since the "rest of the market" will vary widely.

Standard prices for e-books centre around the "magic" $27 figure, going up to around $47. Most ClickBank Merchants, for example, have a $50 selling limit - hence this price.

Seminars, Courses and one-on-one training services usually go for FAR HIGHER prices, up to (and over) a thousand bucks. This is out of the league of most marketers.

There are two ways to look at the problem. A Seller can either earn his daily bread by selling many copies at a low price, or selling a few copies at a high price.

10 x $40 = $400 and $4 x $100 = $400

I've kept the numbers simple, math is not my strong point!

You can see a lot from that comparison. You will probably put in the same effort to make those four sales as you would ten, right? It's what marketers have told you for a long time.

You'll find many high-ticket items are sold through affiliate programs. This is so the merchant and the affiliate can have a good cut - and the increased exposure from the affiliate army usually outweights lost sales due to the higher price.

Now here's the "crazy" system I'm trying:

Over at http://www.productpacks.com I've introduced "Pick Your Own Price"

Basically, a buyer can pay as much as they want for the item, and be allowed to take it guilt-free. It's like a donation, but it's paid in advance.

Using PayPals "donate" feature it's easy to implement in this in any site.

Why not give it a go on some of your lower-priced items? You may be surprised at the result!

----------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author
Stuart Reid is webmaster of http://www.productpacks.com and currently sells many Product Collections of ebooks, tools, reports and guides, many on a "Pick Your Own Price" basis.

2005-10-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affiliates, 3 Things You should Own though You don't Own a Product. by Radhika Venkata

Affiliates, 3 Things You should Own though You don't Own a Product.

Radhika Venkata (c).

1. Your Own web site:
=============================

Most affiliates put a redirect link directly to their affiliate
product. It is not such a good practice.

*Register a domain that closely resembles your affiliate product
website. For example, if you are an affiliate for affiliateproduct.com
web site, try to register affiliate-product.com or affiliateproduct.net.

*Follow the lay-out of your affiliate product web site.

*Put content on your web site (minimum of 10 pages). Like articles
and reviews related to your affiliate product. No need to say to put up
links leading the visitor to your affiliate web site.

*If you have a multiple different affiliate products, don't mix them up
and put all of those links on same web site. Choose a multidomain host
and host your different affiliate web sites for cheap.

2. Your Own opt-in list:
=============================

You need your own opt-in list **no matter** what you sell and your own
or your affiliate product.

Start giving free ecourse or an ezine related to your affiliate product
and collect email addresses.

You need a follow up autoresponder or a maling list manager to manage
this process of collecting emails, follow up, sending promotional emails
etc. etc.

Here is a cgi script that you can use as BOTH follow up autoresponders
and mailing list managers:

http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/arpproadv/index.shtml

3. Your Own Ezine articles:
=============================

Yep! You have to spread the word about your affiliate product. Don't You?
Write articles related to your affiliae product and publish them on your
web site, send them to publishers, submit them to content sites.

Do a search on Google or Altavista like 'submit+article', you will get a
big list of sites. Keep your favorites on your Favorites folder and submit
to them on regular basis.

Few tips in writing ezine articles in the affiliates perspective:
=Don't expose your affiliate link directly in your resourcebox.
=Usually affiliate links comes as long URLs. These tend to breakup.
So use some kind of redirection.
=Only promote one product in one article.

More on hiding affiliate links:
http://www.webmasters-central.com /siteprotection/affiliatelinks.shtml

About the Author
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radhika Venkata
Subscribe to 'iNet Marketing Ezine' which is completely focused on
Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights!
http://www.webmasters-central.com/subscribe.shtml
FREE Ecourse :: 30 days Solid work out to increase your online profits!
http://www.ebooks-world.com/ecourse/index.shtml
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

2005-10-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

7 Rules To Live By When Choosing An Affiliate Program Or Work at Home Business by Marianthi Iatridou

So you've decided to become financially independent! You've chosen to work at
home. Congratulations! I'm sure this is a
decision that can turn your life around and lead you to financial freedom.

But that is going to happen only if you're careful enough to let it
happen! There are a few things you should really look out for
when deciding to work at home.

When you set out to give the work at home business thing a try,
you'll find out that this was just the easy part! The hard part is to
discover which one is right for you.

With all these so called "opportunities" that flood the internet,
you should be very careful in choosing a work at home business. To help you, I have put together a few simple rules :

Rule #1 : Try to avoid "get rich quick deals"

Now that's a golden rule! Usually, when something sounds too
good to be true then it probably is!

Oh, I know these sound appealing and of course you would like
to get paid for doing nothing (so would the rest of us!).
But don't you think that if these people had the magic solution to
making big money they would use it instead of trying to sell it
to you for whatever price?

It's sad to know that so many people end up feeling frustrated
when they realize that they have wasted their time and hard
earned money. There are no magic tricks!
Commitment and hard work instead, can make you rich.

Rule #2 : Find a program that you really like and can work with

Another rule that's essential! Say that you come across a
program that requires you to sell life insurance. You hate
insurance people, you think they're full of hype.

So what, the compensation plan looks great! What would you do? Would you join the program? Could you picture yourself selling life insurance even if you hate the very idea?
The answer is that you're never going to make any money doing something you don't like!

The point I am trying to make here is, that you should go on and find out everything there is to know about the program you are interested in. Just spend some time doing an essential reading through the available material (company website, related articles etc).
Try to get an overview of how the system works and if you need more information or if you get confused , go ahead and ask the person who referred you to the program for help. Doing your
homework always pays off.

Rule #3 : Make sure you know exactly what you're getting for your money

There are just too many companies out there that present you
with sales letters as long as a book but not even a hint as to
what you are actually getting in return!

If the product they're selling is that good and is going to make you so much money, why hide it? Why only mention it in the last few paragraphs?

Ok, I know, it's the way sales are closed. Still, you would like to know exactly what you're buying. It could save you a lot of grief!

Rule #4 : Perform a background check on the company

The longer it has been around, the better. This way you know
that you're dealing with an established company that will not go
bankrupt 4 months after you join!

It has been known for people to lose their online businesses and commissions owed to them for this very reason. Choosing
a quality company is essential but can prove critical to the
survival of your work at home business.

Rule #5 : Make sure you're going to get all the help that you need

It's just typical for someone to join a program, pay his membership fee or buy a product and then be left in the dark,
not sure what on earth to do next!

Again, I'm repeating myself here but this is important, try to get an overview of how the system works, who your upline people are and how they can help you.

If you need more information or if you get confused, go ahead and ask the person who referred you to the program for help. In this way not only will you get an idea of how the program is structured but you would also be testing your referrer to see if he/she will respond promptly to your need for help.

But first, you have to have an idea of how the program works.

Rule #6 : Check out the compensation plan

Ok, so you've joined a program which ,hopefully, is going to
make you rich. Do you know how this is going to happen?

It's not necessary that you know every detail about the
compensation plan from the first day that you join. But still,
wouldn't you like to know if you're getting 5% or 60%
commission on an average sale?

After all, it takes the same amount of effort to generate a sale. Wouldn't you like to be paid more?

Rule #7 : Do not spend much at the beginning

A legitimate work at home business should be able to operate
at a minimum/low cost. You should not have to invest a lot of
money in any home business. At least not in the beginning.

When you do decide to invest some money into your own home
business, this should be your own decision, not someone else's
and must arise from your understanding that a business is what
you make it.

There are more rules that I can add to these and make a
really long list but this is not my goal. My goal is to provide a clear path, a few steps that should be easy to follow through the minefield of schemes and "get-rich-quick" deals to a company
you can really trust.

Using your own common sense is as important as having these
rules in mind when looking for an opportunity or a work at home
business.

Your decision to join a program should be the result of
considering facts and should not in any case come from mere
curiosity. Keep in mind that there are very few true work at
home opportunities out there and you have to find the one that's
perfect for you!
About the Author
Marianthi Iatridou is the owner and webmaster of http://www.work-at-home-businessoffer.com , a site which offers legitimate opportunities to work at home.

2005-10-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

The Mortgage Crusade by Chris Carter

There are over 80 million individuals in need of new or refinanced mortgages. The Mortgage Crusade is in need of individuals called loan originators to assist in servicing them. The task is not difficult and very rewarding. If you can send someone to your site to sign up, you get a commission on the mortgage they obtain upon closing.

http://www.mortgagecrusade.net/?768101
About the Author
A relatively new loan officer, I have recently started a class for paralegals.

2005-10-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

Fight For Every Pitch by Jeremy M. Hoover

Fight For Every Pitch

Every pitch in baseball is a battle. Every contest between a pitcher and a batter is a skirmish that bears on who will win the game. Although baseball is a team sport, each individual must fulfill their role for the team to win. If a batter gets lazy, he may miss the pitch that he could launch for a game-winning home run. If an infielder makes a throwing error, he may be throwing away the game.

The closest parallel to business is the battle between the pitcher and batter. The pitcher must fight for every pitch, and the batter must contend with every pitch. If either let up for just one pitch, the end result of the game could be in jeopardy.

The pitcher must know the batter well enough to decide which pitch to throw. Every pitch is crucial. If the pitcher throws too many balls and falls behind in the count, it becomes a hitters count. If the pitcher challenges the batter with strikes and moves ahead in the count, it becomes a pitchers count and the pitcher has more flexibility in how he can pitch to the batter.

The batter must know the pitcher well enough to guess at the pitches he will be thrown. He must protect the plate. He must know his own best hitting zones, and foul off pitches that might be strikes so he is not called out on strikes.

If either blows even one pitcheither the pitcher hangs one over the middle of the plate or the batter is called out on a solid strikethe result of the game could hang in the balance. Each must challenge for every pitch.

You must fight for every pitch in your business. You are the pitcher for your team. Dont get lazy and think you know how to pitch out of a jam. Plan your pitches according to your market research or your advertising or business plan. Fight for each pitch. Fighting for every pitch is a metaphor for deliberate and proactive action in your business.

You can fight for every pitch in your business in many ways:
 Place one more ezine ad
 Write one more article
 Find one more distributor for your article
 Write a rebrandable ebook or an autoresponder course that promotes your products or programs
 Contact a website owner about a join venture possibility
 Comment in five forums, promoting your business in your signature
 Contact old customers to see how they like and use your product, and how you can keep serving them

Fighting for every pitch means you see every marketing activity as a battle that bears on the success or failure of your business. So go out and throw strikes!

About the Author
Jeremy M. Hoover is a content writer who writes content articles, autoresponder series, or website or newsletter content. Contact him at jeremyhoover@yahoo.com (subject = WRITE_MY_CONTENT) for more information.

F*REE autoresponder course: Learn how to make a business system that works! Send to bizsystem@aweber.com to find out more!

2005-10-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing Tools by Buniei R. Ahn

Affiliate Marketing Tools

As the range of goods and online services offered via the Internet has grown
at an incredible rate over the last few years, therefore so has the competition.
Web site visitors need to have a very good reason for clicking on a link or banner.

how to choose the right banners for affiliate marketing tools

In most affiliate programs, you are offered a wide variety of banners to place on your site
but very few of them will be effective.
If you can attain a clickthrough rate of 2%, then you are doing very well.
It has been our experience, and this is generally speaking,
that graphically rich banners do not perform as successfully as their simpler counterparts.
The main reason for this is download time.
If a banner is the last thing to load on your page and the banner ad is excessively byte "heavy",
by the time it has loaded your visitor may already have scrolled down the page - missing it entirely.
Heavy banner ads can also slow down the loading of your pages, or critical elements of your page
and you can lose your visitors altogether!
A graphically rich banner can also confuse the actual message -
the artwork and marketing blurb can be imbalanced.
For these reasons, we suggest that banners you implement be no more that 15kb wherever possible.

Banners that have "extreme" animation, such as rapid flashing,
are also something to consider very carefully.
While these do achieve high clickthrough rates, they are also highly annoying.
If you do decide to implement this form of banner advertising, use it very sparingly.

When selecting any form of graphical advertising, try and keep the theme of your site in mind -
while graphical ads are meant to stand out and catch a visitors eye,
it shouldn't be to the point that everything else on the page is totally ignored.
Wherever possible, ensure that all banner ads uses a link that opens in a new window.
That way, if a visitor does choose to visit one of your advertisers it is easy for them
to return to your page and review what they actually came to your site for!

Pop ups and pop unders
Many companies, but mostly agencies representing a number of advertisers,
now give their affiliates the options of using pop up and pop under ads.
Our opinion - pop ups are evil.
They annoy visitors and are usually closed before they even have a chance to load.
Go for pop-unders and preferably those that only display once per visit.

Using Text Link Ads.
One of the most successful forms of advertising are text link ads.
They are bandwidth friendly, don't take up a lot of space
and can be easily implemented into most page layouts.
Good text links ads don't just scream "buy me!",
they also offer some information as to why your web site visitor should investigate the offer.
A company should also supply you with very short text links which only state the product or company name.
The reason for this is so that you can implement the links directly
into the content of related articles and reviews.

Articles and product/service reviews
Now, this is where a bit of hard work comes in.
Your regular site visitors will view you as an authority on particular subjects,
so why not write a review on a product or service you are advertising?
This also supplies excellent content for search engine spiders to latch onto.
We have attracted many visitors to our site using what I call "adarticles".

But there's a catch......
If you are going to use the adarticle concept to promote products, you need to believe in what you write.
Research the product and company well.
Contact the company and let them know what you are doing and ask for further resources and assistance.
Once you have created the review, send them the link - you may be suprised at the response you get.

The information that you supply to your web site visitors will help them formulate a decision,
so be honest in your sales copy.
If you are successful in this promotion strategy, over time your reviews won't be seen as hype and bluster,
but as a reliable source of information - everybody wins!

Email advertising as an affiliate marketing tool
Direct promotion via email has boomed over recent years, but has brought with it mountains of spam.
If you intend on using email as a method of advertising products and services,
ensure you stand behind the products you're promoting and make yourself available to answer any questions.

An effective promotion technique we have found is to combine email with the adarticle strategy.
In our ezine we occasionally put a summary of a product or service,
just enough information to stir the curiosity of our readers.
The summary then contains a link to the adarticle on our site.
The benefit of this is not only that you have a good opportunity to promote the product or service,
but while visitors are on your site they may also look at other sections.
The advertiser benefits through having highly targeted potential clients visit their site.

Finding Your Home Business Niche
CopyrightBuniei Ahn, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.internetmarketpower.com
http://www.pluginprofit.com/main-3666

About the Author
About the author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Buniei Ahn, The Home Biz Guy can help you launch your very own
m.oney making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and
pull in massive profits for you right now ... g.uaranteed! Visit:
http://www.internetmarketpower.com
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-3666
----------------------------------------

2005-09-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

How do you make money from an affiliate program? by Eugenijus

Are you an affiliate of various programs that promised
you "wealth" or "millions" in a few short months but
don't deliver?

If you are, don't feel youre the only one who got
hooked into joining by "testimonials" of a couple of
members (usually the founders) who made it rich quickly.

I should know! I had not made a penny in several of
the Internet Businesses I had been promoting. I had
done all the emailing and joining and promotion I had
been told to do, all with NO results!
I knew I had been scammed.

BUT CashCulture is actually building my downline
FOR me! I am not trying to be lazy,
I'm obviously still promoting,
(a business that actually works) but I knew I needed help.
And CashCulture gives me that help.

It even provides a FREE AutoResponder
to automatically email those who indicate an
interest. It is a huge help to E-Biz Newbies as well
as to us who are more seasoned.

CashCulture also has an amazing matrix structure
to build your downline and pay out to you.
If you don't know what I am referring to, go to the website

http://resultstracker.net .php?id=26688

where it is explained very carefully. Then join
for FREE.

Upgrade to Gold and earn even more. But FIRST,
at least read what the website tells you.

See what it has to say and see if CashCulture
isn't the ONE system that finally makes sense.

http://resultstracker.net .php?id=26688

Best wishes,

Eugenijus
eugen@venbot.com

About the Author
Eugenijus Sakalauskas from Lithuanian
eusak@takas.lt

2005-09-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing My Best Decision by Elizabeth McGee

When I decided to quit my job and start an internet business, I was clueless. I researched and found several viable opportunities however the more I read, the more I realized how difficult this was going to be. I did not have a product and was in no position to create one. I had it in my head I wanted to sell something so I started out in the drop shipping business.

I researched wholesalers that were willing to drop ship and found a few. I built a simple yahoo! site, created a merchant account, got my resellers license and voila, I was in business. Did I get a sale? Nope, because I did not know how the internet worked with regards to website marketing. No one could find my site and I was a marketing failure.

Because my site didnt sell anything, I gave up and continued on the research path. I slowly learned about how to market my site but wasnt sure I wanted to stick with drop shipping. My site costs combined with credit card merchant costs and plain old competition didnt really leave me with much profit. I realized I still had much to learn.

I went back to the research drawing board and joined a few forums to learn what else I might be able to do. At that time I learned about affiliate programs. I met people I trusted and admired who promoted affiliate programs. I asked a lot of questions and began my research. Affiliate marketing appealed to me. I didnt need a merchant account, I didnt need inventory, I didnt need my own product and I could even get away without a website. Wow, how good is that? So off I went.

As I began to research I found the best selling products were informational products and the best commissions were internet marketing products. Because I was familiar with setting up a website previously I decided to set up another site to list of all my affiliate sales products. I fell into the trap that most new web business owners fall into. Setting up a How to Market on the internet site. I liked it because I was familiar with it and I had purchased some of the products through my research. So why not? Well, simply put there is too much competition in that category. I still have my site today but my sales are minimal. I offer only products that I trust and many of them I use but its not a business path Id recommend to someone starting out, particularly because many beginners tend to gravitate there. There are lots of other things that have good marketing potential. Affiliate marketing can be successfully applied to almost any product on the net.

If researched carefully and applied correctly, affiliate sales can be a very profitable internet business. The object is to find something you can sell and promote for merchants that will offer you a commission to sell it. You dont have to carry inventory, collect money, worry about delivery or even have a website (although a website is a good idea), but youre going to have to think about what products best suit you with regard to sales. I feel its best to sell things that you like. Things youre interested in or have a fetish about. For instance, lets say you love crystal. If you love it then you probably know something about it, but more importantly you will enjoy researching it and offering it to someone else.

Next, research web businesses that sell crystal and offer affiliate programs. I recommend using Commission Junction or Linkshare. Keep in mind that the sites you select can sell other things, however youre focusing on just crystal. Find several sites and apply to them all. Most affiliate programs are free. A note to the wise, be sure to read the affiliate agreements and understand their rules. They are not all the same.

Once youve signed up for the programs of your choice, pay per click (PPC) search engines are the best and easiest way to sell your affiliate products. You can promote each product individually or you can promote them all by building a website and promoting your website. Again, be sure to read the agreements as some affiliate programs restrict affiliates offering their competition on the same website. This isnt true for all of them but you want to stay aware.

To get started youll need to set up accounts with PPC search engines such as Google, Overture and Findwhat. Research how they work and set up some simple ad campaigns to start. You will also need to research keywords and what words cost the least and are the most effective. This is a topic for another article, however time spent and proper research tools such as Overtures view bids and search term suggestion tools will help keep your costs low and your profits high. By the way, use each of the keyword tools provided by each PPC search engine; this will help guide you as to what keywords to use. Keywords entered by users can differ from search engine to search engine.

If you choose to build a website, keep your sight on topic. Getting back to our crystal example, keep your site focused on crystal or glassware, dont throw in pictures or garden chairs. The worst mistake you can make is being everything to everyone. I know; Ive made that mistake.

Offer information such as types of types of crystal, how its made, textures, weight, where its made, history of crystal, etc. Concentrate on offering information. If you give people valuable information on something theyre more likely to buy it.

Of course crystal is just an example; you can apply the same principles to sofas, bicycles, computers, toys or whatever you might take pleasure in. Give it some quality thought, research carefully and take your time. If its something you enjoy, youll enjoy your business.

About the Author
Elizabeth McGee is the owner of Pro-Marketing-Online, the Expert Marketing Tools site. If you wish to learn more about how to market online from the experts and find expert, trusted tools for promoting your site then please visit Pro-Marketing-Online or subscribe to her newsletter found at
http://www.pro-marketing-online.com or email Elizabeth at webmaster@pro-marketing-online.com

2005-09-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

8 Reasons Why Affiliate Marketing Is the Holy Grail Of E-Commerce by Richard Adams

Word Count: 772
Character Width: 60
Resource Box: 4 lines + web link

============================================================
8 Reasons Why Affiliate Marketing Is the Holy Grail Of E-
Commerce

By Richard Adams

(c) 2004. All rights reserved.
http://www.ebooksalesassistant.com
============================================================

For too long affiliate marketing has been seen as the
"poor brother" of other popular online businesses such as
online auctions, ebooks, software or membership sites.

But to someone who earns a large percentage of my online
income as an affiliate, I'm constantly amazed at what a
great business this is.

Here, then, are just eight of the reasons why I believe
affiliate marketing is the *best* way to start off online;
indeed why in my eyes it's the Holy Grail of e-commerce.

1) No Need To Create A Product To Sell

Most people start off in e-commerce by creating their own
product. However, this route can involve investing a lot of
time and money.

On the other hand, I have set up affiliate sites in a matter
of weeks for under $100 that now greatly exceed that
initial set-up cost every single month - on autopilot. So
it's a quick, easy, and cost effective market to get into.

2) Create Money Out Of Thin Air

As it's possible to set up an affiliate site with a tiny sum
($50-100) and let this multiply numerous times, you can
then go on and invest in bigger projects in the future.

3) No Customer Service

Depending on how you set up your affiliate business it
*is* possible to completely dispense with customer service
enquiries.

Indeed, I am now setting up simple minisites with *no*
email address and no contact details at all. This saves me
a huge amount of time each day answering questions and so
allows me to concentrate on building more sites for greater
profits.

4) Automatic Money - And Free Time!

Using the right model, you can simply set up an affiliate
site and move onto your next project.

I sincerely believe that it is possible as you gain
experience to launch a site per month and, since you're not
selling anything yourself or answering customer's enquiries,
your site can run virtually on autopilot.

An occasional check is all that is necessary and
my minisites take me less than 30 minutes a month to run.

It's like automatic money each month!

More impressively, the sites you built months, even years
ago, continue to bring in sales meaning you're having to
work less and less to achieve the results you desire. You
control your day - and you do what you like with it.

5) Thinking Outside The Box

So many e-commerce businesses depend hugely on their own
affiliate network to drive traffic and sales. It's a
reasonably easy and hassle-free way to make profits.

Unfortunately as an affiliate marketer you don't have that
luxury.

But it's actually to your advantage.

You see without that fallback you are forced to think
outside the box to generate traffic.

Instead you need to find, test and develop other
techniques which stand you in good stead for the future.

Not only does it make you more creative and resourceful in
general, but if and when you eventually launch a non-
affiliate marketing site you'll already know how to
generate an avalanche of traffic *ontop* of what your
affiliates bring you.

And more traffic equals more sales.

6) He Who Has The Traffic Has The Power

Once you develop your traffic streams and your subscriber
list you become a very sought after commodity.

Other businesses seek you out, eager to sign you up as an
affiliate of theirs.

And as your success grows, you develop the ability to
cherry pick only the most profitable deals for yourself -
and often command higher commission rates than others get.

Do *not* underestimate what it can be like to be in this
situation. An example is that one of my merchant partners
sent me an extra $250 last Christmas just to say thanks for
sending them so many sales that year!

7) You're The Perfect Affiliate Manager

If and when you decide to create your own product and set
up your own affiliate program as part of your marketing
strategy you have a distinct advantage over your
competitors - you'll already know the best affiliate
marketing techniques.

And this knowledge will prove priceless in terms of
helping your own affiliates promote you effectively.

8) Great Community

By becoming an affiliate marketer you will be joining a
great community of like-minded individuals from around the
world.

A combination of quality newsletters and discussion forums
run by real pros means it's a great community to be a part
of.

So there you have it - my eight reasons to become an
affiliate marketer today - so what are you waiting for?!

**Note To Editors** - I really have done everything I can
think of to make our new affiliate program a winning
proposition for you. Feel free to sign up for the
program and insert your own affiliate link in the resource
box to earn extra cash.
About the Author
============================================================
Richard Adams is the author of Ebook Sales Assistant. How
to create an ebook sales site - on a tight budget, with no
technical knowledge and in a matter of days. What's more,
the book has a *killer* affiliate program. Click Here Now =>
http://www.EbookSalesAssistant.com
============================================================

2005-09-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

When is Enough: Enough? by Tina Rideout

You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated -

When is enough: Enough?

Keeping your Business Website Fresh and Unique:

Google PR, SE optimization, Keywords, Content, and More Content.

That is the beauty of the information hi-way. It is like taking a road trip for the first time. The excitement, the unknown, and the mystery. Searching but not knowing exactly what lies ahead.

As I travel the information hi-way, I wonder: When is enough: Enough?

We continually add new content and information to our websites. Each day presents a new problem, a new solution, and a new revelation.

I, like many Webmasters, have become obsessive about my WebPages. Each day I evaluate, and re-evaluate the content of my site.

Have I added enough links?
Do I have enough articles?
Do I have enough information to keep my visitors attention?

I check that little green line, like it is my lifeline.

Keeping your business website fresh and unique:

1. Write articles and add Free E-books that are relevant to your site.

2. Visit high ranking websites. DO NOT IMITATE THEM. Use them to gain ideas and become creative.

3. Add your own touch and personality to your pages.

4. Be consistent. Once you have decided on a theme keep it going throughout your pages

5. Link to websites that are relevant to your site.

6. Do not over inundate your site with banners. Find a balance between banners and text ads.

7. Make your site easy to navigate. Add buttons, navigation tools etc.

8. Keep the content honest and open. Stay away from false promises and money making embellishments.

Facts to take into consideration:

It takes repetitive ads throughout your website to attract your potential customers and or future Business Associates.

You need to convey confidence and trust throughout your pages.

Therefore, adding content is a never ending process. As the information hi-way becomes more traveled, more information is desired and you will need to provide that information, in order to stay out of the black holes of cyberspace.

Enough is never Enough.

About the Author
Written by Tina Rideout, successful Work at Home Team Member and author of Work from Home 101, The Ultimate Guide to Building a Home Based Business. For more information visit her at http://free-internet-home-based-business.com

2005-09-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

6 Attributes of a Successful Home Business by Linda McCauley

6 Attributes of a Successful Home Business
by Linda McCauley

Very few people actually know what makes a home business successful. Many budding entrepreneurs wind up starting a home business that really has very little chance of surviving. You need to understand the critical factors that make a home business successful - you will fail to find a business that has the potential of delivering you amazing results. So, when you are looking for a home based business that is truly going to deliver you additional income, or better still, replace your job income, read on to find out exactly what you should be looking for.

Attribute 1It must have a huge expanding market
Whichever business you chose it must tap into a huge expanding market. This is one that can serve the needs and wants of potentially millions of peoplemost importantly the baby boomers which are those born between 1945 and early 1960. The baby boomers are the largest consumer base with the highest disposable income base. Therefore, you would be wise to find an industry where they are focusing their money. Their main area of spending is: To have better health, To assure a good retirement, Home business opportunities(burnout and redundancy), To look and feel younger, To spend more time with their families - more time freedom or time flexibility, To be financially secure.
You will also need to find an area that isnt being adequately serviced by current products. How about laundry detergents, toothpaste, food storage containers, pots and pans or even computers. Now dont get me wrong, I am sure that you can get very fine products like these from a work from home entrepreneur, but high quality brands are available in retail stores everywhere. And when a better detergent or mobile phone comes along you will not be able to compete with major brands and their advertising. Most people will buy these types of products from the biggest retail store. Dont get fooled by cool gadgets and novel ideas. You need to learn to think clearly about what will give your business success.

The largest expanding markets in the world today are:
Home Based Business Opportunity Industry - $400billion
E-Commerce IndustryInternet marketing now exceeds $1 trillion
Mail-order/catalogue sales and marketing Industry - $350billion
The wellness Industry $200 billion and projected to reach an incredible $1trillion in the next handful of years.
Personal care and grooming Industry - $80billion. People are continually searching for ways to look and feel better.

Attribute 2It must have a Unique Consumable Product
What would you rather market?
A product people will buy from you month in and month out for many years?
A product once purchased never required again or for several years?
If you can find a set of products that are unique because of a patent or similar protection, then you have a real business winner. Preferably, it should also be one that people can't get anywhere else. This will be the type of product that will generate repeat business and create a steady flow of income. People fall in love with products and services that save them time, or deliver a solution to a recurring problems. The product should also well established and represent value for money to the consumer.
Attribute 3It must employ the concept of leverage
The concept of leverage in business simply means to employ methods and procedures that will give you the ability to accomplish more than one person could normally accommodate on their own. Lets talk for a moment about what kind of business you might want to own. Do you want to own one where you have to work as hard as an employee or do you want one that allows you to work smart.
The only way to get rich or to make a good living without working yourself to the bone is to figure out how to get into a business with leverage. Leverage allows the entrepreneur to build a strong business part time around a busy lifestyle with the real possibility to retire wealthy in a few short years. You need leverage and cant afford to be without itbecause leverage is absolutely critical for a successful home based business start up and for long lasting lifestyle advantages. Lets face ityou are already using all 24 hours of each day doing something arent you? Now to start a business you have got to add more to your plate.
Attribute 4 - The Product/Service must have an automated delivery Capability

Whatever product or service your home based business provides, if you physically have to deliver it to your customers, you are significantly limiting your time and therefore, your income potential.
The best solution is to find a business where the products or services can be ordered electronically over the Internet and delivered directly to the consumers by the parent company - without you having to be involved, other than placing the order.

Attribute 5You should choose a business system that offers full support & Training
Most new entrepreneurs enter into a home based business without any knowledge or similar experience. As they will understandably want to get their new business off the ground as quickly as possible they must chose a well designed plan and one that has an excellent support network available to them. The marketing tools, and automated website processes should be easily understood and shouldnt require a business degree to get started. Their support network should be readily available to them on any occasion.
It is critical for the success of your home based business that you can also receive continual follow up training on your product or company. You should be able to tap into the training at consistently. This important fact is the key to the success of your new business
Because being left alone on your own without this follow up, support and training is crucial and could mean the failure of your business.
Attribute 6The Parent Company must have a credible and stable background.
You should be able to find adequate information on the Parent Company that you chose.
You should be able to ask questions and receive answers from them. You should take the time to get to know the company behind the product and the service.

Questions like: How many years have they been established? Who is at the helm? Does that person have a good business record? Are they well respected in their industry? Is the company well respected? Have they been able to establish a loyal customer base? Do they meet all government standards and qualifications in the countries they operate? Is there a refund policy? Can they deliver on their remuneration promises?

Each and every day we are hearing the words Work From Home, and as you would know there are many home business opportunities available. After reading this article you should be well equipped to sorting your way through the business opportunity maze and choosing an opportunity that will help you towards your financial independence.
Linda McCauley is operating a successful Home Based Business. If you are
Interested in finding out what vehicle she has chosen to drive her towards financial freedom, please feel free to visit www.wealth-security-freedom.info
A professional Business Presentation is available on request.

About the Author
Lives in Kiama on the Beautiful South Coast of NSW,Australia.
Mother of 3 daughters, who no longers works as a cleaner but work full time with her business at home.

2005-09-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

Google WebSearch & Google Adsense. Yahoo!!! by Alec Duncan

The makers of the world renowned search engine, Google, have taken things a step further to increase their user loyalty, grow their user base and at the same time reward websites for helping them promote their search engine. What a beautiful deal.

Google now offers WebSearch allowing AdSense members to take the earning potential of their sites to an even higher level. Is it all about the money? For most I bet the answer will be YES, however, those who would say no can say so with confidence.

Google delivers the best search results on the web today. Dont be surprised if the majority of your website users use it to search the web. They pride themselves on highly relevant search results with a clean and effective interface. They offer various filters to fine tune their results to allowing you to eliminate any unwanted sites from being displayed.

They have started a highly successful symbiotic relationship between Google and websites that many webmasters will be taking advantage of as soon as they hear the news. It is said time and time again how Google AdSense has transformed websites not geared towards earning income, into solid income producing businesses. Now with WebSearch it gets even better.

So what exactly is WebSearch?
Its using Googles SiteSearch or Googles Web Search and displaying AdSense ads in the results and you earn income every time someone clicks on the ads. Lots of sites already use these features together or independently and them being able to monetize this is a sure plus. You are also able to customize your results page to some extent which includes full color customization as well as the ability to include your logo.

So how do I get it?
Well if you havent already done so you will need to create and AdSense account at Google AdSense and follow the steps.

If you already have an AdSense account then log in and click on Search Settings and you should be able to figure it out from there. They also offer reporting information which can also be filtered by channel and includes clicks, the number of queries and clickthrough rate.

The verdict
If you answer yes to any of the following questions then theres a good chance that Googles WebSearch is for you:

1. Do you want to give your users a reason to stay on your site longer?
2. Have you ever wanted to offer web search from your site?
3. Do you want to be able to offer a site search feature to your users?

And last but not least

4. Do you want to increase the earning potential of your website? More popularly stated as Do you want to make more money?

Im not a betting man but id put my money on you answering yes to at least one of these.

Happy Google WebSearching :-)
About the Author
Alec Duncan is the founder of LilEngine.com a Search Engine Optimization resource site. Visit Li'l Engine for search engine optimization tools and strategies and also check out Developer Tutorials for web development techniques and strategies.

2005-09-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

7 steps for building a successful downline team by Tricia A. Gibson

****************************************************

****
7 Tips for Building a Successful Downline
By Tricia A. Gibson
****************************************************

****

Have you ever joined a program that seems to be
working for everyone else but you?

Is your drop-out rate just as fast as your sign-up
rate?

Do you wonder why is it that you are not doing as

well
as the others? Well Your problem stems from one of

two
things or a combination of both.

1. You do not have the backbone support of your
upline.
2. You do not provide a backbone support for YOUR
downline.

Affiliate Marketing is not about who can get the

most
persons in their downline - it is who can get the

most
productive, goal-oriented persons in their downline.

Having been through the rigours of starting an
internet home business myself, I came to realise

that
I was not being properly motivated. I had to do my
own research and experiments to get to where I am
today.

Yes, I did get messages from my upline, but those

were
the generic messages set by the system. These

people
had no creativity. Do you really think they were
interested in making money??

I certainly don't. But I am also guilty of this.
That's what I did when I started my first couple
programs. Needless to say, I failed!
That's why I am qualified today to tell you what

will
work when you are starting a home business in which

a
downline is required.

Here are some tips to help you keep and expand your
downline.

1. Send a personal welcome to each of your downline
members.
Let them know where to find training tools and make
yourself available to help them get started on the
right path.

2. Make sure each individual understands the

program
that they've signed up for. You can't effectively
sell what you don't know about.
Explain what they are uncertain about.

3. Remember that you are dealing with humans - you
each have the same goals - to make money. Show them
the benefits of being a part of your team. Give

them
your contact email address - let them know their
sponsor is a real person - like them.

4. Teach them to duplicate what you've done. The

big
ssh ssh secret in affiliate marketing and downline
building is not how many people you can recruit - it
is how well you can motivate your team to duplicate
your efforts.
Bottom line - you will never be successful if your
team isn't.

5. Make them feel wanted. Let them know your
recruitment "secrets".
Create a chain effect by having them pass that
information onto their downline. Keep them

motivated
by sharing info on e-books, resources or tips that
you've found to be successful. Ask for their ideas
for making the team stronger. If you have a website,
provide a discussion board so your downline can meet
and share tips, even brain-storm.

6. Remember - everyone is not the same. You may

have
a member in your team who may not be as successful

in
recruiting and training as the others. Do not let
them fail!. Even if it means doing it for them.

Your
hard work will be reflected in your commission
check(s). That particular member might be going
throught a rough time at the moment. I'm not

telling
you to enquire, but chances are they will pick
themselves up and be more motivated to continue if
they are aware that the "team" [to coin a phrase] "

has
their back".

7. If you are not good at following up or

contacting
persons, there are many systems on the market that
will do this for you.
Each individual is different - you may not be very
adept at public speaking or keeping in contact with
your downlines. If you are such a person, try to

find
a system that can easily automate these tasks for

you.
That is - if your primary program does not offer

such
a system.

To sum this article up. Always, ALWAYS - treat your
downline members as your business partners. That's
what they really are. For your partnership to be
successful, you need to build a personal

relationship
with them. Let them know you can be contacted for
advice on any aspect of the business.You are only as
good as your team.
Your success is dependent on the teams' effort.

Handle
your downline with care!

About the Author
Tricia Gibson is an Affiliate Marketer with over 5 years experience. She is the Editor of Tagteambiz Ezine which tells the secrets of how to recruit and build successful downlines, choosing the right home business, Get FREE advice, ebooks, articles etc.

2005-09-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Is Your Affiliate Website Targeted? by Jude Wright

Is Your Affiliate Web Site Targeted?

You know the basics of Affiliate Marketing. Create a web site,
choose affiliate programs to compliment your site, and then
promote.

If you start your affiliate marketing business like this, you
are missing an essential step in the process. You must know
who you are creating this web site for - other than yourself.

The two most important things you need to remember when
creating an affiliate marketing web site are 1) target your
audience and 2) choose the correct keywords.

When creating the content for your web site, write it for the
person that is most likely to be interested in it. Keep in
mind the specific interests and lifestyle of that person. That
is what is meant by being targeted.

How do you know who to target? Research. Visit other sites
that are similar to your topic. See if you can determine who
their target visitor is. Study the methods used to qualify
that visitor. When you start writing your own web site's
content, you will base it on your research - but - don't
copy it!

This is where keywords come into play. Choose your keywords
before you write your topic's content. You will need to
research your keywords as well.

By using Word Tracker (http://wordtracker.com) you can come
up with a list of keywords that are related to your topic;
some of which you may not have thought of on your own.

Don't forget your target visitor when researching your
keywords. Using a qualifying keyword (such as teacher or
webmaster), will help narrow the focus to that specific
person.

Remember that affiliate marketing is, in fact, targeted
marketing. The closer you can come to your visitor's needs
and interests, the more commissions you're likely to make.

Only now do you start to write your web site content.

First, write your target keyword at the top of your page.
Then, list two or three of the keywords you found that will
describe your topic best - as well as introduce the affiliate
program you are promoting.

Write each page of your web site based on specific keyword
phrases. Keep the topic narrowed on that keyword phrase (or
phrases). You'll be writing each web page on a different
topic - still within the general topic of your web site.

Keeping your keyword use - and your target - in mind will
draw the visitor into your web site, and in turn, to your
affiliate program's link. And your reward will be - more
affiliate sales and commissions.

About the Author
-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-09-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Secrets of Super Affiliate by Akinori Furukoshi

Most affiliate program owners say 80% of their affiliate sales come from 20% of affiliates. Here is the difference between top 20% affiliates and the rest.

--Normal Affiliate--

Most affiliate program owners tell their affiliates how to "sell," such as providing templates of sales copy and saying where to advertise. Unfortunately, "selling" isn't the best way to promote affiliate programs. You can convince people to buy affiliate products at your site; however, your affiliate link sends people to the affiliate program owner's sales page, where they will get another sales pitch. This is how to send people away.

--Good Affiliate--

Rather than selling the products, write articles related to the products. If your articles are good enough to make people think you know what you are talking about, you can send a lot of people to the affiliate program owner's site by just mentioning the products. (You don't even need to recommend the products.) On top of that, you will have a better conversion rate. Ken Evoy of SiteSell.com calls this "Pre-Selling." You can learn more about Pre-Selling by reading the e-book, "Make Your Content PREsell." You can download it free from http://www.thatswise.com/free/e-books/presell.html

--Super Affiliate--

There is an even more effective way to make money on affiliate programs. Maybe you've already heard about Rosalind Gardner of sage-heart.com. She is probably the most successful affiliate on the Net. She is an affiliate of several dating sites. Instead of selling or recommending any of them, she writes reviews of each site, good and bad. So, visitors can find enough information on which service is the best for them. She is helping visitors to make good decisions, rather than selling. Once people find the service they like, there is nothing to stop them from buying. This is how she gets high conversion rates. Also, because she is an affiliate of all reviewed sites, no matter which site visitors pick, she will get commissions. High demand of dating sites has contributed to her success, but why don't you mimic this winning technique for other products or services?

About the Author
Though his Web site, http://www.thatswise.com Akinori Furukoshi has been providing e-commerce related information since 1998. His unique way of thinking has helped online businesses to improve their performance.

2005-09-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

CashCulture and Make Money University by CashCulture and Make Money University

Are you looking for a simple way to make a living online
without taking all your valuable time away from your family
and other things that are more important in life? Would you
like to get started in a business that does not cost a fortune,
yet has the potential to earn a 4 to 6 figure MONTHLY income in time?
Would you like to discover how to create multiple income streams and a
secure future for you and your family?

Do you have a home business or mlm program that you are working now,
but would like to discover what really works on the Internet to build your biz?

Are you tired of talking to your friends, family, and neighbors about your biz?
Would you like to have a never ending supply of leads and interested folks to
talk to about your biz? Do you have your own products and/or services that you
would like to sell online but don't know how?

Would you like to become part of a real team - a worldwide family?

Do you want a proven success plan that will work for years to come and
help you build a business (or several businesses) that you and your family
will be proud of? Do you want to become more organized with your business?
Would you like the opportunity to realize your potential? Are you the type
of person that enjoys seeing others reach their goals and dreams?
Do you know that you have to be determined to go the distance for success,
and that great things don't happen overnight?

If you answered YES to any of these questions - then you owe it to yourself
to look at this simple yet amazing system. If you answered yes to the last
two questions above, then you are the type of person we want on our team!

Look, there are a TON of programs out there that will promise you overnight
success and instant riches. If you really believe that can happen, go play the lottery.
But if you are looking for something that works, and are ready to do what it takes over
the long haul, then an CashCulture membership will work for you!

Earn Commissions without bothering your friends, family, or talking to anyone!

While you are building your mlm program or sales offer, we will show you how to
also create income from the top affiliate programs on the net,
AND pay you for using our system. We have whole groups that are joining our team
because of our simple system.

CLICK --> http://www.cashculture.com/?ref=rw971177705

and you can start using the system straight away

Sincerely,

Eugenijus
eugen@venbot.com

p.s. Remember it is FREE and It's Impossible NOT to EARN! When
you sign up for FREE I will show you that it works -- and boy it works
GREAT!

About the Author
Eugenijus Sakalauskas
eusak@takas.lt
Lithuania

2005-09-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affilliation, the easiest way to make a living by mark white

Introduction

Affiliate marketing made easy peasy.

The Coaching Tip

Money through affiliation is possible. By Mark White
Lets be honest with ourselves and say that we would all like to earn a little extra cash,..no big surprise there then.

Lets also say that we have all looked at some program of wealth building and thought it to good to be true so didn't bother signing up as it probably is a scam of some sort, maybe.....?

There is a lot of truth in saying that you don't get anything for nothing.

There is also a lot of truth in the saying , good things come to those who wait.

I have spent the last 4 years looking at every major affiliation program there is and although i have had limted success i have not been made into a millionare, not even close.

Now at last i can say i have found a program that offers to reward your work with sound opportunity and financial return, you won't be a millionaire but it is possible and very likely that you WILL make a tidy living selling products that people actually do WANT to buy.

You have a choice of 50, yes 50 products to sell and commision is made on varying levels directly to you.There is also the chance to earn from people you sign up under you but this is hard to do sometimes and not everyone wants to go through the " email list " process so you will be glad to know you dont have to.

There is no charge for you to join and a lot of resources and tools open to you to ai and advise you in your quest for a little extra spending money.

I am not going to go on any more, just pay a visit to the site and make your own mind up, you have nothing to lose but 2 minutes of your time and you might be surprised.

Just copy and paste into your browser http://www.nitromarketing.com/g.o/sunspeks
and good luck to you, reward yourself for your hard work at last.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author
I have been researching internet marketing and affilliations for the past 4 years.I have my own websites and am a regular writer of hints and tips articles.

2005-09-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Don't Make This Mistake...New Affiliate by Michelle Cobbs

Don't Make This Mistake...New Affiliate
Copyright 2004 By Michelle Cobbs

Joining more than 2 programs at a time is something you don't want to do. I did this when I started as an Affiliate. If I were to advise a 'newbie' getting involved online I would tell them to promote, market or endorse only '1' product or service at a time.

Why?

You should concentrate your energies on one thing at a time. Having 10, 20 or 30 diferent affiliate programs floating all over is not the way to go. Take it from someone who knows.

A plan is to start with 1 or 2 programs, you want to duplicate the success you have from the first program to the second, third or twenty the key is to do that over and over again. Once you have the formula down it will work with anything you do.

I regret not doing this today, I am an affiliate for over 100 programs believe me there is no way I can effective endorse all of them in the manner I should.

Here are a few tips I now use today, you too can learn from them as well.

1. Buy the product or service and use it. How can you endorse something if you yourself has not tired it.

2. Build your website with the neccessary banners or text links with your own descriptions of how, what or why you like the product or service.

3. Endorse the product or service from your website ONLY you want to get the traffic to your website this is key to your success.

You can build it, but they don't come without you helping them find where they need to go. Today I can say I have finally found a technique that is working for what I want to do.

About the Author
Michelle has been online for about 7-years now. She started out on ebay which she still does some work on occassion. After doing the ebay thing for 2-years Michelle moved over to Internet and Affiliate Marketing. She has not stopped since. Look for more articles coming soon. http://home-making-money.com

2005-09-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

The 3 Rules to maximizing profits from banner ads! by Derek Arnold

Placing those ads on your site are designed to do just one thing, make you and the advertiser money. No its not rocket science but there is a science to doing it right.

There are 3 simple rules to follow and you will convert those ads into the revenue you intended them to be when you decided to place them in the first place.

1.Dont sell Viagra to pregnant women!Basically what this means is that each page on your site probably offers something different than all the other pages on your site, otherwise you would have terrible redundancy on your site and that would be bad, but thats for another discussion. Lets say you have a site offers travel services, and this particular page is about a certain destination that you offer. Then your ads should fit the page, an offer such as Home Loans, or Grocery Coupons would be what is know as Shotgun Marketing, which basically means that you are just firing an ad at there and praying that someone who sees it will be interested. This click and buy ratio will prove to be VERY disappointing. A proper ad such as discount air tickets, or Travel Insurance will produce a much higher, click and buy ratio, this is what is referred to as Target Marketing. Remember, the internet is a spontaneous buying medium, so when the visitor is on that particular page, this is when the interest in this particular subject is at its peak! They are already thinking travel, you are offering them the Up sell, meaning you not changing the visitors train of thought, your offer is just blending in.

2.Put the steak in the middle, and leave the salad on the side!Where do you place you banners? On the side? At the bottom of the page? Somewhere between the Im offering this for free and Look at my fancy graphics area of the page? Obviously the most profitable place to set the banner is on the top of the page, and is highly recommended if that space is available! Most of the time website owners have reserved that spot for theyre own offers and the like. The second best place on a page is just before your start the page content. An animated 468 x 60 banner should be centered and placed just before you begin your page content. Remember these banners are what pay you money to keep your site going, and if all goes right, some change in your pocket. Move other items on your site to the side and make room for those banners. Banners placed inside the test of the page content (not at the end) would be the third option.

3.I dont read the fine print, do you?- What size banners do you use? DO NOT waste your time placing small banners on your site (unless they are for banner exchange partners)! Small banners are a waste of space, first of all, how much information can the seller fit into such a small area? How noticeable will it be to your site visitor? If youre trying to sell something, then SELL IT! Ad size should be 468 x 60 or larger, and centered on the page, this ad WILL NOT be missed by the roving eye of your potential buyer. Although they may have not elected to click on it, odds are they certainly did not miss it, because it was big enough to at least catch theyre eye.

Finding the right advertiser, who pays the right commission, and who is offering the right product for a particular page on your site, will require a bit more work than the standard snatch and add type of banner farming, but the rewards will be much greater and prove to be well worth it in the long run. Remember this, anything worth having, is worth working for, and money is worth having

About the Author
Derek Arnold is the President of BullMarketer.com, a webmaster resource site offering many tools for webmasters, marketers, and designers. Also has over 18 years of experience in the marketing and advertising fields. Homepage: http://www.bullmarketer.com2004

2005-09-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

What Do Affiliate Tracking Services Do? by Clay Mabbitt

Some affiliate programs design their own internal software to track affiliate referrals, calculate commissions, and process payments. It is far more common, though, for programs to outsource these functions to an affiliate tracking company. Knowing which affiliate tracking company a program uses allows you to quickly assess how many of the aspects of their affiliate program will operate. What follows are some of the aspects of an affiliate program that are largely influenced by the affiliate tracking company used.

Targeted linking

Also known as deep linking, targeted linking is the practice of allowing affiliates to direct traffic to whichever page on the affiliate programs site best fits their pre-selling strategy. The alternative to targeted linking is to direct all referred traffic to the home page of the site. Programs that offer targeted linking often, though not always, have much higher conversion rates.

Tiered commissions

Some programs will reward affiliates for bringing new affiliates into the program. While this reward can take many forms, it is usually a small percentage of what the new affiliates earn. In such programs, there are often a handful of affiliates who are very successful recruiting and earn a steady income even though they make few direct sales. Some affiliate tracking companies do not have the capacity to offer tiered commissions, although most do and leave the choice up to the individual program manager.

Tracking return customers

Most purchases on the internet do not occur the first time a visitor comes to a page. Often they will bookmark the page and return to the site hours, weeks, or sometimes months later to purchase. Using a combination of cookies, IP tracking, and domain referral tracking; affiliates can still receive commissions on customers that do not make immediate purchases. While the exact window of customer action may vary from program to program, most affiliate tracking companies use the same tracking methods (cookies or IP tracking) across all of their programs.

Traffic and Sales Reporting

A practice so common as to be considered standard, affiliate tracking companies allow affiliates to log on and review the traffic and sales that they have generated over certain date periods. Some companies allow affiliates to create campaigns by which they can track the effectiveness of different marketing methods. The type of reporting available tends to be consistent across all affiliate programs a company tracks.

Payment Frequency

The industry standard is to send commission payments on a monthly basis when an affiliates earnings reach a certain minimum balance. Some programs send checks more or less frequently. On rare occasions a company will not send checks automatically, instead requiring that affiliates log on and request a payment. This is often a sign of an untrustworthy company trying to avoid paying all commissions due. Anything other than automatic payment is uncommon.

Network of Programs

Some tracking companies cater to affiliates who wish to participate in multiple programs. An affiliate who is part of their network can examine and join other programs they track, pending the approval of each program manager.

Training

Any program that leaves training of affiliates solely in the hands of their tracking company is doing their affiliates a great disservice, but the tracking company can help. Kowabunga, for example, provides affiliates with a database of affiliate marketing articles, FAQs, and a quick start guide. A tracking company cant provide training for a specific product or service, but they can educate affiliates on the general aspects of the industry.

About the Author
Clay Mabbitt writes articles about online income opportunities. He is the founder of a community of Internet entrepreneurs sharing knowledge and experience at http://www.affiliatescreen.com

2005-09-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

About Affiliate Commissions by Jude Wright

Have you ever thought about the different methods by
which affiliate commissions are paid? There are four main
types of commission pay categories. They are:

1. Pay Per Sale - Nearly everyone is familiar with this
type. Pay Per Sale is when the affiliate program company
pays the commission as either a fixed amount or a
percentage of each sale that you make.

2. Pay Per Impression - When you place a banner or a link
on your website, and it is 'displayed' to your visitor,
you will be paid a few cents for that visitor. All the
visitor has to do is see it; he/she doesn't have to
click on it. If your site is a high traffic site, this
is one way to add another stream of income.

3. Pay Per Click - You are paid a commission for each time
a person clicks on a banner or link. The commission paid
for Pay Per Click would typically be more than for Pay
Per Impression.

4. Pay Per Lead - is when a visitor actually signs up for
something: a newsletter subscription, a contest, or if
a form is filled out asking for more information. These
examples would establish the lead you are getting paid
for. The dollar amount isn't that high - only one to two
dollars but can add up.

When you are researching how commissions are paid, you should
also look at whether the program pays only on one level or
more than one. These are called single-tier, two-tier or
multi-tier. Some programs offer commissions down four or five
tiers. The tiers are created when another person signs up as
an affiliate using your link.

Another aspect of affiliate commissions is how often the
commissions will be paid. Some companies pay quarterly, while
others pay monthly or bi-weekly, depending on the amount of
money owed to you.

The amount of commission owed to you also plays a part in
when you are paid. Most companies do not pay until your
accumulated commissions is $50 or more. A few companies do
not pay the first month, but pay one (or three) months after
the commission has actually been earned. Sometimes you can
choose your own level when you sign up as an affiliate, but
not often.

As you can see, there's a lot more information you need to
know about affiliate commissions than getting them. Keep
these things in mind when you choose affiliate programs to
promote and it will help to increase 'your' commission revenue.

About the Author
-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-09-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Internet Marketing - Surviving the First Year by Keith Thompson

So you've decided to take the leap into deep water and go
into business for yourself, specifically into Internet
Marketing. Congratulations! This was a smart decision, one
that will eventually reward you with all the dreams you can
dream. Your challenge now is to survive that 1st year.

Hopefully you're reading this early on in your endeavors,
and can make the adjustments necessary to keep your
enterprise afloat and your bank account bouyant. Here are
several things the "gurus" neglected to mention along the
way to building your own internet marketing empire!

1 - Who are you listening to? There are a lot of people
who've made a lot of money, and they're all too eager to
tell you about it, frequently in the form of their latest
product. It's very easy to find yourself tuning in too many
voices, instead of riding one horse till it either gets you
there or is spent. Find a niche that interests you, find
products that are either yours or through an affiliate
program, and focus entirely on your plan, not allowing
yourself to chase rabbits.

2 - What is certain! And that is that the real money to be
made in internet marketing is produced in the following
ways: owning your own site(s), your own products, your own
opt-in mailing list, and your own vision! Think about it!
Not one of the internet millionaires to whom we look to for
advice has lacked any of these for very long. You bought
their products off their sites, joined their mailing lists,
and to one degree or another shared their vision. If you
haven't already, begin immediately to build your own empire.
Build a site, start learning about traffic, linking, opt-in
lists and all the other essentials necessary for long-term
success. Affiliate marketing will only take you so far. In
fact, most of the top affiliates have several of their own
products!

3 - The learning curve. There is a certain amount of
information you simply have to either learn (or pay for).
Don't discount the fact that this will take a little time.
One doesn't discover how to build and market a fully-
optimized web site in a month. Or three! This is; and
because of the fluid nature of the web; always will be a
work-in-progress. Do what you can do every day and come back
tomorrow for more. Don't be discouraged when the money takes
a while to appear; if you do this right, when it does show
up it will be worth the wait!

4 - A support system. Get one. Don't plan on supporting
yourself from your business right away. It took the best at
the very least several months to start seeing any real
money. Don't despair if you turn out to be mortal, too. Give
yourself a chance at this; the rewards are simply too great.
I'll leave you with a quote that sustained me many a night:
"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my
ship." - Louisa May Alcott

About the Author
(c)2004 by Keith Thompson
Keith Thompson is the webmaster of Internet Marketing Here
and Now!, featuring the latest and best tools for your
internet marketing business.
http://www.internetmarketinghere.com
Email - keith@internetmarketinghere.com

2005-09-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

Going the extra step for success by Jeffrey A. Solochek

Do you have a product to sell? Then why not go one step further for success? What I am talking about is finding ways to expand upon and build your business, while at the same time providing opportunity in other areas.
When you sign up for an MLM company, you are told to pitch your product line to a warm market, this simply means to go out and pitch it to family, friends, co-workers etc.
The same goes for signing up for affiliate programs somewhere on the Internet. Though these methods are effective and work for many people, there are avenues that few attempt to follow or even see. By not seeing these avenues people are missing the boat big time.
Here is an example of what I just said: Joe Smith belongs to a local church with over 5000 members who use on a regular basis products from such stores as Target, Wal-Mart and other retailers. Would it not make sense to set his church up with an affiliate program for these stores, in order to get some residual income for the church? Most of these major retailers now offer affiliate programs on their websites.
Here is yet another example: Of the 5000 members of Joes church over half are paying for a dial up Internet service like AOL. Of those people over 80% shop at places like Wal-Mart and Barnes and Nobles. There are Internet companies that are out there who charge less than AOL and they pay affiliate commissions. What if Joe got his church signed up as an affiliate and has the ability to offer Internet service to its members at a discount while generating residual income for the church in the process?
There are so many retailers that offer affiliate programs, stores that the members of the church shop at regularly, the figures would be staggering if everyone would help out their church a bit and buy using the affiliate links or services. Really think about this, lets brainstorm on this a minute. How much extra money each month could that church earn? Hmmmmm.
What about the PTA at the school that you and your significant other belong to? The local Moose Lodge, Boy Scouts or even the place where you are in a league for bowling? The bottom line is everyone uses some of the products that affiliate programs offer these days right? Why not find a way to make it work for the greater good?

Jeffrey A Solochek
www.thegodsmustbecrazy.com
www.nosugarcoating.info
www.idtheft.theteach.net

About the Author
see article
Jeffrey a. Solochek
www.thegodsmustbecrazy.com
www.nosugarcoating.info
www.idtheft.theteach.net

2005-09-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Ordinary People Making Extraordinary Income by Kaci C. Resau

Tired of all that B.S. that comes along with a full time J.O.B.?
Well, its time to say those precious five words,
"Honey, I fired the boss."

On the Internet today, you can find thousands of work at home programs,
Half of which NEVER work, leaving you confused, and your wallet drained.

If you're tired of all the nonsense out there and are looking for a simple
Work from home plan, which with the right hard work and dedication can put
Thousands of dollars in your bank account. Then you're at the right place.

Its actually simpler than you might believe. To succeed in the
Internet business today, all you really need is the right mentor,
And the right recourses, oh yes...and a plan.

When I first started out, I went from program to program
With no real direction and no clue what or who to believe.
So I poured my HARD EARNED money into these campaigns
That led me nowhere.
Finally, by some sort of miracle I ran across an article by Stone Evans.
My world then changed. I learned everything I needed to know,
Received all the tools necessary to succeed and he even
built me my own Money making Website for FREE.
All I had to do was pay the $ 24 fee to have my site Hosted on the internet.

AMAZING

From that point on I put all of his ideas into action and within 30 days,
I was finally pulling In a much needed profit. The process was so easy,
I could not believed I had been fooled so many times before. The best part
Of this whole process was that Stone only made money when I made money.
Which meant that he was there to help me every step of the way,
Because lets face it, you know you want to make money.

Taking all of the advice from Stone, and my new website I have created
A sure fire way to earn money on the internet, and it only works for me when it works for you.

The first thing you need to do is set yourself up with the top money making affiliate programs available today. Here is a list of the ones I have found the most profitable: (ill talk a little about each below)
SFI Marketing
Madison Dynamics
Plug in Profit
Warrior Pro
Internet Marketing Center
The Six Figure Income

SFI is a truly amazing program. You make money by referring others. Then you make money off of the people that you already referred because they refer others. Its an endless stream of income. Of course I was skeptical at first because the word FREE is used a lot in their program. But this time its true, everything stated as FREE is FREE. You also get to test drive the program for free with no obligation. Here see for yourself:
FREE "Secrets of Internet Millionaires." Thousands are cashing in on the Internet. So can YOU! Our free package shows you how and includes: FREE book, FREE audio cassette, FREE CD-ROM, 6 FREE Special Reports, and much MORE. Total value is over $585. No obligation
Madison Dynamics is a high paying affiliate program. You can make tons of money just in the same way you do as an affiliate at SFI, except more. With Madison Dynamics you have to work a little bit harder but in the end its all worth it. The commission payoff is substantial. You can also jump onto live conference calls and check out the program that

After I got involved in the above to programs I emailed my sponsor, who was Stone Evans and I asked him what I should do next. Well he replied within a day and told me all I needed now was a website, a money making website. He told me hed put one together for me in 24 hours for free. And at first I was thinking, yeah right buddy, youre going to rip me off. Boy, was I wrong. He did it, and he did it well. Heres a little excerpt from Stone himself and a link to the webpage builder.

Follow The 3 Easy Steps Listed Below And
I Will Personally Build A Money Making
Website Just For You That's 100% Ready To Take Orders And Pull In Massive Residual ProfitsJoin Now And You Can Start Raking
In Cash Within 24 Hours... Guaranteed!"

Warrior Pro is a great site with everything you need to know to promote your business. They pay generous affiliate compensation. Definitely a must have for any MLMer. Just check them out for yourself.

The next site is Corey Rudls site. If you havent heard of Corey, hes a 23 year old self made millionaire. This kid knows the ropes. Definitely check this out.
and finally the six figure income. The program that compensates you GENEROUSLY.
They promote viral marketing (word of mouth) more than any other type of advertisement. And it WORKS. Plus, they give you 30 days. If you dont make a profit they will pay the $30 you invested. This Really works. Amazing.

These are all high paying affiliate sites, I strongly urge you get MIQ status through SFI as soon as possible, as thats the only way you can really make money and promote their site. To gain MIQ status simply take the Beginning Smart tutorial and get 5 points, then become a member of the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs and you will be set for life at MIQ status.

As for Madison Dynamics I recommend you upgrade slowly, start off with the lowest iassociate, and work your way up from there. Because I stated before Madison takes a little more work, but the pay off is worth it. You want to make sure you are making more money than you are putting into the business.

The only program I recommend upgrading is the Six Figure Income. With this program you make back the 30 dollars you put in, or they refund you 100 percent.
Its a win, win situation. So definitely upgrade.

The rest of the programs you can keep for free. The only other fee you will pay is the $24 dollar a month hosting fee for plug in profit. Which is unbeatable. You cant host anywhere else on the web for such a reasonable price.

Get started and check out my next article on getting traffic to your site. Promotion is the greatest key. Get to work. If you treat your home business like a full time job it will produce a full time income. : )

About the Author
Growing up at the civl war crossroads didnt leave much room for opportunity. The community consists of the working middle class, Opportunites range around minimum wage retail and construction jobs, none of which could support my 36,000 dollar a year tution bill from attending a ritzy new york city private college So i started getting into the MLM business.

2005-09-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

Multi Level Marketing by Kaci C. Resau

Multi Level Marketing

Multi Level Marketing (MLM) is not as worthless as some people may believe. Of course, if you dont know what youre doing it can leave you frustrated and your wallet completely drained. The secret to MLM is knowing that you can only make money when others make money. The whole process becomes some what of a business utopia.

To get started in MLM all you need is a good, solid affiliate program and a little determination. Success is not going to come over night, no matter how many people say it will. It takes a lot of work. Its a business, and with any business you have to put in time and effort to reap a reward. But unlike your typical 9-5, MLM will pay you even when you call in sick, take a vacation, or feel like golfing instead of marketing.

Once you get your business set up and running, it takes very little effort on your part to gain contacts and make money. The only time you will actually spend in your office will be the crucial times when you are trying to gain clients. Otherwise, youre free to roam about and do what you want, when you want.

What most people dont understand is that the first few months are the hardest, so as soon as they see no significant amount of cash flow, they opt out. If they would have just hung in for a little while longer they would have reaped the rewards from all their hard work.

All you have to do to be successful in MLM is sponsor just one person. But that first person can often times be the hardest person to persuade. Most people do not understand the power of MLM. Once you sponsor just one person you have your own personal down line. You make money off of the person that you have sponsored and in return you pay them with advice and direction. Once the person that you sponsored sponsors someone of their own, they begin to see an income come in.

MLM is only powerful when teams work together to gain new sponsors. With each new sponsor you are growing a powerful contact list that will help your income grow, and as your income grows all of the down line will see an increase in income.

If everyone could just understand that you make money off of each other, than MLM would be ten times more powerful. The chain of profit would never cease, because as each individual began to make money, the group itself would begin to make money.

So the best thing you can do as a newcomer to MLM, or even someone who is struggling in MLM, is to sponsor just ONE person.

Thats it, one person, and that person will make your income dreams come true.

Its all about persistency and determination, and understanding once again, that everyone will make money off of each other, and there is no possible way to fail. You have nothing to lose in this business, but you have everything to gain.

Warm Regards,

Kaci C. Resau

About the Author
Growing up at the civl war crossroads didnt leave much room for opportunity. The community consists of the working middle class, Opportunites range around minimum wage retail and construction jobs, none of whichcould support my 36,000 dollar a year tution bill from attending a ritzy new york city private college. So i started getting into the MLM business.

2005-08-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY by Gilbert Mogale

Revolutionary new system for your home business.100% FREE TRIAL...NO risk.nO obligation. We GUARANTEE you a successful Home Business before you spend any of your time or money.No selling No friends or family contact needed!
About the Author
Gilbert Mogale affiliated to programmes that operate online.

2005-08-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Everything You Need to Build Your Fortune Online! by Gilbert Mogale

Residual income,unlimited products,turnkey web-sites,premium web hosting,list hosting,unlimited autoresponders,pro ad tracking, and much,much more!
About the Author
My name is Gilbert Mogale and I have affiliated to programmes that creating and managing your business online with successful systems provided.

2005-08-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Can you make money working at home? by Paula Wilson

If you are a Work at Home Mom WAHM you have made a very important decision to stay at home with your family. I applaud you for that decision, but I know it can be a financial and emotional sacrifice to stay at home. I have been staying at home with my child for almost a year now, and I have found several ways to improve my family's finances and help me feel that I am contributing to my family's budget.

A great way to make some extra money is to get involved in a legitimate home-based business.Some of these businesses do require an initial investment, but the potential income makes this small investment worth it. My favorite business opportunity right now is a legitimate

Christian home based business called Disciple's Cross. With Disciple's Cross, you make beautiful crosses and send these crosses back to the company. The company will pay you for the crosses it accepts. It has been a lot of fun to participate in this business opportunity and wonderful ministry.

Affilate marketing is one of the easiest ways to make money. Most affilate programs are free to join and give you the opportunity to offer great deals such as free satellite and unlimited video game rentals. Once you join affilate programs, you will need to create a webpage with your programs and participate in website promotion via search engine optimization and search engine submission.

Other ways to get your website noticed are to use article promotion and link exchanges. With link exchanges, you would ad text or graphic links of other related sites onto your site, and they would ad your site information onto their site. This will get your site noticed by more people and will improve your search engine ratings.

The key to being successful working at home is to have a positive outlook. Don't ever give up!
http://www.wahmresourceplace.com/
About the Author
Paula Wilson is a WAHM and the owner of WAHMResourcePlace.com

2005-08-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

One Simple Method I Use To Skyrocket My Affiliate Revenue by Richard Adams

============================================================
One Simple Method I Use To Skyrocket My Affiliate Revenue

(Or How I Get Up To 1 In Every 3 People Who See My Affiliate
Links To Click Them)

By Richard Adams

(c) 2004. All rights reserved.
http://www.EbookSalesAssistant.com
============================================================

What's the easiest and quickest way to increase your
affiliate earnings - without increasing your traffic?

Increase the *percentage* of your traffic that is actually
clicking your links and visiting the affiliate programs
you're promoting. And make sure as many as possible end up
BUYING.

But how?

The answer is targetting.

Infact, let me rephrase that - I call it "ultra-targetting".

In this article I'm going to show you how I use it to
achieve huge clickthrough rates. 10-15% is easy, and I
regularly achieve up to 33% - on a regular basis. That is,
for every 3 people that see my affiliate links, 1 of them
clicks one.

And that's amazing.

It's so simple, it would be too easy to overlook this
method, but when you compare the 0.5% clickthrough rate that
others are getting by using banners, and my 33% result, who
do you think is making more money from affiliate programs?!

Tell me - have you ever seen one of those story books where
you choose what happens?

The story starts, then you get two options of what happens
next. And based on what you decide you turn to a different
part of the book.

Then you read that and you get two more options and so on.

One book, but dozens of choices and different options taking
you off in all sorts of different directions - and also
leading to a different end.

That's exactly what your affiliate website should be.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you have an
affiliate site on the highly profitable subject of
computers.

Imagine the number of different people who could visit your
site.

Students, parents, business owners, companies, doctors and
more.

They might be looking for a cheap computer. A powerful
computer. A fast computer.

A computer with a flat screen. With a dvd drive. Or a
printer.

Wanting to use it for games. Work. Emailing. The Internet.
Desktop publishing.

Now what if you put one identical text link on every page of
your site? Something like:

"For the best deals I've found in computers, click here"

What would happen is two things:

Firstly, fewer people than can be achieved would click the
link because is doesn't specifically target their needs very
well.

After all, for someone searching for a computer to play
games on, a better link would be:

"For the best games computer I've found, click here"

Secondly, of those people that *do* click through, very few
will actually find what they want because you're not
specifically sending them to the exact product that matches
their needs.

Now, text links just like the example above, inserted at
both the top and bottom of every page, will garner much
higher clickthrough rates than any banner ad, but if we
ultra-target, we can boost our results much, much more.

Provide lots of options to your visitors, in the form of
links to other pages. Pages that pander to all sorts of
different scenarios:

- Are you looking for the cheapest computer?
- Are you searching for the latest model of computer?
- Do you want to do desktop publishing with your computer?
- Are you new to computers and looking for an easy option?

And so on.

If necessary, break it down even further.

Get your visitors to choose their country. Then what style
they're looking for. Or the price they're willing to pay.

So long as your visitors feel they're getting close to a
solution to their problem, you should be able to take them
through 3 or 4 pages without annoying them.

Then, on each of these "subpages" that you've created, find
a suitable solution for your patient visitor.

Provide the link they've come looking for.

No, don't just "provide" it, "prove" it. Discuss it. Argue
it. Compare it with others. Describe your experience of
shopping there. Ask others for their opinions.

Make it not only a highly targetted option, but also one you
turn into such a perfect-sounding solution, they just
*have* to click it.

They'll be so targetted that your clickthrough rates will
skyrocket.

And as you've carefully matched the affiliate program with
your lead, your sales will also increase considerably.

You win both ways.

One further way you'll benefit is that these sub-pages are
exactly the sort of highly targetted pages that the search
engines love - bringing in even more traffic (and sales).

And the fact you're creating keyword rich links pointing to
these sub-pages will help them (and your main homepage) rank
even higher.

Did you notice how many times I naturally managed to include
the word "computer" in the links above?

Search engines - and Google in particular - *love* this.

Lastly, if you want to see two examples of sites that ultra-
target, check out the following two links:

> http://www.MerchantAccountForum.com
> http://buildit.sitesell.com/buynow.html
About the Author

============================================================
Richard Adams is the author of Ebook Sales Assistant. How
to create an ebook sales site - on a tight budget, with no
technical knowledge and in a matter of days. What's more,
the book has a *killer* affiliate program. Click Here Now =>
http://www.EbookSalesAssistant.com
============================================================

2005-08-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

ad sence revenue down by prakash kumar bengani

i read in affilite forms now these days ad sence revnue down up to 90% ,why i think some reason for down the revnue

1. many more sites run the ad sence
2. web master creat a page for high priced keywords and get the traffic , but people not interest to buy the particular products
example:
help desk software key word price around $20 , i see many sites run sites with help desk related contents , people come and click on the ads but noy useing the service or buying the products, so advetiser not get any return?
3.as adsence run in lot of sites many site onwer send invalied clicks , so advertiser not get any return.

tommarow i will right more on adsence related to this subject.

About the Author
adwords and adsence experts

2005-08-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Working With Affiliate Programs by Jude Wright

Working With Affiliate Programs
by Jude Wright (c) 2004

Everywhere you look you see affiliate program offers for
every product or service that you can think of. Some have
fully automated systems that sell high volumes of hard
products all over the world. In case you don't know, "hard"
products are those that you can touch...unlike an ebook or
downloadable web template. Many affiliate programs have
several thousand affiliates and one or two of the bigger
companies have over one million affiliates.

What are the advantages of joining an affiliate program?

They provide a ready-made business. This is a very big plus
for those people who want to earn some kind of living off
the Internet but lack the knowledge or inclination to set up
a business by themselves.

Commissions and rewards are generally good, and the more
established programs offer a real chance of advancement to
higher and better-paid levels.

Other affiliates are usually on hand to offer practical
support.

What are the limitations?

You are restricted in your promotional activities due to the
fact that you do not actually own the affiliate site they
give you. You won't be able to put such things as banners,
images, links, meta tags, etc. onto your page.
The URL of your affiliate page is often either too long or
contains such awkward things as question marks, which many
Search Engines will not index.

Any promotional ads or articles have probably already been
used by thousands of other people and consequently may have
lost its impact, making it more difficult to achieve sales
or referrals.

If the program you have joined has not yet established
itself (or in some cases even if it has), then you may
encounter problems with payments owed to you not being
honored. You also run the risk of low quality products or
sub-standard statistics that do not accurately record how
many referrals or sales you have made.

You may be required to purchase a minimum quantity of the
product on a regular basis before you start to qualify for
commissions or even before you can become an affiliate.
You may not get the technical or affiliate support you might
expect from the company. This may be due to inadequate
staffing, or the company's negligence.

Other people in your downline do nothing to promote the
program.

At least four of the above limitations can be overcome with
a little time and effort. You could, for example, come up
with fresher ads to promote the program (provided this is
allowed).

If the company supplies the email addresses of people in
your downline, then you could offer to help the less active
members. Very often these people are passive not because
they are lazy or apathetic but merely because they don't
know HOW to promote effectively! your guidance could mean
the difference between no sales or referrals and healthy
downlines and residual incomes.

As regards promoting your actual page, here are a couple of
little tricks that should overcome a number of
restrictions:

Cloak your Affiliate URL to stop hijackers Affiliate Masker
While this will not help you to get listed on the major
Search Engines, it will make your web page easier for
prospects to remember and type into their browser's address
bar.

Go to your affiliate page. Place your mouse pointer anywhere
on the page and right click once. In the drop-down box
choose "View Source". This will display the HTML for the
page. Save this to your hard drive as a HTML document using
the "Save As" function. Upload the page to your web site.
If you don't have a web site then get some free web space
from one of these:

http://www.tripod.com/
http://www.fortunecity.com/
http://www.hypermart.net/index.gsp
http://www.coolchat.com/
http://www.crosswinds.net/
http://www.htmlpublishing.com/
http://www.freehomepages.com/
http://www.pageproducer.com/

Submit your 'new' page to the Search Engines. You are also
now able to place banner codes, links, images, testimonials,
in fact anything you want onto these pages, because you are
in control of the HTML. A word of caution, though. Don't
change the actual HTML of your original affiliate page. Just
put the other stuff, like banners etc, around it.

Making this "mirror page" of your affiliate page will
dramatically improve your advertising options.

About the Author
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-08-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

New Clickbank(TM) Promotion: CBClicks by Alex Timaios

Several Products have been introduced in the market with the goal to promote Clickbank? infoproducts. In the meanwhile this successful Online Marketplace (a product can be promoted through Clickbank only if its available Online) has evolved to one of the most serious providers of Infoproducts. A huge number of Affiliates are actively using Clickbank(TM) due to the high provisions paid (up to 90%) and the uncomplicated online availabity of the products without the necessity to have inventories or physical deliveries.

During the last years, several 3rd Party Products have presented promotion facilities for this Marketplace, using Marketplace like functionality (CBMall, 1stPromotion, CBPromotion).

CBClicks uses a complete different approach. The System was introduced in August 2004 and has experienced a rapid growth among the Internet Marketers Community. Several Blogs on the net shows intensive discussions about the new Tool.

The new provider offers an interesting combination between Viral Marketing and Pop-under like Promotion of Clickbank Products.

Since the Membership for using CBClicks is Free, a virtual "Tsunami" (term used in the promotion material provided by CBClicks) has been launched among marketers, due to the uncomplicated use of the Software and the promising potential commissions available.

Basically the Promotion is performed following simple steps:

1) A valid Clickbank Nickname (User) is needed. The user can register itself also directly by Clickbank

2) A membership by CBClicks can be obtained for free in:

www.cblicks.com

3) Webmasters with good Traffic can get Source Code for their websites in order to display CBClicks Ads. Two formats, Banner and Tower are available. It is possible also to enter specific Keywords in order to display only Clickbank(TM) Ads related with the main Topic of the Website

4) CBClicks provides a special link to be promoted. The more referrals are provided, the higher the position of the Ads displayed and thus, the higher the "Click-Thru" Rate.

The most interesting aspect of CBClicks consists in its inherent Viral Nature. CBClicks offers up to 6 referral levels. By default, the own Ads are displayed in the lowest position (i.e. within a Tower Ad, the own Ads would be displayed at the bottom).

By referring one new CBClick Affiliate, the own Ads move one position up, being displayed also by the referrals promotion (i.e. a Webmaster). The deeper the Downline, the higher the own Ads are being displayed. Furthermore the ads are being displayed among the complete downline.

One easy numerical example provided by CBClicks shows the Viral Nature of the promotion:

Lets assume a given webmaster has a traffic of 1000 Hits per day. So using CBClicks he would display his own ads 1000 times a day by position 6. Furthermore lets assume this webmaster would refer three webmasters with the same number of Hits per Day. So the Ads of Webmaster 1 would be displayed in Position 5 (one position up) 3 x 1000 times = 3000 impressions, plus the own 1000 impressions would result on 4000 impressions a day.

If every webmaster would refer 3 other webmasters, after 6 levels the Ad of the first Webmaster would be displayed 604.000 times a day.

I have tested the system myself, the sign-up rate was considerable and the number of impressions is growing significantly. From my own statistics I could also confirm that the Click-through rate increases from level to level.

More information can be obtained by the CBClick Website :

www.cblicks.com

----------------
Summary
----------------

CBClicks has shown that an intelligent combination between Pop-up Ads, the Clickbank? Marketplace and an ingenious viral marketing system can provide a good marketing basis for Infoproducts.

The product is interesting for Webmasters with good traffic, or for Internet Marketers with a good working promotion strategy. Both systems allow to earn commissions from Clickbank(TM) Products with very limited effort.

About the Author
Alex Timaios is an independent Internet Marketer based in Germany, specialized in Home-Business, Traffic-Building and Residual Income Generation.
www.101homebiz.com and www.101Workathome.biz

2005-08-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing What Is It And Why Use It? by Stephen Warren

Affiliate Marketing is having Affiliates do your Marketing for you. What I mean by Affiliate is someone who tells people about your product/service and you pay them for a desired response, such as a purchase.

Affiliate Marketing is one of the best ways to get the word out about your product/service.

The best way to pay Affiliates is pay per sale. This means that you only have to pay your Affiliates when they actually make a sale. This reduces your advertising costs dramatically. your Affiliates take on all the risks so you don't have to worry about wasting your money on advertising which may not produce any results.

Using Affiliate is a very cheap way to advertise, however it is very effective. The software required to start up your own Affiliate program can cost only about $50 per month.

Then after that just wait for people to start promoting your product/service for you.

Please remember that 5% of your Affiliates will do 95% of the selling. What I mean by this is that most of your Affiliates will just sit there and do nothing. This can be countered if you teach them what to do, exactly how to do it and providing everything for them so they have to do as little work as possible.

To find out about teaching your Affiliates please see the "How To Super Charge Your Affiliates" article

You don't have to use this form of advertising just to sell your product or service. You can also use it to grow your opt-in mailing list. This is discussed in another article.

How Much Should You Pay Your Affiliates

How much you pay your Affiliates really depends on how much your product/service costs, its profit margin, how much you're willing to give up and what action you want to take place.

Lets say that your product is priced at $100. Lets also assume that it cost you $10 to make it. This leaves you with $90 profit.

How much of this do you want to give away to the person that made this sale possible?

Personally, I believe that you should give a rather high percentage of the profits back to the affiliate (Depending on how many sales they regularly generate), because without them, you wouldn't have made that particular sale at all, so reward them for it.

A fairly decent reward is about 50% of the revenue generated. Your product is priced at $100 so a $50 commission is quite generous. It really depends on your other costs (such as a mortgage) you have, which would help decide on a fair commission to both you and the Affiliate.

Another factor which plays a part is how much additional advertising you do, such as pay per click. For example, if you rely solely on your Affiliates to Market for you, then you may want to reduce the commission you pay to them to help you survive. However, you may want to pay them more, to encourage them to send more sales you way. It really is a judgment call.

On the other hand, if you advertise in other ways effectively, then you can afford to pay higher commissions, because you're not putting all your eggs in one basket.

In the end it's all down to how greedy or generous you are. The best advice I can give you is to pay the affiliate what you think he/she deserves. Hopefully that way everyone is happy and earning their fair share.

That is the key to a successful affiliate program.

About the Author
Stephen Warren, the creator and webmaster of http://www.marketershandbook.com , a completely free business and marketing resource which anyone may use.

2005-08-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

"How To Create A Lifetime Income With Affiliate Programs By Changing Your Focus!" by Mark Meyers

"How To Create A Lifetime Income With Affiliate Programs By Changing Your Focus!"

An often overlooked strategy that could maximize your affiliate earnings

by Mark Meyers
(c) 2004. All rights reserved.
http://www.Internet-Income-Advisor.com

Most people join an affiliate program so that they will make some money by referring people to the products and services of the affiliate company.

This is, in fact, a great way to earn a really nice income.

However, if you JUST focus on this you are missing out on a great residual income stream.

Many affiliate programs are based on a 2-tier commission structure. This means you will earn a percentage for each sale that you bring in and a percentage for each sale that an affiliate that you referred brings in.

For example, you could earn a residual (ie you are not doing the work to earn this) 5%+ from the sales that your sub-affiliates bring in. This can really add up when you have a large base of sub-affiliates.

So where do you find these people that will help build your nest egg?

Let them find you!

Using the search information from Overture: (http://inventory.overture.come) we find that thousands and thousands of people are looking for a way to work at home:

Searches done in July 2004: Work At Home

Count Search Term

313502 work at home
310780 work from home
28662 work at home job
16197 work at home opportunity
12538 work from home job
11149 work at home moms
11053 work at home business opportunity
10371 work at home business

Thousands and thousands more people are looking for a home-based business:

Searches done in July 2004: Home-based Business

Count Search Term

401436 home based business opportunity
362672 home based business
5514 home based business idea
4398 based business earn from home home home home income money work
4200 best home based business
4079 internet home based business
3495 home internet based business opportunity
2999 based business home legite

There are even thousands of people are looking for an affiliate program to join:

Searches done in July 2004: Affiliate Program

Count Search Term

152632 affiliate program
5941 free affiliate program
3999 best affiliate program
3200 online affiliate program
2168 casino affiliate program
2120 affiliate marketing program
2046 web affiliate program
2013 web master affiliate program

Your affiliate opportunity could provide the answer that these people are looking for and this will build a long-lasting money-making business for you too! Sounds like a win-win deal to me.

If you would like to know which affiliate programs I recommend, please send me an email here:
AffiliatePrograms@Internet-Income-Advisor.com (this is NOT an autoresponder)

Have a great day!
Mark Meyers
Mark@Internet-Income-Advisor.com

Grab your copy of my new book: Reliable Monthy Income right here:
http://www.Internet-Income-Advisor.com/Reliable-Monthly-Income.html-ACF-GA

May the poorest day of your future be no poorer that the richest day of your past!
2004 - Mark Meyers
About the Author
Mark Meyers is an internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur.

In his newsletter "The Internet Income Advisor" he cuts-to-the-chase and gives you ideas and opportunities for earning a nice income online. Why not grab a free copy of his breakthrough new book: "Reliable Monthy Income"
http://www.Internet-Income-Advisor.com

2005-08-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

What is Google AdSense? by Jakob Jelling

By Jakob Jelling
http://www.sitetube.com

In the mid 1990s websites used to earn income by receiving money from advertisers by publishing or allowing companies to deploy a banner ad campaign on your website. Usually these banners would be brilliantly designed to catch the eye of the consumer along with a short message. The website in turn would receive a tiny profit from a click-through, which was when a customer actually clicked on the banner and went into the website and purchased the product. This was considered traffic-driven income. It was the industry standard until Google came along.

Google has since revolutionized the click-through market by using an innovative approach to advertising, Google AdSense. The beauty behind getting involved with Google now more than any other search engine is due to Googles straightforward approach to a banner/content-free home page. You would sign up your website for affiliation with Google and upon approval your site would be given special code to place the targeted ads on your website. Basically saving Google the space and inconvenience of having to deal with banner ads.

You still may be wondering what Google AdSense actually does. AdSense is a program in which you get paid for targeting your readers to another websites product or service.

A click through is measured when someone actually clicks on the hyperlink. Many web sites now have Google AdSense ads employed. Google AdSense uses Google Adwords content and services in a display box that you place strategically on your website. Google Adword customers pay Google a determined amount of money which will be paid to the website from Google. Since the popularity of Google has risen to such prominence, AdSense affiliates can make a nice amount of money should they be able to deploy the Google AdSense box properly on their website.
Other sites like Earthlink and Ask.com also employ the same technologies through click through methodologies. The more people that visit popular sites and see your name or hyperlink associated with a product the better chance your site will be seen. Remember, you will be paid a small amount per click for some websites and much more for others. What determines the amount is how much the Adwords advertiser places on each click.

Advertisers can pay as little as .50 per click in upwards of $5 (even more). Often campaigns are budgeted for a period of time. The amount budgeted will be rationed over a period of days, the less days involved or the higher price per click the higher the ranking. The more traffic you receive will increase the possibility of a sale and a click through fee in your account.

In short, Googles idea to market itself from the inside out has changed the way websites are doing business. Starting as an AdSense affiliate is a practical approach to making money using one of the hottest tools on the Internet today.
About the Author
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.

2005-08-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

What is an affiliate program and how can it make me money? by Lori Redfield

You may have heard the buzz terms, affiliate programs or associate programs. Chances are your think of them in one of two ways, eitherits got to be another one of those Internet work at home scams. Or, Thats just out of my league.

Promoting affiliate programs is in fact an attractive and viable way to initiate multiple residual income streams. Its not a get rich quick scheme. In fact, to be successful it takes a great deal of work and persistence. It also requires flexibility and an inquisitive nature that embraces trying new ways of marketing until you find something that works for your target audience.

What is an affiliate program? Thousands of established businesses set up affiliate programs in order to have people like you promote their products or services. When you sign up for an affiliate program you are given a link with your own unique id embedded into it.

With your own unique link it then becomes your job to promote the affiliate program and drive traffic to the businesses website. You never handle sales or products, but each time an interested prospect visits the website through your link and actually purchases something you earn a commission.

One of the most effective ways to promote affiliate programs is to find a subject that you are passionate about. Something that (humility aside), you may even consider yourself an expert of. Take that subject and develop a website that is devoted to it.

Building a website does not have to be intimidating. There are a tremendous amount of resources available to you to help you build one. You could also have the template of a website designed for you, or you could purchase a website at a price that may surprise you.

Once you have your website built, you will submit it to the major search engines and every day set some time aside to promote your website. At the same time, find affiliate programs that complement your content and ad their banner ads or text links to your website.

Working with a subject you love insures that you wont become bored with the website. The more content that you add to your site and the more you promote it, the more traffic you will get. It could take a good year to get the site to the point where you are actually surprised at how well it is doing. At that point, it seems to almost effortlessly improve itself.

The key is to draw your visitors to the website because you have terrific content. It is even more effective to offer a newsletter that your visitors can opt-in to. This way you can send them monthly newsletters with articles that will interest them, convincing them to frequent your site over and over again. You can also include the affiliate program links in your newsletters as well.

In the end, you have indulged in promoting a topic that you are knowledgeable and passionate about; while at the same time have initiated a residual income from.

Now you will have even more expertise and confidence, and the next site will be a piece of cake!
About the Author
Lori Redfield is a freelance Internet entrepreneur. She and her husband work solely from home and support their family of five comfortablywith plenty of time for play!

You can obtain more information by visiting her websites, www.freelancemom.com and www.associatehub.com.

2005-08-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

10 Sizzling Tips For Affiliates by Ken Hill

1. Create an infopacked mini site. Build your mini site for a specific niche audience and then choose affiliate programs specifically for that niche audience.

2. Test and track your ads and promotions for your affiliate programs.

Tracking and testing your ads will show you exactly which ads, promotions and affiliate programs pay off the most for you and are excellent choices for you to continue to promote.

3. Publish an ezine.

Your ezine will give you a powerful way to promote your affiliate programs to your subscribers.

Choose affiliate programs that relate to the content of your ezine and that make it worth your while to promote them.

4. Promote your affiliate programs by recommending their products.

You could recommend your affiliate programs to your ezine subscribers in your publisher's note or you could create a recommended resources section where you promote your affiliate programs in every issue.

You could also recommend your affiliate programs to your visitors by creating a recommended affiliate programs section where you list your favorite affiliate programs along with descriptions of their products or services.

In addition, you could create a best affiliate programs section that helps you build up your second tier by listing the affiliate programs that have paid off the most for you.

5. Write product reviews where you detail the benefits you like about your affiliate program's product.

Make your product reviews honest and hype f~ree and post them on your site along with your other articles.

6. Write your own ads for your affiliate program.

A good way to create your ads is to look at the ad copy on the site of the business you want to promote and also ads they provide for their affiliates to use, and use their unique selling proposition or USP to write your ads.

Their unique selling proposition is a unique benefit that they promote in their ad copy that their competitors don't stress or offer to their visitors.

It could be that their product saves lots of time, is easy to understand, that their product is a complete answer to a problem, or it could involve their price.

Some businesses develop more than one USP so you'll be able to choose the one that you think works best in getting more targeted visitors to their site.

7. Try out the support of the companies you want to promote by asking questions.

This will help you to find out how long it takes them to respond to emails (if they respond to emails) and how professional they are.

8. Create freebies that promote your affiliate programs.

You could offer your visitors a f~ree email course, an ebook filled with your tips or articles or an ebook that provides your visitors with places to promote their businesses.

When creating freebies for an affiliate program that is 2 tier, increase your profits by letting your affiliates in your second tier use your freebies as a promotional item.

9. Create a directory.

Your directory could be an article, ezine, ebook or affiliate program directory.

List your own resources within your directory to increase your commissions. For example, you could add your own affiliate programs to your affiliate programs directory or your ebooks to your ebook directory.

Add a what's new section to your directory to garner more repeat traffic from your visitors.

You could also provide a tutorial on the subject of your directory, or add things to your directory that your visitors can use on a regular basis to get more repeat traffic.

10. Run ezine ads for your affiliate programs.

You could purchase sponsor, feature, classified or solo ads for your affiliate program.

Choose ezines with subscribers targeted to be interested in the products of the business you want to promote.

Run your ads for multiple issues in a row when possible to maximize the profit you get from your ads.

You can also run f~ree ads in ezines as many ezines offer f~ree advertising on a weekly, monthly or per issue basis to get more new subscriptions.

Running f~ree ads can help you find out which ads work best, and which ezines are most responsive before you purchase ezine advertising.

About the Author
Article by writer, Ken Hill. Get more marketing tips by joining Ken's Top Notch Marketing Ezine at: http://www.netpromarketer.com/

2005-08-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

Choosing The Right Affilaite Program. by Y. Ailan of DollarSpiders.com

Choosing the right affiliate program.
Written by Y. Ailan of DollarSpiders.com

The importance of choosing the appropriate program(s) for your website has been in my opinion one of the most overlooked aspect when taking into consideration which program(s) to join. In response to this phenomenon that seem's to plague most webmasters these days, I have decided to compile this article on how to choose the right affiliate program(s) for your website.

I am writing this article because I had to find out the difficult way how to choose a program(s). From my experiences, here are several of the top factors you should take into consideration while deciding which program(s):

Sustainability and Stability

As the saying goes: "you can skin a sheep many times, but once you kill it its dead" (Or something like that). Your probably thinking, is this guy insane? (I am still trying to figure that out), but that saying is relevant to this section because it tells you that once a program discontinues its side of the bargain, its in the gutter. What I'm getting at is that you need to find stability in the program your joining because if you join a program that was made recently , how do you know they have the proper amount of clients or money to pay all the participants what they deserve. A rule for those who haven't figured it out yet and those who have forgotten: If it has been around for a while then it has credibility,a reputation to live up, chances are they have enough money saved away to pay when their business is in a bad position and they have developed their program.

Now that you have decided that the program you want is financially stable we can move on to the next part.

On Time:

Do they pay you in a reasonable timeframe? is a question we should all ask before joining any programs because eventually you will start to wonder why you haven't seen a paycheck, even after you have sent them hundreds or thousands of referrals. Only to find out that your paycheck will come in six months.(I might be exaggerating just a little but it's because I'm trying to prove a point).

Time is important, it is intangible and is priceless, so don't waste your time on programs who wont put in the time to take the time to send you a cheque on time. (I spent allot of time on this one)

Target Audience

Maybe I am crazy, but when your surfing a website about lets say cheat codes for the latest console or PC games, there is no way in hell your going to buy a 22.5ft garden hose, especially if it doesn't come with one of those lawn sprinkler things. If anything you will frown upon the site and the company that makes it for being so uncreative in trying to win your dollar. First of all if your a company that makes 22.5ft garden hoses then you should be advertising on gardening website's, and if your a webmaster with a website dedicated to gaming, you should base your advertisements around games. Maybe, just maybe I'm crazy but I honestly believe that you will make almost nothing if your advertising the wrong product on the wrong site.(unless little angus's grandmother is screaming in his ear to buy a 22.5ft garden hose for her while he is surfing a cheat code website)

The message in this section is to advertise something your target audience will be interested in, or else guaranteed you will not be successful with that program or not as successful as you would with something your surfers would be interested in.

A helping hand

A good way to tell if a program is reliable is to pretend your "clue-less" about the program and find out as much as you can, if all your questions are answered in the FAQ and Support areas of the website, then it should be a good program, but if they don't take the time to help you and you have unanswered questions, what does that say about the program? Another excellent indicator is if they reply to your emails, if they actually help you then that means that they do care about the people who are participating in their program(s), which makes them reliable. So when you do have a question that cant wait or is really important they will actually help you.

Thank you very much for your time, I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as possible.

- Y.Ailan

Be sure to check around our website for more information on affiliate programs.
http://www.dollarspiders.com

About the Author
Article Written by Y. Ailan. More information on programs at http://www.dollarspiders.com

2005-08-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS...WHO'S REALLY MAKING THE MONEY? by Gillian Tarawhiti

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS...WHO'S REALLY MAKING THE MONEY?
By Gillian Tarawhiti
Community Training Centre
http://www.millionairerippleeffect.com

There will be a million and one affiliates out there who will tell you that the affiliate program they promote is going to be the best one for you.

But have you considered who is really making the money and who gains the most out of affiliate programs.

Let's take a step back and look at the AFFILIATE.

What exactly is the role of the affilate?

* The sole purpose of the affiliate is to PROMOTE the product and/or service

What are the benefits of being an affiliate?

* Get paid a minimal commission that is regulated by the owner of the product/service

In short, As an affiliate it is your responsibility to make someone else rich whilst doing all the hard work. You take on the expenses of advertising, you are the one who usually misses out on subscribers if you haven't first made them your client before they buy the product/service you are promoting.

And all this for what??? Maybe $20 per sale if you are really, really lucky.

You also need to remember that when you are an affiliate, YOU are not the only person promoting that very same product/service.

So what will make your offer any different to someone else who is promoting the exact same product, usually using the same sales technique, offering it at the same price.

To be in the top 5%, which is the amount of affiliates who make more than $100.00 per month, you need to first have a really good, clean, targeted subscribers list of more than 50,000 subscribers, know exactly how to gain targeted traffic, and have a huge advertising budget.

For the other 95%, the only way you are going to make alot of money from and affiliate program is to OWN YOUR OWN.

It really isn't as hard as you might think to set up.

So in conclusion, the best AFFILIATE PROGRAM, obviously is the one you OWN.

About the Author
About the Author
Gillian Tarawhiti, is Founder and CEO of Community Training Centre, an Australian-based Internet Marketing firm that works with individuals and organisations
2004 Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your web site so long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to www.millionairerippleeffect.com.

2005-08-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

Golden tips on affiliate marketing by Himabindu Chenepalli

Are you new to affiliate marketing? In Choosing the right affiliate program make sure you look for the following:

First-rate products on which you can be reliable to your customer.

High demand for the product which results in high sales of the product

Tremendous value for the money spent which in turn gives confidence to your visitors and increases sales.

Good reasonable commissions, this is business, money plays the major role.

Your affiliate partners should know how to sell effectively on net.

A fair affiliate agreement, no nasty surprises in the small print.

Useful guidance on the process of affiliate marketing.

Restriction on the number of affiliates joining the program.

About the Author
None

2005-08-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing: Another Way to Win by Jude Wright

Affiliate Marketing: Another Way to Win
Copyright 2004 Jude Wright All Rights Reserved

You have a nice looking website, full of content. You have links to all your favorite affiliate programs. But - no one is clicking. What else can you do to get someone interested enough to click on the product's sales page?

Did you know that you can have your own affiliate program even if you don't have your own product? Well, you can! Simply join programs that have a 2-tier affiliate program.
.
Here's what to do:

When you add the link from your website to the affiliate program's sales page, also add another link saying "Join this Affiliate Program." The affiliate programs that are 2-tier will provide you with a second link for signing up
your own affiliates. Now, when your "affiliate" sells a product, YOU get a portion of the commission.

Of course, the commission won't be as high, but it's still a commission. And if you have enough affiliates signed up under you, they can be significant.

Sometimes the people who sign up using your send tier affiliate program link will end up purchasing the product themselves. Now you will get a commission from this sale plus you'll commission from any sale your affiliate should make in the future.

Want another idea?

Create a mini-site for just ONE of your affiliate products. Make sure it is one that has an excellent commission structure and a 2-tier program. You won't need to create a lot of different pages with a lot of content because this is a "sales" site - your sales site.

All you need is two pages. On the first page, create your sales copy. Do not use exactly the same sales letter that is used on the sales page for that product. Make it unique. Make it yours. Give it your own twist, your own personality. On this page you will have a link to your affiliate program
to page 2.

Create page two. This page will describe the affiliate program for this product and will have a link to the affiliate program sign-up page for the affiliate program product.

Now, promote this page - your product's affiliate program. An affiliate marketer will sign up for this affiliate program under your affiliate ID. And he or she will make sales. If you can get many "good" affiliates, ones who work hard to promote the product, you will make more on commissions that by actually selling the product yourself.

Another thing to think about is that you could receive residual income from your affiliates. Even if an affiliate stops promoting your affiliate product, it is likely he or she has written articles using their affiliate ID in the resource box for that article. When the article has been submitted to numerous article directory sites, and used by other websites in ezines or as website content, that affiliate ID will still be active. So, you win again!

Also, it will be easier to sign up new affiliates to your affiliate program than it will be to sell the product. Why? Because the affiliate marketer is motivated to make money. And the more money he makes for himself, the more money he makes for you! This is a good thing!

So, don't only think of affiliate marketing websites as content sites. Keep an open mind. Find new ways to promote your affiliate programs - and your affiliate program's affiliate program - to get even more choices for your multiple streams of income.
About the Author
-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-08-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

Make Money While You Sleep by yatin patel

Affiliate marketing is a good tool.

IF YOU ARE LIKE MOST BUSINESSES, IT IS A REAL challenge to attract paying customers to your site and still meet your ROI needs. Many companies who are successful in this area have reverted to a very traditional, real-world selling technique. They have taken this technique that has been successfully used for centuries and have finessed it into the cyber world. It is called Commission-based selling. Its embodiment in the online world takes the form of affiliate programs.

The easy definition of an affiliate program is Gain more customers through smaller sites run by others, which usually have a strong, loyal following. The small guys get a commission on sales that they send the bigger guys way. In a sign that the affiliate approach is working, a 2002 Forrester report said spending toward affiliate marketing increased by 50% while budgets for portal deals, e-mail, and banners all decreased significantly. Forrester also says that affiliate marketing is now driving $10.5 billion, or 15%, of online sales. By 2005, this figure will jump to $54 billion (Forrester, eCommerce Brokers Arrive,). Today, 97% of online marketing deals have a performance component. Growth rates for pay-for-performance spending will be seven times the growth rates for CPM- based spending through 2006.

Pre-sell / Warm-up Phenomena
The most popular model is where Affiliates do not sell the merchants product, they Pre-sell /Warm up their visitor and send them to the merchants Web site in an open-to-buy frame of mind.

Some affiliates even have syndicated content from the merchant on their site and they take the visitor as far as possible before switching transparently (one hopes) to the merchant when the visitor is ready to put a credit card to use.

In the best situation, the visitor doesnt even realize that a switch from the smaller affiliate site to the larger merchant site has even taken place.

Affiliate Revenue Models Sales Commission:

Affiliate receives fixed % of sales as a commission.
Traffic exchange: One qualified clicks from my site is exchanged for one qualified click from yours.
Pay per contextual visitor Or Qualified Lead: Merchant pays a fixed amount to the affiliate per qualified click or lead.
Hybrid Model: A custom solution with two or more components of above revenue model.

What do affiliates look for when considering your affiliate program?
Product Profile: The Product plays a very important part in the success of this program. The basic criteria of product qualification are:

Products / services should be a purchasable item online.
Your catalog and offering should have sufficient content about the product or market segment
Miscellaneous, complementary accessories and services that will boost sales
A perfect sales pitch with pictures.
Mass appeal is an added plus.
Competitive Price.

High commission

Depending on the profit margin, the merchant should offer a good commission to their affiliates. The simple way to determine the commission is to calculate the current cost (Cost per acquisition) to make one sale by means of existing online marketing efforts using banners, paid placement, and other traditional Internet media.

Lets then assume that cost is 15 % of the existing revenue. It is safe to offer 10% commission to the affiliates with the other 5% assigned to the administration of the program. One can calculate the same formula Based on Cost per acquisition too.

Lifetime commission

Many affiliate programs just set the identifying cookie to last for a short period of time (perhaps 24 hours, some only for the duration of the visit to merchants site). If the visitor doesnt buy within the short time the cookie is set, the visitor is no longer identified with the referring Webmaster and there is no commission paid to that Webmaster.

Good affiliate programs not only set the cookie for longer, up to a maximum of 10 years, they also use database tracking on the merchants system. So, whenever a visitor that has been tagged and referred comes back to the merchant and buys, the merchant credits the referring Webmaster and pays the commission. This long-term cookie and database backup enables the merchant to provide the affiliate with a lifetime customer. Now that really is looking after affiliates!

Customer Service and Call Center
Effective customer service and call center support can make or break your affiliate program. Many online buyers would like to call when they make an online purchase. Well-managed CRM activity adds creditability in your offerings. A separate toll free number for each affiliate can add affiliate value by personalizing the experience for the customer and making certain proper credit is given to the affiliate for call center reservations.

Syndication Capabilities: You can affiliate with web sites in two waysfirst, by placing offers on your affiliates sites that link back to your company servers, where the sale is made; second, via hybrid models. The program models come in six basic types, and your company can offer any or all of them to potential affiliate partners: Banner or text links, Storefronts, Pop-ups, Embedded commerce, Email, Hybrid

Some merchants that go all out to support their affiliates and help them succeed offer newsletters, promotional ideas, up-to-date information, even whole web sites devoted just to affiliate support.

Contextual Relevancy
The Affiliates that are successful are those who are becoming ever more context-centric and offer contextual relevancy That is, whats being offered to site visitors closely matches the content of the site itself. Place the product or service in context and more people will buy. An affiliate site would be more effective selling video games than lawn mowers on a site targeted to teenagers. Its about presenting the right message to visitors in the right place at the right time.

After sale reporting and transaction
Affiliates like to see their transactions in detail on a daily basis to measure the performance of their investments. A detailed reporting mechanism for everyday sales, product names, and product categories are a very important part of successful program. Affiliates use these statistics to optimize their offering and marketing methods.

Also paying your affiliates on time and offering alternate payment methods is a must.

Wrong Assumptions about affiliate marketing

Wrong Assumption 1: Having many many small sites promoting my product in mass will bring success to my affiliate program. It is not about how many affiliates you have, what really counts is how many affiliates producing significant results. Identify which affiliates are producing results and work with them closely to bring their revenue up.

The 80-20 rules applies: 80% of revenue is probably coming from 20% of your affiliates. Your results will be dependent on finding the right partners, big or small, that drive results.

Wrong Assumption 2: Affiliate programs will get new customers automatically with a low acquisition cost. Affiliates are becoming smart business entities day by day and they have a wide variety of offerings to choose from. They also understand the value of the traffic their sites are getting. They know that in their focus market segment good traffic is costing more, because it is worth more.

You get what you pay for. As a merchant, create a process that generates performance for both the merchant and the affiliate. To do that, you need to identify sites that will perform, based on their contextual relevancy and amount of traffic, and make sure you pay them enough to make it worth their while. Its not as easy as the mythology might suggest, but if you do it right it will certainly be worth your while.

Wrong Assumption 3: Action or Performance-based marketing has no risk. Straight media buys offer more control than performance-based marketing. Affiliates may be offering content and promoting your products, but there is a chance that the quality of consumer is not what you expected. There is a chance that they will produce more then you have budgeted for. There is a chance that your product will be misrepresented by the affiliate.

By playing an active role with the program and handpicking your affiliates, you can minimize all of these risks. Paying on results sound lucrative to the merchant, but affiliates need to make their fair share of revenue, too. Commissions work when the risk on both sides is evenly weighted.

You dont get that performance by putting a link on the World Wide Web and hoping for the best. You get it by taking control of your affiliates as a serious reseller channel.

Wrong Assumption 4: Since I have an affiliate program running I will not have to buy advertising on a CPM basis. Affiliate programs often can generate 30 percent of overall revenue if merchants focus on them. Obviously, the other 70 percent comes from somewhere else.

So companies must know how to live in both worlds (Pay per performance and pay per impression). CPM can be countered productive if you dont know the performance metrics behind the campaign.

However, if you know the number of new customers acquired and the amount spent on the media buy, you can determine if this meets your acquisition cost goals.

Your affiliate technology will allow you to track these metrics in a turnkey way to determine whether buying on CPM makes sense for you. You may find buying on CPM is cheaper than paying CPA.

Win-Win
One of the reasons affiliate programs are so popular is that that offer a win-win situation for both merchant and affiliate.

Merchants Win: The merchants cost for advertising a particular product is mostly limited to the commission paid to an affiliate, and the merchant only has to pay when a purchase is complete.

This is superior to banner advertising, where the merchant payspurchase or no purchase. Impressively, the amount paid to an affiliate for a purchase through an affiliate link is probably only 10% to 20% of the cost of that sale through banner advertising.

Affiliates Win: The site owner should make money if enough visitors click on the affiliate links and make purchases. The affiliate doesnt have to go through the setting up e-commerce functions, taking credit cards, or shipping products. They just join affiliate programs and let someone else do the hard stuff.

By Yatin Patel
Published in http://www.siliconindia.com
August 2003

About the Author
None

2005-08-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

Marketing by Susan Prince

MARKETING

Marketing is something that is essential to all businesses if they are to been successful and yet it is something that many businesses do very badly.You can have a fantastic website with excellant products but if nobody sees it you are not going to sell anything.

The purpose of your website

The purpose of your website is to sell your products or services.Be sure to keep the site focus on business and not on yourself.Customers do not care about you or your life but about what you can offer them to improve or enhance their lives.Be sure to offer free items and always have a way of capturing those all important email addresses.Offer a newsletter,a questionaire or even a survey to get the customer to part with their addresses and once you have the addresses use them.Invest in an autoresponder and learn how to use it.

One of the first rules of marketing

Test and measure every aspect of your marketing campaign.Test all your marketing methods and every ad,headline,sales letter,email etc.Are the methods successful,did they make a profit,if so how much and at what cost.If the returns are good continue to use the ad etc.Discard any methods which show poor results.

Advertising

There are two types of advertising.

Brand Name
The advertising is gear to build and increase awareness of a companies brand.This method is really only used by the big boys of business like Coca Cola as it is costly.

Direct Response
We advertise,it produces a response so allowing us to know instantly wether it is working or not.We can then decide whether to discard it or continue running it.

Writing a ad.

When you write a ad it should always be personal,put yourself in the customers shoes and address the customers needs,desires,fears and hopes.Show the customer how your product or service will benefit and satisfy their needs.Remember the golden rules when writing that ad.

ATTENTION Capture the customer attention
INTEREST Keep the customers interest
DESIRE Make the customer want or need your product or service
ACTION Encourage the customer to take action.E.G Order

Pay attention to any ads that you read.Take notice of the ones you like and dislike.Keep a copy of the ones you like and use them as models for your own ads.

Marketing strategies

You will need to have a marketing strategie or plan in place to promote your business.Some of the following are methods you can use

Online marketing

Search Engines
Free and paid ads
Viral marketing
Ezines
Link exchanges
Email

Offline marketing

Business cards
Brochures
Printed ads
Radio
TV

Always present a professional image in all your marketing methods as you only have the one chance to make a good first impression.

Customers

While your marketing methods are gear towards attracting new customers be sure to look after the customers you already have.Follow up with them turn them into friends and they will buy from you for years.
Good luck in your marketing efforts

All the best
Sue
For pratical proven business advice and tips.Subscribe to our business newsletter
Subscribe at mailto:princehomebiz@getresponse

About the Author
I am English and live near the city of Nottingham in the East Midland.My hobbies are my two horses and my dog.

2005-08-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Top 5 Tips for Frustrated Affiliate program Marketers by Isaiah Hull

You may use this article for reprint, as long as it remains unaltered and the resource box and author information are included. - Isaiah Hull

Top 5 Tips For Frustrated Affiliate Program Marketers

Do you go through affiliate programs like most people go through pairs of socks? Many Internet marketers do. In fact, 97% of all Internet marketers never make a single cent advertising opportunities on the Internet. They jump from one opportunity to the next and never see results. If you want to break free from this cycle of failure--if you want to earn a living off of your Internet ventures--continue reading. I will tell you exactly how you can earn money from any legitimate affiliate program.

In order to get the most information from what I am about to explain to you, you must accept that these methods are not intended to be "secrets." These are scientifically-proven, best-practice methods that all top marketers use. If you want results, you will have to do and continue to do the following five things:

1. Know your product. Do not advertise for a product or affiliate program that you are not currently using. I cannot even count the amount of affiliate programs and product offers I have rejected immediately from people who know very little about what they are actually promoting. If you want to make money selling a product or service, you have to use it, understand it, and be able to convince your prospects that they should own it. If you yourself do not believe in it--because you have not even tried it--then you will have a hard time convincing anyone else it is worthwhile.

2. Know your field. You must continually become more knowledgeable about the market in which you are selling your product or service. For instance, I try to read at least 50 pages on Internet marketing each day to complement the marketing I do. This keeps me learning about my field. The best part about this is that you can do it without spending any money at all. The Internet is loaded with free content sites where you can find free ebooks and special reports on any subject. The Internet is also loaded with affiliate program promoters who are out-selling you. Use google to find these sites and then reverse engineer them--pick apart the source code, page setup, and content layout to find out how you can become more like your competition who is outselling you.

3. Focus your efforts and limit your innovation. As much as "limiting your innovation" may go against your business instincts, it is an absolute must with a limited marketing budget. Figure out what works for you scientifically by measuring your advertising results. When you find something that works, stick with it. If you are getting traffic from reciprocal links, continue to build them. If you are getting constant sign-ups from your newsletter, improve your newsletter and order more leads. Do not stray far from your original plan. Preset the amount of innovative ideas you want to try out each night, but center your marketing efforts around getting better results from methods that have already worked for you.

4. Spend money wisely. The Internet is loaded with scams and bad information. It is really easy to be tricked into blowing money on "get rich quick" schemes and information that you can find in free resources. I personally have spent thousands of dollars needlessly. But do not get me wrong; I am not saying there are no legitimate affiliate promotion services or information products out there: I am saying that the vast majority of them do not work as well as they say they do. So hold onto your cash. When you find a product that multiple people have personally recommended to you, then consider buying it. Otherwise, conserve your cash for purchasing services or products that will produce hard, definite results, such as email leads for your newsletter or phone leads you can contact personally to promote your program.

5. Remember that your success is dependent on your choices and your work alone. If you get upset about not becoming successful with a specific affiliate program, do not blame the program--blame yourself. Do a thorough analysis of what you could be doing better and how you could be making quantitative progress
every single day. There are people who do not pay any money at all for promotional services and yet are still able to make a living just from using free tools on the Internet. If they can do it, there is no reason at all why you cannot. Joining a marketing group or forum in your field will help you realize this reality. Seeing and talking to people who are succeeding in your field will remind you that it is entirely possible to make money online without having a million dollars to begin with.

While there are some "secrets" to getting more sign-ups and site visitors, the bigger part of affiliate program marketing is following a sound business plan. If you keep the five concepts I have listed above central to your marketing campaign, you will not fail. But, if you continue to market sporadically--switching from product to product and method to method--you will never break out of that 97% who never make money.
About the Author
Isaiah Hull publishes Home Business Tips Newsletter, a fresh and informative ezine that focuses on building successful internet businesses and promoting affiliate programs. Stop by http://www.workathomerightnow.net
or send a blank email to mailto:workathomerightnow.com
to subscribe for free for an entire year.

2005-08-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

Buy Generic Viagra, Generic Cialis, Meltabs, Caverta, Silagra, Kamagra, Edegra by Stella

Earn 25% commission for every new sale of Generic Viagra and Generic cialis
Earn 20% commission for other Generic Pharmacy.
Net Pharma World offers the most lucrative and exciting affiliate program on the Internet. Join today and start reaping the rewards of one of the most successful affiliate programs available. Earn More Money Now!

About the Author
Workholic

2005-08-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Leather motorcycle jackets,bombers,jackets,coats,blazers,halters,pants,skirts by Jane Perez

Leathericon offers high quality leather jacket, motorcycle jackets, nascars, blazer, bomber, biker, coat, vest, skirt, pant, tank top, halter, shorts at affordable rates.We specialize in custom made leather clothing.
Lucrative Affiliate program inside.
10% commission on each sale made.
http://www.leathericon.com/Affiliate/index.asp
About the Author
Apparel Designer.

2005-08-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

The affiliate model how to make money as an affiliate. by Rob Rawson.

By Rob Rawson.

Affiliate programs are a very easy and effective way to make money on the Internet right? so how do they work?
Essentially, affiliate programs are a way that you can promote other peoples products and get paid a commission for promoting them. You can get paid to promote almost any type of product and service on the web.
Most of the top companies on the web have Affiliate Programs. Dell computers, Amazon, Expedia, AT&T, Chase bank, Delta airlines and Walmart are just a few examples - did you know that you can be paid a commission to sell products online for any one of these companies?
The best thing about affiliate programs is that it is so easy to set up a
relationship with any one of these companies. Normally in business you would have to spend weeks or months of meetings, proving that you are a worthwhile partner to be able to do business with these sorts of companies. However, an affiliate program allows you to get commissions straight away as a little guy,without all the hassle of meetings and forming that relationship.
There are thousands of affiliate programs that you can promote on the web. You have so many choices that you could pursue. The key factors for success with affiliate programs are the following:
Choosing the right affiliate programs. If you choose certain affiliate programs you will likely only be able to earn a small income because their payouts are small. Other affiliate programs have very large payouts and high earning per click (EPC). If you dont know what earning per click (EPC) is, it is the average amount that affiliates earn from each click to the site that they are sending money to. Some networks express it in earnings per one hundred clicks.

For example you could say an EPC of $57. This means you make $57 on average for every 100 visitors that you send to a site or 57 cents for sending one visitor to the site. Generally I am looking for affiliate programs with an EPC of $20 or more, which means I am making 20 cents per visitor. Usually, I focus on programs that have an EPC of $100 or $1 per visitor. When you are earning $1 per visitor you have potential for a lot more profit.
The second critical factor is getting the traffic to the affiliate program. We are going to talk about this more in other issues of the Ecourse.
The third factor is being able to pre-sell to the visitors of your site. Lets say that you have a website where you discuss different products and services, a comparison type of site. You can recommend the product that you think is most beneficial and then when people click through to the site after your recommendation, they are much more likely to buy.
How do you find good affiliate programs?
One easy way is to go to all of the affiliate networks and sign up for affiliate programs there. The major affiliate networks like Commission Junction have thousands of affiliate programs that you can join in all sorts of categories. You can find a listing of the different affiliate networks at: http://www.profitpuppy.com/affiliate-networks.htm
It also depends on what type of strategy you are pursuing with affiliate
programs. There are many different strategies and we cant go into all of them now, well talk about them in detail in some later issues of the ecourse. However here are a few strategies to get your brain ticking over with ideas:
You can promote affiliate programs directly using Google Adwords. You simply promote the program by creating your own ads. This is the quickest way to make money on the Internet as you can get started and in 1-2 hours have some ads up that are making you money. However, it is getting more and more difficult to make money with this strategy as there are too many people doing it. As with anything in life, if something is too easy to make money, everyone will start doing it and it then becomes more difficult because there is more competition.
One strategy is to focus on a particular niche arealets say you decide to do a site on car rentals. You could then join all the affiliate programs to do with car rentals. You can find many of them through the major networks, but you might also need to search on Google for something likecar rental affiliate program.
Another strategy is to build lots of little mini sites on the Internet focusing on different keyword phrases that people are searching for and get free search engine listings in Google and other search engines. This is a great strategy because the traffic that you get is free. This is general called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is great and can make you a lot of money but it is also very tricky. It is not easy to get to the top of the search engines. It requires a lot of knowledge, and quite a bit of effort. Dont think that you can just read a book and do itnormally it is going to take months of dedication to get there.
Thats a few ideas, but whatever area you are involved in on the Internet you should definitely be promoting affiliate programs. Even if you sell your own product online you should still look into affiliate programs as a back end profit centre for your business.
Affiliate programs are one of the quickest ways to make money on the Internet. Over the next few issues of the Ecourse we are going to talk about other strategies of using affiliate programs.
If you want a free email course on affiliate programs you can send a blank email to: tamsaffiliatemarketing@sitesell.net This email course is written by Ken Evoy and it is this course that actually got me started in marketing on the Internet.
http://www.profitpuppy.com

About the Author
info@profitpuppy.com

2005-08-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

How to Promote Affiliate Products Without a Website by Jude Wright

How to Promote Affiliate Products
if You Don't Have a Website
Copyright 2004 Jude Wright

Okay, you want to promote affiliate programs. You have one or two that you are very interested in. But - you don't have your website created yet and you don't even have your own optin-in list. What do you do? Here are a few things you can do before you get your website created.

1. Write articles. Yes, I know. It's like being in school again and learning something for the first time. It's really not all that difficult. Think about the affiliate product that you want to promote. How does that product help the person using it? Now, think of a story of someone who is struggling (with whatever task they're trying to do without the product) and then provide the solution to that problem.

You must be careful, though. If the story sounds like a sales pitch, your article won't be published.

Let's take as an example: Autoresponders. Tell the story about a person trying to send out a message every week manually. Talk about the frustrations. Then, provide the solution by explaining how autoresponders work and why they should be used for that task. But don't mention the autoresponder product you are promoting in the article. That's what the article's Resource Box is for! The resource box will contain a "mini" ad of sorts with a link to your affiliate product's website.

Submit your completed article to article announcement lists, article directories and newsletter publishers.

2. Start your own opt-in list.

The gurus tell you that you must have your own list. Is that difficult? Well, yes and no. There are lists and there are Lists. It's easy to find names and email addresses to add to your list - just buy them from a list broker. However, to get a "responsive" list there are some tasks that must be done.

Before your actually create your own website, you can have a list. Simply use one of the free autoresponder or list server companies that are available, such as:

- FreeAutoBot: http://freeautobot.com
- Get Response: http://getresponse.com
- Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com
- Topica: http://topica.com

One of these will get you started until you start making some money and can afford to go "pro." Most free autoresponder options will have ads on top of each message you send out.

When you have your website finished, put a subscription box on every page. You never know where your site visitor will be coming from so you'll want to cover all the bases.

3. Submit free and paid solo, top sponsor, and classified ads to newsletters that are in your affiliate product's niche. Most affiliate marketers are doing this already but are making two major mistakes:

1. They use the "canned" ads that the affiliate program company provides. Re-write the ad in your own style. Make the ad different and unique. For a few minutes of work you will get a much better response.

2. They don't mask the affiliate link. I would say that 90% of the ads that get submitted to my newsletter still have the affiliate ID showing. I have preached this many times but it bears repeating. Mask Your Link! Even if you just use a service like http://tinyurl.com or http://snipurl.com, it will save you from having your affiliate ID ripped off by someone else. Besides, your link will look a lot more professional and will meet the line length guidelines that most publishers require.

The best affiliate marketers have their own domain name and website. But these tips should help you get your start in affiliate marketing.
About the Author
-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-07-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

Understanding Affiliate Programs by S. Housley

Affiliate programs are commonly misunderstood, in order to understand affiliate programs lets start with terminology. For clarification purposes, an affiliate is defined as any "referrer" or website that promotes a product in an effort to earn revenue. A merchant is defined as someone who owns a product and is sharing revenues with an affiliate based on the affiliate's performance. Affiliate programs can drive targeted traffic to your website.

There are 3 basic affiliate programs, though only the first two are commonly used.

Pay Per Click - this is when an affiliate is compensated for sending traffic to the merchant. (AdSense is an example of PPC affiliate program)

Pay Per Sale - this is when the affiliate is compensated by the merchant if the referral generates a sale or purchase.

Pay Per Lead - this is when the merchant agrees to pay for a qualified (or sometimes unqualified lead), which is very uncommon because it is subjective and up to the merchant.

Affiliate websites tend to provide information, entertainment, and content services to their customers. The online merchants sell products, goods and services online. These are programs permitting affiliates to earn money based on the visitors to your site who click through to another's website. Some pay a token amount for the click through and others provide a percentage of sales when a visitor "clicks through" to your site and buys a product or service on the other party's site. This could represent a value added service to your visitors.

Affiliate programs allow you to pay and track incentives from other websites that send web surfers, leads or paying customers to your website. Commissions based on purchases made by traffic sent from the referring website can be paid. Besides a commission, an affiliate can receive a flat fee, or other incentives for all valid transactions it refers that generate a sale or lead.

Be careful that the affiliate's web page is not cluttered with banner ads that may crowd out your link, or that be annoying to customers. Affiliate programs enable affiliates to leverage their traffic and customer base in order to profit from e-commerce while merchants benefit from increased exposure and sales.

Commonly traffic to merchant sites is measured and affiliates can clearly see conversion rates. Meaning, they track the percentage of people they are referring, and how much of it results in earned revenue. If the affiliate finds a very low conversion, they will find a better way to monetize that traffic, quite possibly with a competing merchant product.

In order to be a successful affiliate, the affiliate site needs to either have tons of traffic or target a specific audience, frequently one untapped by the merchant. It has been my experience, the closer the affiliate site content resembles the merchant products, the higher the likelihood of a good conversion rate.

Once you are committed to the idea of affiliates, the next step is to determine the kind of tracking system you are going to use. Sales can be tracked by HTML code, which is placed in a shopping cart or on the 'order confirmation'/'thank you' page, and cookies, which are created after the customers click on a banner ad. Cookie killers have been a problem for the affiliate industry. Software vendors have an advantage over other merchants in that new technologies allow software developers to better control compensation. Vendors can 'wrap' their software insuring that their affiliates are compensated for referrals, even if the customer downloads a trial version prior to purchasing. Buy now buttons in the software have affiliate ids imbedded in the download. Combined tracking systems have more success than those that rely on a single tracking technology.

In order to develop a successful affiliate network, merchants must realize that affiliates spend ad dollars on site, and product promotion. If the affiliate is not compensated fairly they will not remain in the merchants network. The bottom line is that affiliate relationships are partnerships, when both sides feel the situation is fair and equitable the relationship will be a success.

About the Author
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.feedforall.com , http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com and http://www.small-business-software.net

2005-07-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Generate More Sales in ANY Affiliate Program Part One by Gillian Tarawhiti

It is my opinion that the best AFFILIATE PROGRAM everis still the AFFILIATE PROGRAM YOU own.

BUT

For those who are content in promoting other peoples programsI will share with you a few of my strategies for FREE!

But before I do that, lets see why most affiliates FAIL in just about any given affiliate program.

Like food products, affiliates have a use by date or expiry date. An average affiliate will expire 30 days after commencing 30 days or less to see if the program is any good and then they move on to the next affiliate program of the month.

If the affiliate doesnt see a return on there investment in the first two weeks then they will not stay around.

DONT BECOME A 30 DAY WONDER.

It is time to make an informed decision (in choosing your affiliate program) and sticking with it. If you are one of those netpreneurs who changes affiliate programs often, and not making money from it, you now know why it isnt working.

So before you go any further, make an informed decision (research) on the program you want to promote.

Now back to those STRATEGIESTWO STRATEGIES TO BE EXACT.

Strategy One

Very simple and straight forward, KNOW YOUR PRODUCT!

To know your product you need to USE IT, and know EVERYTHING there is to know about it. Its like going to watch a movie that you really, really enjoyed, you get this scene of excitement to share your great experience with others, wellyou need to get that same excitement about your product that only comes about by KNOWING YOUR PRODUCT.

Strategy Two

The Golden Question for all affiliates is How can I create an advantage for me?

The Answer: Incentive Marketing

If you have never heard of Incentive Marketing, you are sure to have been a victim of it in your every day life.

Think about it have you ever Up sized your meal at McDonalds, have you ever brought anything because of the Free Gift or Discount.

Incentive Marketing, Incentive Marketing, Incentive Marketing

It doesnt matter that there are potentially thousands of other affiliates promoting the same program because from today onwards you are going to create an unfair advantage. Start thinking about what you could possibly use to create an unfair advantage and in PART TWO, I will give you the strategies you would need to become an SUPER INCENTIVE MARKETER.

To Your Online Success!

About the Author
About the Author Gillian Tarawhiti, is Founder and CEO of Community Training Centre, an Australian-based Internet Marketing firm that works with individuals and organisations
2004

Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your web site so long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to http://www.millionairerippleeffect.com.

2005-07-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Creating an Affiliate Marketing Budget by Jude Wright

Your first thought on seeing the title of this article is
probably, "I'm not going to need a budget because I'm not
going to spend any money." I'm sorry, but that's not how it
works. If you don't want to spend ANYTHING, you are not
going to succeed.

Now that you know you must spend some money, it's time to
decide how much money you can afford to invest in your
affiliate marketing business.

There are some expenses that you will have if you want to be
successful. There are others that you can put off until the
time you start earning income from your affiliate products.
The below suggestions are not carved in stone - they are
just a guide. This is an Annual Budget - for the first year
of business. Some items that will need to be budgeted for
are:

* Domain Name. There is quite a span between the low-cost
and the high end cost of domain names. Why does Network
Solutions charge $35 when you can get your domain name for
much less elsewhere? I don't know, but when I got my first
domain name, I went through them because I didn't
know any better. Now, I get my domains through
http://godaddy.com. They're a big enough company that
they're not likely to "go under" and their charges for
domain name registration is only $8.95 per year. If you shop
around, you may even be able to find something less
expensive. But make sure it's a well-established company!
You don't want to lose your domain name once you have
decided on it! You will likely get a better "deal" if you
register your domain name for two or more years in advance.

* Website Hosting. Here again, fees for web hosting can vary
dramatically from company to company. Set up a comparison
chart and write down each company you are considering, with
columns for Company Name, Price, Disk Space, and Bandwidth.
Go to http://google.com and add the
first twenty that come up to your chart with costs, etc.
When you actually get to the point when you will be
purchasing your web hosting, you will drill down further to
see what each company offers. Hosting fees will run from
$7.00 to $25.00 per month or more. Shop carefully.

* Merchant Account. You probably won't need a Merchant
Account, as such, unless you are selling digital products or
products you'll be shipping to a customer. It is a good
idea to set up an account with http://paypal.com because a
lot of affiliate managers are using PayPal to make payments
to affiliates. There is no charge for using PayPal.

* Software and Scripts. You will need, at the least, some
kind of spreadsheet to track your expenses and income from
your affiliate business. Eventually, you will need a more
robust program like QuickBooks or Microsoft Money. If you
don't have a spreadsheet software application, you can get
one free from http://openoffice.org. This is a suite of
tools that works like Microsoft Office. You may or may not
need website scripts - depending on how elaborate you want
your website to be. Examples would be article management or
"tell a friend" scripts. Let's just set at cost at $50 just
in case.

* Advertising. For the first few weeks, you will not be
spending money on advertising or promotion. But since we are
working on an "Annual" budget, let's estimate it at $50 per
month or $600. I know that sounds like a lot, but if you
want to get the word out, you'll need to set money aside for
pay-per-click search engines and ezine advertising.

* Education. Ongoing education is going to be extremely
important to your affiliate marketing success. You will not
have to purchase a lot of educational materials - if you
don't want to. There are many free resources, such as
newsletters, that you can study. For now, we'll set a zero
budget, but allow a certain amount later for ebook or how-to
videos.

What is the final total? Approximately $800.00. Does that
seem extreme? Remember, this is for an entire year. Where
else but on the Internet can you start a business for under
$1,000? Keep it in perspective. If you intend to have a
"real" business, you must treat it as a real business -
which includes real expenses.
About the Author
-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-07-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Program Mastery: Learning How To Build Internet Capital Goods for Free by Isaiah Hull

You may use this article for reprint, as long as it remains unaltered and the resource box and author information are included. - Isaiah Hull

Affiliate Program Mastery: Learning How To Build Internet Capital Goods for Free

As I mention in almost all of my articles, 97% of Internet marketers never make a cent online. I mention
this simple fact because it has a lot of power--it has the power to completely discourage people who are not succeeding, and it also has the power to encourage those same people who are failing to learn, so that they can
succeed.

In this article, I will teach you exactly what it means to build Internet capital goods--and how it relates to
entering that top 3%. When you finish reading this, you will have complete faith that you can succeed and you will
understand exactly what it will take to do so.

So what are capital goods? You know that regular businesses purchase capital goods to increase production. You know
that industrial businesses operate some of these capital goods to produce goods that they can then resell for profit. You know that capital goods can be land. They can be factories. They can be machinery. They can be people. . .

So how does this relate to marketing your affiliate program? It's quite simple--in order to succeed, you
must build a large pile of Internet capital goods and then use them to pull in customers and retain them.

Most affiliates do not understand this concept. They start out with a boilerplate gateway webpage--that
everyone else who sells the same product also uses--and then they use that page in conjunction with paid advertisement and hope for success. In almost every
single case, they never make more than a couple sales, give up after 3 months at the absolute most, and then move on to the next opportunity.

If you do a simple analysis of successful affiliate program marketers (which, for practical reasons, will
be easiest if you do it through websites), you will find that they either a) have purchased Internet capital goods and advertisement with a lot of money or b) have an enormous amount of Internet capital goods. (You can test this yourself by checking the top listings in search engines for any keyword combination).

What does this mean for you? It means that you either a) are already rich and can purchase that land, factory, machinery, and workers immediately (website, product rights, advertisement, etc) or b) you need to start building these Internet capital goods or you are definitely going to fail within 3 months.

So how do you know what is and isn't an Internet capital good? An Internet capital good is an item that, once you build or purchase it, will constantly add or create value for your business. This includes links, content, dynamic scripts, free tools that your targeted
audience can use, and mailing lists that you can consistently offer your products to.

If you are not making an effort to build these Internet capital goods, you are the Internet equivalent of real life business that purchases frozen pizzas from the supermarket next door, heats them up in a microwave, and then tries to sell them. On top of that, your
store has no napkins or condiments or tables or chairs or pizza boxes. Everyone must sit on and eat off of
the floor.

Would you want to purchase pizza there? No, you would get it at the supermarket frozen at a cheaper price, or you would go next door, where they make it and then bake it in an oven, where you could sit down at a table in a chair.

Take the time to understand this point: If you want to succeed, you absolutely must either have money to buy your land, store, table, chairs, and oven--or you must build them yourself.

Fortunately for Internet marketers, you have a huge advantage over regular businesses--you can build all of these Internet capital goods; you do not need to pay for any of them.

You can build every Internet capital good I have mentioned above for no cost at all. And you will if you want to
succeed on a limited budget. So setup your links. Make quotas; reach those quotas every week. Build content. Find
legally reusable expert articles and add them to your website. Build pages that offer free tools to your customers. Use free advertising methods advertise this
page as a useful stand-alone (which happens to be linked to your related website). Setup a free content ezine or
marketing list that is related to your website. Register with free directories to get customers.

All of these Internet capital goods will not only draw customers to your business through a multitude of sources,
but they will also retain customers that come to your website through free or paid advertisement by giving them the option to get free information or use free products.

As every marketing study has indicated, multiple impressions of a product increase a person's chance of buying it--and multiple contacts with a
salesperson increases the conversion rate. By retaining customers you will both increase the impression of your
product and expose them to your sale copy, which will dramatically increase your conversion rates.

If you get nothing else out of this article, please remember this fact: the only way to successfully build and expand an Internet business is by building Internet capital goods and staying around until you have enough
to constantly draw and retain customers. If you do not have the money to purchase these capital goods, start building them today for free or you will probably be
ready to give up in about 3 months.
About the Author
Isaiah Hull makes money online teaching other people how to build internet businesses:
http://www.workathomerightnow.net/pluginprofitsite.html .
Join his free Home Business Tips Newsletter at http://www.workathomerightnow.net to learn how you can make an income on the internet with little to no investment
monthly.

2005-07-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

How to Generate a Website with 16 Revenue Streams by Alex Timaios

Since its launch in August 2004 the newest Product from Gary Killops, the "Mega Website Builder" has achieved a good success among the Home-Business Community.

The new product satisfy the markets demand to run professional Websites with the goal of promote an own home based business. The Software creates a professional Home-Business Website with more the 75 pages, including Articles from Stone Evans and Allan Says, providing good content optimized for Search Engines. The generated website offers also links to additional Webresources including Infoproducts.

The system allows an easy customization with own affiliate links, while supporting the most common Affiliate Programs, including SFI (Strong Future International), Madison Dynamics, Traffic Oasis, Clickbank(TM) , Marketing Tips and other successful residual income generators.

The first version of this software supports a total of 16 revenue streams plus additional customizable affiliate links.

As an additional Bonus, the created Website offers an own "Ezine on the Box" with content for 365 days, powered by a free version of the popular GetResponse Autoresponder.

Furthermore the enduser has the option to add additional affiliate links and own business opportunities.

The Software is free and can be obtained by 101Homebiz.com, a provider of Home-Business solutions.

www.pluginprofits.com/mega

The brand new software is the latest member of the "Pluginprofits" Income Generation System, a very popular "all-in-one" Package for home based businesses.

www.pluginprofits.com

--------------------
Target Market
--------------------

The new software product is oriented to small business entrepreneurs looking for an own e-commerce Website by avoiding costly programming and design.

About the Author
Alex Timaios is an international internet marketer specialized in Home-Businesses. He runs the Websites www.101homebiz.com and www.101Workathome.biz

2005-07-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

How to select an affiliate program that works for you by Thomas Wall

How to select an affiliate program that works for you

Affiliate programs are a great means of earning some handy cash; but not all affiliate programs are profitable. Some will only take up your time and energy and some others may even spoil your website reputation. This is why you got to carefully select your affiliate marketing programs and make sure that they work for you same as your work for them. Given below are a few points that will help you make better decision in choosing an affiliate program that works for you rather than working only for the affiliate merchant.

Points to take into consideration before selecting an affiliate program

1.) Your website and your visitors

If you already have a website, make sure to go for affiliate programs that jell with your website theme. If your website is about cars then promoting cycle related products is going to have very less or no impact.

Secondly finding and scrutinizing your visitors and your target market is a good idea. In any affiliate program, your visitor is the one who is going to get you returns. So primarily get to know your visitors. Analyze your visitor behavior using your website statistics before deciding on which affiliate program to go for. Your objective should be to find out what your visitors are looking for and then promote products of their interest which also match with your existing products or services (if any).

2.) Affiliate merchants website

Most affiliates dont give much importance to the affiliate merchants website, forgetting the fact that heres where the actual sales conversion is to take place. Its very important that the affiliate merchants website is designed to sell. So check and make sure that the merchants website is free from unwanted banner advertisements/pop-ups and focus on the affiliate product.

Other important things to check out are the sales copy, privacy policy, product guarantees, after sales service and special discounts/offers available with the product/service. Your main aim must be to find out if the product/service features would actually prompt the referred visitor to make a purchase.

Some affiliate merchants promote more than one product/service on a webpage which can dilute the conversion rate. It is best to go for affiliate programs that focus on a single product/service per webpage.

3.) Quality of goods/services

Just imagine how you would feel, if you were referred by a website to a product that turned out to be of inferior quality? Your visitors will feel the same way about your website if you promote inferior or overly priced goods/services. Always make sure to know about the product/service you are planning to promote. Check for testimonials and references from existing customers to find out about the quality of goods. If possible you can even plan on using them yourself to be on the safer side. In addition, also make sure to compare similar products available over the internet for features and rates.

There are many products that have trial periods or return policies associated with them. Products having return policies can increase the conversion rate but may also lead to debiting in case of a chargeback. Promoting products sold on a trial period basis requires cookie detection to track sales at the end of the period which is very unreliable. So its better to confirm with the affiliate merchant the tracking method used or the affiliate payment scheme, in case the products have trial periods.

4.) Reputation of the affiliate merchant

The reputation of the affiliate merchant is important because the odds are against you. There are chances that some affiliate merchants may not payout or make deductions to your actual payments. So make sure to find out using references about the affiliate merchants history of making proper payments.

Already existing affiliates of the affiliate merchant are your best source of information. In addition be sure to read their business literature to get an idea about their history of past and present operations.

5.) Commission scheme of the affiliate program

There are many different types of commission schemes that affiliate programs use to reward their affiliates. Some of the most popular ones are pay per click, pay per lead and pay per sale schemes. Some others even offer two tiered and multi tiered commission schemes. Some commission schemes can even be a mix and match of the above.

In case of a pay per click/hit scheme the minimum commission that you can expect is $0.5 to $0.10 per click. For pay per sale a good commission rate would be 15% to 50%. Some companies even offer lifetime commissions, but as most of them are based on cookie identification, they may not work out well.

With the competition increasing almost all merchants have started offering two tiered commissions, some even offer multi tiered ones. Joining these schemes can give you a chance to get paid for the direct sales you make and also for the sales made by affiliates referred by you.

6.) Tracking software used

Tracking software is used by the affiliate merchant to track individual affiliate sales. An affiliate merchant can make use of in-house tracking software, join an affiliate network or use services of an ASP in order to track leads.

In case the affiliate merchant makes use of independent tracking software or ASP services, make sure to find out if the software is reliable and has the ability to track all kinds of sales. If the software uses cookie tracking, find out the duration of the cookie. Although using cookies to track affiliates does not always work fine as the cookies can be deleted by the buyer.

Most affiliate merchants today make use of affiliate network services. Affiliate network services are the safest when it comes to making payments on time, conflict resolution and accurate tracking. Affiliate Networks are also great sources to find good affiliate programs and can help you get payments from different merchants through a single cheque. So make sure to register at some good networks. Some reputed affiliate network services are commission junction, LinkShare, Clickxgalore, and ClickTrade.

7.) Terms and conditions for payment

You do all the hard work as an affiliate and hence you should make sure that you get paid for it. There are chances that the affiliate merchant might have some unwanted rules and regulations in his affiliate agreement; so in-case you dont like to get a bitter shock in the aftermath, be sure to check out the terms and conditions with utmost care. Some things that you got to look out for in the terms and conditions are as follows,

a.) Payment frequency/Payout rate

Make sure that the affiliate merchant makes payments at the end of every month or with- in a few days afterward. Anything above 2 months for making payments is not advisable. Also find out the mode of making payments. Payment gateways are safer and faster as compared to cheques.

b.) Payment for future sales

Many visitors wont buy products on their first visit. They might come back though after some time to make the purchase. Make sure that the affiliate merchant pays you for future sales made by a customer referred by you. Although the chances that you get credit for future sales is low due to cookie deletion possibilities, but it is better to have options open.

c.) Minimum Balance Amount for payout

Most affiliate merchants and affiliate networks have a minimum amount for payout. An affiliate would require reaching that amount to get a payment. Find out the minimum balance and estimate if the target is easily achievable for the given product/service.

d.) Roll over/carry over terms

Roll-overs or carry-overs are related to the minimum balance. If the affiliate fails to achieve the minimum balance within a month (or the set payment date), the payment keeps rolling on. Although this is not a problem, some merchants may have a fixed rollover period after which the payments will not be issued. Joining such programs is not recommended.

e.) Conditions for Charge-backs on product return

Some merchants have a product return policy which allows the buyer to get full refund in-case he is dissatisfied with the product. The period within which the buyer should return the product to get a refund is called the chargeback period. Make sure to take note of the chargeback period of the merchant and also find out how much of your commission will be debited if this happens. Although products having a return policy will have a better conversion rate they can also lead to the affiliates cash getting debited or completely taken back.

In addition to the payment terms some other conditions that you got to check out are the condition of exclusivity (which could mean the affiliate cannot promote any other product except the affiliate product/service or that he should not promote competitor products/services) and conflict resolution method of the merchant.

8.) Additional facilities offered

In addition to simply offering banner ads most good affiliate merchants offer other facilities like, real time sales statistics and tracking information, free training on how to promote the products/services, newsletters, affiliate help lines and even website improvement programs. Some affiliate merchants even offer their affiliates a say in their decision making process.

Many good affiliate merchants also have a policy of rewarding better performing affiliates with incentives, over and above the commissions. Joining such programs can really be a rewarding experience.

To succeed in the affiliate marketing game requires knowledge of promoting goods/services not only through your website but also using other online promotion means like email marketing, online advertisements etc. So, make it a point to do lots of reading and information gathering before plunging into the arena. There are many websites that offer quality resources and information on affiliate programs. Some good ones to refer are http://www.bizbrim.com, affiliate-programs-guide.com and affiliatesdirectory.com.

About the Author
Author Description

http://www.buytemplates.net is a leading web templates provider and has hundreds of great looking, website templates in various categories that come at surprisingly affordable prices. Apart from offering copyrighted and non-copyrighted web templates, this site also offers allied services like custom templates, content insertion service, search engine optimization service.

2005-07-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing: Using Special eCourses by Jude Wright

In order to make money with affiliate programs, you need to get exposure for those products. One way is to have your own website and drive traffic to that website. Another way is to have your own opt-in list or your own newsletter.

There is another way besides: Write Special eCourses which are sent by autoresponder and Reports which are compiled into a pdf or ebook format. Give these eCourses and ebooks away. This is called viral marketing.

The eCourse or report can't be just something filled with "fluff" and advertising. It must provide real help and information for the reader. Subscribers to any list, whether it be an ezine, ecourse or tips list, are notorious for using that "unsubscribe" link. If you're not providing excellent information they're outta there!

The information product does not have to be that long. Just long enough to give good information and "teaser" to your affiliate products.

And that brings up another point. You don't want to inundate your reader with too many choices. Give him/her one or two good affiliate products and that product will be more likely to get the click.

Write your ecourse "all in one go" and then break it down into logical sections. Each of those sections would because a separate "lesson" and would be on its own autoresponder message.

Keep your autoresponder emails easy to read. Use the same format (60 characters per line) as you would a newsletter. Your reader would not have to scroll back and forth to read your information.

Ecourses provide an excellent advertisement opportunity if they are used correctly. Your job will be to find a good balance between providing enough valuable information and the advertisements for your affiliate product. You will also be providing your readers with the learning materials they need to be successful.

About the Author
-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

2005-07-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

Generate More Sales in ANY Affiliate Program Part Two by Gillian Tarawhiti

Incentive Marketing, Incentive Marketing, Incentive Marketing
It doesnt matter that there are potentially thousands of other affiliates promoting the same program because from today onwards you are going to create an unfair advantage. Today you are going to learn some of the skills to becoming a SUPER INCENTIVE MARKETER.

And to be a SUPER INCENTIVE MARKETER you need to create an UNFAIR ADVANTAGE.

The advantage that is EXCLUSIVELY available through you, and ONLY you. Im talking about the advantage that cant be found anywhere else. An advantage that if they want to buy the product because of what you are offering, they have to buy EXCLUSIVELY through you.

For those who are getting lost, let me give you an example from the real world.

Two weeks ago I was looking for a DVD/Karaoke player. My requirements were simple; I just had one criteria,cheap. I found two players, from two different suppliers that fit my criteria, which were exact in every way.

EXCEPTone supplier decided to create their own UNFAIR ADVANTAGE by offered a free microphone and a couple of free DVD Karaoke discs.

Now of the two suppliers, which one would you have chosen? And on that note I need to mention here that what works in the real world, works in the cyber world.

Today, right now in fact, you need to make a list of unique and exclusive advantages why the average Joe Schmo should order through YOUR affiliate link and not one of your competitors.

It is time to think outside the square.and let me tell you, you dont need a lot of money to create that UNFAIR ADVANTAGE. To start the creative flow of ideas, let me suggest something, that you, yourself, are a hot commodity, youre unique, you have exclusivity over yourself. Think outside the square.

Ok, now the rest is up to you. Watch out for PART THREE of this SIX PART series.

Ill leave you with the saying. If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get what youve always got.

To Your Online Success!

About the Author
About the Author Gillian Tarawhiti, is Founder and CEO of Community Training Centre, an Australian-based Internet Marketing firm that works with individuals and organisations worldwide, providing FREE online training sessions.2004 Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your web site so long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to http://www.millionairerippleeffect.com

2005-07-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

Make Sure Affiliate Programs Pay for Every Sale by John Lynch

Make Sure Affiliate Programs Pay for Every Sale

When joining affiliate programs there are many decisions you have to make. Unfortunately, few people query what kind of tracking software the program uses. To overlook this can prove costly, and means you may never be credited with 5% - 10% of your affiliate sales.

A good affiliate program will use quality affiliate tracking software that is reliable and tracks all of your sales. You must make sure that they not only track online sales, but also sales by phone, fax and mail order. Many companies only track online, and this means you will lose between 5% - 10% of your sales.

Also, make sure that the affiliate program uses 'cookie tracking' software to ensure that you will be credited for sales from people who don't buy the first time they visit your website, but come back and buy at a later date.

For those of you who don't know what a 'cookie' is. A cookie is a small piece of information that a web site puts on your hard drive so that it will remember you when you return later. This is how cookies can be used to track visitors to a web site. In this way the affiliate program will be able to track all the sales from your site, even though the visitor did not buy on the first visit to the web site.

Many affiliate programs use software that only tracks about 80% of your sales. It has to be said that many of the popular affiliate companies are guilty of this. So beware big names! Some companies use tracking software that only pays if the customer visits your link and buys straight away. If the visitor returns to your site an hour later... a day later... week later... and buys, you will not be credited for the sale. Good 'cookie tracking' software ensures that this never happens.

So, before you join any affiliate scheme make sure to ask about the kind of tracking software they use. It could save you a small fortune in the long term.

2003 by John Lynch

( For information on reputable affiliate programs that convert to sales go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/affiliate_programs.html )
About the Author
None

2005-07-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

Can You Rally Make A Substancial Income With An Affiliate Program ? by Michel Richer

Affiliate Program are the easiest way to make a substancial income on the internet.

Affiliate Program have exploded on the internet. Thousand of people join them every day. Amazon.com is probably the best example of such phenomenal success.

If the affiliate program is so popular and so widely available and booming like mushroom...Why do most affiliate have a hard time making $100 per month ?

And some have never receive a check ? It's probably because they are not effective in their marketing campaign or doing noting at all.

But some affiliates are making big bucks. They are the one with an income of ($100,000 and over per year). There is also a big majority who still make a good income (around $10 000 to $75 000 a year).

Of course the vast majority of affiliate will never make that much money. They fail miserably.

So what is wrong with them ?

THEY DON'T SET GOALS

Most people fail at anything because most people don't have a clear vision of where they are heading. They don't take the time to learn and experiment. They give up too easily.

Yes, it feels "unproductive" to prepare and set up a system... But it's how the successful succeed.

The solution? Planning and learning.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Choosing the best companies is an art in itself. Choose affiliate program that are already successful and well established like SFI. Choose the one that offer good training and good marketing aids.

Successful affiliates select the best companies. They use new ideas and creativity to attract customers. They never give up.

DEVELOP A GOOD WEBSITE

Lot's of people don't know how to design a website. Or don't have the money to hire a webmaster. Even the ones who can design a website. They design poor content or poor design. Produce low value gateway pages. They use free web hosting. They don't master the search engine.

The solution? Take what you know, what you love, and turn it into a Theme-Based Content Site. Attract highly targeted, interested customers, provide solid value through content, then refer them to your affiliated merchants.

DRIVING TRAFFIC

Having lot's of traffic to your website is a big challenge. But it is essential to be successful. Or at least to make a reasonable amount of money.

You have to make your site "search engine friendly". You need content for the search engine to spider your website.

You need to know how your webpage is index and how well it is ranked on the SE to better perform.

Use every marketing method to drive traffic.

PPC Campaign
Linking Strategy
Writing Articles
Ezine Publishing
Newsletter
Banner Advertising
Viral Marketing (EBooks, Freeware etc.)
Offline as well. (Business Cards, Flyers, Radio Spots etc.)

CONCLUSION

Affiliate Program are great. You can really make a substantial income at almost no cost. This is the simplest way to start a business. You can really succeed if you keep learning and experimenting.

You can TEST-DRIVE our Affiliate Program at NO COST !

Try It NOW ! http://www.ezinfocenter.com/297607.7/FREE

CopyrightMichel Richer

PERMISSIONS TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in its entirety free of charge, electronically or in print, provided it appears with the included copyright and authors resource box with live website link. http://hombyz.com

About the Author
Michel Richer is the Business Manager and Webmaster of http://Hombyz.com.

He is dedicated to helping you succeed on the Internet. With over 10 years experience in internet business and a solid reputation in the industry.

You can take a look at his website at: http://hombyz.com for Your Home Business Success !!!

2005-07-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Marketing by je Dunn

Affiliate marketing, affiliate programs, income generators,
successful affiliates, traffic, top affiliate income. All these
terms are used when we talk about making money with Affiliate
programs. The income potential of this type of marketing is
really unlimited.

Yet the success rate of affiliates is quite dismal. Statistics
show that approximately 12% of affiliates of any given program
account for approximately 87% of that programs affiliate income.
In other words very few affiliates ever make a sale or if they
do they make very few of them.

How can this be? Think about what you are given as an affiliate.
You are basically handed the opportunity to reap financial
benefits from some one else's money and hard work. What other
business could you start that boast these requirements:

NO PRODUCTS, NO INVESTMENT, NO RETURNS TO DEAL WITH, AND NO
HASSLES!

Well after studying affiliate marketing the reason for success
or failure lies in training.

I am a very big proponent of using affiliate marketing as an
income generating stream for any business, but especially for
the small Internet business. Just look at the benefits listed
above. Talk about a low budget way to start a business!

Let me say this to you right now, you can make a lot of money
with affiliate programs if you are willing to take the time to
learn how to do it right. That's right it takes time not money.
Any affiliate program that ask for money from you to join forget
it and move along. No legitimate affiliate program will cost you
anything to join.

What are the keys to being a successful affiliate marketer?

1). Research the product and the company thoroughly and choose
wisely. Remember your reputation is on the line.

2). If possible use the product before you recommend it. This
way you will gain first hand knowledge of its quality and your
sales copy will have more conviction.

3). Do not over affiliate! It is far more profitable to have a
few products that you believe in than a flea market of blue
hyper links pasted all over your web site.

How annoying is it when you click on a web site and banners are
flashing, lights are blinking, and you see more blue than in the
Pacific ocean.

To sum it up, affiliate marketing can increase to profits of any
business without costing you a cent for additional inventory or
shipping.

When you understand the "How To's" of promoting affiliate
programs, Not just joining and slapping up a banner or a link on
your site, I mean taking the time to learn how to generate a lot
of traffic to your affiliate pages, you can easily earn an
additional several thousand dollars per month.

In business you will either need to invest Time or Money to be
successful at anything that you do. Affiliate marketing is worth
the investment of your time to learn how to do it right.

=================================================================
Jim Dunn publishes The Internet Business Monthly, home business
newsletter and runs several niche market web sites. For more
info on how to profit from affiliate marketing visit;
http://www.workfromhome-4me.com/affiliate-programs.htm
====================================
About the Author
Jim has been working from home online since 2001. He is a published author and specializes in success training, and teaching other home based entrepreneurs how to develop and profit from multi stream income sources on the Internet, through products and affiliate marketing.

2005-07-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

Top 5 Super Affiliate Tips What's Your USP? by Mike Merz

It's a known fact that establishing a USP (unique selling proposition) is an essential part of any business plan ...

But what about your affiliate marketing campaigns?

What makes your promotions unique from the hundreds ... or even thousands of other affiliates pushing the same merchant's products and services?

Well ... nothing, if all you do is cut and paste the same merchant provided ad copy as everyone else, or just toss a bunch of links, banners, and buttons on your site.

What you must do is make yourself stand out ... grab the interest of your prospect, and qualify your offering to meet their needs.

Here's 5 quick tips to get the most out of your affiliate promotions.

1) Learn all about the product/service you're promoting.

The more you know about your promotions, the more credible your promotional content. If you don't own the product, do your best to scour the merchant's site for info that you feel best explains the benefits of it, which leads to number ...

2) Write your own ad copy.

It's the credibility factor again ... you're selling yourself, establishing the bond between you and the prospect, in an effort to win their trust and interest. If you do own the product, or have access to it by permission of the merchant, write a detailed review. You can even use yourself as a case study to provide an eye witness account of the satisfaction potentially derived from using it. If not ... and in addition to your own accounts, list the testimonials of others.

3) Establish a line of communication with the merchant.

You might have to settle for the affiliate program manager, or a related department, but the idea is to try to acquire anything you can, above and beyond what is offered to regular affiliates, that will help you gain a promotional edge. Branded articles, ebooks, special offers, free trials, etc. You might even be able to gain access to the product or service you're promoting if you explain that you'd like to review it for promotional purposes (it can't hurt to ask ..;)

4) Build a sub list of targeted prospects.

Would you believe that I, personally, have built campaign designated email lists of less than 100 members, that have actually accounted for more sales than my main list ... that goes out to thousands of subscribers? Why? Laser targeting, my friend. Offer a campaign related update, course, report, or other form of freebie to attract them. In addition, you'll now have a ready made list for future promotions made by the affiliate merchant.

5) Search engine optimize your promotional pages.

... for keywords and phrases relevant to your offerings, and run pay per click campaigns targeting the same and comparable terms. The search engines shouldn't, by any means, be your sole source of promotion (email, forum, offline marketing ... to name just a few methods) but they could potentially play an important part. I recommend investing in a course like Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkin's 'Stomping The Search Engines' , which covers both SEO and PPC pretty extensively ... and effectively.

Work these 5 tips into your affiliate program promotions, and I'm sure you'll enjoy success.

Sidenote:

If you're participating in a multiple tier affiliate program, and you have access to your downline referrals, make sure you take the time to train them to succeed. Remember ... their success is YOUR success!
About the Author
Mike Merz is the owner/webmaster of Internet Marketing For Newbies LLC, publisher of The IM4Newbies Update, administrator of The IM4Newbies Internet Marketing Forum, and has had articles published on many of the internet's most popular sites, his main focus being Internet Marketing start up consultation, specializing in affiliate program related campaigns.

2005-07-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

"Best Affiliate Program For The Newbie: Identifying An Affiliate Program That Matches Your USP" by Karl Augustine

When a newbie begins an online business, the temptation can be high to join most any affiliate program they see in the hopes of making extra money. Given the amount of products and services that newbies get presented with, and since newbies have a burning desire to make money fast, it is easy to see how the online newbie can get lured into joining a lot of affiliate programs without knowing if they should join them or not.

For the newbie, the danger in joining lots of affiliate programs is multi-faceted. Joining affiliate programs takes time, time the newbie could be using defining their USP, learning about getting targeted traffic, or learning other Internet marketing skills that will actually generate revenue for them. In addition, the newbie who joins lots of affiliate programs in the hopes of making instant profits, is at risk of being disappointed when they don't make money by joining the latest affiliate program and that leads to yet further "unproductivity" and poor use of time.

So, what steps do newbies take to identify the best affiliate program(s) that matches their USP?

It will differ based on the goal of each newbie Internet marketer, but here's a small set of steps that are useful to start with:

*Define how the affiliate program's offering complements your USP.
You should be able to clearly map out what the affiliate program's offering (product or service) will be useful to patrons or visitors of your web site, list or customer base. If the product that you will be promoting is something that will be useful to you and people you sell or try to sell to, it may be a useful affiliate program to join.

*Make sure that you fully review the product offered by the affiliate program, use it, and make your own assessment of it.
Don't promote a product from any affiliate program unless you own the product yourself and love it. If you own and love the product that you are promoting, you will be able to sell it more effectively because your energy and excitement level will show through in the deliver of your message to would be customer. In addition, you will be able to list and explain in detail the features of the product or service that the affiliate program is offering.

*Make certain that the web site that sells the affiliate program is set up correctly to sell the product, and sell it well.
The web site that sells the product of the affiliate program should be professional in its layout, design, sales copy, and delivery of the product itself. The web site should have a mechanism to capture the names and emails of the visitors. The web site should also have a strong auto responder series in place to follow up with and sell the visitors of that site on the product.

*Check to see if the affiliate program should be tracked with cookies so that the referring web site will get credit for each affiliate sale, even the sales that come as a result of the auto responder series.
If the affiliate program doesn't use cookies to track referrals, do not sign up.

*Take a look to see if the affiliate program is two-tier so that you can earn money from recruiting other affiliates to that affiliate program.
Most of the the noteworthy and professional affiliate programs will be two-tier although there are some notable ones that aren't, Clickbank being the most widespread. At the very minimum, the affiliate program should offer some sort of incentive to recruit new affiliates. If an affiliate program is not two-tier, make sure that you determine whether or not the product(s) being sold are professional and have good conversion rates.

*Ensure that the affiliate program makes it easy to sign up, complete with welcome email and full contact information of the point person who can answer any questions.
If the affiliate program isn't run by a third party like Clickbank, the affiliate program sign up form should also ask for your EIN # or your Tax ID # for proper reporting. For the business owner who has established a business identity, this is key for accurate bookkeeping. Some marketers have gotten away from welcome emails to their new affiliate partners because the potential affiliate partners sometimes do not want to give their name and email, they'd just like to join and make money with no 'marketing' messages hitting their Inbox.

*A strong affiliate program ideally should have plenty of help tools including any or all of the following: real-time tracking, solo email templates (even though I suggest writing your own), graphics, banners, etc.
For the newbie, the better the help tools, the easier it will be for them to feel comfortable selling the product. In addition, the affiliate program should offer follow up emails to all affiliates offering help to sell more products as well as relaying success stories of how other affiliates have made strong sales numbers.

*Ideally, the affiliate program's affiliate links should be unique to the affiliate but should also be structured so that the link is distinctly protected from would be commission thieves.
The affiliate link ID should not be visible in the URL after the would be customer gets to the sales page of the product in question.

For the newbie, the abovementioned steps will help mitigate wasting time and will maximize their time and efforts. The best affiliate program for the newbie is the one that satisfies most or all of these criteria and sells a product that meshes well with the newbie's USP.

Karl Augustine
"Starting Smart!"
About the Author
Author, "9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid When Starting An Online Business"
Publisher, "Starting Smart!" e-zine

Starting an online business

www.9mistakes-online.com

2005-07-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Free Competition Analysis for E-Commerce Startup by Lawrence Roth

For anyone who has completed research regarding e-commerce, there are some common catch phrases that we all come across. Competition Analysis is one of those catch phrases. Competition Analysis is part of the business plan. And it is an important part.

However, completing some of the tasks that are required for Competition Analysis can be overwhelming and expensive. This is a disadvantage for e-commerce startups with limited budgets.

The following is a suggestion that has worked for us at Rothline Entertainment, an e-commerce site located at http://www.rothline.com. After reviewing information on completing Competition Analysis, we immediately knew we could not afford to have an outside source complete these tasks. We were also overwhelmed with the idea of attempting to complete the tasks ourselves.

We brainstormed regarding who our competition is and how well they are doing. One of the free tools that helped us the most with Competition Analysis was http://www.alexa.com/site/ds op_500.

This site allows searching for e-commerce sites in specific industries in order to view status, link popularity, ranking, etc. For our company we began by selecting five companies that best fit our industry and were in the top 500. We took a look at what they were doing, and they must be doing something right if they are in the top 500.

We made a list of their strengths and weaknesses and compared our strengths and weaknesses to theirs. This was the best free Competition Analysis tool we had come across. It provided information on our competition and allowed us to begin carving out what our special niche could be and how to compete. The only thing that it cost was time.

For a startup e-commerce site with a limited budget I recommend trying this approach for Competition Analysis. This approach does not have to be your only tool but it can be a beneficial tool to add to your marketing toolbox.

About the Author
Lawrence Roth
Webmaster
http://www.rothline.com
Rothline Entertainment: Games, Movies and Software for people of all ages.

2005-07-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

The 3 elements you need for successful home business by Jim Noel

Product, Leads, and advertising the 3 most important elements of any successful home based business.

For this article we will focus on leads. Leads are people that are interested in making money from home. How do we know this?

For starters, they have either put an ad on the internet stating they want a home based business, or they have filled out a form with one of the lead generation companies.

Now how do we go about getting these so called leads? Some businesses put a simple questioner out over the internet that people can access to answer some simple questions.

These questions are usually, how much time a week you can put towards your business, how much money can you invest in your business, why do you want to work from home, etc.

These questioners are usually short and to the point. Once all this information is gathered the business then contacts that individual to sell them on his business opportunity.

Another way to find leads is through the lead generation companies that are on the internet. There business is to compile all the information and then sell it to business owners to use.

This is where it gets touchy. Today there are so many of these so called email list, lead lists etc. How do you know who is legit and who isnt?

My rule of thumb on this is, a company offering a large amount (over 5000) leads a month is probably not a very good source.

So what makes a good source to find leads? Well what you want to look at is companies that offer what we call double opt-in leads.

What that means is each lead had to fill out one of those questioners and had to put a valid email address on that questioner, so that company could email them for confirmation.

That is double opt-in, that person filed out the form, and then got an email from the company asking if they filed out the form. If they did they hit a link that would confirm that to the company.

Then you want to look to see if that company also supplies the address, phone, IP address of the lead.

And what I think is most important, does the company offer leads that are spam compliant! This means you will not be accused of spam when you contact that lead! And will this lead be unique to you.

What I mean by unique to you is, once that lead shows up on your list, it will not show up on anyone elses lead list.

And last but not least price! Please dont think that the higher the fee the better the leads will be. This is definitely not true; I can vouch for that one.

I have used lead sources to promote my business that cost anywhere from $30 a month for 1000 leads, to $150 a month for 4000 leads. Which do you think I had the better luck with?

You guessed it, the one that gave me 1000 leads for $30 a month was the best deal, and I am averaging about a 28% signup to my business.

It does not sound like a lot, but think, that is 280 people a month, and if only 100 of those do any business for me, that is a bunch of money in my pocket each month. And all that for $30 a month.

So remember when choosing a lead generation company, look for price, double opt-in lead, spam compliant, unique to you, all pert ant information for the lead, and of course how many leads do you get each month!

About the Author
Jim Noel is a member of LeadsRus and has used it to triple his home business revenue.
More information go to:
http://www.sequential-mktg-grp.com/members/401/

2005-07-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

What if you coulda had a piece of Google? by Gino Harteel

Move over Google! Look out Yahoo!...

ZABANG is coming to town!

Hi,

Have you ever "just missed" one of those *big* opportunities that you *knew* could've been BIG for you... if you'd just *acted*?

I'll tell you what... I sure have. And if you're like me at all, when you sit back and think about that lost opportunity, you know it doesn't feel very good, does it?

Well here's what I've got. Something just came across my desk that I truly believe will be the NEXT BIG THING, and I simply could not wait one moment to get this in your hands.

So HOW big? I'm talking "Amazon" big. I'm talking "AOL" big... I'm talking "buying 50,000 shares at Microsoft's IPO" big. :-)

One of the internet's best minds

You know who Mike Glaspie is right? He's the guy who founded and runs sites like BannersGoMLM.com, BannerCo-op.com, FreelinksNetwork.com, FreeMarketingInfo.biz, NoBSZone.com, MySiteInc.com, NetMarketing2004.com, and several other sites, all of which are easily within the top 1% of all sites visited online.

Well, I'm in what I'd guess you'd call his "inner circle"... he lets me and a just handful of other folks know about certain opportunities he's involved in or has heard about, before anyone else, so we can get the "jump" on the marketplace.

And as I read about his latest project, I got so excited, I had to stop everything cold, and get this out to you. There simply is not a moment to spare.

It seems that for the past several months, Mike G has been working quietly on a new project. This project is going to have every marketer on the planet clamoring for a piece. (And btw, YOU are literally one of the very first to hear about this, so if you want a piece, it is YOURS for the taking!)

So here it is, here is what Mike is working on that is so monstrously big... Mike is putting the final touches on a series of sites that are going to revolutionize the search engine business. The cornerstone site of this project is a "tier 1" search engine called Zabang.com, and it's ultimate goal is nothing less than to topple Google itself from the search-engine throne... and you know what? I fully believe it's going to do it. I just don't see any way it can't!

The technology is already in place. Everything is thought out and all the pieces put together. And soon, Mike G is going to launch this to the world. But before he does, YOU have the chance to get in on this NOW! I don't know what could be a more "ground floor" opportunity than this.

A brand new approach to search engines

Now search engines have been done, but they all have one big problem for people like you and me... they don't provide any incentive to the marketer. For example, if you tell someone to go look something up on Google, who benefits from that? Why, Google does! Google gets the traffic, the viewer sees their ads that their advertisers pay them for, and so on. What do you get? Squat!

Mike has changed all of that. Zabang is built from the net marketer up, instead of from the "computer techs" down. (And yet, search results are blazingly fast... AND relevant. In fact, faster and more relevant than the other big names.)

See, Mike knows how to penetrate a market fast and big... reward others BIG TIME for doing it for you! Through ZabangSolutions.com (the site that manages the Zabang affiliate program), you'll get a FULL TEN PERCENT commission on every pay-per-click or sponsor purchase made by those you refer... for the LIFE of the customer. Yes, that's right, I said the entire life of that customer.

Refer someone just once (using banners, links, or the Zabang search bar on your site) and you could easily be paid over and over again for years!

But it doesn't stop there... you see, ZabangSolutions offers a two-tier affiliate program. (Now this isn't M.L.M or network marketing, it's just two tiers.) This means that whenever you refer someone to Zabang and that person then becomes an affiliate like you, anyone THEY refer goes under you also, and you'll both get commissions from that customer... the affiliate you referred gets 10%, and you get a 5% override commission! Again, for the life of the customer!

But not "just" a search engine!

And there is more! Zabang will offer first class hosting solutions featuring options from no-cost all the way up to extremely sophisticated hosting options. Each one guaranteeing indexing (listing) at Zabang.com. You would expect nothing less from Zabang. And when your referrals host with ZabangHost.com, you get 10% & 5% all over again for the life of the customer's account. And there's no selling, just refer people to Zabang.com to do their online searches and they'll take it from there. It's completely passive... and totally viral.

You know, I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts. (This is why I love Mike G, he is truly an unparalleled marketing genius!) Mike is also creating a companion site to Zabang called ZabangMail.

ZabangMail.com will offer 100% spam-free, free email accounts, the best this state of the art technology has to offer to-date. And they don't use filters. They have their own proprietary technology for eliminating spam from your in-box. Users of ZabangMail.com will never have to worry that mail they want to receive will be filtered just because it contains words or phrases that couldn't pass through. And because ZabangMail.com is their own ISP they give guaranteed whitelisting to all publishers.

Now remember (and this is important), ZabangMail.com is a companion to Zabang.com. Each one will promote the other. ZabangMail users will have a tag message at the bottom of their email just like Hotmail, just like Yahoo, etc. But this one will give a brief blurb about searching Zabang.com, but with a twist... are you ready? The URL in the tag message at the bottom of all user's email will also be (if elected) the affiliate's link for Zabang.com! Think about it... get just a few people to sign up for ZabangMail, and every single email they send out will track back to YOUR Zabang account earning you an override all over again! We're talking major cross promotion, and hyper viral marketing. It truly is going to be huge.

Just to give you an idea

Just to give you an idea how big Zabang is destined to become... already their Alexa ranking is in the top 1/10 of 1% of all sites visited online... and this is only a private invitational pre-registration period! Wow!

So drop what you are doing right now and get pre-registered for the two-level affiliate program. At the very least, you get guaranteed "indexing" (i.e. listed in the search results at Zabang.com) as an affiliate (which is a HUGE benefit). Then, you'll be emailed an invitational letter with your link dropped in so you can send it along to your closest contacts. They'll keep accurate track of your referrals and when ZabangT launches, you will have complete stats of all your referrals and commissions earned.

http://www.zabang.com/affiliate?a=110446

Sincerely,

Gino Harteel
http://www.hartino.com
http://www.info-lotto.com

Note: Google and Yahoo are Registered Trademarks and are not affiliated with Zabang.com, Inc. and it's related companies.

About the Author
Gino Harteel runs a successful online business on http://www.hartino.com and http://www.info-lotto.com and has been involved with successful mlm and affiliate progroams.

2005-07-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Tracker Outdoors Affiliate Program by David Selman, Tracker-Outdoors.com

Join the Tracker-Outdoors.com affiliate program and start earning today!

We are looking for partners to promote hunting and fishing classified advertising and other products and services. We are adding new products and services all the time for hunting, fishing, guides, outfitters and other products and services. If you have a hunting, fishing, camping or outdoor related web site, you can Join the Tracker-Outdoors.com affiliate program for free and earn money by promoting products and services on your site.
Use our affiliate program to provide your visitors with value-added content. Thousands of hunters, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts trust Tracker Outdoors to promote hunting and fishing opportunities, products and services.

Tracker Outdoors
www.tracker-outdoors.com/affiliate_program.htm
About the Author
None

2005-07-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer by Rosalind Gardner

2004 Rosalind Gardner - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There are HUGE benefits to promoting affiliate programs
with your own home-based Internet business, and I've come
up with a list of 15 great reasons to become an affiliate
marketer.

Let's look at each reason separately:

1. No Production Costs - The cost to develop and produce a
new product is prohibitive for almost anyone who wants to
start a home-based business. With affiliate programs,
production costs aren't an issue. The product has been
developed and proven - all on the merchant's nickel.

2. Low Cost Set-up - Compared with building a brick and
mortar store, starting a home-based Internet business is
relatively cheap. You probably already have a desk,
Internet-connected computer and word-processing software,
which is all the equipment you may need.

3. No Fees for Joining or Licenses to Buy - I often
compare doing business as an affiliate, with distributing a
line of products in the real world. The biggest difference
is that the distributor must often pay for a license to
distribute products within a limited geographic region.
Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to
join, and geographic market reach is limited only by the
affiliate's ability to promote his web site.

4. Choose From Thousands of Products and Services - What
isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one
describing all that IS sold online. There are thousands and
thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under
the sun. That makes it easy to find products related to
your current or planned web site.

5. No Sales Experience Needed - When I started my affiliate
business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That wasn't
a problem, however. The companies I affiliated with
provided excellent marketing material. Using their sales
copy, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less
than a day.

6. No Employees - The largest expense of most businesses is
employee salaries. Although there might be times when you
need or want someone to work for you as an affiliate, it's
doubtful you'll ever have to worry about hiring full or
part-time employees. When you have a project you want to
hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-
related field who can work for you from the comfort of
THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never
have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and
deductions.

7. No Expensive Merchant Accounts Needed - Setting up a
merchant account for any business is a time-consuming and
costly business. It's even more tedious for Internet
businesses. However, merchant accounts aren't a concern
when you're an affiliate. The merchant bears that cost and
handles all processing of payments. You never have to lose
sleep over potential chargebacks, fraud or losing your
merchant account when you're an affiliate.

8. No Inventory to Carry - Even if you live in a small one-
bedroom apartment, as an affiliate you can sell large items
without storage concerns.

9. No Order-Processing - Forget the problems associated
with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit card
numbers, etc. The merchant does all that!

10. No Product Shipping - The cost and hassle to prepare
and ship products to customers worldwide could be
staggering. Affiliates never have to worry about packaging
supplies or postal rates.

11. No Customer Service Concerns - Do you hate the prospect
of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't
worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.

12. Make Money While You Sleep - What other business allows
you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep
making money even when you take breaks or after you go home
for the night?

13. The World at Your Doorstep - The Internet is the
world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to
your online store in a day, than many small-town merchants
sees in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.

14. Minimal Risk - The product you chose isn't making
money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another!
It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding
you to products that don't sell.

15. High Income Potential - If you have a job, your salary
or hourly wage is probably pre-determined. Maybe there's
not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to
increase your income. With your own affiliate business on
the Internet your income potential is limited only by your
desire, effort and imagination.

There you have them - all the good reasons to start your
own online affiliate marketing business. Start today and
benefit from this incredibly simple, cost-effective
business opportunity known as affiliate marketing. The time
is right, and the time is now.

--
Article excerpted from Rosalind Gardner's "Super Affiliate
Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other
People's Products Online". Rosalind is the 'Net's most
recognized expert on successful online selling as an
affiliate marketer.

Visit her site at:
www.myinfobiz.net/affbprint

About the Author
Rosalind Gardner is the 'Net's most recognized expert on
successful online selling as an affiliate marketer.

2005-07-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Auto-Pilot Link Building Strategy for Content-Sites by Iszuddin Ismail

OK, this is what I consider a very effective method to get
people to link to you without you having to ask them to do
so. The best part is that, people will link to you for your
most targeted keyword.

I happen to discover this method after seeing the results
that I get on one of my website. I don't have any particular
reason for doing it that way on my website, but it seems to
work like magic.

Sometimes, I search for people who are linking to me by
looking at my referrers. You can also do that by checking
your website statistics.

Sometimes, I do a link popularity check at MarketLeap.com.

And to my surprise, I realized that when I visited those
websites, they are linking to me using my most targeted
keywords.

My Keyword

That is how people are linking to me. And the result, I am
ranked number 1 against 2 million websites on Yahoo and MSN.
And this is for a keyword that has about 2000 searches per
month.

But just how do you go about doing this?

You are about to know the little-known-secret-steps to
getting more link partners with your most targeted keyword.

But before I go into that, I just would like to make some
statements about this method.

Some people may like this method and some might not. There
are pros and cons. I don't really know if this will suit
well for business or corporate websites. All these while, I
have only used them for content-sites promoting affiliate
programs and Adsense, which is I think is most suitable.

If you are thinking about building a passive income with
Adsense and affiliate programs, then you should read this.

First, you should do a keyword analysis. You can use
WordTracker or Overture Keyword Selector Tool.

http://www.wordtracker.com/

http://inventory.overture.com/

After having your list of keywords, you can compare that to
the number of competitions that you against with on Google.

By comparing the numbers, you know which is easier to
optimize for. And you can also try checking the popular
keywords at Search Guild Search Term Difficult Checker.

http://www.searchguild.com/cgi-bin/difficulty.pl

Another tool that you can use is NicheBot.com.

http://www.nichebot.com

Don't get trapped into the analysis-paralysis zone. Just
follow the indicators and look for the most popular and the
easiest keyword that you can rank for.

I know that you want to rank for more than one keyword, but
just follow me on this and select one keyword that has high
in traffic and easy to optimize for.

Now, here's the secret number one. You are going to name
your website with that keyword. If your best keyword is
"Growing Orchids", then that's is going to be your website's
name.

Here's secret number two. Get a domain that has that keyword
in it. If you can't get "growingorchids.com" or "growing-
orchids.com", you can try the dot-net (.net). And if you
still can't get the dot-net, you can add some numbers in
front of the keyword like "1-growing-orhids.com". You should
be able to get either one of those.

Here's secret number three. In every page of you website,
use the keyword in your . For your main page, you
should have something like this.

Growing Orchids - Definitive Guide To Orchid Growing
and Care

And on other pages, you can have something like this.

Growing Orchids - Dendrium Orchids

Growing Orchids - Ochid Diseases

Growing Orchids - Watering Ochids

Growing Orchids - Lighting for Orchids

The examples above is where you combine the first keyword
with another keyword that you are targeting specifically
for that page.

Secret number four is optional. Sometimes it still works
without the next step. But implementing secret number four
will put your website on steroid in your link building
effort.

Here's secret number four. You should install a reciprocal
link script. This is a script where people can submit their
link to you after linking to your website. The link will
take care of checking the link from the other person's
website and putting a link back to your new link partner.

And now, this is secret number five. You should have a link
that says "Add URL" or "Add Link" to your link script. There
times when people will search the web for something like this.

growing orchids "add link"

growing orchids "add url"

These people are looking for your website. By putting the
link "Add Link" or "Add URL", you are telling the search
engine that you have a link page. This way, link partners
can find you more easily.

Of course, you can always do this manually. But that will
beats the purpose of trying to make everything autopilot.
And once in a while, you can check and see where you website
links to. If you want to remove any, just do so.

Now, what is the result of all these? Well, by naming your
website with the targeted keyword and having a domain name
using that keyword, link partners have no options but to
link to your website using that keyword.

And since the keyword is your website's name, there's
nothing wrong with having the name of your website on all
pages.

Some people might just link to you without you even asking.
And most of the times, they would link to you using the
text you use in the . When that happens, you are
still linked with your most targeted keyword.

If you rank well later in the search engines, you can aslo
expect to get links from websites built using Traffic
Equalizer or Traffic Hurricane.

http://www.trafficequalizer.com

http://www.traffichurricane.com

No matter which page they link to, they will always link to
you using your most targeted keyword - "Growing Orchids".
And at the same time, you are still targeting your secondary
keywords like "orchid diseases", "orchid care" or "orchid
greenhouse" because you have that in the as well.

I have been using this method and it works pretty well for
me. I am sure people will have their opinion on this whether
this is good or this is bad. Some people don't like it not
having control over who links to them. But I guess, it boils
down to you. It's your choice.

For me, this is great for content-sites working with Adsense
and affiliate progams. This is the method that I use on my
computer case website, airsoft website and my paintball
website.

You can give this a try and see how thing goes.

About the Author
Iszuddin Ismail aka Kidino publishes the MoneyClicking Newsletter where he shares tips and strategies to website building for internet marketing. Get a free ebook, Content-Site for Affiliate Marketing for subscription. http://www.moneyclicking.net

2005-07-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING? by Dhiraj Bhikoo

Affiliate marketing refers to the promotion of products or services through affiliates. Affiliates are usually other webmasters and ezine editors who choose to act as sales people on behalf of their principals for a commission on every sale.

There are mainly two types of affiliate marketing programs: the one-tier program and the two-tier programs. In one-tier programs the affiliate earns on a per referral basis and cannot recruit sub-affiliates to assist. In two tier programs not only the affiliate earns from his/her direct referrals but also gets a percentage commission from referrals by co-affiliates who join the program through him/her. It is also possible to have multi-tier affiliate programs but these are not yet prevalent.

If you are an online entrepreneur or marketer and you have your own website then you can also promote your business and increase your sales through affiliate marketing. You will need an attractive and genuine product plus credible sales copy plus the appropriate software to set up an affiliate marketing program. Set out the program's terms and conditions,frequently asked questions and online registration form and post them on your site and let prospects read and be able to join if they are satisfied with your affiliate program.

Apart from providing details about your affiliate marketing program on your website you need to send out the word out there that you have a lucrative and working program. Of course you could advertise in ezines or through ezine ad networks and high traffic websites. You will also need to register your program with affiliate program directories and networks such as www.associateprograms.com and www.comissionjunction.com so that prospects searching for new opportunities can find yours. You could also write reviews and articles and post them in free articles databases and request editors to publish them in your ezine.

If you have no products of your own and no website but want to earn money marketing affiliate programs you can set yourself up and succeed as an affiliate marketing. You would have to learn the ropes of online marketing and invest time, money and efforts to earn legitimate income from promoting other people's products.

You can look for a product(s) in high demand, register as an affiliate and start promoting the products using various marketing strategies. How do you know what is in high demand and what can be a successful product to market could be found mainly through considered research. It is generally accepted that information products such as ebooks, special reports, etc sell well on the internet. To discover what particular infoproducts are suitable for you, conduct some research at online marketing forums such as www.warriorforum.com and www.ablake.com. You can read existing messages already posted there and ask questions to find out more. You can also search at affiliate program network sites such as www.commissionjunction, www.associateprograms.com, www.clicbank.com and www.google.com.

To assist you select the most appropriate affiliate program here are further tips:

The product must be genuine and legal so that you do not encounter legal problems.

The minimum payout should not be too high to make you wait for too long for the paycheck or to struggle too much to send referrals.

The product should not be too new as to make prospects tarry in making the buying decision or too old that almost everyone has bought it.

The price should not be too high as to make people unable to afford thus making you not get any or very few referrals or the product is too cheap that your commission is too little such that you would have to make many referrals to earn a decent income.

Does the affiliate program have one -tier or several tiers? The more tiers the program has and ability to earn residual income the better.

Do you have to pay or purchase anything to join the program? Purchasing may be fine for you to know the product but paying to join isn't.

Ideally you should have your own website where you would post reviews and links to your affiliate programs. Use your own domain name when setting up the website to look professional. Since many of the visitors to your website will be there for a few seconds and may never return again, it is advisable that you capture their names and addresses so that you can further enlighten them on your programs and offers. This could be mainly through a regular ezine or an automated autoresponder ecourse.

Provide a means for prospects to contact you in case of any queries and reply promptly and courteously. Promote your website constantly and track your affiliate statistics regularly to gauge your performance. Ensure your links and banners are working and your affiliate ID is correct in all your links. Use text links more than banners as the latter are less effective nowadays due to their proliferation and distractive nature.

About the Author
Dhiraj Bhikoo is a successful internet marketer.He helps people retire faster by building a free search
engine friendly website for top search engine rankings
http://www.workathomeopportunityformoms.com
You are free to use this article as long as you do not make any changes in its content, you keep all the links in it active and you include the information above about the author as it is.

2005-07-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Earning from PPC Search Engine Affiliate Programs by Jonathan White

What are PPC Search Engines?

PPC Search Engines are search engines that allow advertisers to list their site within their search results on a pay per click basis. Advertisers bid against other advertisers for the same keywords or phrases. The highest bidder will then have their site ranked #1 in the PPC Search Engine results for a certain keyword followed by the second highest bidder for the same keyword followed by the third highest bidder for the same keyword, etc.

When a visitor then does a search in the PPC Search Engine and clicks on an advertisers bided link, the advertisers account will then get deducted for that click. This only happens once per unique visitor. So if that same visitor clicked on the same advertisers bided link twice, then the advertisers account will only get deducted for the first click.

Why is it easier to earn from PPC Search Engines than other affiliate programs?

PPC Search Engine affiliate programs are a good and easy way to earn some quick cash online. It is a lot easier to earn from PPC Search Engines than most other affiliate programs because you earn from your visitors click-thrus to an advertisers site and not per action or sale.

Where can I find PPC Search Engines that offer affiliate programs?

There are only a few good resources on the Internet that lists a large amount of PPC Search Engines. Most of these are either outdated where they have a lot of PPC Search Engines that dont exist anymore or only mainly gives information about a PPC Search Engines advertising offers.

If you were looking to join some PPC Search Engines that offer affiliate programs so that you can earn some quick and easy cash, then a useful resource to use would be http://www.affiliateseeking.com/ppcaff.php.

This is because it lists over 425 PPC Search Engines where you can easily compare what each PPC Search Engines affiliate program has to offer and you can even organize the PPC Search Engines results by Date Added, Minimum Payout, Earnings, etc.

I have joined a PPC Search Engine. How do I go about advertising it so that I can earn from it?

Once you have joined a PPC Search Engine, you can then easily get promotional links/material from the affiliate section of the PPC Search Engine account where you can then use them to advertise the PPC Search Engine that you have joined.

Most PPC Search Engines allow you to advertise them by using search boxes, an xml feed, text links, referral links, banners, a portal page, and more.
About the Author
Jonathan White has been doing affiliate marketing on the Web for over three years now and is the Webmaster of http://www.affiliateseeking.com - a categorized affiliate programs directory that lists over 700 programs.

The above article can be reprinted as longs as the bio line stays in place. If the article is reprinted on a website then the urls must also be hyperlinks.

2005-07-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

Online Drug Store:NetPharmaWorld + FREE OFFER by Jones

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Net Pharma World offers the most lucrative and exciting affiliate program on the Internet. Join today and start reaping the rewards of one of the most successful affiliate programs available. Earn More Money Now!

For more info visit: http://www.netpharmaworld.com/affiliate/

We provide Fda approved Caverta, Generic Viagra, Generic Cialis, Meltabs, Silagra, Kamagra, Edegra, Apcalis Meridia, Lipitor, Propecia, Vioxx, Ultram, Celebrex, Prozac, Zoloft, Viagra Soft Tabs, Celexa, Paxil all at affordable rate. We provide quality drugs at your affordable price. Also a PRESCRIPTION for all medicines you purchase online.

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About the Author
Jones
http://www.netpharmaworld.com

2005-07-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

What Makes A Good Affiliate Program? by Kim Regan

With so many affiliate programs out there, it makes
sense to work with the best. High commissions and good
affiliate administration is a good start. Of course you
want high commissions, but what about commissions that
keep coming in without additional work on your part?
Sounds good to me!

2-Tier affiliate programs are worth looking for. They
allow you to set up your own "sales force" and receive
commissions on all the sales they make. It can add up
pretty quickly. Residual affiliate programs pay you
repeatedly month after month. Usually you'll find
these with subscription services, or medical related
"refills". These too can be very profitable. It is well
worth your time to search out decent 2-tier and residual
programs.

Regarding sales commissions, they can depend on the
traditional profit margins of an industry. For example
computer hardware has very low profit margins and 5%
would be a good commission percentage. Information
products tend to have very high profit margins and
40-50% are decent commissions in that industry. Some
companies offer performance incentives. The more units
you sell, the higher your commission percentage.

Another thing to consider is cookie duration. Cookies
tell the vendor who sent the customer and makes sure
they are credited properly for any sales. I tend to
avoid programs with a short duration cookie. Many
people do not buy the first time they visit a web
site. With a cookie of short duration you are giving
the vendor customers, but are less likely to reap
the rewards for your efforts. A vendor who REALLY
wants to work fairly with you will offer a better
deal. The best offer a lifetime cookie. Customers
you send would be "yours" forever. (or until they have
to replace or reformat their hard drive, thus losing
the cookies)

Good program administration is essential too. Some
offer full tracking services to help you determine
successful advertising efforts. Being able to check
click-throughs and sales keeps you on track to meeting
your goals. Proven advertising materials are invaluable.
Many programs offer a nice variety to use "as-is" or
customized to match your client base.

Whatever your industry, you can probably find an
affiliate program with products or services that work
well with yours. They are great ways to expand your
product line without spending a lot of money. If you
are looking for products to market, affiliate programs
can be an easy way to test "best sellers" easily and
inexpensively.

We're offering a free e-book containing some of the
best residual affiliate programs and free or low-cost
advertising resources. Download at:

http://www.fortuneexpo.com/resaffbook/resaffbook.zip

-- Resource Box --
This article may be distributed freely on your website,
as long as this entire article, including links and this
resource box are unchanged.
Copyright 2004 Kim D Regan All Rights Reserved
FortuneExpo www.fortuneexpo.com
-- -- -- -- --
About the Author
The author is a web entrepreneur with
experience in the small business,online
marketing and IT fields.