Affiliate Programs - The Perfect Home Business

By Tim Fulcher

Affiliate programs are a simple way that anyone - even if they don't have a website - can make money by advertising a link to another website. This link is called an affiliate link because it contains some extra characters which record the details of the affiliate so that when a sale occurs the affiliate can be paid their commission

An affiliate program is simply a commission only arrangement where a set percentage commission is paid depending on the sale price. This could typically be anywhere from 25 to 75 percent, although there are many products which carry a 75 percent commission payout.

How Affiliate Programs Track Your Sales

How affiliate programs work is that when someone clicks on an affiliate link they are sent to the merchants website where the product is sold. This product will often be a digital downloadable product of some kind such as an eBook, software, videos, templates, graphic files etc. The extra codes in an affiliate URL - typically the affiliates nickname - are used by a tracking system which saves the data in a cookie, which is often recorded temporarily on the computer of the web visitor. When this person then goes to pay for the item, this affiliate information is then used to record which affiliate was responsible for the sale

Is it Easy to Make Money with Affiliate Programs?

It can be both very difficult and very easy to make sales as an affiliate. This is partly due to the fact that selling anything online is a lot more difficult than it might at first appear

You will have no doubt have noticed that there are thousands and thousands of websites, many with products for sale, or at least links to products for sale. Although it might look as if all these products are selling like hotcakes, nothing could be further from the truth, with many websites struggling to make any sales even after the website has been online for months - maybe even years. Often what happens is that most websites will sell just a small amount of product - this means that taken altogether, the amount of products sold online is large and growing, but each individual website sells very little.

Fortunately there are exceptions to this - some big websites like amazon.com and ebay.com etc - these websites outsell many thousands of other websites combined. This fact should prove to you that if you can position your website correctly in the right niche, you could easily be selling several hundred dollars at least every month.

So What Is The Best Way To Get Started Selling With An Affiliate Program?

The key to being successful and closing your own sales and earning yourself a nice monthly commission is to follow a few simple successful strategies

Here is my six-point plan that will work for you:

1. Find a suitable "niche" or theme for your website

This means doing some keyword research so that you don't choose a theme for your website that has already been chosen by millions - yes millions! - of other websites. In general this means finding a two or three word key-phrase. You can start by searching under your main keyword theme and then seeing if you can find another word that can sensibly go with it from the search results e.g. if "holidays" were your main theme, you might find that "holidays abroad" or "spanish holidays" might work for you. This could mean doing quite a bit of checking until you find the right niche or theme for your website

2. Check that your chosen "niche" or theme will be profitable

You can do this by doing a search on the search engines and seeing how many pay per click advertisers have ads running for your niche. As it costs quite alot of money to get onto the first page of a search engine as an advertiser, often as much as $5 or more per click, then this advertiser must be succeeding with their advertising otherwise they will just bankrupt themselves. You might also check for how long these ads have been running - or just watch how long these ads are running, simply check every week and see if the ads are still running

3. Make a list of all possible page headings or titles

These will be individual content pages on your website. These should be based on keyword phrases you might already have come across from your research. You can then create articles that will match these headings, and the search engines will start indexing your content especially if you write all the articles yourself and therefore everything on your website is unique to you

4. Join as many forums for your niche or theme

Find out about and join as many forums related to the niche or theme of your website and start making comments or providing answers to other peoples questions, making sure you leave behind a link back to your website within your signature file. This can be easily set up with the UserCP part of your account on the forum. One way to find all these forums is to simply search on the search engines adding the word "forum" to your search e.g. "affiliate program forum"

5. Start an email list

This means adding a bit of code to your webpages so that people can signup to your email list and start receiving a preset series of emails all related to the theme of your website. You can add as many emails as you like to the system - referred to as an autoresponder - and the idea is to send interesting article like content which will be interesting to your readers, but will also have a link to some online resource - e.g. a product or service for which you are an affiliate. The emails must be written in an informational style without any attempt to "pitch" people or try and sell anything directly. If you send overt sales pitch type emails you will simply lose all your email list subscribers and you will have wasted your marketing efforts

6. Post Articles to free article directory sites

Once you have answered a few questions on forums and written some interesting articles on your website for individual content pages, plus written some useful emails, you are bound to have lots of content that you could split up and use for syndicated articles. Posting these articles will help you further by providing more traffic to your website, and establishing you as an "expert" in your field

These are just six easy ways you can get started making sales for any affiliate program or product you have in mind. If you follow these steps I am sure you will be well on the road to turning your dream of earning hundreds of dollars at least into a reliable monthly income online. I do understand that following these steps might take you a bit of time, but when you have done it once, you can then go on and produce more niche themed websites, and gradually increase your online affiliate empire, not to mention your monthly earnings.

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Tim Fulcher is the author of Affiliate Programs Cash Generator, a free guide thats shows anyone how they can make money with affiliate programs. You can download his eBook from his website at: Affilite Programs Cash Generatorebiz4every1.com

Affiliate Marketing Tips for Getting Started in the Business

By Sue Barrett

Lots of business-minded people have taken an interest in affiliate marketing because it offers the opportunity to work from home. It does not cost a lot of money to get started, and you do not need specialized training or skills to be successful with it.

Unlike many traditional companies, affiliate marketing gives business owners a very flexible work schedule and is extremely low risk. Comparing yesterday's retail store to today's affiliate online business is like night and day.

With all the benefits that affiliate marketing offers, one can only figure that there is a lot of competition, which can make the business challenging. Not everyone will succeed. It is wise to get educated on the industry before diving in head first. By getting advice from a successful affiliate marketer, you can save yourself a lot of headaches.

So what is an affiliate?

An affiliate marketer is basically a sales rep that promotes products or services for a company (or multiple companies). An affiliate forms a partnership with a company that has a product or service to sell. The affiliate advertises the product or service using whichever marketing strategies he or she chooses - and the company pays the affiliate a commission for each sale made.

The majority of affiliate programs are free to join, and the products and services you can work with are virtually endless. When you choose items to advertise, select a niche for your website (such as golf, travel, credit, real estate, toys, etc). You may find it easier to work with affiliate networks that connect you with hundreds of programs through one website.

The key is to stay focused. Only sign up with affiliate programs that fit into your website niche. Some things you want to look for:

1. a high commission payout,
2. free, high quality marketing materials that you can use and
3. help available for affiliates if needed.

As an affiliate, you will need to set up your own website to act as your "storefront". Compared to a traditional storefront, a website is cheap. You can operate a professional looking website with lots of bells and whistles for under $20 a month - compare that to a $5,000-a-month lease.

When creating your website, here is a tip that will put you head and shoulders above most other affiliates: make it content-rich. This means include articles, blog posts, product reviews, etc.. to educate your visitors and provide them with answers to their questions.

In addition to giving your visitors what they want, websites with lots of high-quality content generally get more free traffic from the search engines. Pack your website with content that relates to your niche and the affiliate programs on your site. You will end up paying less money to advertise your site.

Internet marketing requires effort, but it is really quite simple. Website creation, however, often leaves affiliates feeling overwhelmed and at a standstill. The good news is that there are low-cost solutions out there for those who want professional ready-made websites that are easy to operate.

After you have your website up and running, you can structure your affiliate business however you like - part-time or full-time and promoting products in a variety of different ways.

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Visit HomeBusinessCenter.com to get more tips on How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing and easy website builders.

Children's Learning Games - Make Money at Home Business

By Amanda King

Children's learning games are popular. Many people are realizing that a child's education is encouraged and improved by allowing children to play a range of games that cover a wide range of skills that a child needs to gain in order to be successful at school and in life. It is as the website thebalancedchild says: "Children learn best in an environment that is non-threatening and fun, where they learn by discovery and by experiencing, where their creativity and imagination are unimpeded. Interests discovered in youth open the way to a lifetime of career skills & hobbies".

There are many games being promoted online that are available for affiliate marketers to promote. By becoming an affiliate of a games website such as Bigfishgames the affiliate can earn a generous income and in turn if the affiliate is able to encourage others to promote these games they can earn a residual income. This means that the affiliate can earn a commission for their direct sales and a commission for their indirect sales. Therefore by promoting a valuable product like children's learning games the affiliate or promoter can earn a worthwhile income to boot.

Why then promote children's learning games as an affiliate marketer? There are several reasons. These include low start up costs, no need to carry these games yourself and you can work from home for twenty four hours around the clock, so you choose your own times. An increasing number of people are wanting to establish a small business that they can operate from home. If you are thinking about going in this direction yourself then you are probably wondering about what products you might be able to sell.

There are actually a lot of products on the market one can sell from their home. However there are problems of having the capital flow that enables you to purchase an adequate volume of stock. Then there is the problem of having the room to carry this stock. Finally there is the problem of deciding your opening times. With affiliate marketing there is no need for these problems. Your computer becomes your office. Your computer carries your stock online and you are able to get in to your office any time you want to and sell stock to people all over the world.

The problem still exists what products you want to promote. The products of course have to be marketable and in high demand. Furthermore most people want to promote products of quality and value to others. This is why marketing games is so good. Children's learning games are of great value and are increasing in demand and importance in the education of children.

There are of course many other games to promote and these will be promoted along with children's educational games. Many of these other games also have an educational impact. For example word games are highly educational. It has also been shown that even action games are very good at building up skills that assist a child's development.

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Amanda King is an affiliate marketer who provides opportunities to access the best available fun games online. Visit her games website for more information and a range of games and articles. She is also interested in welfare issues. Visit her case worker website for more details.

How to Pick Profitable Affiliate Programs

by Olakitan Wellington

Although it has been said that affiliate marketing is a simple way of making residual income from the comfort of your home, you should not plunge into any affiliate program without carrying out your due diligence.

You need to ask a lot of questions before you choose which affiliate program to join. This foundational stage is very crucial to your success in affiliate marketing and you should not joke with it. What are the questions you need to be asking? I have a few suggestions below.

Are you going to pay any money to join the affiliate program? If yes, drop it like hot potato. Almost all affiliate programs are free to join, and rightly so. After all, you will be making money for them; plus you increase the profit turn over the affiliate master will make on his product. It is in the interest of the affiliate master to sign you on free because he does not pay you a red cent until you make sales from your affiliate link.

How much does the product sell for? It is important that you are not wasting your time promoting products that sell for pennies. As an affiliate, your commission is paid by percentage. That simply means the higher the cost of the product, the more money you make. Do not forget that you will spend valuable time and money promoting the product; hence the commission you get on it must be reasonable enough to pay your bills and give you a comfortable profit.

What percentage of sales price are you getting as commission? Generally affiliate programs pay at least 50 percent commission, some even 75 percent. If the affiliate master knows his onions well, he will give attractive commissions so that the affiliate marketers will be inspired to really promote his products and make him money.

How popular is the product? Go to related marketing forums and ask about the product. See what people are saying about it and form an opinion. Do a Google search on the product and see how many people are selling it. If it is a product that everybody's uncle and grandmother is selling, please keep away from it. It will be all over the net and might be difficult to sell.

What type of affiliate program is being offered here? Is it a one tier affiliate or a two tier affiliate? Of course, the two tier affiliate will make you more money. This is because when you get people on your list to promote the product, you make money from their efforts as you are paid commission on every sale they make.

How do you get paid? What are the terms of payment? When do you get your commission check? This is different from program to program. Some programs will pay you once a month, some (very few) will pay your commission weekly while some might even pay quarterly. I don't like this type of program because it holds on too long to your money.

Who is the creator/owner of the product? What is his reputation online? Again you can find this out from forums and discussion boards. The gold fish has no hiding place. If he is a credible, reliable person you will know. If otherwise, people will also let you know. If there is any hint of you not getting paid what is due to you, look for another program. 

How good is the affiliate tracking system? It is quite important that your chosen program should be able to track every single sale made by you so that you get truly paid on your efforts. How long does your referral remain in the system? If they buy 90 days after you sponsored them, will you still get paid your commission?

Although there are a few more questions which you may ask, but the above are the crucial ones. Once you are satisfied with the results you get on the above questions, take immediate action steps to start your business.

As you can see, affiliate marketing is a serious business and should be so handled if you want to make maximum money from it. Sure, it is possible to become extremely wealthy marketing affiliate products and that is why you should be prudent about it.

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Would you like a free training on how to become wealthy working from home? Olakitan Wellington is a seasoned Internet Marketer with a passion to helping people get started quickly to make money online. Visit her site, financial-freedom-elites.com to gain free access to ideas and resources on every aspect of building an online business that will give you steady passive income and financial freedom.

Selling Digital Products Through ClickBank

By Jeff Kontur

Think of ClickBank as sort of like the eBay of instantly downloadable digital products. It is a vast marketplace of such products. Of course there's one little twist to the analogy: instead of being the storefront, it's more like the back room warehouse.

End-user consumers generally do not browse ClickBank for things to buy. Instead it is where you can store your product(s). It's also a place where enterprising entrepreneurs from around the world can look for things to sell.

If someone finds one of your products and decides he likes it enough to want to help you sell it he can sign up to become an affiliate, grab your link, sell your products and collect a commission on each sale he generates. These sales may take place on his website, through emails he sends out, he may create online ads such as with AdWords or in a hundred other ways.

You determine the amount of commission you are willing to pay beforehand and ClickBank takes care of everything automatically.

What kinds of products can you sell?

ClickBank only handles memberships and digital products which can be delivered instantly via digital download. You can offer a physical product, such as a book or CD but only if it's a supplement to an instant download. Specifically, ClickBank allows:

• Streaming and downloadable audio files
• eBooks
• Games
• Software
• Streaming and downloadable video files
• Web site membership fees

What does ClickBank do for you?

Aside from helping you recruit a worldwide sales force of commission only sales reps, ClickBank does several other things for you:

• It acts as an online shopping cart and payment processor
• Takes care of delivery and product fulfillment
• Provides tracking and reporting services

How much does it cost and is it worth it?

When you first sign up to sell your own products, you must pay a one-time only $49.95 fee. That fee is good for life (provided you don't violate ClickBank policies and get your account terminated) and allows you to sell an unlimited number of products in an unlimited number of categories.

Other than commissions that you pay to affiliate marketers for selling your products and a 7 percent sales commission to ClickBank, there are no other fees or costs.

Are there strategies for affiliate commissions?

ClickBank affiliate commissions are set by you but are applied in blanket form to all products marketed under your account. The minimum commission is 1 percent and maximum is 75 percent.

There are two strategies you might think of pursuing with ClickBank affiliates. The first assumes that you only want ClickBank as a payment processor and fulfillment house and would prefer that others not sell your products. In that event, set your commission percentage to 1 percent. Such a low percentage would not be worth anyone's while and no one will want to sell your stuff.

A generally more sound strategy is to set a high commission, 50 percent - 75 percent. I've even heard of some marketers offering special bonuses which must be paid manually outside of the ClickBank system, in essence making the commission rate even higher than ClickBank allows. In some cases even slightly over 100 percent.

By offering such high commissions, you attract and motivate profit hungry entrepreneurs to sell your products for you.

The theory behind this approach is that once someone has identified themselves as a buyer of your products - someone who is interested in what you have to offer and willing to pay for it - it is much easier and more profitable to sell to that prospect than to an "unknown" prospect. So you offer some front-end product as a loss leader to get customers in the door then market higher priced and more profitable products directly to those buyers without allowing affiliate marketing or paying sales commissions on those subsequent sales.

A secondary consideration is that your affiliates - your commission only sales force - can collectively attract more people than you can on your own. They are also likely to attract prospects from different places than you will try on your own. So you cast a wider net and bring in a more diverse clientele.

Another very important consideration is that, because these are all digital products, there is essentially no overhead in stocking or delivering them. You can afford to pay a higher commission when your costs are so low.

What if you want to become an affiliate yourself?

There is no cost to being a ClickBank affiliate. (The $49.95 fee is only if you want to sell your own products.) If you find products in the ClickBank marketplace which are similar or complimentary to yours, there is no restriction on selling those products and earning a commission on the sales.

The same strategy applies as outlined above; once you have turned a prospect into a customer, even of affiliate products, you are free to market your own back-end products to them for a higher profit potential. Assuming you have captured their contact information and have a way of marketing to them.

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Jeff Kontur is a freelance copywriter and marketer specializing in helping small businesses promote themselves effectively online. Digital and eReader copies of his book "Fat-Free Marketing" are available for FREE from his web site Fat Free Marketing Group.