1. Affiliate marketing is a way to earn commissions on a sale made by by referring a product, or service.
2. You offer these various products or services to your visitors on your site. They click on a link that will tag them as "yours" and lead them to another site, where they can complete the purchase.
3. The percentage on the sale made will vary according to the affliate agreement that is in place between you, the affiliate, and the company. This varies greatly (see below for what to look for in affliate relationships).
4. There is no cost for the affiliate to sign up since companies want you to market their goods and services. There is an application that needs to be filled out and generally the response, with affiliate information, is immediate - 48 hours. Most companies offering affiliate programs want to make sure that your site is clean (no pornography and no hate).
Note:
Be careful about sending your visitor away from your site to early. It is wise not to place your affiliate links on pages that contain your own goods to sell, or on your homepage. You will want your visitors to become acquainted with you first.
Also note that successful affiliates, wisely strive to maintain credibility with visitors. This is done by only offering links to good and useful products which you have carefully investigated. Place reviews or recommendations on your site. Make sure the links are related to the subject material of your site - otherwise they are of no use to your visitors and gives the appearance of a flea market rather than a content rich site.
A website that is just a listing of affiliate links is little more than an advertising page.
1. An advertising page will not produce a reason for visitors to visitbecause you are there just to get their money.
2. The web's search engines, who are programmed to be efficient at finding lots of keyword related information for a searcher, will find little reason to find you if you are just an advertising page.
3. If you provide interesting content - such as opinions and reviews of the products you want your visitors to buy - you will encourage your visitors to stay longer. This is something that the search engines "ping" and it will help your site get better search ratings. Remember: rich content is critical.
To be successful as an affiliate, driving traffic to your site is the first key.
These methods to drive traffic to your site, are applicable to all the different business models.
Here is a recap with some additions.
1. Great keywords and rich content.
2. Opt in newsletters. This gives you and opportunity to keep in touch with your visitors and provide them with more of the information they desire as well as an opportunity for them to choose another one of your affiliate links that you place on the newsletter.
3. Place your website links on other non-competing blogs, sites, newletters.
4. Advertise your site in the newspaper.
5. Get your site listed in the Yahoo directory. The search engines love this. You should only do this when you feel that your site is ready though. It costs $299 just to have someone at Yahoo to consider your site for listing. If Yahoo does not like it (they should inform you in about 7 days), you will have a certain number of days to fix it and resubmit it. If they still do not like it, you are out your $299. If they place it in the directory (hoorah), you will get a lot more traffic. They will automatically recharge you the $299 the next year. There are other directories out there but Yahoo is the most important one.
6. Use homepage traffic networks such as Traffic Swarm. You open it everytime you open up your browser and get points for every member that you check out. Eventually with enough points your ad will be displayed before 100s in the network. See the link on the bottom of the Getting Started page.
7. Press releases are great. Check out the Press Equalizer on the bottom of the Getting Started Page.
The second key is converting your visitors to customers.
Developing trust and providing rich content will do this.
Where to Find Affiliate Programs
1. The company's website - look for a tab titled affiliates.
2. Affiliate Directories such as: AssociatePrograms.com, LifetimeCommissions.com,
Refer-It.com, PartnerIndustry.com
3. Major Affiliate Networks: Commission Junction, LinkShare, Performics, Clickbank.
Sign Up
A company offering an affiliate option, will have an affiliate tab somewhere at the top or bottom of their website.
Be sure to check out the products and services that a company offers before placing a link to them on your site.
What to Look for in a Company's Affiliate Program
1. Is the company credible?
2. How well do they deliver their products/services?
3. Do they want exclusivity from you (no affiliation with their competitors).
4. Consider their commission structure. Do they continue to pay you with repeat purchases from a customer even though the next time that customer buys from their site directly (how long do the cookies last on your customer?).
5. Do they pay through an Affiliate Network (honest third party brokers between you and the company) such as Commission Junction, Linkshare, Performics or Clickbank?
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