Restaurants have perfected the art of upselling, making you happy you ordered more than you ever planned—a little appetizer, a special salad, the to-die-for dessert. And it doesn’t work just because liquor is involved! People want all that and they’re in an environment that pre-disposes them to ordering it. Many times customers don’t at all feel as if they’re being pressured or oversold if, and only if, what you’ve presented to them as an option is something they really want, need or didn’t know existed.

As an affiliate you have created the environment where people learn about a subject, and buy related products, often based upon your recommendation or evaluation. You are invaluable to your merchant partners because you try their products, and pre-sell them by writing product reviews, comparisons and articles. You also can play a valuable role in helping to upgrade sales and in selling add-ons and accessories. By this I don’t mean pushing things people don’t want or need – no hard selling.

You’re in a position to know the unmet needs of your target group. You hear about their frustrations and the things that work well for them. You probably have verbatim quotes from other visitors who’ve solved a problem that others are now facing. You can be a part of a solution sell, having just the right thing available when people are predisposed to buying it. For instance, several states are instituting hands-free cell phone laws. If you do articles and reviews you will be able to direct cell phone users, (even those in the states that do not mandate hands-free), to buy an earbud and microphone, based upon safety concerns. By upselling, you’ve both made an sale and provided a valuable service.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:
http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

Everyone in Internet Marketing Business is talking about making easy money. Earning profits without really doing much of anything has attracted a lot of people towards affiliate marketing. But does affiliate marketing really work this way?

Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply don’t sit there and wait for money to come. Why? Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting. If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you’ve got to do something. Think of ways on how to promote your merchant’s business and products better. Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant. Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Another thing to remember is to have your own ad. Most of the times affiliates publish the same ad that has already been published before. Also make sure you sell a unique product, that which cant be found easily in other websites.

One way to drive traffic to your Affiliate website is Create a free ezine or newsletter. When people read articles they want information, they need plan to make money reading your Article.Give them a well thought out plan they can use it on their website.

Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject. In your ezines and newsletters, you don’t always have to promote your merchant’s product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers. Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter. Also, don’t forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.

It is also a good idea to create a private website and offer access to it to anybody who clicks on any of your affiliate ads. Visitors usually get interested with these private websites. Private websites also gives you a venue to promote your back-end affiliate products. Also, it gives you advantage to promote multiple products instead of just one.

The leading figure in affiliate marketing is the super affiliate. He is basically an e-mail marketer who collects large databases of e-mail addresses through newsletters. Super affiliates are also those who know the business even better than affiliate managers as a result of their knowledge about the affiliate marketing industry inside out. Those who want to be super affiliates should know that becoming a super affiliate is not easy, because it takes a lot to be able to master the marketing craft.

These are a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks. There can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we won’t discourage you from following them. What’s important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchant’s products even outside the boundary of your website. If you can do these, there’s no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.

Balaji V, is the webmaster of http://www.fortuneinfo.com/ArticleSite. Visit his website for more articles and also check http://www.fortuneinfo.com/ArticleCash on how you can write high quality articles to promote your website

Anyone who has clicked on an online ad, particularly mini-sites for e-books and other information products, knows what screaming online means. Capital letters. Lots of yellow and red, repetition and teasers. But they have your interest and you keep reading. You start out feeling you need this information. You sign up for the free newsletter. After the third or forth page, you feel the fatigue setting in despite the zinging exclamation points. Through glazed eyes, with your last ounce of strength, you click the little “x” box and escape the frenzy.

What was all that, and why was it so painful? You really wanted the information, and understand that the seller needs to convince and differentiate his product from all the others, but why does his site resemble a hawker at a bazaar?

Many online sellers feel that this is the only way they can get your attention. They’ve been told that capital letters and ridiculous densities of key words, key phrases and secondary keywords will jump them forward in the search engines. In truth, these practices will help a little, but content is king, and their sites are usually just hype and sales letters. They forget one big thing: Search engines don’t take out their credit cards and pay for products, people do.

So try writing for real people. People who read sentences not headline after headline. People who want to know real facts about your product in order to make a decision. If you’re selling an e-book, give us a few excerpts. Tell us something useful we can use right now, and promise more. If you have a product, give us reviews by real people and verifiable experts. We’re here and we’re ready, just not for any more screaming.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:
http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

Customer Acquisition is beyond doubt the number one priority for all serious business owners. Whether you’re a merchant or an associate/affiliate of a merchant, your goal is to grow sales. That is why the best in your industry are closely guarding their customer acquisition techniques. Regardless of what they’re telling you, they will not give up their competitive advantage and will hide their techniques and true motives behind "smoke and mirror" tactics.

Things aren’t always what they seem.

Two men are walking in a forest when they come across a deep hole in the ground. "Wow, that must be really deep", says one man after throwing in a pebble and listening for the sound. "Lets throw in one of those large rocks and see how deep it goes." The men throw in a football-sized boulder and wait anxiously for the sound… Nothing! "There is a railway sleeper over there in the bushes", said the other man. "Help me throw it in, it’s definitely going to make a sound". The two men heave the railway sleeper into the hole and watch it disappear in the darkness…again, Nothing! Suddenly a goat appears from the forest. It runs full speed between the men, leaps into the air and falls into the hole". Just as the men exchange looks of utter bewilderment, a farmer comes running out from the trees yelling "Hey, have you guys seen a goat around here?" "Sure did", replied the men. "It was the craziest thing. It ran right past us and leaped into that hole". "Nah, can’t have been my goat", said the farmer. "My goat was tied to a railway sleeper".

The moral of the story is, "Don’t believe what you perceive". Many successful businesses will guard their customer acquisition secrets by trying to convince you they’ve got to where they are by good honest hard work. Others will distract you by trying to sell you their unique system, packaged and guaranteed to generate you overnight success.

So what are your competitors really doing? Listen closely, I am about to reveal to you, the top 7 schemes they’re using to boost their sales and baffle their industry peers like yourself, making you wonder what the heck you’re doing wrong.

#1) Perception Management. Online businesses in particular are excellent perception managers. You’ve seen them before, professional looking web site with images of sexy sales people ready to take your order. Often however, they’re one-man operations run from the spare bedroom. No insurance, enforced customer privacy, or quality merchant processes. But on the surface, it’s intimidating to competitors and assuring to new customers.

#2) Strategic alliances. Most businesses do not make it on their own. Joint Ventures, and behind the scene business deals are often the true reason for rapid customer acquisition. Alliances are generally only revealed if customer acquisition can be further enhanced through brand alliance.

#3) Puppet Masters. Many businesses are in fact just small branches owned and controlled by a larger third party. They can afford to run without profit while lucratively appearing cost-effective. The business often exists not for profit, but as a strategic tactic to ensure the parent company has a finger in that market segment pie.

#4) Leveraging. Most of today’s technology would not be here without yesterday’s inventions. Imagine your home if plastic was not invented. Business is the same. Competitors will invest their time and money on safe, fast and cost-effective outcomes. Innovating new ways from scratch is risky. Leveraging existing customer acquisition services is favorable. For example, by creating incentives for your customers to recommend you to their network of contacts, is a viral marketing technique that leverages the customers you already have.

#5) Super-leveraging. You cannot use leveraging alone, as your competitor will have the same advantages you have. So unless you have the funds to buy out the customer acquisition service before your competitor discovers it, you need be creative and innovate smart methods before them. These are your intellectual property and competitive advantage, so guard them well. For example a merchant with an affiliate program would super-leverage it using a "customer acquisition exchange" service. This delivers a new sales channel (customer reciprocation) that can be competitively used in many creative ways to boost business.

#6) Intelligence and surveillance. Not only do successful business super-leverage known services for customer acquisition, they also super-leverage as a strategic intelligence move. For instance, online merchants will use Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising services like Google and Overture not to bring customers directly but to learn about their competitors and how much they pay for customer acquisition. Remember, they’re in the game to win and the more they know about their opponent the easier it is to manipulate them.

#7) Precision systems. A market leader will use targeted and measurable strategies. Every element is monitored and adjustable. Through trial and error, your competitor will tweak the customer experience for profit and growth. It is a systematic approach to customer acquisition that successful organizations like McDonalds use to thwart their competition.

So there you have it, just a few of the secret happenings that go on behind the scenes at your competitors business. Look out for more information about how to decipher your competitor’s business model to take the lead.

Michael Lever is a co-founder and CEO of SpinningTornado.com, an independent company offering unbiased tools and services to help affiliate and network marketers build profitable online businesses. http://www.SpinningTornado.com Partnering affiliates the world over.

It’s a sad fact for affiliates with ezines and newsletters that spam filters are on the attack – keeping so many of their messages from reaching their opt-in email list. What can an affiliate website manager do?

- The obvious – never send anything without an invitation and a confirmation in the form of a double opt-in.

When you ask for an email from an individual signing up for your newsletter, ask for an email that’s not a free one. Very often, free sites severely limit the size of files that can be received, and falsely identify legitimate emails and attachments as spam.

Don’t use the words such as fr*ee, pro*it, or any other of the buzzwords you see in the headlines of spammers’ email. Some filters also block the html codes for bright colors in combination with dubious terms.

Ask subscribers to include your website in their address book, so your newsletter will be recognized as friendly email when it is received.

Include links to the site of the email text so there’s an alternative way for your subscribers to get to your information.

Consider an RSS feed, as it is not email dependent.

Tell subscribers what the title of your emails will contain and standardize them. Some spam detection and eradication programs require a user to click on offending emails to designate them as spam Once they have done so, the address and the company, product and service names included in the email are captured. Future emails including these words are blocked.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:
http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

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!

Marianthi Iatridou is the editor of http://www.work-at-home-businessoffer.com/ where she puts leading internet and affiliate marketers under the microscope to uncover the strategies and tools they use to build successful internet businesses.

Being thin may have its advantages offline, but online it’s a dirty word. Google gives a rating of “offensive” to thin affiliates, the ones that simply duplicate other sites send traffic to the second site, earning affiliate commissions with no value added content or services. If a site isn’t unique or helpful and just acts as a middleman, adding nothing to the buyer’s decision process or the sales process, it is called a thin affiliate or an affiliate doorway.

What do thin affiliates do that put them on the bad side of Google….and what Should you NOT put on your site?

Links overwhelmingly pointing to one affiliate merchant – it begs the question, why not just go there first?

Images located exclusively on another site

Pages of almost zero content that house PPC ads

Affiliate merchant data feeds

Hidden links

Keyword stuffing for search engine bots, with text no human could comprehend

Hidden text – such as white text on a white background, loaded up with keywords

Content or images displayed only on pop-ups

Ads displayed to look like search engine results

The bottom line is that if you are considering anything that will have the effect of looking different than it is, easily misleading someone, technically tricking search engines, or profiting on the back of someone else, forget it. You do so at your own peril and the peril of your site. This isn’t the wild west anymore. Legitimate companies base their livelihood on fair and honest dealings on the web, and those who don’t subscribe to honest practices will be left in the dust.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:
http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

In order to be approved as an publisher or affiliate site, you’ll need to have a site that is of value to your audience. One with good content that is of interest to those people who are likely to buy your merchant’s or advertiser’s products or services.

One way to increase the value of your site is to provide unbiased reviews of products or services. Your audience is busy and doesn’t necessarily have the time to understand the difference between the 10 different fleece vests offered by 6 different retailers. If you know that fleece vests are worn by most of your site visitors, you can do a review or comparison of several popular ones and post it on your site. This doesn’t mean saying one is best, or panning others, but bringing out the advantages, disadvantages and the “who this is for” of each. For instance, one with larger armholes may be better for those who chop wood, the lightest weight one is better for hikers with backpacks who stay warm through movement, and the most stylish one in the jazzy colors, for the timekeeper at the end of the race, rather than the one who runs it.

By taking the time to proactively answer a question your site visitors want answered, you are providing a valuable service, as well as pre-selling them on the product that makes sense for them. It’s a way of personalization. Your merchants or advertisers will benefit too – they’ll get the click from someone who is highly motivated to buy, rather than someone who is “window shopping”. They have a better chance at a sale, and you have a better chance at a commission.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:

http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

What better way to convince someone to buy a product or service than to have their friend recommend it? Viral marketing is a way of passing along a marketing message from person to person. It depends upon a large percentage of people receiving a message passing it along to others. The benefit attached to the message is often in the form of a freebie or some valuable information, identified by a product name or brand.

Viral marketing can be thought of as the word of mouth of the internet. It is based on the principal of one person forwarding a message on to several others who do the same to several others, and so on. As long as recipients continue sending the message to several friends, the growth in awareness is rapid.

One of the first Internet-based viral marketing campaigns was for free email from Hotmail. Every email sent included a tagline about the benefits of Hotmail, causing an almost exponential increase in brand awareness and subsequent use.

Because email based viral marketing messages can look like spam and be deleted by the sender’s friends, many sites now have “send to a friend” options that open a dialogue box and email address box. Senders emails populate the “from” box and the friend fills in the “To” box with the address of a friend or friends. They can usually personalize the message or use the default that indicates that the sender thought the addressee would enjoy the information attached. A site that does this well is www.highbeam.com, a research service that allows subscribers to send copies of articles to friends they feel would be interested in them. The friend gets something of value, a sample of the service targeted to his exact interests.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:
http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

Why did you start your website? To pursue an interest, or to sell a certain product or line of products? Maybe to explain the mission or services of a non-profit. Have you made it very clear in everything you do who you are targeting? Do you know you are successful, because your target market acknowledges that you are focused on them? If so, you have the basis of a great affiliate marketing site. Merchants want and need visibility on the sites where their targets visit repeatedly and participate in an environment in which they feel comfortable.

For example, if you are a site devoted to saving a range in the Rocky Mountains, you are the perfect publishing or affiliate site for the dude ranch in the area, a local horse rental corral, and motels. If you have a sizeable group of interested parties and donors, you may also be attractive to merchants who sell riding gear, and sports outfitters. It all involves having a well-defined profile of site visitors and a large number of visitors. If people are passionate about a subject, such as conservation and the outdoors, they’ll not only want to stay up-to-date, but they’ll spend a good percentage of their disposable income on this interest. If you have them coming back to your site for news and information and camaraderie It’s likely that they’ll have a new pair of boots on their mind when they’re on your site, and because they’re in a good frame of mind, they’re more likely to buy.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:

http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com