When starting a Web business, most people choose a topic for their Web site and then look for products and affiliate programs related to that topic. In this article, I suggest searching for a group of related affiliate programs first, then designing your Web site around those programs.

There are many affiliate directories and affiliate network Web sites where you can search for the best programs. For this example, I use Commission Junction http://www.jc.com This affiliate network site provides a vast amount of searchable information on over 1200 affiliate programs.

On Commission Junction’s front page, click on the link "Search all advertisers". This will take you to a page with a drop down list where you can select a category. In order to search the information on Commission Junction, you must be a member, but membership is free. After you login to Commission Junction, go to the bottom of the page to "Find Advertisers & links". Here you can get a list of all advertisers, search advertisers by keyword, or browse for advertisers.

Click on "Browse for advertisers". This takes to to a table where you can arrange the affiliate programs based upon "EPC" or "Network Earnings". EPC is the average earnings per 100 clicks. It reflects the affiliate programs ability to convert clicks into commissions. Network Earnings is a rank, on a scale of one to five, of an affiliate program based on the amount of commissions paid. In the head of the table, click on the name of the parameter you are interested in. This rearranges the entries based upon that parameter.

After you arrange the entries, you have to page past all the "New" programs. I guess Commission Junction puts the new programs at the top of the list to help promote them. As you analyze the data you will discover that the programs that pay the highest earnings per click do not necessarily provide the highest total earnings.

Some important points:

- Commission Junction is not the best affiliate network. Their fees to advertisers are too high. Search Google for other affiliate networks and affiliate programs.

- Join several good programs. You don’t want to build your Web site around one program that may be discontinued.

- Don’t join too many programs. It takes time and work to promote each program.

- Don’t be in a rush to join affiliate programs. Take your time and select a profitable category and high quality programs.

Most people get an idea for a Web site, and then look for related affiliate products to sell. Why not research affiliate programs first? Then you can learn what categories of affiliate products and services are going you earn you the most money. You can then design the topic of your Web site around the most profitable product categories and affiliate programs.

Permission is granted for the above article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website, offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are made and the byline, copyright, and the resource box below is included.

About The Author

Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com. To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to subscribe@bucarotechelp.com

Suppose you could launch an online business in the next ten minutes? Suppose that this business did not require your own website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development or maintenance? This is the ideal world of affiliate marketing.

Made popular on the internet by Amazon.com, marketers can now earn a referral fee for directing visitors to countless merchants’ website. According to Forrester Research, affiliate program earnings will represent $53 BILLION of all e-commerce sales by 2005. How could you earn a sizeable piece of this pie? Here are some powerful tips that would get you rolling in those big commission checks and laughing all the way to the bank.

1. Know what programs and products to promote.

Of course you will want to promote those programs that will bring you the greatest profits in the shortest time. There are several factors that play into selecting such a program. Choose programs that have a generous commission structure, products that fit in with your target audience and a solid track record of paying their affiliates on time. If you cannot recoup your investment, then prune such programs and keep looking for better ones. There are tens of thousands of affiliate programs online so you can afford to be picky. This is a case where you will want to choose just the cream of the crop and so reduce the risk of losing your advertising dollars.

2. Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your website.

Most likely you will be competing with other affiliate marketers who are promoting the same program. If you write a short report on a related topic to the product that you are promoting, then you can distinguish yourself from all other affiliates. In this report you can provide valuable information for free with a “recommendation” of the product. This is often referred to as a ‘soft sell’.

The report or ebook allows you to develop credibility with your audience and your readers are more likely to follow your recommendation. There is less resistance to this type of selling because the prospect doesn’t feel ‘sold’, just informed. The next step is to make this ebook ‘viral’ by allowing those who bought the product through your link to ‘brand’ the ebook for their own promotional use.

3. Collect the email addresses of those who download your free ebook.

Research has shown that over 60% of the sales of any product are made after the fifth exposure to the sales message. In other words, most people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may need to send your marketing message over six times before a sale is made. This is the reason why you should collect the contact information of those who download your report. You can then follow up on these contacts to gently remind them to make the purchase.

4. Never send prospect directly to a vendor’s website without collecting their contact info first.

Affiliate marketing is ideal but not perfect. You must keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. The merchants only pay you when you make the sale. If you send prospect directly to their website then these prospect are lost to you forever. If you collect these names instead, then you can always send other marketing messages to them and earn an ongoing commission instead of making a one-time sale.

5. Publish an online newsletter or Ezine.

It is always easier to recommend a product to a friend than to sell to a stranger. This is the philosophy behind publishing your own newsletter. A newsletter allows you to build a subscriber list and develop a relationship of trust with this list. Your subscribers will then trust you to recommend products that will benefit them.

This strategy requires a delicate balance of providing useful information along with a ‘sales pitch’. In other words, if you send out frequent advertisement to your list and little valuable information you are likely to lose credibility with your audience. But if you write informative editorials you will build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that will lead them to ‘support’ you by purchasing your affiliate products.

6. Ask merchants for a higher than normal commission.

If you are very successful with a particular promotion you should approach the merchant and negotiate a higher percentage commission for your sales. If the merchant is smart he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose you. Keep in mind again that you are a zero-risk investment to the merchant, so don’t be shy in your requests. Just be reasonable.

7. Learn to write strong Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. One of the most effective means of advertising online is through PPC search engines. As an affiliate, you can make a sizeable income by just managing PPC campaigns on services such as Google Adwords and Overture. Monitor your campaigns to see which ads are pulling their weight and trim those that are not.

You can use the ClickBank™ Market Place, for example, and just choose a hot-selling product and start promoting. Once you are earning a decent return on your investment then you are in profit! Just this strategy alone can make all the difference to your commission checks.

Affiliate marketing is an entrepreneur’s dream come true. Minimum investment, zero inventory, no employees, no product development—just BIG checks!

Author Bio: Subscribe to Net Marketing Weekly today and receive free enrollment to the entire 27 lesson Internet Marketing Success Course!

http://www.netmarketingweekly.com

Before I get into depth with this article I first want you to have a good understanding of what a ‘2 Tier’ affiliate program is and there advantages. Then from there I’ll go on to explain how you can start recruiting Sub-Affiliate’s by simply locating the Super-Affiliate’s within your Niche market.

First… lets define what a ‘2 Tier’ affiliate program is.

A ‘2 Tier’ affiliate program is simply a program that is designed to work on a 2 tier payment structure. And what I mean by that is that you’ll get paid on both the 1st tier(you) and 2nd tier(your sub-affiliates) of the program you choose to promote.

Now, with that said, let’s go a little deeper into what the advantages of a ‘2 Tier’ affiliate program are so that you’ll be able to visualize in your head why these programs are being considered the most Powerful programs on the Net and more importantly… how they can put Profits in your hand, on Auto-Pilot, 24/7/365 with little effort on your part.

Lets first talk about the advantages and for the purpose of this article I’m going to give you three of the main ones:

1) - you get paid ‘Higher’ commissions on your 1st tier (usually between 25% - 65% depending on the vendor)

2) - you have the ability to ‘Recruit’ sub-affiliates(your 2nd tier) to promote the program for you

3) - and you can form ‘Joint Ventures’ with other website and/or list owners within your specified Niche market

Is the ‘Light-Bulb’ starting to flicker inside your head?

Are you starting to see WHY these programs are so Powerful and Versatile?

I certainly hope so.

Now that you see the main advantages to these programs your probably asking yourself… "well, where can I find a complete listing of these programs so I don’t have to spend alot of time looking for them on the web?"

Well… it just so happens that I know of a few Top affiliate directories that have a complete searchable database full of ‘2 Tier’ affiliate programs in whatever category you are looking for.

I will list two of the of Top affiliate directories for the purposes of this article that I use to locate these programs:

- 2 Tier Affiliate Directory

http://www.2-tier.com

- Associate Affiliate Directory

http://www.associateprograms.com

I think these two directories alone will keep you busy.

There are many affiliate directories out there on the WWW, but these two I find are the most popular and have the best selection.

Now that you have an idea of what ‘2 Tier’ affiliate programs are, there advantages and where to locate these programs on the web lets talk about ‘How’ you can start recruiting some Sub-Affiliate’s within the next 24 hours by simply locating the Super-Affiliate’s within your Niche market via the search engines.

In order to do this exercise properly you’re going to need two Very important webmaster tools. These tools are Free so you don’t have to worry about paying anything up front or any monthly subscription fee’s for there use.

The 1st tool you need to get is the ‘Google Toolbar’. This toolbar is used to gauge a websites PR(Link Popularity) within the search engines. Generally, a website with a PR of 5 or higher are the types of websites you want to find and are where the Super-Affiliate’s usually reside.

Click the link I’ve provided below and install the toolbar.

- http://toolbar.google.com/

And the 2nd tool you need to get is the ‘Alexa Toolbar’. This toolbar is used to gauge a websites overall Traffic Ranking. You’ll want to find websites with a traffic ranking of 50,000 or lower. This is where you’ll find the Super-Affiliate’s.

Click the link I’ve provided below and install the toolbar.

- http://download.alexa.com/

Now that you have those two tools installed on your computer you Now have the ability to find Super-Affiliate’s through gauging their websites overall ‘Traffic Ranking’ and ‘Link Popularity’ which brings use to the next step… "Locating the Super-Affiliates".

A ‘Super-Affiliate’, just so you know, is simply a webmaster who has a high traffic website and/or a large targeted mailing list and has the ability to sell more in a day then you could in a month.

Generally, and this is just a guideline I use when contacting these webmasters, I look for websites with at least a PR of 5 and a Traffic Ranking of 50,000 or less. This way, if they don’t have a large mailing list they at least have a high traffic website or Visa-Versa.

This next step is where the fun begins because we’ll be using search engines to locate the Super-Affiliate’s and for this exercise lets go to the all famous ‘Google’ search engine at — http://www.google.com

Now… once the page loads simply type in the Keyword or Keywords or Keyword Phrase that targets your particular Niche market you are targeting within the search form Google provides.

For the purpose of this exercise lets use the keywords ‘internet marketing’.

By now you should be looking at a page full of listings under the Keywords or Keyword Phrase you targeted, which in this case was ‘internet marketing’.

Now, simply start clicking on the links that you think might make a good ‘Sub-Affiliate’ to the program you are recruiting for.

By using the two toolbars you installed earlier you’ll now be able to identify if this website is a Super-Affiliate by the websites overall ‘Link Popularity’ and ‘Traffic Ranking’ by using the guidelines I stated earlier.

If you like the web stats you see and you think they would make a suitable sub-affiliate to your program all you have to do from this point is look for the webmasters contact details listed on their website and send them a proposition to join your program.

If you can’t find there contact details on there website you can usually find them by using the ‘Alexa’ toolbar. Just click on the ‘Alexa’ button in the upper left corner of your browser. This will bring you to there main page. You’ll usually find there contact details listed mid-way down.

And if you’re worried about being accused of ‘Spamming’, well… you don’t have too simply because your not sending them an Unsolicited Advertisement, your sending them a Business Proposition.

There’s a BIG difference.

Now, with that said, lets move on to the Final segment of this article… ‘Joint Ventures’.

‘Joint Ventures’ are simply an collaboration or partnership undertaken by two or more entities(webmasters) for a mutual gain, usually profit sharing.

Who make the best JV partners and Why?

Ezine/Newsletter owners make the best JV partners simply because they have already done all the work and have built highly targeted mailing lists. Some have Large lists and some have Small lists. Point being… they’re highly targeted to whatever Niche market you’re targeting.

How do ‘2 Tier’ affiliate programs work in this kind of arrangement?

They work just the same as recruiting website owners, but instead you’re strictly contacting list owners with highly targeted lists and propositioning them to join your program for a share of the profits.

Where can you find these Ezine/Newsletter owners?

You can find thousands of them on the WWW through Ezine/Newsletter directories, but I’ll only list just a few Top resources to save you the hassle.

- Ezine Universe

http://www.ezine-universe.com

- Ezine Hub

http://www.ezinehub.com

- Go-Ezines

http://www.go-ezines.com

- Netter Web

http://www.netterweb.com

- Ezine Search

http://www.ezinesearch.com

These directories have large searchable databases full of thousands of Ezine/Newsletters that target any category you are looking for to promote your program(s). And these are only a few of whats available to you on the Net.

Well… there you have it in a nut shell.

I just revealed to you some of the most Powerful marketing technique’s being used online today by many of the Top internet marketers and how they are able to build there Sub-Affiliate army’s and generate loads of Free targeted traffic to there websites without spending a penny on advertising.

And… the best part about this is… you can start doing the same within the Next 24 hours.

Want to get MORE ‘Insider’ marketing Secrets on How-To drive Traffic to your website? Subscribe to Cory Threlfall’s ezine called… The Internet Wonders eZine at — internet marketing — Or, you can go shop his popular CBmall with over 10,000 Ready-To-Download products. Go to ==> webmaster resource site

Millions of people sign up for affiliate programs, but have no clue on how to promote and market them effectively to generate piles of cash.

Below are 10 significant sharp ways to start generating a lot of sales and commissions, starting now:

1. Participate in chat rooms related to the product you’re reselling. Start a conversation with a person without trying to sell to them. Later on, while you are chatting, mention the product you’re reselling.

2. Create a free ebook with the advertisement and link of your affiliate web site. The subject of the free ebook should draw your target audience to down- load it. Also submit it to some ebook directories.

3. Start your own affiliate program directory. Join a large number of affiliate programs and list them all in a directory format on your web site. Then just advertise your free affiliate program directory.

4. Write your own affiliate program ads. If all the other affiliates use the same ads you do, that does not give you an edge over your competition. Use a different ad to give yourself an advantage over all the other affiliates.

5. Use a personal endorsement ad. Only use one if you’ve actually bought the product or service for the affiliate program. Tell people what kind of benefits and results you’ve received using the product.

6. Advertise the product you’re reselling in your signature file. Use an attention getting headline and a good reason for them to visit your affiliate site. Make sure your sig file doesn’t go over 5 lines.

7. Join a web ring. It should attract the same type of people that would be interested in buying the product you’re reselling. You could also trade links on your own with other related web sites.

8. Participate on web discussion boards. Post your comments, answer other people’s questions, and ask your own questions. Include your affiliate text link under each message you post.

9. Create a free ezine. Use your ezine to advertise the affiliate programs you’ve joined. Submit your ezine to online ezine directories and promote it on your web site.

10. Start a private web site. Use it as a free bonus if people buy the product you resell. You could also allow people to join for free and you could advertise the affiliate program you’ve joined.

May these affiliate program marketing secrets help you to make a lot of money.

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of "Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System", (Day Trading, Online Trading) which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.

Mscsrrr Millionaire Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free “cash”…

Some tips for Affiliate Marketers

So Google has changed its policies regarding affiliate advertising. In case you don’t know, their new policy will allow only one ad per search query for affiliates and the parent company with the same url.

So what does this mean for affiliates? It means that you are going to have to actually do a thing called work to get people to your affiliate page. Here are some suggestions of things that you can do to get people to your affiliate page and still meet Google’s requirements.

-You must have your own website. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You are just going to have to have your own url so that you can increase your chances of being listed on Google.

-Your site needs to have relevant content. It is important for you to have content on your site besides just whatever programs you are promoting. Your visitors might not buy your product right away, but if you give them some free useful content, they will remember you when they do have the opportunity to make a purchase. If you are looking for free content, a great place to start is ezinearticles.com.

-You should also keep a blog related to the topic of the product you are promoting. Blogs are basically an online diary. You can set up a blog for free at many websites. Personally I prefer blogger.com. When you use blogger.com, you get your own domain name and you can customize your template. Also it’s owned by Google now so I don’t think that this service is going anywhere. You can also post pictures and you can use blogger for audio blogging, so you could even create your own internet talk show. You can add your affiliate links on the sidebar and you can also include articles related to the product and link to it at the bottom of the article.

-You also need to have your own opt-in list. This can be in the form of an ezine or you can use an autoresponder. This is vitally important, because you need to have a group of people that value your opinion and will check out a product or service just because you recommended it.

-It’s also important to write your own ads. Many times I have published the same affiliate ad 5 times in one issue. It is much more effective for you as an affiliate if your ad is different, because people will be much more likely to click on it just to find out what it is you are selling.

-Network, Network, Network. These changes make it even more important to network. One excellent place to network online is ryze.com. Ryze.com attracts the exact type of people who will support you. Don’t just post your ads, however, really get in there and participate. Offer advice, answer the weekly questions that some of the networks post, post an interesting article. You are building relationships and that will go a long way for you in your business.

My last words on this topic are to keep tweaking your ads for performance and to never quit. It may take you a while to turn your business into a profitable venture, but when you do, yes I said when and not if, it will be well worth the effort.

DeAnna Spencer is a virtual assistant that helps entrepreneurs run a successful business by providing affordable administrative help. She also publishes a blog for small business owners. Visit this small business resource today.

Many people think that they can only get involved in e-commerce if they have a product or service of their own to sell — or a lot of products and services to sell. But this simply isn’t true. You can jump on the band wagons for many large companies who already have an amazing array of products available to the general public — but are looking for ways to increase their exposure. And one of the easiest ways for them to do this is by offering an AFFILIATE program.

HOW AFFILIATE PROGRAMS WORK

Affiliate programs provide you with a text or graphic LINK that you place on your website, leading back to the original company’s site. You are given a unique URL — one that has some code in it identifying the link as belonging to your website. When a customer clicks through that link and is taken to the other company’s website, their system keeps track of where that customer came from. And if that person buys something from the other website, it rewards you with a COMMISSION — either a flat fee or a percentage of the sale.

WHY SEND TRAFFIC TO ANOTHER SITE

It might seem at first that affiliate links are antithetical to running a website — that you are sending your traffic somewhere else. But what you are really doing is providing an additional RESOURCE for your clients — a reason for them to come back again and again. The goal behind a website – even one that is designed to promote your company — is to give your visitors VALUE. So by directing them toward the products or services they might need — that you don’t provide yourself – you are building credibility and customer loyalty. And, you are making a bit of profit along the way.

E-COMMERCE ON THE CHEAP

Setting up an e-commerce website can be very EXPENSIVE — between the shopping cart program, the secure certificate for accepting credit cards, the merchant account fees, and site maintenance, you can go broke in a hurry if your site doesn’t grow quickly. However, affiliate programs make e-commerce easy and affordable. You can offer your customers the opportunity to purchase the products that they need on the internet, without having to set the system up yourself. They get the ease of shopping online with a credit card — and the VALUE of not having to search on the web for the products they desire (because you’ve been kind enough to point them in the right direction!) — and you get a satisfied customer base and a nice check from the businesses you support.

Best of all, the other company takes care of all of the sales-related RESPONSIBILITIES of running an e-commerce site — processing orders, customer service, after sales support, etc. You don’t have to stock inventory, deal with sales tax, handle complaints, or manage the bookkeeping. All you do is put up the link. It’s as close to a WIN-WIN situation as you will find in business today.

OFFERING A QUALITY LINK

However, joining affiliate programs is just like being involved in any other marketing or business opportunities — you need to be DISCRIMINATING. You don’t want to link to a website that has questionable business practices, sells a shoddy product, or does not represent your company well. You put your REPUTATION on the line when you link to a site — just as you would if you gave your customer a referral to another local business — and you want to make sure that you are doing your customers a real service with every link you provide. Only link to those companies you believe in and would shop from yourself.

HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Start off by selecting an affiliate program that provides content that COMPLEMENTS your website. If you provide interior decorating services, appropriate web links might include home décor, professional organizing, Feng Shui, or even housecleaning. However, you probably wouldn’t want to link to a pizza joint’s website, as this really has nothing to do with your services.

Also look for a website that provides QUALITY services, products, and information. Your visitors will appreciate being sent to a site that provides both valuable content and useful products, rather than one that tries to hard-sell them from the very start. And the key to being a successful affiliate is VARIETY — try to offer a lot of different options for visitors, either by linking to a comprehensive site that provides many different features, or by linking to several “niche” sites.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING AN AFFILIATE

Affiliate programs really are the AFFORDABLE way to build your business. When you think about it, launching a new line of products or services the traditional way requires a lot of time, energy, and money. But with an affiliate program, it simply involves cutting and pasting a link onto your site — no capital outlay and no real RISK. If it doesn’t end up generating the income you thought it would, you haven’t lost anything.

Another nice aspect of being an affiliate is the time frame within which you can start earning commissions. With most business expansion efforts, there will often be a substantial “wait” period between launch and that first check. But with affiliate programs, you can begin earning money the very first day you put the link up.

HOW TO SUCCEED AT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Most affiliate programs will provide you with graphics and text to include on your site — but that is only the first step to really marketing your affiliate links. The first rule to remember is that the MORE links you have to a company, the more potential sales and affiliate commissions you will generate. And don’t just put a link on some arbitrary page with no explanation of why it is there. Try to WEAVE it into a part of your site that makes some sense — and describe to your visitor why the link is valuable to them.

For example, one affiliate of or website (www.onlineorganizing.com) includes little blurbs in her content and articles describing related companies and how they can be of benefit to her visitors. She has included our link in over 50 different places on her site — always with a bit of text talking about a specific product or service we offer that is relevant to the topic at hand — and she gets a tremendous number of sales as a result.

Also try to create PRODUCT-SPECIFIC or EVENT-RELATED links. At our site, we send out monthly notifications of sales, special events, organizing holidays, etc. And our most successful affiliates are the ones who include a new link each month describing the offers and activities going on at our site — giving people a real reason to visit. We also have seen affiliates create entire product pages on their sites that essentially look like their own shopping carts. They include pictures and descriptions of products we offer, and set up the link to take the customer directly to the page on our site where they can buy the recommended item. With the right web design, this kind of link can really enhance your site — making it appear as though your have a wide variety of products to offer yourself.

As you can see, joining affiliate programs can be a terrific way to create an entirely new income stream for your company – with very little investment or effort on your part. If you are interested in joining the OnlineOrganzing.com affiliate program, please visit http://www.onlineorganizing.com/Affiliate_Program.htm — and if you would like to set up a creative organizing product page on your site and need some help, please contact me directly at ramona@onlineorganizing.com. Good luck!

Ramona Creel is a Professional Organizer and the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com — a web-based one-stop shop offering everything that you need to get organized at home or at work. At OnlineOrganizing.com, you may get a referral to an organizer near you, shop for the latest organizing products, get tons of free tips, and even learn how to become a professional organizer or build your existing organizing business. And if you would like to read more articles about organizing your life or building your business, get a free subscription to the "Get Organized" and "Organized For A Living" newsletters. Please visit http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com or contact Ramona directly at ramona@onlineorganizing.com for more information.

Okay so you’ve read (fill in the blank with internet guru’s name here)’s book and decided that affiliate marketing is the way for you to earn some extra money online. I mean after all, all you have to do is plug in your name and run their ads and collect your commission check and ride off into the sunset, right? Not quite. With so many people promoting the exact same program as you, in the exact same ezines or on the exact same websites, you need some ways to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack of affiliate marketers. Here are seven ways for you to do this.

1. Host Your Own Website.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it is absolutely essential for you to have your own website. For starters you can have a domain name that is easy to remember. I mean can you remember http://www.areallylongaffiliatemarketersurl.com/?pid=123/r=4(My apologies if that url actually belongs to someone, I just made it up on the spot for an illustration)? I didn’t think so.

So if you can’t remember it and it’s your url, what makes you think your potential customer is going to remember it. Do you know what they are going to do? They are going to just chop off the stuff at the end and type in the main domain name and purchase the product from the main site. However if you have your own url, you could have a url like http://www.yourdomain.com which is much easier to remember and you can just point your visitors to your affiliate page in your website.

2. Write Your Own Ads

Email the owner of your affiliate program and ask if you can write your own ads. Most of the time they will not have a problem with this, but you need to check with them first. A lot of times when I publish my ezine, I have published the same ad two or three times and I wanted to email the advertisers and say if only you had used your own ad. People become immune to ads after a while and if they see the same ads over and over again, they may just skip over it altogether. Your objective is to get people to click on your link and if your wording is different they just might stop and read your ad and be curious enough to click through to your website.

3. Have some products of your own that are only available through your website.

Once you have your website going, it is important to have some products or services that your customers can’t find at your affiliate site. You want your customers to keep coming to your site and the best way to do that is to have something on your site that they can’t find on the affiliate site.

4. Cultivate your own list.

It’s much easier to sell to people that you have already built a relationship with. That’s one reason why it is important to build your own list. You may also be able to earn some money from your list in the form of advertising.

5. Buy the product you are marketing.

When you buy the product you are marketing, you can sell it better. You can tell the potential customer what a great experience you had with the product. This will make them interested enough to buy the product. You will also be able to provide support if necessary or write a tutorial on how to use the product that you are marketing.

6. Be totally honest

If you find out that the program you were promoting is a scam, stop promoting it and inform your readers about it. This will help you build credibility with your lists. We all make mistakes and admitting your mistake will boost your readers confidence in you.

7. Don’t try to market everything you see.

With services such as clickbank, it is easy to become overwhelmed and try to market everything in the clickbank marketplace. That is not a good idea. It’s better to focus on one market and market products that they would want. This is called niche marketing. The last thing you want to do is to bombard your subscribers with pitches for products. That is one surefire way to lose subscribers.

Affiliate marketing is definitely here to stay and it can become a great way to earn extra or even part time income. However, it won’t happen overnight. Like everything else in life, you’re going to have to put a lot of hard work into it. Good luck to you in your new venture.

DeAnna Spencer is a virtual assistant that helps entrepreneurs run a successful business by providing affordable administrative help. She also publishes a blog for small business owners. Visit this small business resource today.

Are you looking for a profitable Affiliate Program?

When you start to examine the possibilies for your homebased business, it is easy to be overwhelmed with the sheer number of "opportunities" available. A search for "Affiliate Programs" in Yahoo alone, will yield over nine million matches!

As with anything worthwhile in life, starting a homebased business using affiliate programs, should not be done without doing some homework. Take your time and do some research, think about what it is you want to accomplish. Are you looking for a full-time business with "full-time" income, or is your goal to make some extra spending money? Set your Goals before you start and find a program that will help you meet them.

Use common sense when researching affiliate programs, remember the old saying, " Anything that seems to good to be true…..usually is". Look for programs that provide a wide variety of marketing tools and support, after all, if it is legitimate they have a vested interest in you success.

If your a newbie, don’t try to re-invent the wheel, there are many successful people involved with affiliate programs. Most of them are eager to share their secrets, their mentoring will save you alot of time and money, time and money you could apply to growing your new business. The vast majority of people who fail in affiliate programs, are the ones who fail to educate themselves on how to promote their new venture. Learn from those who have been there..done that!

Once you decide on the program(s) that is right for you, dedicate yourself to learning and understanding what it is you are promoting. If you are totally new to affiliate programs, it may be a little confusing at the start, but if you take advantage of all of the available resources, you WILL be successful.

Here’s To Your success,

John Tillotson - New York

Copyright(c)2005 John Tillotson

Ordinary people are making Exraordinary money WORKING FROM HOME on the Internet! Sign up for FREE Email course; visit http://www.Future-Independence.com

In the time I have been running my internet home business I have realized that there is a wealth of information available about ‘working at home’. Unfortunately a lot of this info does nothing more than waste your time and money. It has become very difficult for the beginner entrepreneur to get started successfully in the online world. I am writing this article because I believe I have found the 5 essential tools necessary to run a successful home business as an affiliate marketer. The tools outlined below play the biggest role in the operation of my home business and they don’t break the bank either.

Essential Tool #1 - Your own Website:

The first step is finding a good product to sell along with a nice website to promote it. For the average person this can be a little overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Thanks to PlugInProfit, anybody can now have a fully functional website up and running and accepting orders within 24 hours. What you get is a very professional looking website as well as memberships into 5 of the internets most successful affiliate programs.

When I found out about this opportunity I really couldn’t believe it. Thanks to Plug in Profit I was really able to kick-start my home business and start promoting my products almost instantly. You can find out more by clicking the link below.

http://www.homeworksolutions.biz/pips.html

Essential Tool #2 – An Email Auto Responder:

Now you will need a means to drive traffic to your website and that’s where our 2nd essential tool enters the picture, the email autoresponder. Where do you get such a program? Well, you see what I didn’t tell you about PlugInProfit is that you also get your very own 360 day business newsletter which is in turn hooked up to an email autoresponder, so basically whenever someone signs up for your free newsletter, they will receive 360 days of emails from your business promoting your website. Doesn’t that sound great?

If you would like an example of the newsletter that comes with PluginProfit click on the link below and then enter your first name and email address in the box at the left of the screen. That will sign you up for my newsletter.

http://www.homeworksolutions.biz

Ok, now you are probably wondering how someone would find your newsletter and get entered into your autoresponder. There are basically 2 ways to get potential customers into your autoresponder. 1. Visit your website and signup. This requires your website to rank fairly well in the search engines or be advertised somewhere. We will talk more about that during essential tools #3 and #4. 2. Buy leads that get entered into your autoresponder automatically. There are many places out there that sell leads for this purpose.

Here are 3 examples: List Opt, Leads Factory, Traffic Oasis. Once the leads get entered into your autoresponder it becomes completely automated. You can sit back and watch your business grow. Having an email autoresponder has really made my work a lot easier and definitely continues to play a key role in the success of my business.

Essential Tool #3 – Reciprocal Linking Campaign:

A key factor that determines your website rank in the search engines is often how many and what kind of websites are linking to your site. If you can partner with a couple hundred relevant websites your search engine rank will skyrocket. I learned how to do this with Jack Humphrey’s e-book PowerLinking. I highly recommend this e-book; it provides all the tools and information necessary to produce a highly effective Reciprocal Linking Campaign which is sure increase the traffic to your website. You can find out more by clicking below:

http://www.power-linking-profits.com/swres/c6798.html

Essential Tool #4 – Word Tracker Software:

Along with your linking campaign you will also want to optimize your website around a select a number of keywords. However, you will want to choose your words carefully. Select keywords that not only describe your website but are also popular with the search engines. Word Tracker is a great tool for tracking the popularity of selected keywords. This tool will tell how often each keyword is searched for in Google, Yahoo, Excite, etc. You can try it for free at wordtracker.com.

Essential Tool #5 – The Warrior Forum:

The Warrior forum is the #1 marketing group on the net for 6 years. When you become a member you will get the opportunity to chat with some of the internets top affiliate marketers and in my experience they are always willing to help those who want to work. Just browsing through all the forum topics can generate tons of ideas and answer any question you may have. The Warrior forum is an excellent resource and when you sign up for the Plug in Profit site discussed in ‘Essential Tool #1’ you will automatically get a free membership.

If you are interested in becoming a successful affiliate marketer I suggest you at least check these tools out. If you go as far as to learn how to use them and then invest about $100 a month to make them work you could have a full blown affiliate marketing business that will eventually generate a six figure income quite easily. The key is simply planting the seeds and sticking with it. I hope this has motivated you a little and that now you are considering getting started on your own internet business venture. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions or feedback.

Curtis Sexton

http://www.homeworksolutions.biz

curtissexton@gmail.com

Colin McDougall tinkered around with affiliate programs earning a few dollars, nothing much to write home about, even had his own e-commerce site, known as the man’s mall. In theory that site was supposed to offer all sorts of gadgets for guys. Colin created the site with the concept “build it they will come” but in reality no one did. Like so many dot.com ventures, it was a huge disappointment, lots of hard work and no pay off.

Colin says, “The man’s mall failed because I started the venture blindly, I didn’t have a clue how the search engines worked or how to make money with affiliate programs. Without an action plan and a map on how to get the gold it was all pointless. But not anymore, I hit the internet gold mine, a virtual moneymaking machine.”

Read on to learn the facts about affiliate marketing and how Colin went from failing on the Internet to making serious money with affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is paying off for retailers

2003 online sales are bucking the retail trend. With traditional retail sales down, retailers are forced to do more with less. They’ve shifted budgets away from expensive portal deals to performance-based affiliate marketing and search engine marketing and it’s paying off. (Source: Forrester Research)

It’s no surprise that traditional advertisers such as American Express, National Geographic, Toshiba and even Disney are flocking to the emerging affiliate marketing model. Advertisers have a very low risk with affiliate marketing; they simply pay a commission for actual sales. No sales, no commission.

Affiliates love it too

Affiliates who understand the affiliate marketing business are earning huge incomes, even those who are doing it as a hobby, in many cases, are earning a few hundred to a few thousand extra dollars each month.

Jeff Pullen, President of Commission Junction, a third party provider of infrastructure and tracking told the crowd at a recent conference held in Santa Barbara that, “Commissions are up 80% over the previous year”. According to the Affiliate Summit, held in early November 2003 in New York City, affiliate marketing is already a $14 billion industry. (Source: Marketing Sherpa)

Online shopping is booming – the future is bright

Affiliate marketing works because the pay for performance model makes sense. Plus, people are flocking to the Internet in droves to shop online. According to Forrester Research, a Massachusetts-based research firm, nationally online sales are expected to total $96 billion this year and climb to $229 billion by 2008.

Affiliate marketing in a nutshell

An affiliate program is a business relationship where one website owner (a “merchant”) agrees to pay another website owner (an “affiliate”) a commission simply for referring customers.

Merchants typically manage their affiliate program by joining a commission network such as Commission Junction or LinkShare who provide third-party tracking and infrastructure or by purchasing and installing specialized tracking software on their own server.

See Commission Junction and LinkShare.com for a list of merchants who are looking for affiliates to promote their products and services.

How Colin got involved with affiliate marketing

Colin says: “I found the treasure map; the Affiliate Marketers Handbook written by James Martell,” an entrepreneur and successful affiliate marketer. The first time Colin read the Affiliate Marketers Handbook he mentions, that it was like looking at the horizon through binoculars; he could see where he was headed. The second time reading the book Colin, it was like looking at a road map and seeing how to reach the riches on the horizon.

Colin says, “With the book, you learn how to get organized, plan the site, run the business, and focus on the riches along the horizon.”

Colin learned firsthand, with the man’s mall, that without understanding the search engines, your business is dead in the water. The “build it they will come” mind set, just doesn’t cut it.

As Colin says: “The book’s system for using keywords really makes sense, after my prior experience it’s like this light bulb went off…so that’s how I’m going to attract visitors and making money. In my old business, I was set up to fail, with the handbook I’m set up to win.”

Got Dot: How did you go from failing at the Internet to make money?

Colin explains, “By reading James’ handbook. His book is real, it’s not the stuff of Internet legends, but it’s an honest, to goodness road map. James really shares what works. I’ve followed his 8-step system™ and now have a bigger house, a bigger car and financial independence.

At first, I was amazed at how much the book gives away, but that’s James. He really wants everybody to succeed, he’s got things all laid out in his book. If you follow it the money’s there, it’s up to the reader to go for the gold.”

Got Dot: What was it like getting started?

Colin says, “In the beginning I was skeptical, making money with affiliate marketing, just seemed unreal. After attending James’ original class in Vancouver, at the prodding of a friend Chuck Anderson, and actually meeting with other people, earning lots of money with affiliate marketing, the whole process really resonated. I knew I could do it, if they could.”

Got Dot: Why was that so hard to grasp?

Colin: “As a system tech I was working 50% harder for a measly 5% raise, all of $250/month. It was awful. In the class all these people were making a lot more money than me, working just a few hours a day. What a wake up call. I felt like a dummy slaving away at 60 hours a week, with practically nothing to show for it.”

Colin adds, “The hard part for me was getting over my past, removing the skepticism, and just running. My disbelief held me back four months. So I started off small spending one hour a day doing affiliate marketing.

The beginning search engine traffic and commission checks…just blew me away, talk about a real eye-opener. Nothing like numbers to get a techie excited.”

Got Dot: What’s the money like?

Colin: “When I first started I earned $400 a month, nearly double my raise as a system tech. By the end of the year I hoped to make $5k a month (my system tech salary). I hit that mark in six months. Within 9 months I earned $120K. The day job is now history. The money’s astounding, it just keeps growing.”

Got Dot: What is your product niche?

Colin says, “In the beginning, I went after the big paycheck, like credit cards. My newer sites feature things I want to learn more about or hobbies.”

Colin follows the same methods for web site construction developed by James Martell. These principals are incorporated into Colin’s successful sites featuring: mortgage loans, furniture slip covers and credit card applications.

Got Dot: What is a typical day like?

Colin says, “Its ideal. How many fathers can say they have time to play Barbie’s with their daughter? Everyday I work for two hours and spend an afternoon in the park with the family, then another hour or two of work and its dinner time, what a day!”

Got Dot: What tips do have for someone starting out?

Colin says: “Buy the Affiliate Marketers Handbook, follow it step-by-step. Don’t jump ahead. Devote one hour a day to affiliate marketing, when you get home from work. Make the sacrifice. The short term pain is worth the long term gain. Don’t settle for fool’s gold, searching through the “best affiliate programs”, find the real gold, James Martell’s 8-step system™, it’s within your grasp. Go for the gold.”

Colin McDougall followed a simple 8-step-system™ for affiliate marketing created by James Martell, entrepreneur, successful affiliate marketer, and developer of over 70 specialty shopping sites with topics that range from motorized scooters to treadmill comparisons; and also educates people who want to start a homebased business using affiliate programs and the Internet!

About The Author

Colin McDougall is the editor of the credit review site, Only the best credit cards online. You can visit this site at http://www.only-the-best-credit-cards-online.com/, mcdoog2112@shaw.ca