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Affiliate_Marketing_Basics
| Affiliate Marketing Basics
Affiliate marketing is one of the fastest growing ways to make
money on the Internet. You can become an affiliate for any
number of thousands of companies. Most of the time it is quick,
easy, and free to join.
To start with, you basically sign up as an affiliate and agree
to receive a commission on every sale that you refer to the
company. You can refer customers from a website, newsletter,
advertisements, or almost any other way that you can think to
promote a product.
Quick Setup
You can get started very quickly and cheaply compared to almost
any other business opportunity. Although it isn't as easy as
putting up some banners and waiting for the checks to roll in,
affiliate programs do avoid the problems of inventory, shipping,
customer service, or variety of other issues that a business
must address.
Second Stream Income
Affiliate programs make a great way to supplement you income if
you already have a product or service that you are selling. Half
the battle is getting people to visit your website, so if you
are already generating a good amount of traffic, then adding
related affiliate programs and promoting them correctly can add
a good sized stream of income to your business.
Pick a Program
One of the most important steps in starting an affiliate program
is making sure that you sign up with the right company. There
are a number of factors to consider.
1. Commission - Some companies pay as low as 2% commission,
while others can reach upwards of 60-70%. Obviously you aren't
going to make any money promoting a product that you receive a
very small percentage of the sale. Your best off making sure to
get at least 20% of the sale.
2. Product Price - You also want to pay attention to how much
the product costs. You might make 50% commission, but if the
product only costs $6, then you are only going to get $3 a
referral. You can do much better, you should be able to get at
least $20 per referral for any good paying affiliate program.
Find a product with both a decent commission and a decent price.
Your primary goal is making money, so make the most of your time
spent referring customers.
3. Two-Tier Programs - There are programs that pay you a
commission on direct referrals, and then they pay you a smaller
commission on all referrals from affiliates that you signed up.
This is a great perk, although the previous two factors are more
important.
4. Referral Length - You should also check out how long after
you referred a customer that you still get credit. With advanced
tracking systems in place, companies can keep track of customers
for a long time after they first were referred. Some companies
promise that they will still give you credit for a year after
you first referred a customer. Since many customers don't buy on
the first visit to a site, this can also be a great perk.
5. Lifetime/Residual Income - This is actually a very important
aspect to consider. Many companies that charge a monthly fee for
their services will pay you a percentage every month as long as
they keep the customer. For example, the hosting company I use,
Host4Profit, charges $24.99/month for its hosting services. They
pay their affiliates an even $10/month for every referral. This
gradually builds up into a steady, sizeable income.
6. Reoccurring Commissions - You can also find programs that
will pay you a commission for every purchase that a customer you
referred makes. For example, if i refer Joe Surfer to a site,
they will pay me for every purchase that he makes, not just the
initial purchase. The length of time varies, sometimes you can
get reoccurring commissions for a month, a year, or maybe
forever.
Pick More Programs
If you can make a lot of money with a couple of products,
wouldn't it make sense to increase your income by just joining
more programs? It sounds good, but it has major flaws. Your
income depends heavily on the traffic that your site receives,
and you are only going to be able to convert a certain
percentage of visitors to buyers of any of your affiliate
programs. Too many programs dilute your conversion rate of
visitors to buyers, and actually has other negative effects.
If you join too many programs, you won't have time to promote
any one or few of them effectively. To be a successful
affiliate, you do need to spend time marketing your programs.
Instead of picking every program on the Internet, you are much
better off picking a few good paying programs, and spending a
lot of time marketing them.
About the author:
JC's website, Redlionbooks.com, specializes in advice about
Internet marketing and web site promotion. Free access to
articles and ebooks, learn how to market your product or service
online at Redlionbooks.com
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