Affiliate Program Promotion 101 - Article Writing

By Jason DeVelvis

If you are an affiliate marketer, or if you hope to become one, there is a marketing technique that is very popular, very effective, and very free. Writing an article for affiliate programs is one of the most effective forms of free advertising that you can use today. If you’ve never considered writing an article for affiliate programs now is the time, and here is the way to do it.

First, you don’t want to use your affiliate links when writing an article for affiliate programs. In most cases, it is just too long and too obvious. You are better off using a shorter URL if possible, and if that isn’t possible, you will need to use a link that directs the reader to your own website – with a short URL – and then make sure that there is a link from the page they will arrive at to the affiliate product or service. In all cases, avoid using the affiliate link in the article.

Once you’ve determined which product or products you will promote in your article, and which URL you will be directing the reader to, it is time to get down to the business of writing an article for affiliate programs. What you need to realize is that other affiliates of the same products and services may also write articles, and yours needs to be quite unique. Therefore, writing an article that just describes the product or service really won’t do.

Before starting your article, really think about the product or service that you are promoting. What can you say about it that no other affiliate will say? Can you describe new ways to use the product or service? Can you write about using specific features? What about benefits? If you can’t think of anything unique to say, you will do well to head in a different direction.

Can you combine more than one affiliate product or service in one article? For instance, if you were writing an article to promote several health products that women are interested in, such as a hair care product, nail products, and skin care products, you might write an article about how to give yourself a spa treatment at home – and work those products into the text of the how-to article.

Articles are typically about 350 words long. This is about one page using a twelve point font. That is not a lot of space to fill, so do not allow it to overwhelm you. It is also important to note that you are not trying to produce award winning journalism. Many people never begin an article simply because they think that it is much harder than it actually is. In fact, it the hardest part of writing an article is determining what you will write about.

If you are still having trouble coming up with something to write about when you are writing an article for affiliate programs, visit the websites of the affiliate programs and look for ideas there. Read articles that other affiliates have written if you can locate them. Read articles that were written about similar products or services. Just remember you are doing this to get ideas. You still want your article to be as different from other articles as possible.

It does take thought to get started, but your efforts will be well worth it in the end. Your article can be submitted to article banks and delivered via email to ezine publishers as well. Other people will visit the article banks to find content for their newsletters and websites, and if you are providing a link to your own website, your link popularity will rise, which will boost your ratings in the search engines as well. You should consider a service like http://www.Article-Marketer.com for submitting your articles to as many places as possible, too. The more places you submit to, the more your article (and affiliate links!) will be seen.

Jason is a successful Internet Marketer, and posts regularly on his Adventures In Internet Marketing blog. Take a minute right now to sign up for his newsletter for more great information!

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Should You Join an 'Affiliate' Program, and What to Look For

By Anne Ahira

There sure are a lot of Affiliate Programs out there for you to choose from, aren't there?! If you have a busy site or a large newsletter, you can start earning money right away! Sounds good! But....you're going to need lots of traffic to do the 'earning right away' thing.

So, if you have a new site, a low traffic site, or are starting from scratch, you've got a long way to go! Be aware of that and don't get discouraged right off.

If you are brand new to Internet marketing you might be better off if you develop your own product. That takes time and energy but when you sell your own product you get to keep ALL the profit!....sell someone else's product and you only keep a portion of those profits.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not saying that someone just starting off should not join an Affiliate Program. When you don't have a good product or service to sell online, being an affiliate can be a great option!

Just keep in mind that it may take awhile to see a profit since you have to promote the program and build traffic to it just as you would if you had your own website. Just be sure you find an Affiliate Program that offers something you love and would feel good about marketing.

The great thing about Affiliate Programs is that they are "no-brainers"! What do I mean by that?

Well, if you already have the aforementioned 'lot's of traffic to your site', all you have to do is post a text link to another site, the affiliate program site, and earn a percentage for every sale which you generate.

And...best of all, the company takes care of all the administrative problems, the credit card charges, the shipping, the inventory....you get the idea. You just refer people to them, they take care of all the rest and cut you a nice hearty check every month. Sounds pretty great, doesn't it?!

Yes, it can be! But be careful! Getting involved with the "right" affiliate program is your key to making money. (More about that later.)

Making money with an affiliate program is playing the old-fashioned numbers game! Meaning, that out of the people who visit your site you may get a 1% to 20% click-through ratio (this range is so wide because it depends on the product interest, your link to them and the power of their slogans or banners). ...that's the number of people who click through the text link you have provided and actually visit the site you are recommending.

And of those people, only 1% to 2% will really buy. So... "numbers game"! Generating a good income from affiliates programs, requires a large number of visitors to your site or subscribers to your newsletter.

Example. Say you're getting 1,000 visitors to your site a month and you post your affiliate text link. Just for fun, lets say you get a click through of 5%, which is WAY high.

That means out of your 1,000 visitors, 50 of them go to the affiliate site by clicking through and out of these 50 people probably only ONE will buy...IF THAT! Just because you get 1,000 visitors to your site (that's YOUR site not the affiliate site you are promoting) that doesn't mean you will get $500 a month from your affiliate program.

Here's some more numbers for you. A company with a good affiliate program will have about a 0.5% to 1% visitor to sale ratio. It can sometimes be better than that (and often many time worse, especially if you hook up with the wrong company!), but that is the average. So for every 100 to 200 visitors you send them, only one will purchase.

Whoa! Doesn't look quite so great now!

That's okay, this is the reality and you have to be realistic about your online endeavors. If you think everything is just going to fall into your lap, you'll be easily disappointed and end up quitting before you even get close to succeeding.

You'll want to look for these things in any Affiliate Program you join:

An Affiliate Program that is successful at what they do.
An Affiliate Program which offers great value, a great product or service, and more importantly, GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Make sure the Affiliate Program has a great tracking mechanism so that you get credit for every sale.
Look for a Program, which tracks every sale in real time so you can see your results instantly.
Make sure the Affiliate Program has a good-looking website, which pleases customers, is easy to navigate, and offers great information to the visitor.
The Affiliate Site must be able to turn visitors into sales. You can send them all the visitors in the world, but if they don't convert visitors into sales, you don't make any money!

Before you decide to join any affiliate program, get the answers to the following questions:

How long has this Affiliate Program been in place?
What form of compensation is offered? In other words, are you getting actual cash , are you getting credits for your product, are you getting free AirMiles -- what are you actually getting?
Is there a set up fee? If so, how much?
What kind of associate tracking software is being used?
How are referrals tracked? Do you get credit for EVERY single sale you refer to them?
Do associates get credit for the sale after a visitor comes to the site and doesn't buy, then leaves and comes back to buy at a later date. How long is this in effect for?
Do you have to take special steps to get out of the agreement?
Does the legal agreement bind you to any other responsibilities?
Under what circumstances can the Program remove you as an associate?

If you take the time to gather all this information BEFORE you jump into an affiliate program, you'll find that GOOD Affiliate Programs are actually hard to find. Lucky for you! You don't have to go freaky every time a "new" affiliate comes online!

Chances are, once you look more deeply into the company, you'll find they can't pass your "test" and are not a company you would want to be "affiliated" with anyway.

By: Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

 

How to Choose a Reliable and Profitable Affiliate Program

By Adel Awwad

 

There are literally thousands of affiliate programs on the Net. Here are eight important points that every affiliate webmaster should take into account when choosing a reliable and profitable affiliate program.
How to choose a reliable and profitable affiliate program

 

With literally thousands of different online affiliate programs, ranging across hundreds of different categories, it's not difficult to see how one may become discouraged when it comes to choosing the best and most profitable affiliate programs out there. After all, since one is going to be investing a considerable amount of time, money and resources to design, build and promote the site, then one would naturally want to ensure its success by joining and promoting the most reliable and profitable affiliate programs available.

 

When it comes to choosing a reliable and profitable affiliate program, keep in mind the following points:

 

(1) How long has the business been operating?

 

If the business/site has been operating for a considerable amount of time, then it's likely that it is fairly stable and profitable, otherwise it would not be in business. Be careful of sites and affiliate programs that spring up overnight. It is always a good idea to monitor such affiliate programs for a while before joining them, just incase they disappear as fast as they have appeared.

 

(2) Who else is promoting the affiliate program?

 

Try to find out who else is promoting the affiliate program. Visit the websites of your competition and see if they are promoting the affiliate program that you are thinking of joining. If you find a super affiliate promoting the affiliate program, then chances are that it is a profitable program to join, otherwise a super affiliate would not be promoting it at all.

 

(3) How much traffic is the website receiving?

 

Popular, successful and profitable websites receive a considerable amount of traffic. If the site you are thinking of promoting is not very popular, successful or profitable, then chances are that it will have low traffic and therefore may not be worth promoting. Check the alexa.com traffic rank of the site.

 

(4) What is the commission structure?

 

Does the program offer the affiliate webmaster a percentage of the sale, or a fixed amount per sale? Is the commission payment recurring? Is it a one tier or multi tier program? The most profitable programs offer a revenue share income. This means that the affiliate webmaster will receive a percentage of the money which the customer spends. For example, if the affiliate program offers a 50% revenue share commission, and the affiliate webmaster sells a product for $50, then the affiliate webmaster's payment should be $25. Profitable programs also offer recurring payments for the life of the customer's membership. In other words, if the customer continues to pay $50 per month for his/her membership, then the affiliate webmaster who referred that customer should receive $25 per week until the customer cancels his/her membership. Finally, a multi-tiered affiliate program is usually more profitable than a single tiered affiliate program because it enables an affiliate webmaster to generate income from the efforts of another webmaster whom he/she referred to the affiliate program.

 

(5) Read reviews about it.

 

Try to find as many reviews about the affiliate program as you can. The affiliate program may look and sound very attractive until you find a string of negative reviews from its former affiliates warning others not to join it for one reason or another.

 

(6) What is the support department like?

 

Do the support staff answer queries promptly? Are they fast, friendly and helpful? Test the affiliate program's support staff by asking them a few questions about the program.

 

(7) Do the statistical reports work?

 

Be weary of statistical reports that do not update. Find out how often the statistical reports are updated. Test your links by clicking on them yourself and seeing if they register in the statistical report.

 

(8) Minimum commission payment

 

Some affiliate programs require an affiliate webmaster to generate a minimum commission amount before receiving payment. This is fair enough since it would not make much sense to send an affiliate webmaster a check for a few cents when it would cost more to write, send and process the check. However, find out what the minimum commission payment is before you join.

 

There are a number of other things that one can look for when searching for the most reliable and profitable affiliate programs available, however, these are the main and most important points that every affiliate webmaster needs to pay attention to.

 

Adel Awwad is the webmaster of Free Casino Cash Guide

 

Copyright © 2005 http://www.casinoguide.ws
- Free Casino Cash Guide, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely
redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked
URLs.

 

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The Many Benefits Of Affiliate Programs

By Mal Keenan

 

Throughout the coming weeks, I am going to thoroughly cover the intricacies of making money online through affiliate programs.  Consider this as an online course that is aimed for your benefit.  A good affiliate program, after all, with the generous commission scheme and the liberty it provides, is one of the best, if not the best, home business opportunities in the World Wide Web.

 

An affiliate program as a home business opportunity is an arrangement between an affiliate merchant and an affiliate, you.  Once you have enrolled in an affiliate program, you will be tasked to pre-sell the products of an affiliate merchant.  You will be able to do this by marketing the said products and finding potential customers.

 

Consider the benefits that an affiliate program can do for you and see for yourself why this is a profitably viable home business opportunity:

 

* The commission you will receive per successful sale is very high.  We’re talking in the range of 10 to 95%.  This opportunity would definitely pay better than most sales jobs in real life.

 

* You don’t have to sell the affiliate merchant’s products.  You don’t have to worry about writing sales copies and processing payments.  You don’t have to concern yourself about deliveries and possible refunds.  All you have to do is to pre-sell the affiliate merchant’s products and hope that the person you have reached would eventually buy from your affiliate link.

 

Pre-selling doesn’t require that much work, as more often than not, everything is provided for you by the product or service owner.  You just have to make sure that the prospective client would get to know about the affiliate merchant’s offer by referring him through your affiliate link, and that’s it, basically speaking.   Of course, there’s more you could do to assure maximum success in this area, but we will discuss those in succeeding lessons.

 

* Affiliate marketing is, generally, a passive income stream, meaning, it’s a home business opportunity that could make you earn even while you’re offline.  This is made possible because the affiliate program is mostly automated.  Once a system is set into motion, you could sit back, relax, and wait for your commissions to come to you.

 

* There are so many strategies you could use for this type of home business.  If one wouldn’t give you the results you have expected, you could try a thousand more approached differently that could pave the way to your success.  Of course you could try a lot of techniques simultaneously for enhanced results.

 

* You could join as many affiliate programs as you’d like to increase the number of your income streams.  This would ensure that you could expect earnings from numerous sources.  If one underperforms, there would always be others to count on.  This can be a venture with a lot of heads that could generate so much profit!

 

Clearly, there are many fantastic advantages in capitalizing on affiliate programs!  Most affiliate programs require no fees to join, so it would be wise to take advantage of this.

 

In the next six weeks, we’re going to immerse ourselves in every nook and cranny of affiliate marketing.  By the end of the course, you will know everything there is to know about the wonderful affiliate opportunities!

 

Copyright 2005 Mal Keenan

 

Mal Keenan can show you step-by step how to set up and run a successful online home business. Learn the 7 essential strategies to internet marketing success. To receive your free 7 day mini-course visit: http://www.malkeenan.com

 

For a home business you can believe in, check out:
http://www.malkeenan.com/pips.html

 

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Here's Why Affiliate Marketing Is So Lucrative

By Jason Gazaway

There are people who think of the world as a dreary place simply because they do not find their existence charming enough to render them contented. There are those who wish that they have more than what they possess. There are those who are sick and tired of working hard yet end up having nothing better. There are those who curse the humdrum existence of having 9–5 jobs that do not give them personal and professional growth. Still these are others who want to earn money without sweating it out too much.

These are the ultimate reasons why more and more people are succumbing to affiliate marketing, one of the many money-making systems that are conceived as a result of the popularity the internet has been generating since it came into being. Since the internet is one of the media with which to view the world and interact with people without getting up from one’s seat, it has become one of the most important channels with which to sell a merchant’s products and wares.

This is the reason why affiliate marketing thrives as a result of the internet’s popularity. The products and wares which the internet markets get the necessary exposure needed to sell well. This is where the fact that affiliate marketing is a lucrative business comes in. What is intended to be sold is sold because the internet is the best place to sell all these merchandise without the merchant giving too much of an effort to sell them per se.

How does affiliate marketing generate money? The way affiliate marketing works is so simple one would have difficulty believing how such a scheme is able to generate cash. In affiliate marketing, one is introduced to a system where an affiliate, the one who owns the website, agrees to display and advertise other websites that belong, in turn, to a merchant.

The merchant is the one who hopes to generate sales through the affiliate’s promotion of his website. Once these links are clicked on by other people and a purchase is made, the merchant pays the affiliate a commission. It is by simply promoting other websites through his own that an affiliate is able to earn money for himself in the easiest manner possible.

The principle involved in affiliate marketing can be compared to the type of species interaction in ecology called mutualism where interaction between two species allows both of them to derive benefit from the situation without harming each other. The result is a relationship that allows them to coexist in harmony in the community where they both move. Affiliate marketing allows affiliates to get paid in recognition of what they were able to contribute to the process. Merchants, in turn, are able to have their products advertised and ultimately sold through the efforts provided by the affiliate.

The reason why products advertised by affiliates through their websites generate a lot of sales is because the number of people using the internet is growing every minute. Each and every merchandise advertised through this medium gets all the attention that it could possibly need to be able to convince someone that it is worth the try. This is the ultimate reason why there is money in affiliate marketing. The more links a website promotes, the more chance sales will be generated. The more sales generated, the happier the merchant, and the happier the merchant, the better it is for the affiliate both professionally and financially.

Those who have indulged in affiliate marketing have reached goals and dreams which they were not able to realize under ordinary circumstances. There are even those who have skyrocketed to the top simply because they have dedicated all their time and effort to perfecting their knowledge about this business without even a bit of hesitation. One can be sure of the fact that there is money in affiliate marketing. He only has to cope with the fact that it is impossible to generate riches in this business overnight.

Well, not really. All he has to do is to learn everything that he possibly could about the industry which he is in. If he is able to master everything concerning the tricks of the trade, then everything will follow suit.

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