7 Reasons Why You Should Start with Affiliate Program

There are thousands of business opportunities online. Most of
them require some capital to start with. Not affiliate programs!

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider joining an affiliate
program as your home based business.

1. Joining an affiliate program requires no outlay of capital.
That's right, none! You can join an affiliate program for free
and start promoting the product immediately.

2. The internet marketing tools are already provided for you.
A 'top' affiliate program will supply you with lots of
affiliate marketing tools that are 'ready to go'. You just
copy and paste and put your affiliate code in. Then you start
selling.

3. You do not need a product. It takes a LOT of time to develop
your own product to sell online. With affiliate programs, the
product is already there. Someone else spent all the time
developing it so you do not have to.

4. Affiliate statistics are already provided as part of joining
an affiliate program. You do not have to go out and buy
expensive software to track your sales because the product
owner is doing that for you. You don't even have to pay for it,
it's free!

5. You do not have any 'time lag'. With most businesses it
takes a certain amount of time in the 'start up' phase. With
affiliate programs there is no such thing. Once you join you
can start selling.

6. You do not have to worry about sales administration and
technical support. The product owner takes care of the sales
process and all the after sales service. All you have to worry
about is receiving your affiliate check!

7. You do not have to worry about direct contact with the
customer. In an affiliate program you are a re-seller so if the
customer has a complaint they contact the product owner,
not you.

Affiliate programs are simple to join, easy to start promoting
and best of all they have no downside. If one affiliate program
does not work out, you can leave and join a different one.

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Affiliate Programs - What Are They

In recent years Affiliate Program marketing has taken the Internet by storm. Many surveys have demonstrated that Affiliate Marketing can be the most cost effective method to promote your website and quickly generate additional streams of income. For example, Forrester Research has rated Affiliate Marketing as the most effective of all online marketing methods.

Jupiter Communications claims that, "By 2002, 25 percent of the expected $37.5 billion in Internet retail sales, not including autos, will have originated on Affiliate sites."

Some of the giants offering affiliate programs are: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Microsoft, The Mail.com, and many smaller but well-managed companies.

Affiliate Programs offer a wide range of products and services, many of which are needed by All Internet marketers. The wide range of products and services offered by Affiliate programs are software, web hosting, auto-responders, marketing, art, books, e-books, music, movies, etc... Almost any type of product or service can be packaged and sold using an affiliate program. You'll find that many of the products and/or services needed to support your MLM are Affiliate Programs.

What Is An Affiliate Program?

Affiliate programs are also known as associate, reseller, or
referral programs. They are revenue sharing programs between
companies (the merchant) and individuals (the affiliate). An Affiliate can be likened to an independent contractor. Affiliates are basically self-employed people who are marketing the products and or services of another company. They are then paid by the company they represent for referring customers to the company's website.

This strikes a wonderful partnership between the company and the affiliate, offering a Win-Win situation for both parties. The benefit to the company in soliciting an affiliate to promote their product or service is, that they save in the cost of advertising. The benefit to the affiliate is that they do not have to develop their own product, stock inventory or worry about e-commerce, the order processing or payroll for that matter. It allows them to take an already developed product or service directly to market and focus on marketing.

Affiliate programs are fairly simple to work and will allow you to operate your on-line business much more efficiently while
increasing your income drastically.

The Best Affiliate programs, offer a Two-tier pay plan. First, you earn commissions for signing up associates on your first level, as well as earning additional commissions on their sales. However, if you find an Affiliate program which pays only on one level but allows you to earn residual income this is an excellent opportunity.

Developing Affiliate income is beneficial to you in that it builds a stable secondary income stream. For many people this could be the difference in income they need to maintain building their MLM into a profitable venture.

About 90% of people who try to make money from two-tier affiliate programs are missing it by simply signing up free, in hopes they will make money through others, who most likely also signed up free. This just does not work.

Why doesn't that work? Well, if everyone signs up to an Affiliate program free, no one is Actively Promoting it consequently no one makes any money. This is also true of MLM programs. If everyone has the option of a free sign-up, most will take it. If most people are signed up free and in turn promote that offer to others who also sign-up free, there is no revenue generated. Without revenue there are not profits. Remember, it's all Your business, You have to work it. You cannot depend upon the next person.

In Affiliate Marketing as well as any other type of business, You Must do the work yourself. Build your first level and
invest a little time and training to teach them, so they can then build their first level, which then becomes your second level. In Affiliate Marketing, your second level commission should be considered a Bonus.

There are many supporting products and/or services needed to build any MLM, which offer an Affiliate program. For example, the use of an Auto-responder is a must in any online promotional effort. Since the use of an Auto-responder is necessary in building your MLM, becoming an Affiliate of a good Auto-responder program would be a wise choice.

As you focus on building your MLM begin to look closely at the products and services you are using and determine if they offer an Affiliate program or not. I believe you'll be much surprised.

If you don't have an existing business, that's not a problem. A combination of a solid group of Affiliate programs working in synergy offers a great income producing potential, when effectively promoted. This could actually help you to begin earning income as you research and seek out the MLM opportunity that's best for you.

To re-cap, we have learnt that Affiliate Programs are offered in a variety of products and services. By choosing the right group of Affiliat programs in support of your MLM, you can quickly begin earning additional income.

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Advertising Your Work From Home Internet Business With PPC S

If you want to make money online with a work from home business then you are going to need lots of good targeted traffic to your web site and or affiliate links. One way to get good targeted traffic is to pay for it. I know you were hoping to do this business of yours without spending a dime right? Well if that’s what you are thinking you better keep working for someone else and forget about working from home with your own internet business.

I have been paying for traffic ever since I started my online business over 4 years ago and one of the best sources of targeted traffic is through pay per click search engines (PPC) or pay for placement search alternatives like Google adwords or Yahoo Sponsor Listings, formerly Overture.com .

Google adwords and Yahoo Sponsor Listings are the kings of pay per placement search engines. They are also the most expensive but you will get the most targeted traffic from them. If you cannot get a free listing in the top 10 on their main search results under the sponsored listings then you may want to consider pay per placement. Sponsored listings usually appear at the top above regular listings on Yahoo, and down the right side of the page at Google.

If Google and Yahoo are too rich for your liking then try some of the smaller PPC search engines like 7Search, Findwhat and or Kanoodle. I have put together a web page with links to these PPC search engines at the following web page.

CLICK HERE-----> http://bigmoolla.com/ppc.html

The key to good PPC advertising is to find cheap key words under .50 cents per click that will land you in the top 5 positions. There is no need to be number 1. A number 5 placement may cost you a few cents per click less and you will likely get the same traffic or in some cases even more than a number 1 spot. Try to pick as many key words as you can that are directly related to your product or service.

If you are advertising a work from home internet business try breaking down what I just typed. Work from home, home internet business, internet business, work from home business, home business. YOU GET THE PICTURE.

If you want to advertise a product like multivitamins try keywords like vitamins, supplements, vitamin supplements, health supplements, diet supplements, multivitamins. YOU GET THE PICTURE.

If you don’t have your own web site and only an affiliate link you may have to get a redirect URL from someone like http://tinyurl.com . Most of the PPC engines will not allow you to use an affiliate link. But you can get a tinyurl for free and have it re-direct to your affiliate link. If your affiliate program allows you to key code for testing purposes like SFI does then you can get several tinyurls and direct them to a different key code. That way you can actually test your PPC ad campaign to see which key words are working the best for you. This is important if you want to reduce your advertising dollars without sacrificing traffic to your web site. (We all want to do this right?)

PPC is only one advertising method that you should be taking advantage of, but it’s an important one so give it a try if you have not already. It may just change the way you do business and effect how much money you make with your work from home internet business.

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What is AdSense?

AdSense is a wonderful advertising concept that was conceived by Google some time back. Though new advertising concepts keep coming up all the time, this one is something that is altogether different.

AdSense (Google’s advertising program) presents an earning opportunity to the website owners by allowing Google to post advertisements on their websites. These advertisements are either text advertisements or image based advertisements. Of course, the website owners need to enroll to the AdSense program through Google’s website (https://www.google.com/AdSense). Google AdSense program requires you (the website owner) to include a piece of code (a programming script) on your website. You can add this piece of code anywhere in the html code of your website i.e. depending on where you want to position the advertisements (however, there are certain rules that you must follow while pasting this scripting code). This piece of code is what determines the structure of advertisements and their content (and this is what helps Google in floating the advertisements on your website). When people

visit your website they are able to see these advertisements. Your earnings are based on how many Google Ads are displayed on your website and also based on how many times visitors to your website actually click on one of those Ads. The Google AdSense system calculates your revenue on per-click (CPC) and per-thousand-Ads-displayed (CPM) basis. The latter is also known as impressions.

For people who want to advertise their products and services through the Google AdSense system, it’s just a matter of signing up through Google Adwords program and letting Google know how much they want to spend towards advertising through Google AdSense. These businesses can specify the limit and Google AdSense system will accordingly serve their Ads so as to ensure that the specified limit is not crossed. Google AdSense increases the visibility of their business/ services and also increases traffic to their website; hence fulfilling their purpose of advertising.

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Choosing the Right Affiliate Program

Affiliate Programs can be a great source of extra cash.
Depending on the program, you either set up an affiliate website,
or place an affiliate link on your already existing website, then
you just sit back and watch the cash roll in, right? Well,
in a perfect world, yes. But we all know this world isn't
perfect. If you sign up with the wrong program, you may find
yourself disappointed or even frustrated, and certainly no
richer.

As affiliate programs are becoming more and more popular it seems
that just about every business out there is starting to offer
one. With so many options, you want to make sure that you're
going with the best program, so how do you know which to join?

Here are a few simple checks you can use to make sure you're
going with a potentially successful program.

First of all, really think about the product being offered. Is
it something that a lot of people want or need? Is it something
you would buy? Ask a friend or three if the product in question
is something they might go for. If the consensus seems to be
that it is a stale or tapped out market, then don't do it.

Second. Do a web search. Go on to several search engines and do
a few searches using various keywords describing the product in
question. How many sites come up? Does the amount of sites
coming up seem proportionate to the demand for the product, or
does the market seem to be flooded? If there are hundreds of
sites coming up offering the same thing, you'll probably end up
lost in the shuffle. You might want to reconsider.

Third. Look closely at the program's webpage. Is it attractive,
clear and professional looking? Is the writing clear and direct?
Does it answer all your questions? Remember, if you think the
webpage is clunky looking or that it's hard to follow, so will a
lot of potential customers. Only go with a program that has a
flawless homepage.

Fourth. Look at the payment and sales update schedules. Will
you be paid once a month? Once a quarter? How will you be
notified of your sales? Really go over all the payment
information. After all, this is the reason you're joining,
right? Before you join you must make sure that everything about
the payment process is clear and to your liking. If anything
about the system seems unusual or unclear, walk away.

Now, there's no way of guaranteeing that a program will work, but
if you follow these simple steps, you'll have a much better
chance of success. There's a lot of money zinging around on the
net, and if you just do a little homework, you can do quite well
in the booming affiliate world.

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11 Tips for Joining Affiliate Programs

Here are some things that I look for before joining an affiliate
program. They are items I feel are imperative to being in a
successful affiliate program.

1. The affiliate program has a great payment structure. For me, a
high commission that is also a high percentage of the purchase price
is essential. Nothing under 25% commission.

2. Make sure the affiliate program you are joining has a good looking
site. You do not want to be sending visitors to a site that you do
not like yourself.

3. Make sure they offer a comprehensive affiliate statistics page
that lists the number of click throughs, number of sales and amount
earned. This should be broken down per month.

4. Also make sure that the affiliate statistics are updated
automatically and immediately. You do not want to find out today
about a sale you made a week ago.

5. Ensure they give a wide variety of text links, banners and
graphics to put on your web page. Although I prefer text links,
certain types of banners and graphics still work well.

6. Know how often you are going to be paid. If you are tossing up
between 2 programs and one pays monthly and the other pays quarterly,
the one that pays monthly is better. You do not want to wait months
before getting paid for your hard work!

7. See if the affiliate program gives examples of how the top
affiliates are doing. This can be a great pointer to whether it is
good or not. If some affiliates are earning many thousands per month,
it is a good affiliate program.

8. Along these lines, also see if they give examples of what
marketing methods these successful affiliates are using to get the
best results.

9. An affiliate program that offers a special monthly newsletter just
for the affiliates is great. Here you can get extra tips and
techniques that are working well.

10. See if they offer email notification when you make a sale or get
an affiliate signed up under you (if it is a 2-tier program). It is
good to see `You have made another sale' in your inbox.

11. Ensure top level support is given. If they cannot answer your
query straight away make sure they can respond within 48 hours.

There is tremendous demand for affiliate programs and choosing the
right one is no easy task. Make sure you do plenty of research before
joining one.

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Free Ways to Promote Your Affiliate Program

After learning of the success many online businesses have had increasing their sales with an affiliate program, you decided to follow suit. You hammered out a compensation plan both encouraging to affiliates and profitable to your business. You’ve got tracking software in place. You’ve turned the key in the ignition of your marketing machine… and nothing’s happening.

Your army of affiliates can be viewed metaphorically as a tree. Full grown, it will thrive in rain and sunshine. Strong changing winds can shake its branches, but the tree will continue to grow. In the early seed stage, however, special care is needed if you want your tree to break through the surface.

You spent a great deal of time, energy, and likely at least a little money creating your affiliate program. You need to attract strong affiliates that can rapidly build your customer base and return your investment. How can you bring these powerful marketing dynamos into your camp, ideally without drawing on your already diminished cash reserves?

1.) Submit to Online Directories
The method that will show the most immediate increase in new affiliates is listing your program in online affiliate directories. These reference sites are the first stop for hungry potential affiliates looking for the income opportunity that is going to allow them to quit their 9 to 5 jobs. Many such directories exist, and obviously some will bring you better results than others. Since submitting to almost all of these directories is free, though, get listed on as many as you can. Here are a few links to submission pages to get you started, but by no means should you stop with just these few:

http://www.becomeanaffiliate.com/cgi-bin/add.cgi
http://www.affiliatesoftware.info/joinaffiliatedirectory.php
http://www.affiliatescreen.com/suggest_program.php
http://www.affiliatematch.com/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.2-tier.com/cgi-bin/add_url.cgi
http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/links/add.cgi
http://www.earnfind.com/addprogram-howto.php

2.) Advertise in Your Own Newsletter
Hopefully you’ve been collecting email addresses from your website and sending a regular newsletter to your visitors. (If not, read this article: http://www.zeromillion.com/ebiz/creating-an-email-newsletter.html) Your newsletter subscribers are a precious handful of people that have expressed direct interest in keeping abreast of the latest developments with your product/service and company. Give them what they want! You can kick off your affiliate program with an article in your newsletter explaining the benefits and encouraging your subscribers to participate. Your future newsletters can contain short blurbs about the affiliate program and how it’s progressing to inform new subscribers and remind your original readers.

3.) Post to Affiliate Forums and Newsgroups
Approach this method with caution. No one will be impressed if you post a blatant advertisement or a plea to join your affiliate program. If you find a forum that contains such messages, don’t even bother making a post there. The forum probably isn’t moderated, and almost certainly isn’t read by many people. The place to include information about your website and program is in your profile (and in your signature line if other posters do so). A serious forum, read by the type of people you want to have as affiliates, will only contain posts with relevant and useful content instead of advertising fluff messages.

How can you add relevant and useful content? The first step is to read some of the existing posts and get a feel for the general personality of the forum. At best, reading old posts will spark questions that can be turned into relevant posts and generate interested responses. At worst, you’ll see what’s been talked about recently, so you don’t make the awkward mistake of asking a question that was answered a few days ago.

If no topics come to mind after reading old posts, a possible strategy is to ask for the advice of some experienced affiliates in how you could improve your program. You’ll find different ideas on what constitutes a solid compensation plan, tracking system, or incentive program. Beyond getting attention for your program, this is a great opportunity to improve your program by picking the brains of people who’ve been in the game longer than you.

This list is obviously not comprehensive, but it contains a few forums worth investigating:

http://www.ablake.net/forum/
http://iwiz2.richdad.com/jive/application2/forum.jsp?forum=33
http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=7

About the Author

Clay Mabbitt writes articles about evaluating online
money-making opportunities. Need in-depth reviews of
the latest affiliate programs? Find them at
http://www.affiliatescreen.com/

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Affiliate Programs-An Easy Start to Online Income

If you have been longing to start a business online you may
be coming across terms you've never heard before. You may
also have found the opportunities available are
overwhelming. Where do you begin?

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS - EASY START

Affiliate programs may be the easiest online business to
start running. Why?

With any online business you must have a product or service
to sell. First you must create this product or service and
then you must be able to fill orders.

Selling your own product or service also means creating a
website, learning how to write ad copy, setting up a
marketing plan, being able to accept payments online and
obviously doing the work. If you're selling a physical
product then you will need to make or buy the item, package
it and pay for shipping costs. If you provide a service
than you will likely have to start by doing free jobs to
build your credibility and then when you are charging for
your service you are still limited by how much work you can
actually handle.

THE MAGIC OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Affiliate programs are a great way to get started in an
online business. In fact there are even some 'Super
Affiliates' who are making fabulous incomes from affiliate
programs. So, what ARE affiliate programs?

Affiliate programs allow you to sell another company's
service or product and make a commission on every sale or
lead. You do not even need to build a website or handle the
transaction. Your job is to drive traffic (customers) to
your affiliate link.

An affiliate link is a special URL code that will identify
customers coming to the company's site from your
advertising. It will likely be the website address with a
code attached to the end.

Some affiliate programs also have tiers. That means if
someone who is interested in SELLING the product comes
through your link and signs up you will also get a small
percentage of THEIR earnings.

HOW DO I CHOOSE A PROGRAM?

You should research the popularity of some of your
interests. Try to determine if people are buying that
product or service online. There are many sources for
finding that information including free ones such as the
Overture keyword tool.

When you have found an area that is popular then type the
subject along with 'affiliate program' into your search
engine and see which programs have services or products for
that area. You can also use an affiliate program directory.

When you have found a program that looks interesting you
should read the terms of the program. Make sure that payouts
are not based on a high commission earning or you may never
see your money. Also try to choose programs with high
commission rates. Often you will find ebooks and
downloadable software has the highest rates as there is no
physical product to make or ship. If you are satisfied with
the terms then you need to sign up - usually a simple
process.

START MARKETING

The reason affiliate programs are so great for beginners is
that you only need to focus on marketing - not making - your
product.

Many affiliate programs have information on how to market
and give you tools such as banners, product feeds and more.
You can also look for other information on marketing
including writing articles, creating pay-per-click
campaigns, commenting in online forums etc. As you gain
experience marketing you will make adjustments to your
selling and start creating a wonderful income!

Brennan Howe

About the Author

Brennan Howe is the owner of http://www.opportunity4all.net
Intenet Opportunities for the Average Person. Sign up to
receive a 10 part internet marketing course and free downloads.

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