5 Things You Must Have To Succeed In Affiliate Marketing

     The idea of being mere passengers on a ship meant to sail to the farthest points does not appeal to people who like to put their destiny into their own hands. They have the desire of maneuvering the ships themselves, of being able to be the ones to take it anywhere they want to. Being aboard a ship on its way to a particularly great destination is something each and every one of them dreams of, and the knowledge that they have the capacity to steer it themselves is what makes them actually want to.

Perhaps this is the reason why more and more people are succumbing to one of the most popular businesses around – affiliate marketing. It is because in this business, there are no bosses to order the employees around. There are no deadlines to meet and no clutter of work do to. One only needs to be equipped with the tools needed to succeed in a business such as this, and he is bound to get what his heart ultimately desires.

Just what are the things needed to be able to succeed in affiliate marketing? What must one have within himself to be able to do well in this industry? There is a lot of competition involved in affiliate marketing, and to be able to rise above the norm, one must be equipped with just the right stuff necessary to propel him forward. There are five things one must ultimately possess if he wants to achieve the glory he is yearning for in this business, and these five things are a must for him to possess to be able to stand out among the rest.

The very first quality one must possess if he wants to try his hand in affiliate marketing is the willingness to learn and be trained. Treading through unfamiliar territory is scary stuff if one is not properly equipped, and he might get lost amidst a jungle of the unknown. Learning the tricks of the trade is also an important aspect of the game, and one’s willingness to know it all will give him far better advantages in the business than he could ever imagine.

The second quality one must possess is the willingness to invest time and effort even if direct results do not seem at all apparent. Although several months may pass without good news, it is important for one who has his foot in the industry to hold on and wait. It is this quality which would save him from giving up after investing a lot of himself in the business.

The third quality one must possess is self-determination. If one wants to conquer the affiliate marketing world, he must have the ability to push himself ahead. Never having to say die is a quality each and every affiliate marketer should possess, and the ability to motivate oneself into scaling greater heights is an ability which would actually take an affiliate marketer there.

The fourth quality one must possess is discipline. If one knows how to teach himself to work every day with all the energy he can muster, then he is close to achieving what he has set his heart to having in the first place.

The fifth and last quality one must possess is optimism. Negative attitudes and hearsays should not discourage an affiliate marketer from pursuing what he has to in order to make life better for himself and for everyone concerned. Neither should anyone influence his attitude toward the business, because once in it, it is a must for him to be the captain of his ship and the master of his soul.

The ingredients to success in a business such as affiliate marketing are diverse and manifold, but the most important thing one needs to be able to make it big lies in himself alone. It is he who has the capacity to do everything to be able to realize his prospects, and the desire which fuels his heart in doing so is the gasoline which should keep the engine going.

Affiliate marketing is all about putting one’s fate into his own hands. The right attitude is the key to being able to steer one’s ship into that part of the ocean where a certain kind of serenity can be found, one that permeates the atmosphere as the ship sails calmly on.

Date Added: Monday, 04-24-2023 03:24:52 PM

Affiliate Marketing - How To Get Started In 6 Easy Steps

     Affiliate marketing is probably the simplest business model you can choose to build a business. Of course the devil is in the details, as they say, but the overall model can really be broken down into six steps.

Before we get to the steps, I want you to ask yourself a question. What do you hope to accomplish with affiliate marketing? This is an easier question to answer than it might seem. There are really only two basic choices here.

The first is what I call the “quick buck” choice. In other words, you want to make a few dollars quickly, and you are not interested in building a business. If this is you, all you need to do is learn how to write exceptionally good ads, and then use them to promote your affiliate product. Many people will say I am wrong, but there is nothing wrong with doing this, as long as you are honestly not trying to build a long term business this way.

On the other hand, if you are looking to build a business with income potential for the long term, then you will have a longer road ahead of you. It will take you longer before you see any profit from your efforts, but it will be worth it when you are able to take a day off, or even a week off, and still have sales in your absence.

These steps should be followed in order. If you try to go out of sequence, you will not get the results you are after.

1. Pick a Market

Why pick a market and not pick a product? Because you will eventually want to add additional products into your pipeline. You should pick a market that interests you, and maybe something you already know something about. Dont forget that you are building for the long term.

2. Pick a Product

Once you have your market chosen, you should pick just one product to begin with. It will be very tempting to try to add all kinds of related products at first, but dont. Having just one product will help you focus on the important tasks. You will want to pick a product that converts well. What this means is that the product sells to a high percentage of visitors. This will help keep your cost per visitor down and increase your profits.

3. Build a follow-up series

Also called an autoresponder series, you should build one based on the topic and the contents of the product you are promoting. If it is a physical product you are promoting, you will have to create or locate content that is directly related to the product. As an example, if you are selling golf clubs, you could create a series about how to buy golf clubs that fit, or the benefits of custom clubs, or even something about the club preferences of famous professional golfers. Be as creative as you can, and do not stray off topic. It has been said that most sales are not made in the initial contact, they are made on the seventh. If you are not following up with your prospects, the bottom line is you are losing sales.

4. Build an email capture page

This is where you will capture information about your prospects so you can send your follow-up series. If you are building a business, having your own web site is a necessity, if only because you will control the content, and be able to capture email addresses for yourself. You might be able to get by for a while without this, but it just isnt worth it.

5. Drive traffic to your squeeze page

Until you are finished with step four, you shouldnt even think about traffic techniques. If you dont have anywhere to send the traffic, why worry about how to generate it in the first place. Depending on the traffic generation techniques you choose, it may take some time for you to start seeing sales in your program. You should spend this time developing one or two streams of traffic, and refining these techniques to help you drive more traffic with less effort.

6. Find additional related products

Once your business is making some money, it is time to start adding to your list of products. I dont mean you should go out and sign up for every affiliate program that is even remotely related. What I do mean is that you should carefully choose an additional product or two, and add them into your pipeline. Because you have been building a list of qualified prospects, you will be able to market these new products to them. This is the really long term money maker for your business. As long as you continue to recommend good products to your customer list, you can continue to make money off of them, even the ones who have already bought your last product recommendation.

So these six steps are all you need to go from nothing to having a profitable business selling other peoples products. It can be easy to loose focus if you are not seeing immediate results, so keep your sights on the end goal of having a profitable business. You may also find it hard finding your initial market and product. Take your time and choose the best product you can. If the product you choose to promote is not good, your prospects will not continue to listen to your recommendations.

Date Added: Sunday, 04-16-2023 04:44:34 PM

How To Continually Grow Your Online Affiliate Checks

     The promise of earning profits without really doing much of anything has enticed a lot of people towards affiliate marketing. But does affiliate marketing really work this way?

As an affiliate, all that is required of you is to simply place the merchants ad on your website. Then after that, you virtually do nothing but wait for anyone to click on the merchants ad and later collect your profits. Easy, right? Well, not quite often. Many affiliates earn almost nothing from their affiliate programs simply because they do nothing. Remember that affiliate marketing is but another form of marketing, and youll definitely need to market your merchants product for you to earn something.

Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply dont sit there and wait for money to come. Why? Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting. If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, youve got to do something. Think of ways on how to promote your merchants business and products better. Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant. Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!

So if youre new in affiliate marketing and you try to follow the easy go lucky pit that most unsuccessful affiliate marketers follow, then youre definitely on the wrong track. But were not advising you to stop right there. No. Rather, we want you to take some steps to make your affiliate program work better and gain more commissions for you. How? Here are a few guidelines that may help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:

* Become an expert on your affiliate product.

You can promote your merchants product better if you know a lot of things about it. To become an expert, the best thing you can do is purchase your merchants product yourself. This way, you can tell your customers about your first-hand experience using the product. You can even write a testimonial or a personal endorsement ad about it. But if any condition does not permit you to purchase the product, you can at least make a thorough research about it.

* Host your own website.

Or at least have a domain name that is short and easy to remember. You certainly wouldnt expect a visitor to remember a very long and incomprehensible URL. And if thats so, you also wouldnt expect him to visit your website any time soon. That means less traffic for your page and the less chance for your affiliate ads and links to be clicked.

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

* Write your own affiliate ads.

Many merchants usually wouldnt mind if you write and design your own ads for their products, for as long as you ask permission from them and present them your ad before posting it on your site. This gives you a greater advantage over a lot of other affiliates who must be advertising the same affiliate products.

* Participate in chat rooms, discussion boards, and forums related to your product.

If you use to ignore them before, then it is time for you to start focusing your attention on them. You can start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product. You dont have to promote your affiliate product at once, but find the chance to advertise and promote it as you go along. The same would be true for message boards, discussion boards and forums.

* Create a free ezine or newsletter.

Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject. In your ezines and newsletters, you dont always have to promote your merchants product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers. Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter. Also, dont forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.

These are but a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks. Sure there can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we wont discourage you from following them. Whats important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchants products even outside the boundary of your website. If you can do these, theres no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.

Date Added: Saturday, 04-15-2023 04:33:11 PM

Buzzy Buzz around Affiliate Marketing

     Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways for home business owners to promote their companies. But at the same time, affiliate marketing is a great way for anybody to start a home based business. So as you can see, affiliate marketing works from both sides of the business world. If you have never heard of this sort of marketing technique you are not alone. Generally speaking, it has just become popular among the masses over the past couple of years. And even though there are a lot of people that are using this technique, there are still many more that are out in the dark.

The most common reason that people do not get started in affiliate marketing is because they are not aware of what it entails. They are afraid to give it a shot because they simply think that it will be a waste of time. The good thing is that affiliate marketing is not hard to understand. The basic definition is that affiliate marketing is a method of promoting websites in a way that affiliates are rewarded for sending visitors or customers to other sites. As far as affiliate marketing is concerned, compensation varies depending on the type of program that you are involved with. In some cases you will get paid or have to pay for each visitor that you send or receive. In other cases, compensation is based purely on customers buying products or services.

If you are looking for a way to promote your home business, affiliate marketing can help. What you will do is find affiliates that are willing to promote your site to others for you. The good thing about this is that you do not have to pay them unless they meet the specifications that are set forth; this usually includes pay per click, or pay per sale. This means that you will get a lot of promotion without having to do any work on your own. Most people prefer pay per sale programs because they will never have to pay out any money unless they get a sale.

On the other side of things, there are many people that make a living by affiliate marketing. The way this is done is by getting involved with as many programs as possible. You can then set up different websites that will drive traffic to your affiliate’s sites. When this happens, you will get paid!

Affiliate marketing for a home internet business is a great way to get promotion. Do not be one of those people that overlook this option because it sounds too complicated. Affiliate marketing is worth a shot. Who knows, it may be all you need to take your earnings to the next level!

Date Added: Thursday, 04-13-2023 09:33:43 AM

Can The Internet Businesses Survive Without Affiliate Marketing?

     What is an affiliate program? I’ve been bombarded with this question from Internet business newbies since I got myself involved in this very interesting but challenging online business.

Many years ago, ever since we started manufacturing products for sale in the offline physical world, we had been having sales agents representing different manufacturers to help the latter to expand their markets. The agents conclude sales without carrying inventory, handling payments, signing contracts, sorting, packing and shipping of the products. Their main focus had been to make the sale by getting the orders from the prospects and existing customers, which were then processed by the manufacturers or merchants.

In the Internet online world we have affiliates instead of agents. Affiliates are highly targeted pay-for-performance sales agents.

There are also some forms of Internet advertising that rewards the affiliates for driving traffic to the advertiser i.e. the manufacturers or the affiliate program owners. The advertiser pays the affiliates to place a link on their website, and the affiliate sends traffic to the advertiser in return. In other words, its about the affiliates receiving commissions for helping in making the sales.

The most common reward is pay-for-sale, where the merchant pays the affiliates who referred the paying customers.

Affiliates are being considered as a complementary but very important sales channel although the merchants themselves continue to get their own direct traffic in making their own sales.

The affiliates do not have to suffer from the occasional sleepless nights worrying about the processing of orders, packing and shipping etc because this are being taken care of by the merchants who usually have an effective tracking system to determine which affiliates drive which orders to them starting with the so-called affiliate links. These are the links that the affiliates put on their websites, newsletters, ezines or emails.

How does an affiliate link look like? You may ask. The most common affiliate link is embedded in the linking URL. For example, if you see a link like "http://www.abcmerchant.com/?xxxx=3456", you can be quite sure that the affiliate with the ID (identification) 3456 will receive money from ABC Merchant when someone places his order after clicking that link.

Other affiliate links are more complex and encrypted with some sites having their links masked so that the prospects won’t be able to detect that the URL they’re clicking is an affiliate link.

An excellent example of an affiliate program is that of Amazon.com who happens to have one of the oldest affiliate programs in the Internet. Other possible affiliate programs are as follows:

1) "Pay per click" - the merchant pays the affiliates for the driving the traffic and the resulted orders to them.

2) "Pay per lead" - the merchant pays the affiliates for directing the prospects to register their interest with a possibility of making the sales later.

3) "Pay per subscription" – if the merchant has a recurring revenue from the customer’s repeated orders, the affiliates will benefit accordingly.

Why bother about Affiliate Marketing at all then?

The following are some of the reasons why Internet marketers the world over swear by the affiliate marketing as a form of their Internet advertisement and strategy:

1. Low budget
Many are hesitant to venture into any home based businesses because of the lack of fund or the unwillingness to part with money due to uncertainties. In affiliate marketing, you dont have to invest a lot financially to start pulling in profits.

2. No inventories
There is no need to keep and manage an inventory as this would be taken care of by the merchant.

3. Passive income through leverage
One could copy what the truly wealthy people are doing (or rather not doing). They earn their income through various leverage strategies which allow them to make money while they’re sleeping, meddling with hobbies, or having vacation in far away places such as the beautiful beaches in Hawaii or Malaysia.

Unlike a paid job, affiliates could just drive traffic to the merchants’ websites without having to sweat after having provided them your ad copy and links.

4. Minimal risk The main reason for most successful Internet marketers extensive use of affiliate marketing is the low-risk nature of the program. This is especially attractive to those with low budget for advertising

5. Globalisation
With affiliate marketing, you are dealing with an unending global market place. All you have to do is study, research and select a niche product or service and prepare all the necessary marketing tools for your affiliates to direct traffic from just about anywhere around the world to your website.

6. Getting paid while you sleep
This system allows you to “recruit” thousands of “salesmen” who are willing to work for you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The best part is the fact that they’re willing to do so for nothing! This is a system that allows you to switch your business to “Autopilot” mode so that you could continue to earn money whether you’re awake, asleep or holidaying in Bangkok or Penang. It is a system that allows you to work from home or some places 10,000 km or more away from home.

Having said this, it must be stated that not all affiliate programs are successful. Many affiliate program owners fail because of their lack of the necessary investment, for instance, the merchant needs to invest in an effective tracking system, which is usually an outsourced affiliate network or an in-house affiliate software system. Another factor to consider is having sufficient human resources to recruit, manage, and motivate the affiliates with the right technical support and remuneration. Without a good support system in place, the affiliates will not stay long enough to produce the desired results.

Most online businesses use affiliate marketing strategy to sell their products which could include physical products, software or e-books. Service industry can also benefit from an affiliate program via a pay-per-lead program.

Before a merchant could establish an affiliate strategy, he should consider many factors among them are the answers to the following questions:

1) What are the benefits to the affiliates? What commission rate should be offered to affiliates to attract them and motivate them?

2) What are the competitors doing? Are there any innovative strategies that could produce product differentiation?

3) What pay-for-performance model should be adopted?

4) How to manage the affiliates and motivate them?

5) How are the affiliates paid using the latest technology without affecting their moral due, for instance, to delayed payment of their commission?

6) What affiliate software tracking systems are available and which is the best for the purpose?

A well designed affiliate program could bring very explosive positive results to the affiliate program owners’ business and the stream of income for the affiliates themselves.

An affiliate strategy done right can increase online sales tremendously. There are well over 30 affiliate software packages to choose from. There are also more than 200 features in affiliate software and network offerings.

With all these possibilities, no wonder many success stories of the Internet businesses today are the results of suitable application of affiliate programs. Indeed, most online businesses could not survive today without effective affiliate programs.

Date Added: Tuesday, 04-11-2023 09:25:35 AM

5 Steps to Success in the Private Label Water Business - Affiliate Program Success for Profits and Wealth

     The private label bottled drinking water is a growth industry with double digit growth and profit opportunities for the entrepreneur. But like most opportunities care must be taken to seek out and exploit the most profitable niche in the market.

A recent market study examined the growth and potential of the market for bottled water and concluded:

"The bottled water industry grew about 10% in 2005, while carbonated soft drinks revenue is essentially flat," says Gary Hemphill, marketing director of BMC. "There are a couple of things driving the market—sure, people like to have a tap water substitution, but its really driven by peoples demands for a healthier alternative to the wide array of beverages on the market."

Private label water is the fastest growing segment of the overall bottled water market and its future growth is considered by many to be “explosive”. .

Private label water combines the purity of refreshing drinking water with consumable advertising that is designed to an individual customer’s specification. The water is popular and the branding message, if designed properly, serves to promote business.

Almost every company in the United States can benefit from private label water with a custom branding message. The opportunities are huge, the market is largely untapped and the private label product is viewed by customers as a cost effective, power way to promote a brand message.

The bottled water industry consists of a number of interrelated parts including research and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales. Much of the business model however, requires significant amounts of capital and has high barriers to entry for most entrepreneurs.

Nevertheless, with the advent of the internet and e-commerce, an aggressive sales focused entrepreneur can develop a substantial profitable private label business through affiliate programs .

What Are Affiliate Programs?

Affiliate programs are revenue sharing programs between an entrepreneur and a company that manufactures and sells a product or service. Affiliates are rewarded with referral payments for sending customers to the manufacturer’s Web site. The process works as follows:

• The affiliate place links on its site to a particular manufacturer’s Web site.

• When a visitor clicks on the link and makes a purchase the affiliate earns a referral fee that is a percentage of the total sale.

• The best manufacturer sites have automatic payment mechanisms and real time accounting.

But an efficient affiliate site requires planning and work. Many affiliates believe they will be able to just put up a Web site, establish some affiliate links and sit back and wait for streams of cash to start coming in. Care must be taken however to be truly successful. Consider the following:

• What type of Web site should you have to make money through affiliate programs?

• What are the best programs for your site?

• How will you effectively market your site and the underlying product?

• How can you find niche markets?

Similar to other facets of developing a home business, careful planning is needed to map out a profitable strategy for building a home based business using affiliate programs - a strategy that will allow you to build income through content in a sustainable, month after month way.

The issue is – what are the steps required to develop an income producing web site using affiliate programs that generate consistent, substantial revenue?

Tip Number 1: Align With a Manufacturer That Produces A Quality Product With Unique Features and Manages a Robust Affiliate Program.

As any good sales person will tell you, a high quality product is mandatory for sales success. Look for a company that manufactures (resellers add little value) a quality product that is recognized as different in the marketplace. There are many types of water in the market but purified water is clearly recognized as the highest quality.

After identifying a manufacturer with a quality product offering, chose one with a robust, profitable affiliate program. This should include at a minimum:

• commitment to affiliate success

• commission plans that are substantial

• a website that allows for easy ordering and accrual and payment of commissions

• support for marketing, selling and booking of orders

Tip Number 2: Identify a Niche Market and Create a Plan to Penetrate That Niche Deeply

Avoid the tendency to mass market and “shoot at the flock”. Mass marketing is beyod the scope of most companies and entrepreneurs. There are many profitable niche markets that have significant growth potential. Identify a niche market, understand the buying patterns of that niche and penetrate the market. It takes time and work but done right this effort is very profitable.

Some examples of niche markets: hotels (small and large), health spas, golf courses, gyms, car dealerships, organizations and health clubs to name a few. Almost any organization is interested in promoting their brand and brand message in a cost effective way.

Tip Number 3: Create an Eye Catching Website With a link to The Manufacturer

One of the advantages of an affiliate program is that profitable business can be developed with only a nominal investment. Given today’s technical level of internet development expertise, creation of an attractive web site is easy and cost effective. The critical part of the website however is the creation of a focused message presented in an attractive manner.

Following the creation of the site, establish a banner link with the chosen manufacturing partner that will direct affiliate inquires to the site for order creation and booking of the affiliate commission.

The manufacturer’s site must be able to design and produce labels, provide powerful e-commerce facilities for order booking and shipment and include a facility for the booking and payment of commissions to the affiliate.

Tip Number 4: Create and Implement a Sales Strategy

A clear sales strategy is the most effective path to success and profits in the private label business. Identify in writing the target niche, strategy to penetrate that niche, buying patterns, target prospects and communication material (sales collateral) and tactics to sell targeted prospects. Then implement the strategy in an organized manner and make adjustments to the strategy as conditions change. Remember the old sales adage “Always Be Closing”.

Tip Number 5: Follow Up on All Orders and Provide Feedback to Customers

As part of any effective sales effort, follow up and feedback with and to customers is critical to maintaining good customer service and obtaining repeat orders. One of the most powerful aspects of private label water sales is that happy customers tend to be repeat customers. Creation of a long customer list with satisfied customers will generate a steady stream of repeat orders and significant cash flow.

Date Added: Friday, 04-07-2023 09:54:10 AM

Affiliate Marketing - Make your Living Online

     Affiliate marketings been a staple of the internet marketing scene for many years now. Its highly touted as a money maker for newbies and experienced marketers alike. But does it really pay to be an affiliate marketer? Lets take a look to learn more...

Basically affiliate marketings an agreement between a web site owner and a merchant. The web site owners actually an advertiser for the merchant or product creator. The agreement is a contract between the two parties that stipulates that the site owner can use various methods including the space on his site to promote the merchants goods. The merchant meanwhile agrees to pay a percentage of each sale generated through the affiliates personalized link.

This benefits both sides because the product creator spends nothing to advertise their goods and the affiliate pays nothing to research and develop new products.

This creates a win-win situation.

The product creator wins by saving money on advertising, which is one of the most costly aspects of doing business, by passing this cost on to affiliates. Basically its a pay-per-performance deal because the merchant doesnt accrue any costs until the sales made and the merchant pays the specified commission.

The affiliate marketer wins by being able to sell an already developed product, thus saving the time and money on the front end by not having to deal with R&D and product creation. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do as an affiliate is find as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and yourself.

Another benefit to the affiliate is that most programs are free to join and have pre-made sales material so your marketing experience doesnt have to be that of an expert.

Probably the biggest benefit to being an affiliate marketer on the internets the internet itself.

Because of the global reach of the internet its very easy to reach tens of thousands of prospects for almost any type of product line. Its also very easy to intensify your efforts as an affiliate marketer to exploit new and productive strategies such as viral marketing, ebooks, special reports and autoresponders.

Lastly, as an affiliate marketer you get to pick and choose between many different products to promote. Youre not married to a specific product or even a specific product type. Your risks are minimal because there are no long term binding contracts so if one product doesnt bring in a profit you can quickly and easily replace it with another.

All in all affiliate marketings still an excellent way to earn income from the internet. Perform your due diligence, find a hungry market, find a good product and go for it!

Date Added: Monday, 04-03-2023 09:39:16 AM

Author:

Aashish Bhat