32 useful hints about affiliate/referral associate programs

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this is a big one, take some time and read, i thing its worth the time spend

How associate/affiliate programs work

By Allan Gardyne, CEO
AssociatePrograms.com

Brief description:
You send people to a web site. They buy something, or sign up for something, and you are paid a commission.

Associate programs are revenue sharing arrangements set up by companies selling products and services. As a web site owner, you are rewarded for sending customers to the company.

For example, by February 1998 Amazon.com, one of the pioneers, had attracted more than 30,000 webmasters giving Amazon.com wonderful publicity in exchange for a small commission on sales. (By 2004, it was over the 900,000 affiliate mark.)

These pay-per-sale or pay-per-lead programs are usually remarkably easy to join.

After carefully reading the terms and conditions, which vary from program to program, you place a link from your site or newsletter to the vendor. When someone clicks on the link and buys a product or service from the business, you receive a commission.


Harness your passion

I laugh when I see "experts" proclaiming that THEIR way is the way to make money on the Internet. There are dozens, hundreds – maybe even thousands – of different ways for imaginative people to launch an Internet business.

One way which works well for many people is to concentrate on a small niche. Choose a topic in which you are passionately interested, and create a web site around that theme. Then select associate programs which closely fit the theme of your site and blend them into the site, using text links.

If possible, write about the products from first-hand knowledge, so that you become a respected, credible source of reliable information.

The more targeted your traffic, the more likely it is that people will buy.

The huge advantage of basing a business on a topic in which you are passionately interested is that you will enjoy running your business – it will be much more like a fascinating hobby than a job.


Select your target

Here's what the professionals do. Before they do anything else, they decide WHO they are going to sell products to. (I know that's not strictly grammatical, but "to whom" sounds awfully stuffy.)

DON'T select the product first. Select your target audience first.

Be precise. Zero in on a group of people with a particular interest or problem. Now ask yourself: Where do they gather? What magazines or ezines do they read? What web sites do they visit? What email discussion groups do they subscribe to?

How can you approach them?

Is it easy to get in front of their eyeballs? You're looking for an easily identifiable target. There's no sense in building a web site and then trying to figure out how to attract your audience. Do it the other way round. Decide who your audience is and then build your web site.


Become interested in a hot topic

Here's another choice. Instead of setting up a site based on your favorite hobby, delve deeply and become a specialist in a subject which is hot right now.

You'll find that as you immerse yourself in the topic, delving deeper and deeper, you'll become intensely interested in it. The more you learn, the less your business will seem like work.

Here are some hot topics you can choose from:

* Ebook publishing
* Pricing strategies
* How to automate a business
* Search engines
* Autoresponders
* How to create your own products fast

You can choose almost ANY topic to be the theme for your web site. However, before you begin, look in the AssociatePrograms.com directory and make sure there are suitable associate programs which fit your theme.

Aim to be the most knowledgeable person on the Net in your small niche. If you build a really useful site, people will recommend your site and link to it, giving you wonderful free publicity. For us, this began to happen only a month or so after we launched PayPerClickSearchEngines.com


Sell products which are in high demand

It sounds so simple, doesn't it? In fact, it's so simple it's very easy to overlook. Sell things that people want.

Information products are good to sell because that's mainly what people use the Internet for – to seek information.

Digital products have high profit margins and often have high commissions.

Bargains are always in demand. Coupon sites which offer the latest bargains are labor-intensive but have proved profitable. This is a highly competitive field now.

Jumping on new products and the latest fads can also reap rewards for the agile.

An Ernst & Young study found that the most popular products bought online are:

Computer related products (40%)
Books (20%)
Travel (16%)
Clothing (10%)
Recorded Music and Subscriptions (6%)
Gifts (4%)
Investment (4%)


Get paid – without sales

In some cases, your visitors don't even have to buy anything. If they fill out a survey, ask for a free report, ask for a free sample or perhaps download software to try, you get paid. WebSponsors has dozens of such offers you can promote. You're sure to find some that suit your site's theme. These are pay-per-lead programs.

Good networks providing pay-per-lead offers include:

* DirectLeads
* ShareaSale
* WebSponsors

You need lots of traffic

If you already have a busy site and the product you choose to promote is attractive to your visitors, you should start earning money straight away. If you have a new, low-traffic site, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

Several times I've seen suggestions that to make reasonable money from a web site you need at least 500 unique visitors a day. That seems about right if you have a very tightly targeted audience – and also have a newsletter which gives you more income and helps remind people about your site. Some web site owners laugh at the 500-a-day figure and say you need at least five times that figure. Numbers alone aren't enough – you need to build trust and credibility.

Merely attracting traffic isn't enough. You have to learn how to encourage people to click on the links and buy something. So make sure you promote really good products.

For tons of good traffic-generating tips see Ken Evoy's Make Your Site SELL!


Aim for residual income

Some merchants who charge their customers monthly or yearly fees pay affiliates residual commissions.

I earn residual income from AWeber Follow Up Autoresponder System because it's an excellent service which charges a monthly fee.

You can find dozens of residual income and lifetime commission programs reviewed at LifetimeCommissions.com. Remember that name.


When will you be paid?

Some companies pay you only after you have accumulated $50 or $100 in commission. If you have a very busy site, that's OK. For a small site without much traffic, it could take a long, long time . . .

There's even the odd company which won't pay you at all unless you generate a certain level of business. Read the affiliate agreement before you sign up.


Rule number 1: Go for quality

The most important consideration when assessing associate programs is to examine the product or service offered. The better the product or service, the more enthusiastic you will be about recommending it – and you'll have a better chance that people will want to buy.

For example, Ken Evoy's Make Your Site SELL! and Make Your Knowledge SELL! Ken is a strong believer in OVER-delivering – giving the customer far better value for money than expected.

Beware of anyone who raves on about the money you can make and forgets to tell you about the product or service. The sales blurb can be tempting, but make sure you don't promote something which will harm your reputation.


Earn good commissions

Remember, those links and banners are helping persuade people to leave your site – away from the products or services you're selling. So look for programs which reward you generously. Corey Rudl's Internet marketing course, for example, pays me a very generous $65 commission. Of dozens of programs I've tried, it was my top-earning one for many months. My commissions fluctuate but are usually about $1,000 a month.

Of course, high commissions alone are useless if people don't buy when they reach the site. As well as using products and services which match the theme of your site, it makes sense to experiment and see what interests your visitors.


Seek sites that SELL!

It's no use having a good product and a high commission unless you also have good salesmanship. That's why I'm really keen on Marlon Sanders' The Amazing Formula. Marlon, who has a double major in journalism and psychology, knows which buttons to push. He offers real-time stats, a 60% commission, and a site which is very definitely designed to sell.

It really DOES sell like crazy – and that's the test.

Perhaps even better designed for selling is Ken Evoy's Make Your Site SELL! which pays lifetime commissions. When I announced that site in my newsletter, an astounding 9.5% of the people I sent there bought Ken's book. (In comparison, about 1% of the people I send to Corey Rudl's site buy his marketing manual. Of course, with Corey's high commissions, 1% still gives you $65 for every 100 people you send – an excellent result.)

I highly recommend Make Your Site SELL!


Seek good tracking

When you experiment with your promotional efforts you want to know straight away how effective your work has been, so you need immediate, or real-time, tracking.

You want to be able to see quickly which of your promotions work and which ones don't. Then you can increase your sales and commissions by concentrating on the things that work.


Look for LIFETIME commissions

Imagine you set up a bookshop as an associate of Amazon. Someone visits your site and – hey! you're in luck – buys a book. You earn 5% or 15% from Amazon. Next time, however, that customer will probably just go straight to Amazon, and might buy $100 worth of books. You won't receive a cent on that purchase.

(Amazon has a good program but there's a weasel clause in its contract. If you send people to buy a particular book at Amazon and they click around and then buy something else, you will earn only 5% instead of 15%. Also, if they click around, delay a decision, and return next week and buy, you won't earn anything from that purchase. That's unfair.

A few programs DO pay you for the second and third and fourth etc purchase by the customer. The best one I know of is Ken Evoy's SiteSell program (you'll find I mention it a lot), whose products include:

Make Your Site SELL!
the BIBLE of site-selling

Make Your Knowledge SELL!
The BIBLE of selling what you know on the Net

I strongly recommend Ken's 5 Pillar Program. Click here and join now.

You can also earn lifetime commissions from:

* Rob Marlbrough, my friendly, helpful web host. My LifetimeCommissions.com site is hosted by Rob. No matter how many questions I toss at Rob, he always has a helpful, useful reply. His offers very good quality web hosting, too.

* Yanik Silver, co-author of 33 Days to Online Profits and several other fast-selling books.


Don't lose the plot

Some web site owners sign up for dozens of programs and clutter their site with them so much that it's difficult to see the theme of the site. Affiliate programs consultant Declan Dunn calls this the flea market approach. Other webmasters try banner farms – - sites which are a sea of banners. Don't waste your time. If you want your visitors to keep coming back, your site needs to have an obvious, memorable reason for its existence.

Some web site owners have reported success with programs totally unrelated to their site's theme. My experience has been the exact opposite, so I prefer companies which have products or services which complement my site, although I occasionally experiment with others.


Beware of sharks

Some web site owners don't put their name and address on their sites. Ask yourself: What are they ashamed of? What do they have to hide? There are sharks out there in murky waters. Be wary.


Ask for references

While researching the company before you sign up, it's a good idea to ask for the names of associates and contact them to see if they're happy with the company. A vendor will usually offer a carefully worded, detailed agreement. If the vendor doesn't, be careful.

However, don't rule out a company completely just because it doesn't have a slick public relations exercise. You could be overlooking a really talented tech wizard.


How professional are they?

If the vendor is slow replying to your email, that's also a warning sign. I've found that the most successful companies on the Net are often amazingly fast at replying to email.


Don't sell AWeber to footy players

My site is aimed at e-marketers and web site owners who want to make money, so the AWeber Follow Up Autoresponder System is ideal for my site because e-marketers know the value of follow-ups to achieve sales. They will recognize immediately that a system that saves you time by doing email follow-ups automatically has to be highly useful.

However, you are unlikely to sell it on your site if most of your visitors are football players who don't own web sites. A footy magazine ought to sell better.


Get your own domain name

You can promote revenue sharing programs from a free site, but you create a much more professional image if you get your own domain name. You'll also receive more repeat traffic if you have a memorable name.

Show people you're serious. Grab your domain name now before someone else does. It's getting harder and harder to find a good .com name.

The cheapest place I know of to get a domain name is GoDaddy. (It doesn't have an associate program.)


Personal endorsements increase sales

An excellent way to increase your click-through rate and sales is to write a personal endorsement praising the product or service – so make sure you sign up with companies which have excellent products.

If you haven't tried the product, perhaps you can get an endorsement from a friend who has.

However, successful affiliates buy the product so that they can write a genuine, honest review of it. That works beautifully.


Slightly critical reviews work, too

Even if your review is partly critical, such as my review of Corey Rudl's marketing course in Associate Programs Newsletter #5 it can still increase sales dramatically.


Start collecting domain names

One good way to promote an affiliate program is to buy a special domain name just for it, set up a small site, and list the site in the main search engines. Choose a memorable name. You can reserve one now for future use.

It's an excellent investment.

Buying special, interesting domains for an affiliate program also proves useful if you use offline promotions. You can choose a domain name that looks much more professional than most affiliate links.

An excellent tool to use when searching for a domain name is NameBoy.


Promote in your signature

One way to promote an affiliate program is by giving it a brief, eye-catching, tempting mention in a signature at the end of an email. I joined The Amazing Formula program when I was tempted by an intriguing signature similar to this:

Have you seen the Amazing Formula?
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/amazing

You can create several different email signatures, each one promoting a different commission-earning product, and use which ever one is most appropriate for the email you're sending.

I use Eudora 5.1 email software, which makes it easy to set up a range of different signatures suitable for different occasions.


Try a friendly P.S.

Some marketers use a signature written in the style of a friendly P.S.

For example:

All the best.
Allan.

P.S. Have you seen Marlon's new product?
"How To Create Your Own Hot Products in a Flash"
It's given me a lot of awesome ideas. Marlon has created another winner!
You can check it out here...
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/create

WARNING: This technique may backfire on you if you use it unwisely. For example, I've been emailed by amateurs who dream up some thinly disguised excuse to approach me, and then zap me with a P.S. signature which promotes an affiliate program. Do I buy from them? No.

Like all marketing, it needs to be aimed at the right target and needs to be offering something which the recipient wants. Think very carefully about who is seeing your message and what effect it will have.


The worst way to do it

The dumbest way to promote a program is to use spam – bulk unsolicited email. You can wreck your reputation, lose your Internet connection, forfeit any commissions you've earned, and the company may even bill you for the time it has wasted dealing with complaints about you. Don't say you weren't warned!

Selfish, inconsiderate oafs use spam.


The laziest way isn't the best

Web site owners doing very well with associate programs usually don't just paste in a banner and wait hopefully for the money to roll in. They write endorsements, provide useful content, offer helpful advice . . . in all sorts of creative ways they weave the links and graphics into the content on their sites.


Watch for exclusivity clauses

Some companies have an exclusivity clause (they want to be the only retailer of that type on your site), some allow only graphical links, and some want to approve every word you write before you promote them – more good reasons for reading the contract.


Appropriate linking increases sales

Some companies provide you with just a link to their main page. Others let you link to various pages, categories or individual products on their site. Linking to categories may be OK. Linking directly to an individual product is usually much more effective.


Look for companies which HELP affiliates

Some affiliate merchants seem to forget about you after you've signed up. Others work hard to help you succeed.

I strongly recommend that you join affiliate programs run by highly successful Internet marketers, even if you don't plan to promote their products. You'll learn a heap of useful tips from their newsletters and by studying what they do.

Neil Shearing, for example, has hired an affiliate manager who produces a particularly useful newsletter with tips on how to increase your commissions. It's an absolute must-have.

Ken Evoy helps his affiliates by providing extensive online information, an email helpdesk and three extremely helpful newsletters, offering excellent advice. The company works very hard to help its associates succeed.

You'll also receive a LOT of help from Corey Rudl, a hugely successful, very experienced marketer.


You'll need a newsletter

If you don't have your own newsletter, you're severely handicapping yourself. Now is the time to get started.

If you build up your circulation by providing mainly useful information, a newsletter is a superb promotional tool, and a superb money-generating tool. I like the ones that have very few ads, so that's the way I run my Associate Programs Newsletter.

Experienced, successful marketers such as Corey Rudl always place a lot of importance on building their opt-in lists because they know that it gives them the opportunity to make repeat sales.

If you're keen, you can increase your sales and commissions even more by creating not just one newsletter but MANY opt-in lists for different audiences.

If you want a no-nonsense, no-hype guide to newsletter publishing, I highly recommend Ezine Adrenaline: How to Create, Publish and Market A Profitable E-zine on the Internet by Kate Schultz. It tells you all the stuff you need to know. I recommend it highly.


You DON'T need a web site?

It makes sense to aim for repeat customers and repeat sales – and if you want them, you need an interesting web site. It's much easier to sell to existing customers than always trying to find new ones.

However, if you want to just dip your toe in the water and experiment a little, you can do it without having a web site.

For good advice on this, see Chris Carpenter's Google Cash


How to use message boards/forums

Some newcomers to affiliate programs get sucked into believing that all they have to do to make money with affiliate programs is rush around the Web pasting blatant ads on to message boards.

Don't fall into that trap. If you do, you'll quickly annoy a lot people, ruin your reputation, and get kicked out of programs by affiliate merchants who don't want to ruin THEIR reputation.

You CAN make sales by visiting message boards if you do it intelligently. Harvey Segal does, for example, by building web sites which compare products. He helpfully answers questions on message boards and tells people they can find more details at his site.

WARNING: Many message boards do not allow you to post affiliate links. Some allow affiliate links only in your signature. So make sure you read the forum's rules to find out what you're allowed to do.

Marketing message boards or forums are good places to ask questions and learn from more experienced affiliates. Here's our Affiliate Forum


Aim for repeat visitors

Often people will buy on their THIRD visit to a site, not the first. So you'll miss out badly if your site is not interesting and useful enough to encourage people to return.

Planning a banner farm? Don't even waste time thinking about it.


Affiliate networks are a good place to start

Affiliate networks provide guidelines for the merchants in them, so with any luck you're associated with quality programs if you're with the networks.

They're free for affiliates to join.

A popular network is Commission Junction because it consolidates checks from all its different merchants into one check, allowing you to experiment easily with many different programs. Other networks include the LinkShare Corporation and Be Free.

A smaller network run by a feisty bunch of people who have a strong commitment to help affiliates is Shareasale. I like their anti-parasite stand.

Here's a list of affiliate networks with comments.


Amazon makes it easy

The Amazon.com associate program has a few faults, but it's still a good one to join, especially if you're new to associate programs.

Amazon, one of the pioneers in the affiliate marketing industry, knows how to make things nice and easy for new affiliates. You write a book review, put it on your site and link to the book at Amazon.com.

If you want to, you can create a large or small online bookstore, but Amazon says that's not necessary.

You benefit because Amazon.com is a high-profile site with a good reputation. I like Amazon.com because of its low prices and mammoth selection of books.

If you're thinking of adding a bookshop to your site, see it as a useful service for your visitors. I don't regard it as an excellent way to make money.


Four weeks of Amazon results

In my first four weeks as an Amazon associate on a neglected little hobby site Best Gluten-Free Recipes that I created in 1996, I earned $10.76 from 73 visitors sent to Amazon.com.

Not much? Sure, but that was on a site that was receiving a few thousand visitors a YEAR. Also, it took only about half an hour to set up the little bookstore and even if I merely maintained a weekly average commission of $2.69, that would be $139.88 in a year for 30 minutes work.

I've hardly touched that site for years, but it still generates useful affiliate commissions.


Write reviews in your newsletter

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned in marketing is that people like buying from people they know, like and trust.

You can provide affiliate product reviews in your newsletter. Once your readers have learned to TRUST you, they'll buy from you.


Lack of results

More than a few affiliates have complained about lack of results from various affiliate merchants. It's difficult to know whether this is because these affiliates have unrealistic expectations or if there's a more serious reason.

The most common reason for lack of sales seems to be sites which lack credibility.

It takes a lot of traffic for an associate program to work well. Perhaps 0.5% of your visitors will click on a banner – and when they get to the site, perhaps 1% or 2% of them will actually buy something.

For that reason, unless you have a truly innovative idea, don't look at associate programs as your major revenue earner. See them as a handy gap filler – useful if you can't attract all the advertisers you want.

You can also view them as a way of adding income streams to an existing business.

If you want to boost your sales beyond the dismal example I've given, think of ways to help you visitor make a buying decision. To do that, you need to be a trusted source of information.

If you learn how to help your visitors make a buying decision, perhaps you can earn a good full-time living from affiliate programs. It's possible. I've been doing it since 1998.

(Writing personal endorsements instead of using banners can boost your sales dramatically. In the Associate Programs Newsletter, I've reported a case where personal endorsements achieved truly astounding click-throughs of about 50%.)


Start your own network

If you're really smart, you won't just become an associate, you'll start your own network of associates.

See How to set up your own affiliate program


List an associate/reseller program

Associates and vendors: Be the first to list an associate/affiliate/partner/reseller program in the AssociatePrograms.som affiliate directory and I'll post your referring ID number or your referring URL – FREE.


More information

For more details of how associate programs operate, marketing tips and interviews with affiliate program winners, see the Associate Programs Newsletter archives


Good anti-fraud advice

http://antifraud.com
http://www.worldwidescam.com
The National Fraud Information Center
http://www.scambusters.org/
http://www.scamfreezone.com
The National Consumers League
http://www.netscams.com
The National Consumer Complaint Center
http://www.mlmlaw.com


Anti-spam advice

Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
http://www.junkbusters.com
http://www.consumer.net/


Here's what to do now

Have you downloaded Ken Evoy's free "Affiliate Masters" course?

If not, do it now.

For anyone new to affiliate programs, Ken's free course offers you your best chance of success.

Download the 10-day free course here...

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/fre...e-course.shtml

Now print out the course, find a quiet spot and spend some time reading Ken's excellent advice and planning your successful affiliate site.

Good luck!