How to Be an Affiliate Marketing Rockstar?

 Have you been living the rat race life for quite a while and now you've grown tired of the boss breathing down your neck and the exhausting office politics? Or maybe you simply need an extra source of income? Whatever your reason may be, if you want some good decent income going your bank account's way, doing affiliate marketing can be a very viable path to follow.
  What exactly is affiliate marketing? It is a technique posing as a business opportunity that lets those with entrepreneurial spirit explore the world of passive income through marketing products for other businesses. You can earn through commissions.

  So if you think you'd like to give affiliate marketing a try, how do you ensure your success in this field? Here are some very important tips you should follow:


  One of the most important factors to consider in doing affiliate marketing is choosing the best affiliate company or products to market. It can make or break your earnings. If you have a certain field that you're most interested in, the easier you can go through the process of deciding what affiliate program to join. So start making a list of your interests and see what affiliate programs come up from that list.


  One of the best ways to make the most bucks in affiliate marketing is through the creation of well-designed websites. Make sure that your site is easy to navigate and compels targeted visitors to convert - either to sign up under you as referrals or to purchase the products you are marketing. A quality landing page that has a call to action for your targeted visitors to do what you need them to do has excellent content that can either be texts that reviews the product, a video tutorial that lets visitors learns how to benefit and use the product well and a very conspicuous opt-in form.
  Useful content is what you can use in making the word free mean money to you. When you offer free content, like say, free reports, when the right people get hold of this report, it can translate to more referrals or purchases.
  You can't benefit from your well-designed website, no matter how good your content and freebies are if you don't have the right visitors. So how do you drive targeted visitors to your site? You can do off-page search engine optimization or also known as link building. Whether use blogging, social networking and word of the mouth just to get the attention of the right people.
  There are different ways on how you can successfully make people go to your site through this means - article marketing or the use of written content and submitting it to directories for publishers to pick it up and drive people to your site, you can set up and maintain social network accounts and let people know about your affiliate sites, or you can tap on your contacts - especially the new media savvy ones like popular bloggers and or community managers to spread the word about your sites.
  If you follow all of the abovementioned bits of advice, it will be hard for you to fail as an affiliate marketer.


  If you hate statistics and are involved in affiliate marketing, you will probably be disappointed to know that it is a very essential component to your success.  For one, you will have to understand statistics in order to determine the viability of a program.  You'll also need it to find out whether or not you can be hopeful regarding the financial side of your business.
 Statistics will also help you determine how you can win in terms of affiliate marketing commissions, without which your program will be inadequate and your efforts useless.  You'll also need to learn how to 'read' the numbers so you can maintain a sufficient balance in the factors that affect your future income.


  Earnings from affiliate marketing programs come in the form of commissions, similar to the type of earnings that salespeople receive based on the sales they generate.  Commissions are a type of performance-based income, in that the amount will depend on how much an affiliate can produce based on the sales brought in by his leads. 
  There are several factors that will affect the amount of commissions you'll earn from an affiliate marketing program. These are:


  Not every affiliate marketing program pays the same amount of commissions to its affiliates.  Affiliates will have a choice of programs offering a low pay scale ranging from about 5 to 15 percent per sale or performance while others may pay as much as 60 to 75 percent, depending on the type of products or services being offered. 
  All things being equal, choosing the program that pays a higher commission will result to higher sales. 
  This can be tricky, however. If you have the niche or at least a good market following, taking advantage of affiliate marketing programs that pay higher commissions will be a no-brainer.  However, if you cannot capture the desired market, you might have to experiment with a combination of programs that will bring in the kind of income that is satisfactory to you. 
  By maximizing your ability and opportunity and building your reputation in the process, you will be able to earn a decent income and solidify your presence at the same time.
  The type of earning opportunity an affiliate program can offer will also make a difference in the amount of commissions you can hope to earn.  Two-tier programs, for example, offer a better income-generating opportunity than flat programs.  Two-tiers offer two income sources, generally from commissions on sales of a product or service and from recruitment of a new affiliate.  Income from recruitment can either be a one-time cut (usually a flat rate) for recruiting each new member or a commission off of those members' future earnings. 
  Some affiliate marketing programs may also offer recurring commissions, in which an affiliate can earn each time their lead or member renews a subscription or a membership.  This type of program means you can hope to earn for as long as your leads or recruits continue to use an affiliate product or service.
  Since choosing these types of affiliate programs can make a huge difference in the amount of commissions you can earn from an affiliate marketing program, it makes more practical sense to consider carefully the type of future earnings you can potentially generate.


  Affiliate marketing commissions will also depend on the type of products or services the program offers.  A product that has the misfortune to belong to a market that's already heavily saturated will be difficult to sell.  On the other hand, a popular item can mean large sales if you have a strong and ready market.
  Find out how you can perform based on the statistics offered by the affiliate marketing program you wish to join.  ClickBank, for example, allows you to view a product's potential based on its past performance. 


  Affiliate marketing commissions rely heavily on how effective an affiliate's sales and marketing strategies are.  In many ways, they will also depend on the relative popularity of the affiliate and on the type of market he chooses to sell to.  A small but highly targeted market is more likely to bring in higher commissions for an affiliate while a fairly large but generic market may not produce the same results.


  Once you have selected the best and most profitable affiliate marketing program in terms of commissions, your next concern would be how to shorten the conversion period for your customers. 
  The conversion period refers to the time from which you bring in your lead until the time that he performs a desired action.  This action can vary  a lead may subscribe to a service, purchase a product, participate in an online poll or become a recruit.  Since the incentive that drives leads to perform a specific action can vary, conversion periods can last anywhere from a very short 24 hours to about 30 to 60 days.
  Your job as an affiliate is to persuade your leads to shorten their conversion period and thus increase your affiliate marketing commissions within a reasonable amount of time.
  Understanding the Key Elements to Building a Solid List

...Affiliate Marketing Leads



The importance of affiliate marketing leads
  Companies with a product or service to sell spend billions of dollars on advertising alone.  That's right – billions.  The purpose of spending such a huge amount of cash is mainly to build buzz about a product, expand the market and ultimately, bring in better sales.
  In affiliate marketing, the cost of advertising is comparatively small and is paid for by the affiliate company.  So as an affiliate, that is no longer your concern.  Your only job is to look for a market to promote to that will respond to you positively so you can earn an income in return.
  Unlike in a real world business, this market will come in the form of affiliate marketing leads.  The quality of these leads, along with the type and number of positive responses they offer will determine whether or not you'll succeed in affiliate marketing.  If you hear someone say, 'the money is on the list', he or she is actually referring to the list of leads.  Without this, you cannot hope to sell, much less earn.



  It's not rocket science, true, but affiliate marketing can be tricky nevertheless.  It's a proven business model and many affiliates have had considerable success in their chosen programs.  However, like all businesses, there are also certain factors upon which your success in building your list of affiliate marketing leads rest.  Consider these factors carefully:


  As a new affiliate marketer, you will find that it will take a while before you can build your affiliate marketing leads.  All new marketers have gone through this since enjoying the patronage of a solid number of followers will not happen overnight. 
  To attract a solid list of affiliate marketing leads, you will have to become a recognized business entity in the industry.  Without a reputation, potential leads will find it difficult to trust you or at least do business with you.  Faced with a choice between buying from a popular marketer versus an unfamiliar one, wouldn’t you rather buy from the person you know than from a total stranger?
  The same is true with your affiliate marketing leads.  They will need to recognize you as a reliable merchant or affiliate before they agree to buy, participate or become one of your recruits.


  Another key element that affects the number of affiliate marketing leads you can obtain is the amount of traffic your site receives.  A high web traffic figure is beneficial in two ways – it allows you to obtain comparatively larger affiliate accounts and increases your potential of building a bigger number of affiliate marketing leads. 
  Without a good number of traffic to your website, you might have to either focus on using strategies to build it first or join a networking service offering affiliate programs instead.


  There are two things that affect how well you can build your affiliate marketing leads.  One is the product's value and the other is how well you yourself understand the product.
  The choice of an affiliate product is critical to every affiliate.  An affiliate product that has a proven or at least a potential for good sales will be far easier to promote and generate income from.  It will also make it easier for an affiliate to build leads with, since prospects will be more willing to respond to it.
  A good understanding of what makes the affiliate product attractive and valuable enough is also key to attracting more leads.  Being able to explain why and how a product works on your website or articles, for example, will help you sell it better, especially vis-à-vis other products competing for the same market.



  One common concern among affiliates is market saturation – that point in time when a specific segment of the market becomes flooded with the same (or at least similar) products and services.  So much so that it becomes increasingly difficult to sell, much less to convince prospective buyers to consider the product or service you're trying to promote.
  You can avoid this, however, by focusing on generating affiliate marketing leads from specifically targeted segments of the market or niches.  Consider selling or promoting products that appeal to a specific group of people who have a common yet largely unmet need.  Competition for this market is relatively low and with the right kind of strategies, you'll find that this niche can be especially lucrative.
Affiliate Markets Saturation:



What is market saturation?
  Market saturation, specifically that which relates to affiliate marketing, is simply that point in a business opportunity's life when demand for a product or service evens out and begins to decline. This may be due to certain factors, such as:
  Increase in the number of distributors in a limited area. This usually happens if an affiliate program does not exercise control over the distribution of its products in specific areas. 
  As more and more distributors enter the arena, the market becomes bombarded by the same products. Since there are only so many people to purchase, subscribe or participate, it wouldn’t be long until affiliate market saturation occurs.
  Decrease in product demand and customer interest. There are many reasons why demand for an affiliate product occurs but if it does happen in light of affiliate markets saturation, it could be because customers are no longer interested in its novelty.  This is especially true of products that were successfully launched and accepted due to hype.  Interest will later plateau and gradually wear off.
  Appearance of competing products in the same market segment. Competition can do wonders for your affiliate marketing business. It can also affect it in a negative way. The affiliate product you're selling now may have great response but should a similar product appear in the future that will compete directly with you for market presence, you could be in for some serious neck-to-neck race. 

  Now imagine if 10 or 15 other similar products appear on the market...

Avoiding affiliate markets saturation
  Although in many areas of business market saturation is inevitable (witness the downfall of many multi-level marketing programs), it doesn’t have to take your affiliate business hostage.  There are a few factors you will have to consider carefully so you will know how to steer clear of opportunities that may not offer you the results you wish to produce. 

Recognize product potential and customer demand the first time.
  A lot of your success in any affiliate marketing business rests on how well you can recognize an opportunity.  Not every affiliate product has a high market demand and as such, cannot be considered lucrative. 
  The number of customers who have interest in the product will also matter. If you can find a way to bring the two together, you will be able to zero in on a product that has real potential. This usually means you will have to focus on selling to a niche market.

Choose a product with high demand but low areas of sales.
  To avoid affiliate markets saturation, look for a product that has a potentially huge market but is only being sold in limited areas. That way, you'll be able to take advantage of higher sales on your part than if you chose a product that is being distributed in hundreds of other stores not just online but offline as well.


  Affiliate markets saturation doesn’t have to have a negative implication. It would be a lot easier to deal with if you view it as the maturation of your market. It's like selling cosmetics. When you first started out, your main market was composed of women in their teens and 20s. You sold well and enjoyed brisk and repeated business.
  A decade later, some of these women are already in their 30s. Response to your advertising efforts is no longer the same and you probably doubt their efficacy. So what went wrong?  Have you saturated the market that easily? 
  If you look closely, you will find that the market has indeed changed – women who were still in school or just starting out in their careers are now full-fledged career women, mothers or owners of their own businesses. Their needs have changed as well. The market hasn’t become saturated – it simply evolved. As a product and service provider, it is now your goal to redefine your business in order to meet this newly evolved market's needs.
  The same is true in affiliate marketing. Consider carefully whether your market has evolved with the times. If it has, find out what type of changes you can implement in your advertising or promotions that will appeal to this market segment. Better yet, why not look for products in another affiliate marketing program that can meet this market's new requirements? 
Article Your Way Through the Marketing World:


  Article marketing has been around way before online media has been invented. Business establishments have been known to promote their products and services through the written media even before the internet was invented. And with the onset of the internet, online article marketing has become an easier means of promotion compared to its older predecessors.
  Not only is online article marketing free (like most of its predecessors), it is non-seasonal (meaning, people can read your articles the whole year round, without exception as to what season your article is most applicable to), and can exist for even much longer than you will.
  Many online business pursuits, affiliate marketing among them, have made use of the ease and the accessibility which online article marketing offers them. However, this same ease has jeopardized many qualities good ol’ fashion articles used to have: fun, quality, and creativity, among others. Many article writers have apparently forgotten the fact that their articles are trying to serve real life people, and not virtual search engines.
  If you are into affiliate marketing, you are reading the right article. If you are into online article marketing to help you promote your products, all the better. This article will help you outline the qualities your affiliate marketing articles should have to provide the best profits for you, without sacrificing your potential customers’ trust.


  The main focus of online article marketing is to provide prospects with information at the click of a button. Your prospects do have a tendency to be impatient, so make your articles concise. Focus your articles on the product features and benefits your readers would most probably want to know about. If you feel you have enough skills as a writer, you might wish to omit some really good information about the product, and write in such a way that your readers might want to read more.
  And never forget that not all information are created equal—some information are more beneficial than others, depending on the type of product you are promoting. Some products require a thorough discussion of the features, whereas a simple discussion of a product’s benefits might be enough for other types of products. The prospects should benefit from online article marketing, too, and if you have to, place yourself in your prospects’ shoes and try to imagine what kinds of things they would rather get from your articles.


  Article writers nowadays are beginning to forget just how important quality is when it comes to written material. This isn’t to say that you have to be a major in journalism or a Nobel Prize winner in Literature to get to write well. The internet is bombarded with article-writing tips, a lot of which are even focused on online article marketing. If you still aren’t confident enough, you might wish to hire someone else for the job. Always remember that quality, and not quantity, articles will be best for your affiliate marketing venture.



  How many crowded parties have you been to your entire life? And in how many out of these parties did you actually remember the names of all the strangers who attended? See how easy it is to remember the guy with the great sense of humor, or the girl with great conversational skills? Leave the same impression with your online article marketing efforts. Make your affiliate marketing prospects remember you. They may not buy anything off your hands right away, but the moment you sell them something they feel they need, the chances of them hesitating given their knowledge of your written humor is quite small.


  This might just be the best way for you to get your articles read by as many people as possible. If you do decide to post your articles to as many article directories as you can handle, please have the decency to write articles that deserve that much exposure. Reading a badly written article is, well, bad enough, but having it posted all over the World Wide Web?
  No one needs, or wants, a badly written article, all the more, hundreds of the same thing. Do yourself a favor and don’t simply kiss your success in the affiliate marketing world by posting hundreds of useless words online.


  Article marketing is entirely useless if you can’t get people to read your articles. Make your articles easier to find online. Imagine what keywords your prospects are most likely to enter when looking for your products. Establish them in appropriate places throughout your article. And don’t forget the quality of your articles. Never ever forget.
  Affiliate marketing has now become a much easier venture to undergo, especially with article marketing aiding its efforts. You can be successful in either of these ventures (affiliate marketing and article marketing) if you work hard enough. Following the tips mentioned won’t hurt as well. Always remember that in the world of business, success is never too far away.
Affiliate Marketing Parasites:


  OK. So you have finally decided to become an affiliate marketer. You have finally settled on what products you are actually going to sell. Now, how to promote them?
  Very little, if any, arguments exist as to the best way of promoting your affiliate marketing products—web sites. Yes, yes, the gazillions of websites, not to say affiliate marketing sites, out there make it quite difficult to end up on your page right away, but you don’t have to fret: with the power of search engines, pretty much everything is possible nowadays. If concepts such as “web hosting” and “creating your own affiliate marketing site” are relatively alien to you (as it is for quite a lot of people), then this article is for you.
  Affiliate marketing can be easy if you know how to utilize relevant help well. These relevant help include, and are pretty much dominated by, web hosting. Web hosting come in as many shapes and sizes as affiliate marketers and their needs, which is reasonable, seeing as one way or another, an affiliate marketer really does have a specific web hosting that will cater to his or her needs perfectly.



  Web hosting, as said, comes in all shapes and sizes. They all vary in their services, domains (some web hosting options come with a free domain), bandwidth, disk space, site templates, features (cPanel, spam checkers, search engine optimization, and website analysis tools, among others), customer and technical support, and price. It can get pretty confusing, considering just how complex the entire web hosting thing could get. Here are some good steps to follow to determine the right web hosting solution for you.

1. The first thing that you have to do is to remain sane and calm. Relax. The more you fret, the greater the chances are that you’ll settle for web hosting that cannot serve your needs.

2. The next thing that you have to do is list down your needs. Get them from reliable resources, such as fellow affiliate marketers, or other affiliate marketing sites. Also, look at your own affiliate marketing venture—how many products do you have, and how much do you think you can afford to pay for your web hosting? Take some time doing your research. The more you speed things up, the easier it would be for you to miss out on details.

3. Now that you have your needs, find a web hosting solution that provides for them. A lot of web hosting now cater specially to affiliate marketing sites and needs, and you might want to check them out first. There are many web hosts out there, and you need to keep your head straight to find the one that is perfect for you. Keep your list of needs with you all the time. You will have to take a good look at them over and over again before you find that one web hosting solution perfect for your future affiliate marketing site.



  You might find that listing your needs and matching those with a web hosting solution may not be enough. As a cliché might put it, there is no better teacher than experience. When looking for a web hosting solution, you might find hundreds that will cater to your needs, but since you only need one, choose the one you think best, but keep the contact information of those who came pretty close.
  After a few months of sticking with your initial choice, however, and you aren’t as satisfied as you thought you would be, don’t be afraid to move on. Anyway, transferring your web hosting from one to another isn’t as difficult as others say so. Your new web host might even be willing to help you with the move.
  This isn’t the only case wherein you might find that you need to leave your current web host. You might discover that over the years, your changes have changed, and the web hosting solution that once satisfied you no longer does. Move on. And do so with a light heart. Your affiliate marketing future might depend on that move.


  Establishing yourself in the affiliate marketing world is no easy task. However, once you have, the rewards are much greater than one could usually expect. Your products and affiliate marketing sites will get you that success you want. But how do you get them to do that?
  You are probably just starting out with affiliate marketing by trying your luck with just one product, or like many affiliate marketers, marketing multiple products to maximize profits. Either way, you should acknowledge the fact that the method in which you utilize your affiliate marketing sites is a major determinant of your success.
  Creating unique affiliate marketing sites for your affiliate products pave the best way for maximized profits. Unique affiliate marketing sites allow for your prospects to focus highly on the certain product they need or want, or the niche in which that product belongs to. Further reasons why you should create unique affiliate marketing sites (and how these sites should look like) for your affiliate marketing ventures are stated below.


1. TO GET YOUR PROSPECTS FOCUS ON ONE PRODUCT. Your prospects probably landed on your page because they were specifically looking for your product. They would want to know more about the product, and considering just how patient (which isn’t much) customers can get these days, they wouldn’t want to know anything more. Imagine how they would get if you placed the descriptions of totally unrelated products beside the one they were looking for (for example, sneakers beside a computer)? You wouldn’t want to know just how much that would hurt your profits, except that since you care about your profits, you have to.
  By focusing on one product at a time, you give your prospects the chance to get to know your product more. Plus, unique affiliate marketing sites are quite easy to maintain and establish: at most, a day or two to get everything (links, layout, entries, photos, etc…) right. You’d be extremely surprised just how these unique affiliate marketing sites focused on promoting a single product could bring in profits disproportionately high compared to the effort that went into making them.

2. TO GET THEM TO FOCUS ON A CERTAIN GROUP OF PRODUCT. Sometimes, customers who aren’t satisfied with the features and benefits of a product want to find other alternatives. It would be such a sad thing if you can’t provide them with that. By grouping similar products together in one unique affiliate marketing site, you can pretty much capture the market, despite all its preferences and specific needs.
  The only problem with establishing unique affiliate marketing sites focused on a certain group of product is that they are much harder to do than single-product sites. The work is tedious, and you might end up having to hire someone else to do the job for you, which calls for money—money you would rather earn than spend. The trouble also is that these sites may not work right away—it may take awhile before profits come pouring in—and this could get quite a bit discouraging. If you have the patience for everything (creating the site, waiting for profits), then you could try your luck at this.


  It isn’t enough to know what kind of affiliate marketing site to establish. Even if your site caters to a single product or multiple ones, they have to have a certain qualities to ensure success. To encourage profits, your unique affiliate marketing site should be:

1. USER-FRIENDLY. Create affiliate marketing sites that users could find easy to navigate. Keep links and buttons within acceptable reach, and at enough frequency.

2. WELL-FORMATTED. Do with a format or a layout that does well for the product you are trying to sell. Do not ever do the mistake of creating an affiliate marketing site meant for Big Bikes (ie, Harley Davidsons) with a layout composed of butterflies and pretty flowers (this is a thing for the insane to do).

3. ORGANIZED. Keep your unique affiliate marketing sites organized by placing appropriate links where they are most likely to be seen without interfering with everything else. Categorize your links and products as well (don’t just place hundreds of your links under one category). Keeping your site organized will entice your prospects to discover more, and click away.
Hits and Earn: Hit per Sale Ratio Affiliate Program Decisions

  Congratulations! You have gone through the grueling task of deciding whether or not to try your luck with affiliate marketing, choosing the products you would be promoting, and establishing your affiliate marketing sites. The first few dollars have managed to come marching in, and you think it is enough. I know you are fed up with decision making and would rather just wait for the money to flow, but in order for you to succeed more, you have to make more decisions: that is what businesses are all about.
 One of the best tools you can use to aid you in your affiliate program decisions is the hit per sale ratio. What is hit per sale ratio? Everyday, a number of unique individuals visit your site. Each unique individual is called a “click.” However, out of the hundreds, nay, thousands who visit your site, only a handful end up purchasing your product. This handful of people is called your “sales.” A hit per sale ratio is the number of hits you must get in order to get one sale. To calculate, simply divide all of the hits you get in a day by the number of sales you get in a day, and voila! You have the hit per sale ratio of your affiliate marketing sites!
  But how, you ask, do you get anything important out of a simple number? Well, knowing your hit per sale ratio and making informed affiliate program decisions based on that is one of the best things you could ever do to elevate your affiliate marketing enterprise. You might find yourself wishing you had a higher hit per sale ratio by either having more hits everyday, or having more sales out of your current hits. You could actually choose from a million solutions out there, but in this article, the liberty has been taken to discuss two of the most logical affiliate program decisions you can make and to which a lot of other affiliate marketers can attest to.


 Ads are great if you simply want increased hits, which can lead to increased sales, everyday. You should take note, however, that since you are working on increasing your profit, you should never shell out more cash than you can afford (you might especially be tempted to bet all or more than your earnings when you discover that the ads you pay for are significantly raising your profits). Do a simple computation of how much money you can spend on these advertisements, and base your decisions on these.
  For example, if you have a total of 300 hits per day, to which only 5 are ending up in sales, which means it takes 60 hits before you could establish sales (this is your hit per sale ratio). And if each sale gives you a profit of $25, it means you are earning $225 per day. This is the maximum amount you can spend on advertisements. To play it safe, pay for something that is significantly lower than your current profit so that when your ads prove to be worthless, you still have a bit of cash to take home.
  So let’s say you made the decision to spend $100 bucks on ads. That leaves you $125 assured take-home money, which isn’t half as bad as taking home nothing. Let’s say your $100 ad doubled your total hits per day, and thus, doubling your sales (from 5 sales to 10 sales). That would mean that you have a $450 figure as your total sales. Subtract the amount of the ad, and you have yourself a total profit of $350. Not bad, eh?


  Pay per click programs are programs you could establish with search engines for your products to appear on top of searches. You are bidding per click here (for the keywords you have chosen), and this means those who bid highest find themselves on the top of the food chain. This is a relatively tricky business, so don’t get caught up in false hopes.
  Now, to our calculations. Supposing you have a hit per sale ratio of 60, and a profit of $25 per sale, like the last example. In order to know the total amount you can risk on bidding, simply divide your profit per sale by your hit per sale ratio. That leaves you with a $0.40 figure. Again, do not risk this entire amount into bidding. You would do well to bid half of your safe value just so you can still be reassured of a bit of profit even if this program does not work out. A $0.20 bid per click shouldn’t be bad enough.
  You would find some affiliate marketing enterprises bidding dollars for each click. DO NOT DO THE MISTAKE OF FOLLOWING THEIR STEPS. Instead, find a way around them by bidding on different keywords. Always keep your profits in mind.
  However, in the world of affiliate marketing, increasing your profits isn’t as easy as simple arithmetic.  You have to weigh your options well, and no one could ever teach you that as good as experience can. Try your different options as well as you can, make smart and informed decisions, and if you work hard enough, you might find yourself singing happily all the way to the bank.
  Nowadays everybody wants to earn in the most convenient manner. Everyone seems to be looking for the easiest way to get the extra bucks they would need to fill in their increasing expenses. A lot of us are asking how can we earn extra easily and quickly. The answer is as simple as 2 words. Affiliate marketing.
  Affiliate marketing came about in the early stages of the 20th century. It was like a little spec when it started and it proved itself to be effective therefore it expanded and now everybody seems to be enjoying the benefits of affiliate marketing.
  If you are just new to the industry you might be asking yourself: What is affiliate marketing? Well, derived from the word itself – affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and  a certain company that has this product or service they would like the public to know about through the power of online advertisement or promotion.  Companies will gladly pay certain individuals that could actually showcase their goods online through blogs, articles or in any manner that their products will be exposed.
  Having this said, so what do you need in order to plunge in to the world of affiliate marketing? To tell you frankly, you might be surprised to know that it really doesn’t require much. Aside from a decent computer, you would just need an internet connection and of course a bit of your time to this chosen online business.
  Where to start? Companies will gladly pay certain individuals that could actually showcase their goods online through blogs, articles or in any manner that their products will be exposed. That being said, it is obvious that you should have at least a website online. The more traffic you have on that website – the better.
  Since affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and a certain company, their product or service must be known to the public through online advertisement or promotion.  Let’s say you have at least 5,000 visits a day in your website – that will have a corresponding equivalent to your affiliate marketing capability.

  That being said, it is obvious that you should have at least a website online. The more traffic you have on that website – the better. Since affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and  a certain company, their product or service must be known to the public through online advertisement or promotion.  Having this said, so what do you need in order to plunge in to the world of affiliate marketing?
  To tell you frankly, you might be surprised to know that it really doesn’t require much. Aside from a decent computer, you would just need an internet connection and of course a bit of your time to this chosen online business. Companies will gladly pay certain individuals that could actually showcase their goods 
  Let’s have an example. If you have  a blog, the least you can do is to make your blog worth reading. It doesn’t matter what your blog is about – just be sure you have a target audience and it will appeal to them. Also, add banners to your website. This banners (not to mention they are attractive to the eye) can really increase the attraction power of your blog. Not to mention this banners will be your key to back link your niche affiliate marketing partner.

  Here’s the logic, how would you expect others to visit your advertised site if your own site doesn’t have enough visits alone? That is a no –no. Since niche affiliate marketing has been around for years now, a lot already ventured into its exploits. You will encounter tigers and as a beginner you are no more than a pussycat to be dealt with easily.
  That being said, you will need artillery. Fire power. You need to equip your resources well so it can compete online. The least you can do is to make your blog worth reading. It doesn’t matter what your blog is about – just be sure you have a target audience and it will appeal to them. Also, add banners to your website. Since niche affiliate marketing has been around for years now, a lot already ventured into its exploits. You will encounter tigers and as a beginner you are no more than a pussycat to be dealt with easily.
  That being said, you will need artillery. Fire power. You need to equip your resources well so it can compete online. The least you can do is to make your blog worth reading. It doesn’t matter what your blog is about – just be sure you have a target audience and it will appeal to them. That is the key to niche affiliate marketing.
  In short, niche affiliate marketing is not as hard as it sounds to be. It is up to you how you will approach the market and how you will make niche affiliate marketing work for you not the other way around.
Harness the Power of Offering Freebies to Your Affiliate Site's Visitors

 Who in his right mind would refuse a freebie?  Out of 10 people you ask, only about one or two will forego a freebie for some strange reason. The rest will gladly accept it.  It's simply a part of human nature to be appreciative of gifts, particularly useful ones.  This is also something that advertisers and business owners understand fully well and thus use to their advantage.
  In affiliate marketing, the use of freebies can be especially beneficial, provided of course, that you understand how to deploy them strategically.  Find out how to use the power of offering freebies to your affiliate site's visitors and reap the rewards:
  Freebies should be integrated into your marketing campaign

  Freebies can be quite powerful as marketing tools for affiliate marketing. If visitors to your website find that free stuff is available, they will stick around and be more willing to come back for more but only if they find it relevant to their needs – the very reason they came to visit your website in the first place. 
  Consider each affiliate marketing campaign you perform and find out how to use freebies strategically.  Just because something is free doesn’t automatically mean that people will visit your affiliate website and grab what you offer.  There has to be a relevance between the freebie and the main product or service you are promoting. 
  Let's say your main product is an e-book that teaches the secrets of the affiliate marketing trade to affiliates.  A good freebie to offer with this campaign would be a short report on the top 10 mistakes that affiliates make that cause failure in affiliate marketing.  Or you could offer a freebie in the form of a script that could help affiliates track their own stats. 
  Remember that the power of freebies when offered in affiliate marketing is only limited to its relevance.  The free stuff should be something that can supplement the main product or enhance its use.  Otherwise, your visitors will simply have no reason to try to obtain it.


  Just because you're offering freebies to your affiliate site's visitors doesn’t mean you should allow them to completely ignore your premium offers.  If you let this happen, forget about earning an income from your affiliate site. 
  Remember that all those free stuff you offer are part of your strategy to attract more visitors and affiliate prospects to your website.  If you find out later that you're dealing with visitors who are mainly freeloaders, you might want to rethink your career as an affiliate marketer and switch to becoming a charitable foundation instead.
  Always offer your affiliate site's visitors some form of incentive to persuade them to purchase, subscribe or sign up for membership.  Offer a product or service that is considerably better than the freebie as an alternative.  So instead of just providing a link they can click to download or obtain your free stuff, you could also say something like:

"Get our free version now OR buy the premium/complete package for just $$$.  This is a limited offer and will expire soon. ACT NOW!"

  By imposing a time restriction, you also impose a sense of urgency and persuade your affiliate site's visitors that if they want to take advantage of a better offer, they should act immediately. 
  This is one power that freebies have over other types of promotions, which makes them very effective when used in affiliate sites.  Plus, you can even expect a conversion without performing any follow ups.
  Find out the best freebies you can afford.
There is no logic at all to giving away freebies if you have nothing to gain from it.  When affiliate marketers and business owners offer free gifts to their site's visitors, it is a carefully crafted strategy and not just some careless act of generosity. 
  When you do offer freebies, you have to have something in return, if not now then at least later.  Learn to harness the use of freebies for your affiliate site's visitors carefully.  It's a proven strategy and can be a very valuable component of your affiliate marketing arsenal.
The Power of Testimonials in Promoting Your Affiliate Sites:


  Someone's good word can be incredibly powerful.  As a consumer yourself, wouldn’t you rather purchase a product that has been recommended to you by a friend even if it is unfamiliar to you?  Given a selection of similar products, wouldn’t you rather try one that has had some glowing reviews even if you've never heard of them before?  Such is the power of testimonials when used in promoting affiliate sites.

  The role of testimonials in promoting an affiliate marketing site is to try to influence consumers' buying decisions and behavior.  Carefully chosen testimonials can be very effective in convincing prospects to try the affiliate product, service or membership.  It has such power that many affiliate marketing sites regularly publish testimonials from satisfied customers on their home pages for visitors to view.
  Many of the affiliate marketing programs in the industry today are fairly new while others have been operating quietly under the radar.  Their relative anonymity can work against them, particularly since the affiliate marketing field tends to be very competitive.
  To stand out, affiliate marketing programs try to increase their credibility factor by inviting famous personalities to speak for them through testimonials.  While this can be very effective particularly if the celebrity has a large fan base, it can also be quite expensive.  Not every affiliate marketer can afford to pay a celebrity just to place their name on his site.
  To compete, affiliate marketers turn to their own customers and members, specifically people who have had sufficient experience in the program and those who have experienced success.  A fully satisfied customer's testimonial, if it's well-written and based on a true experience and event, can be as convincing and effective as that of any celebrity.



  Building your credibility can be tricky, particularly since the affiliate marketing industry continues to evolve.  However, if careful strategies are employed, there is a high likelihood that you can succeed as an affiliate.  Consider the following factors:

Specifics
  Testimonials exhibit much more power in promoting your affiliate's site if they are expressed in more details.  If a testimonial from a customer or another affiliate states that the program is 'excellent', it should be followed by a specific description of the program's most useful features – what makes it excellent, how it has helped the customer or affiliate, why it's reliable, etc.

Skepticism
  Believe it or not, skepticism is healthy when used with testimonials for promoting your affiliate's site.  Words such as, 'I wasn't convinced at first, BUT…' or 'I have always used XYZ product and didn’t think of switching to another brand.  However, your product has ____ and ____ features that convinced me it was so much better.'

Even with the stated objection, a testimonial can be quite powerful if it is followed by a positive statement.

Keeping it real
  Avoid using fake testimonials.  'Designer' testimonials are easy to write according to the specifics you require but someone will get wind of the fact and expose you.  Once you're found out, you lose your credibility.  That simple act could haunt you for the rest of your life as a discredited affiliate marketer.

A few good words
  Try to be selective with your choice of testimonials.  They can be quite powerful when used for promoting your affiliate's site but over-use can work against you.  Find the best ones, especially the well-written and detailed testimonials and use these instead.  Or, you could take the best sentences and phrases and post those in place of a whole paragraph.
What You Should Know About Affiliate Commission Payment Schedules

  Arguably the best and most exciting part of becoming an affiliate is receiving your payment for the very first time.  After all, that check or deposit notification represents all those weeks (or even months) of hard work, tireless promotion and lead hunting on your part.  Finally, there's proof that your affiliate marketing efforts are beginning to pay off.  To understand how the payment system of affiliate marketing program works, learn the basics of affiliate commission payment schedules.

Getting paid
  Your earnings as an affiliate come in the form of commissions.  This is a set percentage or portion of the total price of an affiliate product or service that you helped promote or sell.  In many cases, it can also come from a portion of the monies generated through the efforts of downline members in your team.
  The payment of commissions to affiliates is ruled by a schedule.  This can vary from one affiliate program to the next, although a minimum amount and cut-off date are generally imposed. 
  If you're wondering why affiliate programs do not automatically send you a check for every sales income you generate, it's quite simple, actually.  Affiliate programs need to maintain a standard when it comes to paying their affiliates to make sure that the process is seamless, glitch-free and fair to all.  A program without a commission payment schedule risks becoming disorganized and erroneous. 


When you sign up as an affiliate for a program, it's important that you check their FAQ section.  Affiliate marketing programs often provide the most basic information about themselves on their website.  Their FAQ section should clearly state the schedule of commission payments they have imposed for their affiliates.
  If the information is unavailable, you can ask your sponsor (if you have one) or your affiliate program.  The schedule of commission payments to affiliates is an important consideration when choosing an affiliate program.  Do not sign up for an affiliate program without this information so you will be able to avoid disappointments later.



  The schedule of commission payment varies, depending on the preference of the affiliate program.  The affiliate pretty much doesn’t have any control over this matter.  Schedule of disbursement can range from bi-monthly to monthly payments.  Some, such as LinkShare, disburse commission payments on a weekly basis, a considerably shorter amount of time.



  There are three methods generally used by affiliate programs.  These include: electronic payment processing (such as PayPal), checks and wire transfer.  The length of time it will take for your commission payment to reach you will depend on the transaction method. 
  If the payment is coursed through electronic payment systems, this will usually take as little as 24 hours.  Checks (usually delivered via postage mail or courier) usually take from 3 to 7 business days – longer if the affiliate is located in certain areas.  Wire transfers take from 3 to about 6 business days.


  Generally, the schedule of commission payments for affiliates are pretty much set.  However, there are certain things that might cause delays.  One of the most common is whether an affiliate's earnings have reached the minimum amount.
  Affiliate programs often impose a minimum earned amount per pay period ranging from $10 to $100.  If an affiliate earns less than that, his current earnings will be carried over to the next pay period until such time that he will meet the minimum required.  Only then will his payment be released.
What You Should Know About Affiliate Commission Payment Schedules

  Arguably the best and most exciting part of becoming an affiliate is receiving your payment for the very first time.  After all, that check or deposit notification represents all those weeks (or even months) of hard work, tireless promotion and lead hunting on your part.  Finally, there's proof that your affiliate marketing efforts are beginning to pay off.  To understand how the payment system of affiliate marketing program works, learn the basics of affiliate commission payment schedules.




  The schedule of commission payment varies, depending on the preference of the affiliate program.  The affiliate pretty much doesn’t have any control over this matter.  Schedule of disbursement can range from bi-monthly to monthly payments.  Some, such as LinkShare, disburse commission payments on a weekly basis, a considerably shorter amount of time.



There are three methods generally used by affiliate programs.  These include: electronic payment processing (such as PayPal), checks and wire transfer.  The length of time it will take for your commission payment to reach you will depend on the transaction method. 

If the payment is coursed through electronic payment systems, this will usually take as little as 24 hours.  Checks (usually delivered via postage mail or courier) usually take from 3 to 7 business days – longer if the affiliate is located in certain areas.  Wire transfers take from 3 to about 6 business days.

Is there anything that will affect the schedule of affiliate commission payments?
Generally, the schedule of commission payments for affiliates are pretty much set.  However, there are certain things that might cause delays.  One of the most common is whether an affiliate's earnings have reached the minimum amount.

Affiliate programs often impose a minimum earned amount per pay period ranging from $10 to $100.  If an affiliate earns less than that, his current earnings will be carried over to the next pay period until such time that he will meet the minimum required.  Only then will his payment be released.
Top 10 Proven Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic

...to Your Affiliate Marketing Site

When you're involved in affiliate marketing, easily one of the most major concerns you'll have to face is driving traffic to your site.  And not just any traffic – you'll need targeted traffic.  Here are the top 10 proven ways you can drive quality traffic to your affiliate marketing site and increase your income-generating potential:

E-mail campaigns

Used carefully, e-mail campaigns can easily drive targeted traffic to your affiliate marketing site.  This can be done by providing highly relevant and valuable information on the body of the message and then offering a link that will bring the recipients into your site. 

You can do this two ways: one is by providing the full content in the e-mail message and then offering a link inviting the recipient to view more similar write-ups on your site.  Another is by giving only a portion of the content and offering the rest on the affiliate site.  A linked e-mail signature should also be included.

Articles

Informative and how-to articles, especially well-written ones, are proven traffic baits for affiliate marketing sites.  Include links to similar or additional information within the content body that can only be read from your site and provide additional links on your signature.

Newsletters and e-zines

People love information, particularly those about subjects they are curious about or are involved in – which explains why targeted methods to drive traffic to affiliate marketing sites work best. 

Offer e-newsletter and e-zine subscriptions, making sure that links bring recipients to your site.  Use a separate landing page to handle the subscription process for your visitors' convenience.

Blogs

Other than your affiliate marketing site, use a blog to get in touch with prospective customers and members.  Blogs are considerably more personal and lighter in tone than most affiliate business sites and they can be a great source of information, news, advice and tips from you to your prospects.  Include a link from your blog to your affiliate marketing site.

Social bookmarking sites

These sites are a rich source of targeted traffic that you can drive to your affiliate marketing site.  Your market demographics are also easier to define so sending out invitations to potential leads and members is a lot easier.

Discussion forums and boards

By leaving useful and thought-provoking comments on discussion boards and forums, you encourage other members to react and send you a reply.  You'll be able to build a networking relationship from here.  Make sure to sign with a link back to your affiliate marketing site.

Guest blogging

You could drive another blog's captured traffic to your affiliate site by becoming a guest blogger.  If you can write well and can offer unique and useful content, the site's readership will find you interesting enough to follow you to your own site.

Allow bookmarks on your web pages

If you have content, you can drive traffic to your affiliate marketing site by allowing your readers to bookmark certain pages.  This will help promote those pages and your website to other people who might be interested in the same subjects.

Host a contest

Locate your target market and then promote a contest through ads or e-mails.  All details must be found on your affiliate marketing website so you can drive traffic there.  Registration must also be performed on one of your landing pages.  Just make sure to offer prizes that visitors who will be coming in will find useful.

Freebies!

There's nothing like a nice gift to drive targeted traffic to your affiliate marketing site.  It's easy to implement and can be relatively cheap.  Furthermore, you offer these visitors an incentive to sign up for whatever campaign it is you're promoting.
Techniques for Keeping Track of Your Affiliate Referrals

The number of referrals you can generate for your affiliate marketing program can range from a few dozen to several hundreds.  Great if there are only a few names on your list so far since they would be easy to familiarize with but what if you've collected enough names equivalent to a mid-sized city's worth of phone numbers?  Without an organized system, you could easily lose potential income from referrals you can't monitor.  Learn how to keep track of your affiliate referrals offline and online so you'll never have to waste your efforts.

Offline tracking techniques

Just because you're in affiliate marketing doesn’t mean all your affiliate referral prospecting methods are limited online.  Offline activities can be incredibly useful for generating leads. 

If you're the type of affiliate who has an active social networking life, you probably make use of conferences, trade shows and meetings to mine affiliate referrals.  If you do, then make sure you are organized enough to take advantage of all the prospects you get in touch with during these occasions.

An excellent way to do this is to obtain a prospect's business card.  That piece of paper should hold enough information for you to use later to get in touch with that person.  If you attend multiple events or are constantly generating leads online, make a few notes on the back of the business cards so you never forget important information about the person, such as the event they attended, what they said and other business-related stuff you might have discussed.

Keep all business cards collected specifically for your affiliate marketing program separate from your other business cards.  This will prevent confusion later when you begin communicating with these people.  Don't be afraid to use labels and to make notes – this will help ensure that you keep track of all your affiliate referrals and never forget critical information and data.

Online tracking techniques

One of the fastest and most convenient ways to track affiliate referrals is to use online resources.  Some of these include:

An affiliate referral tracking application

Once your referral activities begin in earnest, you'll find it difficult to manually track the number of referrals you bring to your affiliate company's website.  You'll need a reliable application to perform this efficiently.  Some of these referral tracking applications may be downloaded for free, although you might prefer premium editions if your affiliate business is big enough.

These applications are quite easy to use so you can conveniently keep track of the activities of your affiliate referrals.  Many of these applications even offer extras, such as features that allow you to monitor your banner exchanges, start pages and affiliate links – essentially the kind of activities you'll been doing in order to promote your website.

Your affiliate marketing program's tracking system

Majority of established affiliate marketing programs have their own tracking system for their affiliate's referrals.  Check your program for this.  You'll usually only need your own affiliate ID in order to gain access to your stats. 

Your affiliate program is able to do this because the affiliate links you post on your web pages are coded.  This usually comes in the form of a tracking cookie.  Each time your visitors click on that link and arrives on the affiliate company's website, their tracking system will register the unique code coming from your site.

Activities related to this code will be kept in the company's system which you can view at any time.
Web Hosting Affiliate Programs:

Another Way to Boost Your Online Income

If one of your goals of being online is to earn an income, still one of the best methods to consider is signing up for one or two affiliate programs.  Experienced affiliates are some of the Web's highest earners and with enough training, support and willingness on your part, becoming involved in an affiliate program may just be one of the best decisions you'll ever make.  And now, here's another way to boost your income online: web hosting affiliate programs.

What are web hosting affiliate programs?

These are programs that sell web hosting services through members, called affiliates.  The market for website hosting is one of the fastest growing industries today, thanks to a robust Web economy and the continuous appearance of numerous websites, both corporate and personal. 

How do web hosting affiliate programs work?

They pretty much work in a similar manner to the average affiliate program with the exception that the products they are promoting are web hosting plans.  An affiliate earns when his referral purchases a plan from the program.

A good step for a web hosting affiliate would be to create a standalone site or blog that promotes web hosting and attract traffic to that site.  However, posting affiliate links consisting of banner ads and text links from an unrelated website could also work.

Who can benefit from web hosting affiliate programs?

From the customer's side, virtually anyone who has a website or is planning to build one will find web hosting services useful.  From the affiliate's side, it varies greatly – beginner and experienced affiliates, internet marketers, webmasters, web consultants and bloggers will find this opportunity very promising.

How much commission can I expect from web hosting affiliate programs?

Web hosting affiliate programs offer some of the best wallet-friendly commissions in the industry.  Commission rates are great, ranging from around $50 to $100+ per successful business referral.  That's considerably larger than other commissions paid through affiliate programs selling more traditional products.

What's the success rate for affiliates in web hosting programs?

This is a very competitive segment of the industry, which means that once you sign up, you better have a good strategy to back you up.  If your idea of earning from these programs is posting an affiliate link on your website and leaving everything to chance, you won't earn much.  If you have a strong game plan, however, a web hosting affiliate program will work well to your advantage.

Some of the web hosting affiliate programs available today include:

Yahoo!

Yahoo's web hosting affiliate program rewards you for the volume of referrals you bring in.  Earnings can range from $60 to about $70 for every successful web hosting customer you refer, although you can also make as much as $100 for each referral if you bring them in by volume. 

And here's more: Yahoo! will pay about 20 percent out of the total sales generated from every domains customer you refer.

LunarPages

If you have your own website, you can set up an affiliate link to LunarPages' web hosting program site.  You'll earn $65 each time you refer a new customer.  You can earn more by referring advertisers to the program.  Each new customer referred by these advertisers will bring in an additional $5 per.

Web.com

Web.com is another excellent web hosting affiliate program, offering $80 in commission.  If your sales reach over 25 in one month, you can add 12.5%.  Over 50, that increases to 50%.

DreamHost

DreamHost offers you two choices for the type of commission you'll earn: one-time credit for every referral you bring to their web hosting affiliate program or you could choose to earn recurring credits for payments made by your referrals to DreamHost.  One-time payments will earn you up to $97 while recurring payments give you 10% off the payment amount of your referrals. 

DreamHost is also one of the web hosting affiliate programs that offers a two-tier payment scheme.  If your referral brings in their own referrals, you'll earn a one-time payment of $5 or 5% of these referrals' payments to DreamHost.
Criteria for the Best Affiliate Marketing Programs

Variety is a good thing but when there are so many choices for a single purpose, it can be very confusing.  Such is often the case when prospective affiliates try to make their decisions regarding the best affiliate marketing program to use.  Since the choice of an affiliate marketing program is critical to your success, find out which among the hundreds now available is the best program to use.  Here are some criteria to look for:

The affiliate marketing program is top quality

Always go for the affiliate marketing program that is backed up by a reliable and trustworthy team with the appropriate and sufficient knowledge about the industry.  Check the affiliate product and services as well.  Are they for real, offer good value and are saleable?  Remember that you will be putting your own credibility on the line when you sign up for that program.  If it's trustworthy, then you will be viewed as such as well.

The affiliate product is 'hot' or getting there

Stay current on market demands and about the 'hottest' and 'to watch out for' products.  A simple search online will help you find out the kind of things that people are looking for and are willing to buy.  There's a good chance an affiliate marketing program is selling that product.  When a product has a high market demand, it's much easier to sell.

This is good news for you as an affiliate of that program since there won't be any backbreaking work to do just to get the product off the ground.  It will sell on its own or for minimal effort.

The affiliate marketing program pays high commissions

Ultimately, the affiliate's goal in signing up for an affiliate marketing program is to earn money.  In affiliate marketing, earnings come in the form of commissions – usually a percentage off the sale of a product.  Why settle for a low-paying program when there are others from which you can benefit more from given the same amount of efforts on your part?

When considering what affiliate marketing program to use, choose those that offer higher commission rates.  Good rates range from about 50 percent to 75 percent.  If the program pays lower than that, you might want to reconsider.  It may not be worth your effort at all.

The affiliate marketing program has a higher than usual conversion rate

Conversion rate refers to the period it takes for a prospect who clicks on an affiliate site to become a paying customer.  In affiliate marketing, this can be notoriously fickle, with leads taking as much as 60 days before ever purchasing anything.

A good indication that a particular affiliate marketing program is the best one to use is its high conversion rate.  This means that more visitors to an affiliate's site become buyers.  When there are more buyers, an affiliate's earnings increase.

To find out about their conversion rate, you can check an affiliate marketing program's website.  Some of them publish this information.  If not, you will have to test the product yourself using targeted visitors to see how well it performs.

The affiliate marketing program offers full support.
This is an especially important criteria to look for when deciding what affiliate marketing program to use if you're a beginner.  There are many programs that will offer their system and leave you to your own devices without checking in on your progress. 

If you're not a self-starter or are wary of affiliate marketing programs that don't assist their affiliates, avoid these types.  Use affiliate marketing programs that provide sufficient information, training and affiliate support.  You will appreciate this extra feature in case you run into a bit of trouble later.
Articles your affiliate marketing sites should have

...if you want to increase your sales, that is

The past few decades have bore witness to the internet being one of the best ways to earn money. Improved communication and safer money transfers make it easier for both the sellers and the buyers to indulge themselves in the act of buying online. Thus, the boom of Affiliate Marketing. The main reason why affiliate marketing has become so popular lies on the simple fact that all you have to do is apply for an affiliate program, pay for the program’s fees (if there are any), establish your pre-seller site, and write away. Simple, isn’t it?

Not quite. A number of affiliate marketers do not witness success (or any sales at all) because of the part where they “write away.” Writing for your affiliate marketing site does not require the skills of a Pulitzer Prize winner, but those of a smart affiliate marketer. Your articles need to have certain qualities that would utilize online resources best, and, of course, turn prospects into closed sales. This article brings you five types of articles your affiliate marketing site should have, if you want to increase your sales (which I know you do!).

REVIEWS

People want information. Small is the probability of having a person enter your site and establishing a sale the first time around. They probably didn’t even notice the “sales pitches” you have placed all over your site in the first place—the main thing that must have been going through their minds is that they need the product, and fast! Generally, people hate hard core sales pitches.

They want to know more about the product. So give your prospects what they want. Give them honest and sincere information on your affiliate marketing site in the form of reviews. Be honest with your reviews. Place any cons that might come in buying the product. And since this is an affiliate marketing program, market your product as well. Do so in a way that “promotes” the product and not “sell” it.

BENEFITS

Prospects want to know the features of a product the first time they get around to wanting to buy it. If the features of your products are to their liking, they would want to know more about the products. Let them know more of the benefits, instead of features, that come in buying your product. Your product is not the only one in the market, and it probably has other competition out there that have as good, or even better, features than the one you’re selling. But if you can provide your prospects with more benefits than the competition can, the more likely will these register as sales increase.

COMPARE

If you are confident of your product’s ability to sell in the market, do product comparisons. Also, do so in the fairest way possible. Do not highlight all the cons of the competition while highlighting your own product’s benefits. Highlight the benefits of the other product, then compare in such a way that your product comes out on top. Be smart in selecting which benefits of the competitor’s product you are going to highlight.

If the competitor’s product has qualities that yours can’t beat, then opt to ‘overlook’ that quality, and focus instead on the other product’s benefits which your product can beat. Make sure sales come your way, and not the competitor’s.

TESTIMONIALS

Your prospects need to know that real people are using your products. Find people who can attest to the benefits of your products in the real word. You might want to keep the contact information from previous sales. It would be good if your previous customers can provide you with photos of themselves, alongside the products if possible. Once you can convince your prospects that your products are good enough for real people, your sales have nothing else to do but increase.

NEWS BRIEFS

Keep your affiliate marketing site fresh with news briefs. You might want to include promos, developments, and previously unknown information regarding the product (such as “studies show that this product (benefits of the product)” or “Top Marketing groups regard this product as one of the most revolutionary products of the 21st century”). Keep your news briefs concise—do not bombard it with too much information. If you happen to have a dozen new information regarding your product, post them on your affiliate marketing site as a week’s worth of news briefs.

These types of articles can be used all at once, or in a combination. Choose what best works for your affiliate marketing program, or product, and you can be on your way to claim sales commissions that just keep on increasing.
Products Make the Affiliate Marketing World Go Round:

How to choose the products to promote.

Affiliate Marketing has become a relatively easy and convenient way of earning money, thus, attracting quite a number of followers. For those who are new to the business, they have quite a lot to learn before they get to reap the bigger fruits of affiliate marketing. In fact, there’s so much to learn, it is quite difficult to focus on where and how to start on your own affiliate marketing venture.

The focal point of affiliate marketing, or of any business enterprise for that matter, is the product. No exchange ever happens if there is no product involved. For those who are new to affiliate marketing, choosing a product to promote might make their head spin like crazy.

The following tips regarding what kinds of products an affiliate marketer should promote are perfect for beginners. For those who are more experience in affiliate marketing, however, do not fret. You might also get a few tips from this article (or this article might just confirm what you already know, which isn’t all that bad, either).

The first step in choosing a product to promote using affiliate marketing is not being too specific just yet. Focus on a certain group of products you might find interesting enough to sell, and soon, we’ll get to the part where you choose the specifics of what you’ll be promoting.

For starters, CHOOSE A TYPE OF PRODUCT YOU BELIEVE IN. Promoting in itself is a great task, perhaps, the main focus of all your affiliate marketing activities. For those who aren’t exactly experts at promoting just yet, you might have to rely on your belief of the product above anything else—the more you believe in the benefits your products have to offer, the easier it would be to promote them. Anyway, if you, a real human being, find your product good enough, you might discover that other human beings find it good enough, too.

For those who are simply starting out, you might find it easier to PROMOTE A PRODUCT THAT IS ALREADY POPULAR. Promote those with brand names that stand out. Competition might be fierce, but since your product has already been able to establish a name on the market, it would be much easier to sell. A few newbie affiliate marketers think that promoting lesser known products would be easier due to the smaller competition.

They can’t be any more wrong. The fact that they are newbies promoting unknown products makes for the worst combination of all. Yes, competition might be fierce, but if you are just as fierce with your marketing strategies and promotions, you will eventually find yourself earning just as well as more experienced counterparts.

DO A “MARKET RESEARCH.” It sounds like an expensive activity to undertake, but it isn’t. All you have to do is be observant. Try to observe people around you: family members, friends, strangers passing you by on the streets, and people you ride with on the public transit. What products are they using?

Put yourself in their shoes and try to think what kinds of products they might like to purchase. Ask them, if you have to. Try to observe how they react to certain product names, and how they do not when it comes to others. You might find yourself flashing a light bulb once in a while. Take advantage of what you have learned. They might come in handy as soon as you gain the information, or at a much later time.

Once you know what kinds of products you would want to promote, it is time to narrow down the list. This might be, initially, a tad confusing, but once you have established the categories of products you would like to promote, this part becomes much easier to undertake.

If you were lucky enough to know the specific product to promote given the tips above, then you might want to try SEARCHING FOR YOUR PRODUCT THROUGH YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SEARCH ENGINES. If you have already set your heart and mind on promoting a certain product, look for it, and try to find out whether the product can be promoted through affiliate marketing.

However, if you are like the rest of affiliate marketers just starting out, and, well, still confused on the specifics of the product you would promote, you might want to JOIN AFFILIATE MARKETING NETWORKS. In this case, search engines are as much your friends as the first case. Find marketing networks that have large product databases, and preferably, do not have any membership fees.

Once you know what products to promote, there should be no turning back. Everything else will fall into place. Though the next steps to finalizing your affiliate marketing venture aren’t exactly walks in a park, at least they are now focused towards a single goal, and that it to successfully promote the products you have just chosen.
What to highlight in free reports to increase your sales in affiliate marketing

Free reports are the best follow-ups invented by the affiliate marketing world. Rare are the instances wherein you get to establish a sale just by a few convincing words on your pre-seller site, and so follow-ups are crucial. Some prospects need a little more courting before they finally make a decision of buying your product, and this is where free reports come in.

Free reports can contain everything and anything under the sun about your products, however, doing just that might spoil your chances of ever closing sales with your ever choosy prospects. In order for your free reports to bring you the results you want, and that is to increase your sales, you must focus on highlights instead of on complete information regarding the products your prospects might either already know or aren't interested to know. Highlighting the right things will eventually make your prospects say “yes” to your products.

We like to buy products that are beneficial to us, therefore, you should HIGHLIGHT THE BENEFITS YOUR PRODUCT OFFERS in your free reports. The chances that your prospects already know of the advantages of buying your product are high. It is more likely that these benefits are the reason behind their subscribing to your free reports.

But it wouldn’t hurt to constantly remind them of what they are missing out on, and what they can gain if they buy your product. Just remember to repackage the benefits you highlight once in a while, for no one likes reading the same things over and over again. Lastly, remember that although more benefits mean increased sales, don’t overdo and exaggerate.

Next, you might want to INCLUDE TESTIMONIALS in your free reports. Your prospects need to be reminded that your products can make real people happy, and that it can make them happy, too. Highlight testimonials you feel your prospects can relate most to. Again, no one likes to read the same things over and over again, and so vary the testimonials you place on your free reports. Another mistake affiliate marketers do with their free reports is that they bombard it with too many testimonials, especially if the product is worth testifying for. Highlighting 3-5 testimonials per free report is good enough.

Prospects sign up for free reports because they want to know more about the product, so HIGHLIGHT ANY DEVELOPMENTS ON YOUR PRODUCT in your free reports. Highlight any upgrades your products might have recently experienced, recent findings regarding the features and benefits of the products, and reviews reputable people, groups, and organizations have made on your product. Again, be varied. You’ll never know what developments will catch the eye of your prospects, and bring you the increase in sales you have always wanted.

However, knowing what to put in your free reports is not enough. Your reports should contain certain characteristics that would turn your prospective buyers into buyers. If you want more sales than just a meager month’s worth of groceries and bills, then you should also take note of the following characteristics your reports should have in order to optimize sales.

USE AN ACTIVE VOICE. Tell your prospects what to do, not what they can do. Instead of saying “If you buy this product now, (benefits here),” say “Buy this product now and (benefits here).” This little change can make a lot of difference in your sales. Just make sure you place your commands at the right places.

ADD A LITTLE “SPUNK.” Make your prospects love the things you put in your free reports. Make them laugh, cry, or think. A lot of the right attitude can go a long way, and your prospects are smart enough to determine attitude, even if it’s written. If you make them feel good enough about reading about your product, you might finally get that increased sales you have been longing for.

BE FOCUSED. Do not write about search-engine optimization when you are promoting your products. That also goes for writing about multiple products in one report. Focus on one product only, and make your free reports in such a way that would make your prospects focus on buying your product.

Free reports, again, are one of the best ways to increase your sales, that is, if done correctly. Remember that the goal of free reports is to convince your prospects that your products are what they need or want. If you have to, put yourself in your prospects’ shoes, and focus on what they might like to see in the free reports. Combine that with the tips named in this article, and voila! You have your own recipe for increased sales through free reports.
Location, Location, Location:

Where to position your free reports in your site to promote your affiliate products

There are so many ways to promote products in the marketing affiliate world. Some marketers have even gone to the extent of establishing ridiculous and weird promotional strategies for their products. Although it might be true that these strategies work, for the better part, to successfully promote in the affiliate marketing world need not be that extreme. All you need are to establish the right kinds of non-extremist strategies of promoting, push through with them, and you will soon have success at the tips of your fingers.

It is an established fact that affiliate marketers do not sell as much by trying to convince prospective buyers to purchase your product just once. Affiliate marketing finds its success in follow-ups and consistent promotions, and what better way to do this than free reports?

Prospects subscribe to your free reports due to the following reasons: first, is that before subscribing, they aren’t exactly sure if they want the product just yet, however, they might consider buying if they found something about the product that would be of benefit to them; and second, is that they are planning to buy the product, however, they want to know more about it before they do. Either way, your free reports have goals, and those are to promote your product and convince your prospects to buy them.

This might lead you to think that by making your free reports, you should focus on the content and nothing more. However, the positions of your free reports on your affiliate marketing sites are just as important as the content. Of what use would the content of your free reports be if your prospects have no means of getting to them? The strategies you employ in positioning your free reports should be as extensive as the strategies you employ in making them. This article will guide you through the most strategic places for you to position your free reports on your affiliate marketing site.

POSITION YOUR FREE REPORTS AT THE UPPER PART OF YOUR PAGE

Prospects have the tendency to be impatient, and if they have to get to the bottom of a page before they could have access to your free reports, you might as well say goodbye to future profits. Place your reports where your prospect buyers can easily see them. Anywhere on the upper part of the page is fine, however, many would suggest that placing free reports on the upper left part of a page is more conspicuous. Place your free reports where they can easily be seen, but aren’t too distracting (too much distraction might make your prospects hate your site and lead them to never come back).

POSITION YOUR FREE REPORTS AT STRATEGIC LOCATIONS IN YOUR ARTICLES

Take note of the word “strategic.” Strategic does not include placing links to your free reports at every end of your sentences. Placing 3-5 links to your free reports throughout a 500-word article should be good enough. Make sure your links also fit well. It would be such a waste of a good article and good free reports if you don’t know how to position them. Position links to your free reports in a consistent but not bothersome manner. Consistency is good for the impatient prospective buyers, however too much of it might just piss him or her off.

PROVIDE LINKS TO YOUR FREE REPORTS ON YOUR CONTACT US PAGE

Some would say “no” to this, but if you do this correctly, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. The main objective of a “contact us” page is to contact the affiliate marketer. However, it wouldn’t do any harm to place a little link that would provide means for the affiliate marketer to contact the prospective buyers through free reports. If you do decide to place links to your free reports in your Contact Us page, remember what the page is made for. Never ever forget, or you might risk chasing prospective buyers away.

Positioning your free reports throughout your affiliate marketing site is all about strategy. Location, location, location. Too little of those powerful links might lead to your prospect buyers to simply overlook them, and too much might lead them to simply run away and never come back. So strategize, and strategize well.