Perhaps you weren't blessed with the gift to write compelling information products, craft hot selling giftware, develop "killer app" software or any of the other product creation skills that some marketers have. Maybe it's not in your budget to buy up a wholesale lot of designer handbags for resale. In fact, you're totally new to Internet Marketing and you don't know what to do or what's worth investing in. Congratulations! You're the perfect candidate for affiliate marketing.
Affiliate sales are your ticket to earning a commission on the sale of goods or services provided by other people. Just as each person has unique strengths and skills, many companies can provide excellent products and services, but have a problem when it comes to marketing them. They have built the better mousetrap - but really suck at getting the word out to the general public. Rather than paying for expensive advertising campaigns, they hire an affiliate manager and create a batch of graphic advertising (called "creative") that affiliates can use to present the product or service to the consumer.
Each affiliate has a unique link or code that identifies who drove the sale to the merchant. Affiliates are often referred to as "publishers", since most have Web sites or blogs that contain information and content related to their offerings. These publishers choose among the many thousands of programs out there and develop a presentation aimed at "preselling" the merchant's wares. When a sale is made, a commission is credited to the publisher and will be paid according to the terms and conditions of the agreement between the two.
Commissions vary as to the amount paid. Some info-products that retail for $50 offer a 75% commission to the publisher. Diamond merchants typically offer 8%-12% of the sale price - but that amount can be substantial for a $5,000 diamond ring or $10,000 tennis bracelet. Some merchants pay a fixed sum for qualified leads or contacts; credit card companies and mortgage brokers are typical examples. Companies that offer memberships or services with recurring billing often give publishers a continuing commission for every paying member that is "retained".
There are also specific affiliate programs that have unusual terms and conditions. Some merchants want qualified leads so much, they'll actually pay up to 200% of the sale price of the product sold. Others have tiered or multilevel commission structures, where the person who bought from you will become an affiliate and earns you a small percentage of their sales, too. The number of tiers varies, but some can go as far as 4 or 5 "deep".
The ambitious marketer can also go out and solicit affiliate arrangements with companies that don't already have an affiliate program. Naturally, some experience and success in promoting other people's products can help in cases like these, but anyone with the motivation and drive can seek these out, both online and offline. All you have to do is ask.
Joint Venture arrangements between marketers and merchandisers are the ultimate in affiliate programs for Internet Marketers. By dealing directly with each other, they pool resources and customers to create a synergy of the best each has to offer. Yet another means of profiting by putting people together in this way is JV brokerage, where the middleman earns a percentage of the profits by putting together compatible partners. This can be a source of both one-time payments and recurring or "residual" income.
With all the possibilities available to the new Internet Marketer, affiliate sales are a great way to begin your online business. "Super Affiliates" can make more money in a month than most very successful job-holders make in a year - or even a lifetime, if the offer is the right one!
By: Jo Han Mok
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing - Affiliate Marketing - Not Just Selling Someone Else's Product
Affiliate Marketing - How To Continually Grow Your Affiliate Checks
The promise of earning profits without really doing much of anything has enticed a lot of people towards affiliate marketing. But does affiliate marketing really work this way?
As an affiliate, all that is required of you is to simply place the merchant's ad on your website. Then after that, you virtually do nothing but wait for anyone to click on the merchant's ad and later collect your profits. Easy, right? Well, not quite often. Many affiliates earn almost nothing from their affiliate programs simply because they do nothing. Remember that affiliate marketing is but another form of marketing, and you'll definitely need to market your merchant's product for you to earn something.
Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply don't sit there and wait for money to come. Why? Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting. If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you've got to do something. Think of ways on how to promote your merchant's business and products better. Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant. Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!
So if you're new in affiliate marketing and you try to follow the easy go lucky pit that most unsuccessful affiliate marketers follow, then you're definitely on the wrong track. But we're not advising you to stop right there. No. Rather, we want you to take some steps to make your affiliate program work better and gain more commissions for you. How? Here are a few guidelines that may help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:
* Become an expert on your affiliate product.
You can promote your merchant's product better if you know a lot of things about it. To become an expert, the best thing you can do is purchase your merchant's product yourself. This way, you can tell your customers about your first-hand experience using the product. You can even write a testimonial or a personal endorsement ad about it. But if any condition does not permit you to purchase the product, you can at least make a thorough research about it.
* Host your own website.
Or at least have a domain name that is short and easy to remember. You certainly wouldn't expect a visitor to remember a very long and incomprehensible URL. And if that's so, you also wouldn't expect him to visit your website any time soon. That means less traffic for your page and the less chance for your affiliate ads and links to be clicked.
It is also a good idea to create a private website and offer access to it to anybody who clicks on any of your affiliate ads. Visitors usually get interested with these private websites. Private websites also gives you a venue to promote your back-end affiliate products.
* Write your own affiliate ads.
Many merchants usually wouldn't mind if you write and design your own ads for their products, for as long as you ask permission from them and present them your ad before posting it on your site. This gives you a greater advantage over a lot of other affiliates who must be advertising the same affiliate products.
* Participate in chat rooms, discussion boards, and forums related to your product.
If you use to ignore them before, then it is time for you to start focusing your attention on them. You can start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product. You don't have to promote your affiliate product at once, but find the chance to advertise and promote it as you go along. The same would be true for message boards, discussion boards and forums.
* Create a free ezine or newsletter.
Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject. In your ezines and newsletters, you don't always have to promote your merchant's product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers. Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter. Also, don't forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.
These are but a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks. Sure there can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we won't discourage you from following them. What's important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchant's products even outside the boundary of your website. If you can do these, there's no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.
By: Johanna Piittala
Affiliate Marketing
