There are multiple interpretations to affiliate marketing yet all mean pretty much the same thing. In terms of a coordinated effort to bring together both the merchant and the affiliate, affiliate marketing is controlling a lot of the spotlight. As long as I've been involved in affiliate marketing it has proven to be a very reliable, economically feasible way of producing useful results. many webmasters employ it as a method to garner additional revenue for their online operation. More and more people are becoming interested in affiliate marketing and are trying to learn the necessary aspects to profit of it. Unfortunately, in many cases, first time affiliates don't comprehend enough of the basic affiliate tenants and make unnecessary mistakes.
An all too common misconception with respect to affiliate marketing is 'selling'. Although selling is tantamount to affiliate marketing and one of the main thrust of a business operation it is nothing more than one of the many aspects of online marketing.
Another misconception is that ‘advertising’ is of top importance in affiliate marketing. Although the importance of advertising in a particular product shouldn't be underestimated, the fact still remains, advertising like selling, is one of the many aspects of online marketing. The point is that NO particular aspect should be given priority over another.
Within affiliate marketing, an affiliate is paid for every subscriber, visitor and/or customer provided by way of his efforts. The amount paid forward can be predicated of a specific value for each visit. For those of you familiar with Pay Per Click this will ring a bell. An attractive feature of affiliate marketing from the viewpoint of the merchant is that NO payment will be due to an affiliate until that affiliate has shown qualitative results.
More often than not affiliate marketing is being run by affiliate networks and these affiliate networks are built upon two functional halves, the group affiliates comprising one and the group merchants comprising another. Each has their designated role in affiliate marketing. The affiliate network acts as a mediatory party between the merchant and the associated affiliates. Through this network, the technology is provided to deliver the merchant’s campaigns and offers. Another responsibility of the network is to collect commission fees from the merchant and then pay the affiliates, which are part of the program.
A merchant can be described as any web site owner that wants or desires to take advantage of results driven marketing. The merchant, in most cases is able to recieve a myriad of benefits. First, the merchant can maintain and operate the affiliate program. For the benefits to be extracted, the merchant needs to do a bit of research on interesting affiliate websites to ensure that they find a program that can assist in achieving their goals. Finding a good home for their merchandise would be the key to more generated income. As a merchant one has access to markets and consumers without spending valuable time searching about. Banner ads are another benefit. When used properly they can produce interest for that product and drive the consumer to the merchants’ website. The merchant is also given the ability to dictate how much he is willing to pay for every sale that is a result of a visitor sent from an affiliate.
The affiliate marketer has many benefits for himself as well. The affiliate can be described as a web site owner that promotes one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. There are many who use affiliate marketing to generate a full-time income for themselves. However, this is not an easy task to accomplish. The affiliate must have a clear understanding with the merchant as to - what the commission will be, time frame of contract and expected payment method. The affiliate is also responsible to solicit the merchandise their user based would be most interested in. For example, if a site has a user base composed of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then online job openings such as EBay reselling would be a good match for them. Another example would be to place links to children's products and informational sites. Merchants who are on top of their game will often provide targeted, best-seller items and personal support to their affiliate partners. They often offer sales promotions that will benefit both the merchandiser as well as the affiliate.
To give a better example of what I am explaining I provided this video illustrating how you can create Amazon affiliate links.
Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If a strong relationship is forged each can be a strong catalyst to each others business. For those of you online with fairly new business ventures this method is a fairly easy and inexpensive way to assist in generating revenue. Always keep in mind that there are many others on the net involved in affiliate marketing which is why there is no room for complacency.
Do your business the favor and ask yourself what can I offer to the consumer that is going to stand out from so many others businesses?
Regards,
Julian
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Merchants and Affiliates- Benefits of Both
Friday, May 2, 2008
Affiliate Marketing w/ Sub-Affiliates
Recruiting sub-affiliates is (in most cases) the most beneficial thing you can do for your affiliate business. The reason I say " in most cases" is because it really depends on the quality of the sub affiliates you recruit.
There will be mainly two types of sub-affiliates on your roster at any given time:
First, you've got the casual internet surfer who stumbles upon your page through a series of affiliate marketing queries and thinks to him/herself: "hey, this'll be cool.. I'll be rich in No Time!." This type of sub-affiliate is useless to your business, they put up links and banners for a few days and then get frustrated and quit when they don't see any commission checks during their first week.
On the flip side of that, you will also have a few hard working, consistent, and thus highly beneficial sub-affiliates on your roster as well. These are not so easy to come by though.... You have to really put some effort and thought into how you go about recruiting your sub-affiliates if you want to acquire a sharp, willing-to-learn, ultra-responsive, dedicated network of affiliate marketers on your team.
A well developed team of sub-affiliates can really drive your commission payments through the roof. Study the following example for a look into the world of Affiliate Marketing with the help of Sub-Affiliates.
Imagine you have 50 sub affiliates who each make only 1 sale per month....
Let's say the original Product Price = $119.95
1st Level Commsion= $59.98
2nd Level Commision= $6.00
50 sub-affiliates x 1 sale per month= $300.00/monthly
Examine these other hypothetical situations:
100 sub-affiliates x 1 sale per month= $600.00/monthly
500 sub-affiliates x 1 sale per month= $3000.00/monthly
1000 sub-affiliates x 1 sale per month= $6000.00/monthly
Even if only half of your 1000 sub-affiliates make 1 sale per month, you'd still walk away with $3000 clean.
There are many ways to recruit high quality sub-affiliates. Just use your imagination and get creative, or if you prefer, you can ask the almighty Google for help..
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Saturday, September 15, 2007
How To Become An Affiliate
Becoming an affiliate is one of the easiest business propositions out there, which is why it is so quickly gaining in popularity. Businesses want to have as many affiliate marketers working for them as possible, after all, it's really just a form of free advertising. For this reasons, businesses make it very easy to sign up for an affiliate program. Find a program, sign up for free, and just like that you're an affiliate.
The most important part of affiliate marketing boils down to one word: relevancy. In order to be a successful affiliate, you need to choose partnership programs that correspond to the nature of your affiliate site. So if you are running a travel affiliate site, link to affiliate sites for airfare, travel packages, clothing, and other relevant sites. Linking to a pet product affiliate doesn't make so much sense.
This is core to why experienced affiliate marketers will have a stable of sites. They'll have their travel hub, pet hub, book hub, and so on. Some affiliate marketing links will cross over, for instance, everyone needs credit cards and even airfare deals could find a home on a pet site. The basic rule of thumb is that affiliate links should be on topic.
If you're just starting out, one method to starting an affiliate site is to thumb through affiliate marketing directories and see what affiliate marketing programs interest you: do they offer a good product, do they have good terms, do they have a good rating? You could then design your website around a particular type of product based on the affiliate program you have found in an affiliate directory. If you already have a running website, check directories for new affiliate marketing programs that correspond to the site.
At times, less is more. There are literally hundreds of affiliate deals out there with good terms and a good product. Don't just cram hundreds of links onto one page. Your affiliate links should be easy to read and access, and they should be organic: they should appear to be a part of the site, rather than an obvious moneymaking opportunity. The more relevant these affiliate sites are to the main theme of the site, the more likely it is web surfers will click on the link and make a purchase.
For more information please click here.
Take Care,
Antonio
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Monday, August 13, 2007
Difference Between An Affiliate & Super Affiliate
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Affiliate! Corny, but "super affiliate" is the new buzzword for affiliates who are both ambitious and successful at affiliate marketing. There are wild claims online about affiliate marketing: Make Millions Overnight! Never Work Again! Unfortunately, these claims are usually false. To go from being a plain affiliate to super affiliate takes a lot of work. In short, you need to be an affiliate of steel.
The vast majority of affiliate marketing sites online are run by people who have no great interest in turning a huge profit. For example, you'll find thousands of blogs where people put up a few Amazon listings and/or Google links on the off chance that a passing browser will click on them. That's all well and good, but this is no way to make a dent in the affiliate marketing game. To be a super affiliate, you need to treat affiliate marketing as a job, not just something that you do on the side to put a couple of bucks in your pocket.
There is a misconception that affiliate marketing is not a real business. After all, the affiliate is not putting out a product. This is patently false. Even though an affiliate marketer is not manufacturing a product, he or she is still offering the product up for sale. An affiliate marketer still needs to be in charge of search engine optimization, custom content, quality web design, financial management, and everything else that goes into running a successful e-business. As with any business, an affiliate marketing plan is only as strong as the amount of work you put into it.
A super affiliate will be able to turn as hefty a profit as a standard business—several sales a day on a number of different fronts. Remember, successful affiliate marketers don't necessarily stop at one site. They set up a variety of affiliate sites with a good web address, quality web design, and lucrative affiliate marketing opportunities. Additionally, once you start selling at an accelerated rate, some affiliate programs will promote you from regular affiliate to super affiliate. If you start sending sales and traffic to a business, they will reward you with better terms.
This isn't an easy proposition, but it is possible. Make sure that an affiliate program has a corresponding super affiliate program in place—better terms for more sales. Even if they don't, an affiliate with good terms up front can really pay off if you're able to make a several sales a month. Affiliate programs with great terms are also sometimes referred to as super affiliates. Find these and you know you'll have a good marketing in place at the start.
For more information please click here.
Take Care,
Antonio
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Thursday, August 9, 2007
Affiliate Marketing Full Time.
I must admit that on a number of occasions I’ve fantasized about doing affiliate marketing full time. It's every net savvy persons dream job, right?
All you have to do is set up a few web pages, embed your affiliate links, and get people to view your pages....
The problem is...in order to get any serious amount of money, you have to get a lot of people to view your pages. And not just any people, you've got to get the right people over to your pages. And once you've got them there, your content must be good enough to convince them to click on your links and make purchases.
If you're considering affiliate marketing as a full time Job, I recommend that you do some serious homework. Read blogs like Mikes money making mission, affiliate tip by Shawn Collins, and Problogger by Darren Rowse. I would also recommend that you keep your 9 to 5; a blog/website is something that you can manage while still grinding it out on your 9 to 5 hustle.
If you’re really serious about running your own blog or website, do yourself a huge favor and look into other ways for you to earn money online. Something besides affiliate programs.
Always keep in mind that affiliate marketing is based on commission. No sales, no paycheck. If you're like most people on Earth you probably have bills that must be paid on a monthly basis, so you definitely can’t afford to leave it up to chance by relying solely on affiliate marketing.
Don't forget to check those blogs that I mentioned above, they are full of valuable information.
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