There are several ways present your message in ezines. The most common, but least effective, is through use of classified ads. They do work, and are cheap to buy, but you will see far better results with a higher profile ad. Placing your message at or near top of publication gives it a much better chance of being seen. These "Sponsor Ads" or "Featured Ads" not only stand out from rest of ads, but they carry more credibility too. Also, many publishers will allow you to include more copy in higher paying ads.

In your own ezine you can take your liberties and write full articles that discuss merits of your affiliate program. This can be a very effective method, but you need to remember to write it with readers interests in mind. Nothing turns people off faster than blatant self serving commercials. Always use WIIFM principle. The reader needs to know, "What's In It For Me".

The Best Method

The absolute best way that I have found to promote any product or service on Internet is by sending out special news releases or time sensitive updates to a targeted list of opt-in ezine subscribers. These solo mailings are separate from regular ezine. They focus only on one program, or aspect of it. The results are astounding. Usually within a few hours you will see 90% of action. If copy is written well you can see a very high response rate.

Use Your Stats

One last method that helps me to focus my promotions effectively is simply to study site logs and stats pages. Many Affiliate companies will provide you with a program stats page. Most of them are only about hits, sign ups and income. This is good information to know, but it doesn't let you know which ads are working best. That's why I like to create redirect pages on my site that are trackable in my site server logs.

Here's how it works. You create an ad for XYZ affiliate and place it in an ezine (or on a web page). Instead of putting in a link to your affiliate page address, you would create a page on your site that automatically sends visitor to affiliate page. Each ad that you use would lead to a separate redirect page. There are two main benefits to this. 1) The link address is going to look more professional and probably shorter. eg: www.yourdomain.com/xyz3.htm. 2)You will be able to see in your server logs which ads are drawing most hits. For more information about mechanics of this, read one of my previous articles "Little known Secrets of HTML" at http://worlddealcenter.com/reports/HTMLsecrets.htm

Be Wise

One caveat. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of Affiliate programs floating around on Internet for all kinds of products and services. Some of them are dogs. They just won't work, regardless of how well you promote them. Be wise in selecting one(s) that you are going to invest your time and money into.

When you find a good one, practice above methods, along with your own creativity and enthusiasm, and you too will experience joy of opening envelopes with large checks in them. I look forward to reading YOUR success story.

GET YOUR IN-DEPTH, SPECIALIZED, VISITOR-EXCITING SITE.

1. Start by thinking about what REALLY punches your buttons. You can't build an in-depth site unless you LOVE subject you're focusing on. Don't think about this for months, days, or even for a couple of hours. Whatever hits you dead on as you read this is probably one thing you can make fly.

2. Search for an affiliate program or two that sells a core product or service related to your interest. Most of time you can simply use search engines to find sites that also focus on your topic. Nine times out of ten several of them will offer affiliate programs.

3. Get your own domain name. Have your main topic as part of name. I love to go to BitShack.com at this stage. You get a domain and hosting for a year for about $50. You may be able to find somebody else who does it cheaper.

4. A site that looks like your very first won't cut it. You need to have appearance of an old hand. Do this by getting a professionally designed logo. If you have a sharp looking logo at top of page, rest of it can be plain text.

I found guys at GotLogos.com via an affiliate link. They designed a half dozen logos for us, all for just $25 each. You can't get "pro" look any cheaper.

5. Get a professional writer to create first 300 words of your web site. Start at InternetWriters.com where they'll craft text that gets your visitors' juices flowing. They write cheap. Once people get excited on your first 300 words, it isn't' hard to keep them on your site until they have read everything else you have to offer.

6. Promote, promote, promote. Put your good advice (which you can borrow from books at library--it's called research) on discussion forums. Place ads in email newsletters. Send your own press release to media every month. Call your local talk radio station and see if they have 5 minutes to speak with you on-air. Provide advice their listeners can use.

Finally, I want you to chuckle, sneer, and laugh assuredly when media starts up about how Internet is having a hard time. Good! That's great news for you. With so many big corporate sites running out of money and so many little sites getting spooked out of existence, there has never been a better time for YOU to make YOUR mark online.