When to say "When" to an affiliate programWritten by Chuck McCullough
How long should you promote an affiliate program before you make decision that it just isn't going to work for you? Let's face it, no matter how well a particular product may do on other websites, it just might not be right for yours. Statistics show that only a small percentage of affiliates for any given program actually make any money. What happens if you are one of those that falls into category not making money? Is it time to take down site and let domain name registration expire? No way! But it just might be right time to make some changes to your strategy. Analyze your website and programs that you have signed up for. Determine which of those REALLY appeal to your target audience. I said REALLY because I want you to look at programs from viewpoint of your visitors, not from viewpoint of which ones are supposed to make you most money. There's a lot of advice out there on which programs to pick for your website, highest commissions, monthly payout, online reporting, etc, etc, etc. The fact is that you don't always have that choice to make. You need to concentrate on products that your visitors will be most interested in. What programs compliment your website's content and theme are much more important than signing up for every program promising to make you rich with only one sale. I'm a great example of above information. One of my websites caters to a highly targeted audience. I have tried many affiliate programs and advertising solutions on that site over past two years. You know which program consistently beats all others? Amazon.com! I get paid quarterly not monthly (make that a month or two after quarter has ended), I only get credited for that visit, not repeat visits, and up until about a month ago had to wait until Monday of each week for my emailed statistics. Believe it or not boys and girls, Amazon.com doesn't fit into 'model affiliate program' mold that we read so much about. Now, I'm not trying to be hypocritical here, I too feel that you should do your best to find quality affiliate programs that offer all of above benefits and then some. I'm just trying to tell you that if you find a program that really appeals to your target audience, you CAN make some money with it. Don't pass up products that your visitors would really be interested in just because program doesn't have highest commissions. Because if your visitors do purchase from a particular program and you can show consistent sales
| | MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS the 'Affiliate Way'Written by Carl Hruza
An Affiliate Marketer is someone who actively promotes products or services of one or more businesses, and receives commissions on sales generated through his/her referrals. A successful Affiliate Marketer is efficient and 'savvy', can locate a good business opportunity and extract it's full income generating potential. Applying Affiliate Marketing techniques to promote your business on Internet can be very successful, once you understand some of basics. We estimate that around 5 million people are involved in promoting affiliate web sites. The majority of these, perhaps 75%, will not generate a single commission check. Approximately 25% will make supplemental income from their programs, relying on income from other sources, with only a relatively small number of affiliate marketers who are very successful. Therefore, what do 'successful' marketers do differently and how can we apply their techniques to our Internet business? Broadly speaking there are six methods of promoting a web site on Internet: 1. Through Internet Search Engines. 2. Banner advertising, both pay-per-click and reciprocal banner exchanges. 3. Opt-in (subscription) email lists. 4. Ezines, article submission sites and reputable Business to Business resource sites. 5. Free-for-all link boards (FFA), classified ad boards and directories. 6. Unsolicited Email (Spam) Let us deal with last two points first. We do not advocate use of unsolicited email, and recommend to all our clients that they do not respond to unsolicited email, only to 'unsubscribe'. FFA boards are becoming less effective, largely due to decreasing numbers of people who actually read posted messages. FFA boards have evolved into 'automated' link sites where you submit your 'offer' to 1000's of boards through automated bulk-submission services, and you receive auto-responders from board operators, advertising their services to you. Most of these auto-response messages are filtered out and deleted by submission service before you get to read them, or are directed to a 'free' email address where they are dumped - automated submissions, automated deletions! That is not to say that they serve no purpose. FFA boards can enhance 'link-popularity' of your web site, which can gain you valuable points with search engines. Which leads us to answer question posed above - "what do successful marketers do differently and how can we apply their techniques to our Internet business". The answer is to implement
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