An Introduction to Affiliate Selling

Affiliate selling is the most powerful way to create passive internet income on the net to date. It is also dangerously easy to get started. Once new comers realize the power of this income vehicle they often jump right in with-out any knowledge or experience. An Affiliate seller basically advertises and sells other companies products and services for a commission of the sales price. With the advent of Search Engine pay-per-click Advertising, Affiliates can now advertise different products and services extremely cheaply on search engine result pages. Affiliate selling is essentially a market place. read more

 

The Unicorn, The Dragon, And... The High-Earning Affiliate

Are They All Merely Myths? No, The High-Earning Affiliate is Alive & Well And You Could Become One

The affiliate model is a "high reward/low risk" Web site monetization option...

• you don't have to develop excellent products -- it has already been done for you. You simply judge and pick the best available ones, from the best available merchants!
• you don't have to spend large amounts to manufacture and store inventory
• no need to take and process a single order, or worry about getting paid (you don't even need a merchant account!) -- you simply send people to your affiliated merchants, then get paid when they buy
• you don't have to handle or ship a product -- your merchants do that
• you'll never have to answer customer e-mail (inquiries and support are 24/7 issues that can easily eat up 50% of your day)
• they cost nothing to join (beware of the few that do)
• your affiliate business can be started part-time, on a shoestring. Here's an example.

Sounds great... and the "affiliate model" has mushroomed since Amazon.com first brought it into public prominence in 1997. Millions of affiliates send billions of visitors to tens of thousands of companies in return for a payment. Major research houses like Forrester Research project the affiliate model to grow exponentially over the next few years.

Affiliate programs are a great way to generate income if you don't have a product of your own to promote yet.

How do I put an affiliate link on my site?

Each program will give you instructions on how to establish an affiliate link to their site. Usually, there is a Web page that allows you to generate some HTML code to put on your site. This code will display text or an image on your Web page that is linked to the merchant’s site, and contains information that lets the merchant know which click-throughs come from you.

Tips and Tricks

Don’t create a Web page that is simply a list of affiliate links. That kind of page looks amateurish and won’t bring you the kind of conversions you need. Do create a site that adds value to your readers. For example, if you decide to join an affiliate program for a garden store, create a site that contains gardening tips, a calendar, and special landscape designs. Your readers will be much more likely to trust your recommendations. Do focus on a niche market. An Amazon affiliate site with books on dozens of topics won’t sell as well as a site focusing on a specialty. Don’t sit back and wait for traffic to come to you. Do market the site to your target audience. If you’ve selected your niche carefully, this will be easier to do.