Affiliate Gold by Bail - HTML preview

Introduction

The internet is one of the easiest ways to make money, particularly if you want to make money from your home, or make money in a way that costs little and returns many-fold on your investment of little or nothing. It has allowed people from all walks of life to make money—big money—and quit their day jobs (or in many cases, never start one to begin with). And surprisingly, making money on the internet does not require the sort of background, education, or experience that most people think it does. Making money on the internet has been made increasingly easier, opening the door for more and more people to sit back, relax, and let the ethereal World Wide Web make their money for them.

So how can a man or woman—with or without a working knowledge of computer programming or business—make money online? And how can he or she do so without straining at the monitor of a computer for hours and days on end?

For a very well-established number of people and an ever-growing population of web users, the answer is internet marketing, more specifically known as affiliate marketing. But as the name might be taken to imply, affiliate marketing does not require an advertising degree, or even an understanding of the codes and programs that run the internet. With the tools and resources available, any person who can read or can type (and not well, we might add) can be an online affiliate, and can replace his or her income with the income generated as what we call a Super Affiliate..

Super affiliates take it upon themselves to become a leader instead of a follower. They aren’t satisfied following the crowd. They want to be the ones selling to the crowd instead. They achieve this by offering an unusual bonus others don’t have. Or perhaps while others are sending generic sales letters to their mailing list, the super affiliate will take it upon themselves to create a quiz or a contest to spice things up. Super affiliates are always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to surpass the creativity of their competitors.

Many affiliate marketers fail because they have a lack of experience where direct sales are concerned. However, the super affiliate will learn the hard lessons others tend to shy away from. They take the time to learn about their products, becoming experts in their field. Most of all, they keep aiming for profitability. Simple traffic and visitor counts aren’t good enough; there has to be a return on their investment of time, effort and money.

An important part of becoming a super affiliate is turning a customer into a repeat customer. Super affiliates are aware that their best and most willing prospects for any backend products, new products and recommendations are those people who have previously purchased from them. They are also those who require the least amount of marketing costs to promote a product to.

Profit, profit, profit... super affiliates are hard-headed about profits! They split-test, then carefully consider WHY one ad performs better than another. And, they try to duplicate the results. They analyze their traffic, stats, and user purchase patterns. They're diligent about knowing their visitor to sales ratio on a daily basis. And they're highly concerned with ROI.

If you want to say goodbye to the ranks of affiliate marketer, learn to love the numbers like the super affiliates do. Successful affiliates have a simple business model: they replicate their success. Once they find the equation that works, they tweak it slightly, test, evaluate, and repeat. Consistent effort tends to yield consistent results, especially where specific types of marketing (like SEO) take time.

Working a plan all comes down to discipline. Organization, tracking, and daily project management are a way of life for super-affiliates. That same plan may require you to discontinue certain products, or cut your losses on another. They key to being a super affiliate is to never give up; any setback you encounter is just another learning experience which will help you achieve a stronger, more successful affiliate marketing career.

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How affiliates make money

There are many different avenues affiliate marketers can take in order to see their profits roll in. Here you’ll find information on some of those which are not usually explained from the standpoint of beginner affiliate marketing strategies.

Video Broadcasts

Can you think of a better way to wow any prospective and current customers better than to provide them with your newly published, top-notch videos? Think of how excited they will be when they realize you are offering them full motion screen captures, demonstrating your hard work. This will definitely get them motivated to jump right in and purchase your product on the spot! It’s been proven time and again that by giving your customers something they can actually see in action can explode your sales almost instantly.

Let’s take Camtasia for example. With no need for long training and education sessions to be able to use this system, it can be a profit-pulling addition to your affiliate marketing strategy line. This allows you to create stunning video sessions, from multimedia tutorials to step-by-step presentations which you can make available online. For your customers, it will seem like they are sitting right beside you as you show them exactly what they need to see and hear, step by step.

Publish value of informational productions are far higher than those which contain only text material. The ability to minimize any miscommunications is brilliant. You are instantly showing them what it was they wanted to know in the first place, giving them understanding and clarity of the entire essence of your affiliate program.

Press Releases

If you happen to have an upcoming event, or even newsworthy information related to your site’s primary topic, you may want to consider announcements in the form of press releases. An example would be creating a survey amongst your present visitors and customers. Ask them if they have had any successes or downfalls with a particular line of products which they have purchased from you.

Write up a report on your findings, and then create a press release! If this is well written, you could easily find yourself with a dramatic rise in sales. It‘s also a great way to provide exposure for your affiliate business, at the same time as it provides exposure to the products you’re promoting.

Blogging

Blogs are wonderful business tools for so many reasons. This is the perfect way to reach out to your existing, as well as potential core audience on a regular basis. Your blog can also have a more personal touch to it, allowing your readers to feel like you are addressing them personally.

Blogs are also an easy way to set up individual spaces for each of your affiliate products. Just as you would have individual websites, the same applies for blogs and your affiliate items. You are less likely to see any rise in profit margins if your blog is promoting a different item every second post.

When it comes to search engines, they are quite attracted to blogs due to the constant change in information. Fresh content means better indexing on a search rating, thereby giving your particular blog potential for more visitors. More visitors, of course, mean the potential for more money. Can you picture yourself climbing the ranks yet?

The problem many people encounter with this aspect is they start out strong, blogging regularly and obtain a great number of followers. Then, suddenly it appears the writing well runs dry. If you stop posting your regular content on your blog, you’re probably going to lose some of your clientele. One of the keys to your successful affiliate marketing ventures is to ensure you keep the lines of communication open. At this point in time, those lines are directly connected to your blog.

RSS is a means by which blogs can broadcast their content to a number of services and individuals easily and quickly. Your blogging software will probably be able to handle the creation process for your RSS feed automatically. However, having an RSS feed won’t do much good for your traffic statistics if nobody reads it. Therefore you must share your RSS feed with others, usually in the form of pinging. Another option for this is to submit your feed to any of the numerous RSS aggregators.

One important point when using RSS feeds is to not forget to update. Make sure you remember to either ping using a mass-ping service or to manually alert RSS aggregators about your feed every time you update. Otherwise, you are losing some of the potential value of the feed.

Make your feed itself a moneymaker! Some bloggers who are particularly interested in making their blog pay may want to consider using their RSS feed as a vehicle for advertising.

Choosing Affiliate Networks

While there are many horror stories about affiliate programs and networks floating around, there are ways to choose a good program to promote. The following steps will help guide you in making your decision, while steering clear of those which may not be completely legal in their practices.

Find a program you yourself have an interest in. Chances are there are many others interested in the same program or products as well.

Programs of high quality are normally a good choice. Look for those associated with several experts in that industry.

If the program is offering real, viable products they are a better choice. The way you can determine if this is the case is by completing some initial research. When possible, try to contact some of the members and customers for testimonials on the credibility of the program.

Choose a program which is catering to a growing target market. By doing this, you are ensuring there will be continuous demands for referrals. Make as many inquiries as possible. Check out forums and discussion boards in order to receive reliable feedback.

Look for programs with residual income compensation plans. Those with a payout of 30% or more are fantastic choices. Programs offering drastically low rewards aren’t worth the time and effort you will need to put into your promotions.

Good choices also include those which provide you with plenty of tools and resources to assist you with the growth of your business in the shortest time possible. Not all affiliate programs are willing or able to provide you with the tools you need to succeed.

Any affiliate program which provides continuous help and upgrades, as well as strong incentives for its members have a tendency to keep them. These types of actions can assure the growth of your own network.

Having a strong knowledge of the affiliate network you are planning to join is your best action towards anticipating and preventing any potential issues you may encounter.

Houston...We Have a Problem

Just as with any other aspect of life, there are sometimes issues or problems you can get hit with unexpectedly. Some of these can be avoided, and some you just have to learn to deal with, and keep on going. Let’s take a look at a few potential issues you could encounter during your affiliate marketing journey.

Content theft is something which can happen to even the most experienced super affiliate. You could be surfing around the internet, and suddenly stumble upon one of your articles or ads, yet there is no link to your site or mention of your name anywhere to be found. You haven’t even heard of this person before!

Search the site for contact information for either the owner or webmaster where this has happened. You can ask them to please either include your URL or kindly remove your content from their site. Most times this will be sufficient enough to have something done.

Receiving rejection or termination letters from affiliate managers can be quite the shock. To best avoid any rejection letters, it’s best to make sure you have completely read and understood any terms and conditions set out by the affiliate program you are considering. By ensuring you comply with all of their requirements beforehand gives you a better chance at avoiding that rejection in the first place.

When it comes to termination letters however, the scenario is a bit different. It’s important to ensure you’re ready to dedicate the time and effort needed to best promote your affiliate programs. Before starting the application process for your affiliations, it’s important to be as close to “ready to roll” as possible. This will give you the added bonus of being prepared to start almost the minute you receive your acceptance information.

The idea of companies paying salespeople commissions for selling their products has been around since time untold. When the Internet came along, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to devise a way to take the practice online. There is some debate about who pioneered the concept of affiliate marketing, but webmasters of adult websites were among the first to put it into practice in the mid-1990s.

Affiliate marketing has come a long way since then. It has expanded to every field in online sales. It has evolved into a practice with all sorts of nuances and techniques. It has made a lot of people a lot of money, and a whole lot more people a little money. According to Marketing Sherpa, in 2011, affiliates worldwide earned an estimated $9.5 billion dollars in commissions.

Those who are new to affiliate marketing often have high expectations. They hear the stories of affiliates who are making six figures a year just by promoting other people's products, and they get stars in their eyes. They eagerly sign up for lots and lots of programs, and they start counting the money in their minds. Unfortunately, many of them barely make enough to cover their website hosting, much less a profit.

Maybe you're one of those who became disillusioned after months of barely-existent profits. Or maybe you've made some money, but you haven't achieved the success that you had hoped for. Either way, it's important to realize that you – yes, YOU – can make a steady income with affiliate marketing. You don't have to be some kind of guru to make it work.

You just have to be determined and ready to do what it takes to succeed. In this report, you'll learn how to take your affiliate marketing business to the next level.

The Reason Super Affiliates Make So Much More Than Others?

Affiliate marketing isn't a job. It's a business opportunity. That means that there is unlimited moneymaking potential. But it also means that how much you make is proportional to how much work you put into it. That doesn't mean that you have to make it a full-time effort, but it does mean that you have to keep working at it. It's easy money, relatively speaking, but just signing up for a program and putting up a link or two doesn't guarantee instant income.

Whether you want to make a living doing nothing but affiliate marketing or are looking to generate a steady supplemental income, you must be willing to dedicate a certain amount of your time to it. And this is a big part of the reason why income varies so significantly between affiliates. Some believe that if they choose a program that performs well for others that the products will sell themselves, but it just doesn't work that way.

If you understand that being a successful affiliate requires commitment, you're ahead of the game. But it's still quite possible that you're not making as much as you'd like to, despite your best efforts. There are certain traits that so-called super affiliates possess that allow them greater earning potential. Some of these are:

They include affiliate marketing activities in their schedule. Telling yourself that you'll spend a certain number of hours a week working on it is nice, but if you don't set aside time specifically for that purpose, there's a good chance that you won't get around to it.

Whether they decide to spend 2 or 20 hours a week on affiliate marketing, super affiliates pencil it in on their calendars and stick to it.

They're not afraid to spend some money. You can become an affiliate for free, but if you're serious about bringing in regular income, you'll probably need to invest a little cash into it. Super affiliates realize this, and they have no qualms about spending on site building, pay per click campaigns and other promotional efforts.

They understand the importance of keeping an eye on their stats. Knowing how many visitors your sites are getting, how many people are clicking on your affiliate links, and how many are buying is crucial to your success as an affiliate. It will alert you to strategies that aren't working so that you can replace them with strategies that do. Super affiliates check their stats often and use that information to fine-tune their efforts.

They are eager to learn. As the Internet evolves, so does affiliate marketing. New techniques and applications are coming out all the time, and if you ignore them, you could be left behind. Super affiliates understand that you can't learn it all in one sitting. Even if you were to learn everything there is to know about affiliate marketing today, there will be something new to learn tomorrow.

They don't mind taking risks. Just because the tried and true stuff is working, that doesn't mean that they won't attempt something new. It might work out and it might not, but super affiliates are willing to take a chance if there's the possibility of greater profits.

If you possess these traits, there's not much standing in the way of you making a nice passive income. If you don't, work on them. Without them, all the tips and techniques in the world won't be much help. The good news is that it's primarily a matter of attitude, and that's something you can always change if you want to badly enough.

These Regular Affiliate Mistakes

We all make mistakes. It's a fact of life. Even seasoned affiliate marketing pros are not immune to them. But there are certain mistakes that are common among those who are struggling to find their way as affiliates. Do any of these sound familiar to you?

Joining the wrong programs – Some affiliates make the mistake of joining affiliate programs just because of their high commission rates, or because someone else they know is doing well with them. But these things cannot necessarily be used to predict success in a particular situation.

Relying solely on graphic advertising – Banners and buttons are useful tools for affiliates, but they're not the be-all and end-all of affiliate marketing. They rarely generate nearly as many sales as a good product review or other useful content. There's nothing wrong with using graphics, just don't make that your only approach.

Promoting too many products – Some affiliates join so many programs that they can't keep up with them all. If keeping up with all of the products you're promoting is a full-time job, how will you have time to actually promote them?

Not promoting enough products – Other affiliates concentrate their efforts on just one or two products. While it's good to have focus, expanding your offerings allows for greater income potential.

Failure to explore different methods of promotion – When you find something that brings in affiliate sales, it can be tempting to just stick with it and not try anything else. But there are many different ways to promote your affiliate links. If you don't give them a try, you could be missing out on a lot of profits.

Not reading the fine print – Every affiliate program has its own set of terms, and they vary greatly from program to program. If you don't read and heed them, you could miss out on commissions, or even be removed from the program for violations.

Spamming – With all of the spammers there are out there, you'd think there was a lot of money in it. But whether it's sending out unsolicited emails or creating splogs, spamming will get you nowhere fast. You'll lose the trust of your potential customers, and you could get in trouble with your ISP, your web host, and the search engines (and possibly even the law). If you're not familiar with the actions that could be considered spamming, take some time to learn about them before you go any further.

If you've made any of these mistakes, don't feel bad. Few marketers get through their entire affiliate career without a single blunder. Just correct what you can and keep moving forward.

How Do You Choose Your Niche?

If you want to make money online (and particularly with affiliate marketing), you need a niche. Or better yet, several niches. But each niche needs its own site and/or blog, its own mailing list, and its own affiliate programs for you to promote.

If you've been an affiliate for any length of time, you've almost certainly heard this advice. But it's amazing how many affiliates don't follow through with it. Or they try to follow through with it, but their “niche” is nothing more than a product category, and they don't tailor their marketing efforts to a specific market segment.

For the uninitiated, catering to specific niches might seem counterproductive. After all, by narrowing your focus, you're limiting yourself to prospects that fit into a certain small group with specific characteristics. Wouldn't it be better to offer a variety of products to a variety of people?

If you're Wal-Mart, that's not a bad approach to take. But for the rest of us, it's just too difficult to appeal to people with different interests, from different backgrounds, and with different needs. If you can focus on a small group, you can better meet their needs, and that's where your affiliate sales will come from.

Now that you know why working with niches is important, let's explore how to choose niches that are profitable. In order for a niche to make you money, it has to possess a few important characteristics:

It should ideally be something you're interested in. This is a topic you're going to be working with a lot for a while, and possibly for a long while depending on your marketing strategy. If a niche bores you to tears or otherwise doesn't appeal to you, you probably won't do very well with it.

It must have a sufficient audience. There must be a reasonable number of people who are interested enough in the topic to seek out information on it. Without an audience, you'll have no one to sell to.

It should not be saturated. This simply means that there should not be a lot of other marketers catering to the same niche. The more marketers there are targeting the same group, the lower your chances of breaking in will be.

It should either be evergreen or an up and coming trend. Evergreen niches provide the best long-term income potential. Trends, which are on the rise, offer tremendous income potential in the beginning, but may or may not stand the test of time. It's fine to work with either type, but if you're following trends, be prepared to pursue the next big thing when you find that your current niche is on the decline.

The niche's target market should be willing and able to buy online. There are some niches that obviously wouldn't be a good choice for affiliate marketing, but for the most part, this is discovered by trial and error.

Once you've come up with a topic that interests you, you can start doing some research to determine whether or not it would make a good niche. A good tool for this purpose is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool ( https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). Just type in your topic idea, and you'll be presented with a list of related keywords, along with a bar graph indicating the amount of competition for the keyword and its search volume. The best niches have low competition and high search volume.

When you find a niche that interests you and appears profitable, search for affiliate programs that would interest members of the target market. Put yourself in their shoes and think about the kinds of things you would be interested in buying. Then see what kinds of affiliate programs you can find that sell those things, and what percentage commissions they offer. If you like what you see, this could be a good niche for you.

There are no guarantees that any niche will be a winner. But if you do some research before jumping in, you can greatly increase your chances of success.

Finding The Best Affiliate Programs

Many of the affiliate programs out there will accept just about any webmaster. Some are more selective, but they're usually just looking for affiliates who own sites with lots of traffic. Most do not take the subject matter of your site into consideration. So it's up to you to find programs that are a good fit.

One of the most important things to consider when choosing programs is whether they would appeal to your target market. Here's an extreme example: If you run a website about knitting, joining an affiliate program for a car parts company probably wouldn't be wise. Even becoming an affiliate for a company that sells supplies for other crafts might not make you much money. Stick close to the subject matter and become an affiliate for a yarn or pattern company.

If you plan to purchase pay per click ads to direct visitors straight to your affiliate link (or use other methods to do so), you'll have a lot more leeway as far as choosing programs. But it's still a good idea to stick with products you have at least some interest in. This will make it easier for you to write appealing ads, not to mention making your work more pleasant for you.

Commission isn't the most important thing when selecting affiliate programs, but it should certainly be considered. But it's best considered after you've found programs that are a good fit for your site and/or interests. Percentage is the first thing that most affiliates look at, but it's also crucial to consider the terms regarding payment of commissions. If there are conditions that could significantly reduce your commissions or make receiving payment difficult, you might want to reconsider.

Just like any other moneymaking opportunity, there is the potential for scams in affiliate marketing. So it's not a bad idea to do a little research before signing up with a company that you're not particularly familiar with. You could also go through an affiliate marketplace, which acts as an intermediary between companies and their affiliates. Some good ones to consider are Commission Junction, LinkShare and Pepperjam.

Affiliate Programs, Which To Join?

A dilemma for many affiliate marketers is whether to go for quality or quantity in signing up for affiliate programs. On one hand, the more products you promote, the more potential income streams you have. On the other, signing up for just a few good programs allows you to concentrate more effort on promoting them.

For most affiliates, it's best to find a happy medium. Signing up for every program coming and going will just leave you terribly confused. But it is good to have several different things to promote. It keeps you from sounding like a broken record, trying to sell the same products over and over again (especially if you're promoting on a niche site or blog). And as long as you keep the numbers manageable, you'll be able to get to know your products well enough to recommend them with confidence.

Even if you're going the pay per click route, it's best not to sign up for too many programs. You'll have to spend some time writing ads and tracking your results for each one, and that's more time consuming than you might think. But you'll probably be able to handle more programs this way than you would if you were focusing exclusively on content-based promotion methods.

Getting Paid The Highest Rates

The commission rate determines how much money you make from each sale you generate. As stated before, it's not a good idea to select programs based solely on commission rate. But there's no denying that a high commission rate is more attractive than a low one.

The easiest way to get a high commission rate is to join an affiliate program that offers a high percentage to everyone who joins. But that's not the only way to do it. Here are some tips for getting as much money as possible out of each sale.

Read the affiliate agreement carefully. You might just find an easy way to get bumped up to a higher commission rate, such as using a certain promotion method or selling a specific product. It's certainly worth looking into.

Make as many sales as possible. You'll make money from volume, and many merchants will also raise your commission rate if you reach a certain level of sales in a given amount of time. Some lay out the terms for such increases in their agreements, while others make adjustments on a case-by-case basis.

Recruit new affiliates. Some affiliate programs will pay you a commission for each sale your recruits make. And some will also raise commissions for your sales if you meet certain recruiting goals.

Pay attention to affiliate newsletters. They often announce affiliate contests in which the winners receive higher commissions or bonuses.

Email or call the affiliate manager and ask how you can get higher commissions. If you're generating a fair amount of sales, he might offer to raise your commission just to keep you happy. Or he might be able