Affiliate Program Basics – Affiliate Programs
Affiliate Program Basics
Albert Hallado
Affiliate Program is a ground floor opportunity. All you have to do is send visitors to your affiliate web site by placing a textlink or banner on your website and receive a commission on each sale, without the complication and expense of selling anything yourself.
Instead, you earn a commission for producing a ransaction. Affiliate programs, also known as Referral Programs, Associate Programs, Profit Sharing Programs or Reseller programs, give affiliates the ability to create an online business selling thousands products and services.
One of the first affiliate programs was run by the mega- bookstore, Amazon.com. They still have the largest base of affiliates on the net although they may not be the best affiliate program for many! with over 600,000 web sites being affiliated.
Affiliate programs are generally offered by sites selling goods or services, although some affiliate programs reward other types of transaction such as getting a visitor to sign up for a free newsletter, or a download.
Some affiliate programs pay per lead rather than per sale, in other words, you bring them a prospective customer and they pay a fixed "finders fee" for the chance to market to that customer.
This is a typical arrangement for affiliate programs in the insurance, real estate and credit card industries, for example:
Types of Affiliate Programs
Pay per sale: If you refer a visitor to the online merchants site and if visitor makes a purchase you get a percentage of the sale as commission.
Pay per lead: You get paid a one-time fee for generating a lead for the merchant. Usually you get paid $2-$5 if the visitor you referred fills out an application.
Pay per click: You get paid for every visitor you send to the online merchant regardless of any sale or purchase. Usually companies pay $0.05 - $0.15 per click.
Two-Tier: You get commission on direct sales you generate and also you get commission on sales generated by affiliates you recruited. Usually companies pay 25% commission for direct sales and 5% for sales generated by your affiliates.
Bounty: You get a one-time finders fee payment for the visitor you referred. You will not get commission on any future purchases that customer makes.
When you join an affiliate program, you will be given a specially formatted URL Links that you should use to link to the affiliate providers site.
This will enable the affiliate provider to monitor traffic to your site and pay according to the type of affiliate program.
The Benefit of an Affiliate Program
Is that you just need to drive traffic to your affiliate site. Write a few articles and provide a few links.
You dont need to find or deal with brokers, wholesalers, inventory, process orders, shipping & handling, customer service, tech support, handle returns, warranties, employees, etc-
An affiliate doesnt even have to be present, your site will keep earning money while youre sick, on vacation, or just doing something else.
Another advantage of being an affiliate, is that you do it from almost anywhere in the world..
How The System Works
Many affiliate programs pay a commission based on a percentage of the revenue generated by purchases made by visitors coming from your website.
For example; if youre participating in an affiliate program that offers a 25% commission and you
send a visitor who purchases US$100 worth of products, youve just earned US$25 in commissions.
The commission rate itself can vary from 20% up- to 50%+ in the case of intangible products such as eBooks or website subscriptions.
Affiliate programs vary widely in terms of overall quality, reliability, commission , statistics, the amount of help that the merchant site offers in marketing the products or services it sells, and so on.
By thoroughly understanding an affiliate program, youll minimize the risk of not getting paid - and maximize your potential earnings.
About The Author
Albert Hallado
Owner of netbizreview.com Guide To Internet Based BusinessAlbert is known for interviewing online business experts and Helping Entrepreneurs Doing Business On The Internet
Editor@netbizreview.com
How To Choose A Fire Wall Software Program – Spyware
How To Choose A Fire Wall Software Program
Cavyl Stewart
In the real world a "fire wall" is a fireproof wall that is built to stop the spread of fire from one part of a building to others. In the Internet world a firewall has a similar purpose in that it stops the spread of harmful viruses and attacks from entering your home or office network.
Because of the ever-increasing threats that are appearing on the Internet you no longer have to be in business to need the protection of a fire wall. In fact, every computer that is connected to the internet should have one installed. Youll be a lot happier once you know that you have protected your personal files, information, and financial data, such as credit cards and bank account numbers, from being shared with every crook on the internet.
Here are some questions that you should consider before you choose a fire wall for your PC:
What features do I need
Do I want to be protected from viruses, Trojan horses and worms
Am I at risk because I use programs that access the Internet automatically
How much am I willing to spend on a firewall solution
Here are the common features that are available in almost any software-based fire wall program:
Inbound filtering - protects unknown users or programs from accessing your PC
Outbound filtering - Protects your PC from sending information to the Internet without your permission
Application integrity verification - Verifies that any program you are running arent sneaking around behind your back and doing things that they shouldnt be doing.
Data encryption - Automatically scrambles any sensitive data that you do allow to be transmitted.
Stealth mode - Hides that fact that your PC is even connected to the Internet so that hackers cant see you.
Pop-up ad blocking - Stops those annoying ads.
Cookie blocking - prevents web sites from sending you cookies without your permission Spyware protection - Blocks dangerous spyware from operating on your PC
There are many software-based firewall programs that can be downloaded from the internet. Most of them come with free trials so you can test each one and choose whats best for you. Although you wont have to be King Geek to install and set up your firewall, there are some adjustments and settings that will have to be tweaked. All of the better firewall programs come with decent instructions and many of the products have help available at their web site.
If you notice that some program that used to work stops working after you install a fire wall then youll have to make a change in the fire walls configuration that will enable the program to operate freely. If you find that there is no way to let your previously operating program pass through the firewall then that might be a good indication that you need to try a different fire wall. Be sure to check with the makers of both the software program and the firewall before you give up and change.
About The Author
Copyright © 2004 Cavyl Stewart. Discover 52 Ways To Do More With Software by signing up for my exclusive Free ecourse. Get tutorials, tips, reviews and recommendations you can use right now to help you achieve more, easier, and cheaper! 100% Original content. Visit: http://www.find-small-business-software.com/52ways.html.
Top 5 Tips for Frustrated Affiliate Program Marketers – Affiliate Programs
Top 5 Tips for Frustrated Affiliate Program Marketers
Isaiah Hull
Do you go through affiliate programs like most people go through pairs of socks Many Internet marketers do. In fact, 97% of all Internet marketers never make a single cent advertising opportunities on the Internet. They jump from one opportunity to the next and never see results. If you want to break free from this cycle of failure-- if you want to earn a living off of your Internet ventures--continue reading. I will tell you exactly how you can earn money from any legitimate affiliate program.
In order to get the most information from what I am about to explain to you, you must accept that these methods are not intended to be "secrets." These are scientifically-proven, best-practice methods that all top marketers use. If you want results, you will have to do and continue to do the following five things:
1. Know your product. Do not advertise for a product or affiliate program that you are not currently using. I cannot even count the amount of affiliate programs and product offers I have rejected immediately from people who know very little about what they are actually promoting. If you want to make money selling a product or service, you have to use it, understand it, and be able to convince your prospects that they should own it. If you yourself do not believe in it-- because you have not even tried it--then you will have a hard time convincing anyone else it is worthwhile.
2. Know your field. You must continually become more knowledgeable about the market in which you are selling your product or service. For instance, I try to read at least 50 pages on Internet marketing each day to complement the marketing I do. This keeps me learning about my field. The best part about this is that you can do it without spending any money at all. The Internet is loaded with free content sites where you can find free ebooks and special reports on any subject. The Internet is also loaded with affiliate program promoters who are out-selling you. Use google to find these sites and then reverse engineer them--pick apart the source code, page setup, and content layout to find out how you can become more like your competition who is outselling you.
3. Focus your efforts and limit your innovation. As much as "limiting your innovation" may go against your business instincts, it is an absolute must with a limited marketing budget. Figure out what works for you scientifically by measuring your advertising results. When you find something that works, stick with it. If you are getting traffic from reciprocal links, continue to build them. If you are getting constant sign-ups from your newsletter, improve your newsletter and order more leads. Do not stray far from your original plan. Preset the amount of innovative ideas you want to try out each night, but center your marketing efforts around getting better results from methods that have already worked for you.
4. Spend money wisely. The Internet is loaded with scams and bad information. It is really easy to be tricked into blowing money on "get rich quick" schemes and information that you can find in free resources. I personally have spent thousands of dollars needlessly. But do not get me wrong; I am not saying there are no legitimate affiliate promotion services or information products out there: I am saying that the vast majority of them do not work as well as they say they do. So hold onto your cash. When you find a product that multiple people have personally recommended to you, then consider buying it. Otherwise, conserve your cash for purchasing services or products that will produce hard, definite results, such as email leads for your newsletter or phone leads you can contact personally to promote your program.
5. Remember that your success is dependent on your choices and your work alone. If you get upset about not becoming successful with a specific affiliate program, do not blame the program--blame yourself. Do a thorough analysis of what you could be doing better and how you could be making quantitative progress every single day. There are people who do not pay any money at all for promotional services and yet are still able to make a living just from using free tools on the Internet. If they can do it, there is no reason at all why you cannot. Joining a marketing group or forum in your field will help you realize this reality. Seeing and talking to people who are succeeding in your field will remind you that it is entirely possible to make money online without having a million dollars to begin with.
While there are some "secrets" to getting more sign-ups and site visitors, the bigger part of affiliate program marketing is following a sound business plan. If you keep the five concepts I have listed above central to your marketing campaign, you will not fail. But, if you continue to market sporadically--switching from product to product and method to method--you will never break out of that 97% who never make money.
Copyright 2004 Isaiah Hull
About The Author
Isaiah Hull publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter that focuses on building successful internet businesses and promoting affiliate programs. Stop by http://www.workathomerightnow.net or send a blank email to mailto:workathomerightnow.com to receive a years subscription for free.