Make Money Online With Affiliate Programs

There are plenty of ways an industrious individual can make money online. Countless people have turned to the World-Wide-Web looking for a good money making opportunity they can accomplish from the comfort of their own home. It may seem daunting at first but you can make money online if you learn, duplicate and most importantly have the determination to just start.
One of the most ingenious ways to supplement or even replace your income is through online affiliate programs. Online affiliate programs first sprang up in 1996 when Amazon.com started paying websites for referring customers to their site. Now in 2006 online affiliate programs are a mainstay in the e-commerce world. Even Fortune 500 companies such as Dell, Walmart and Apple have adopted the online affiliate program marketing module.
Online affiliate programs provide home business professionals and online entrepreneurs a risk-free form of advertising to produce revenue from their websites. Affiliate marketing has become an increasingly popular home based business opportunity because:
It requires no production costsVery low start-up costsNo employeesNo inventoryNo order processingNo shippingNo customer serviceVery limited risk
So you don’t have a website? In many cases you do not even need to operate a website or know any HTML to make money with online affiliate programs. With the maturation of contextual advertising through Yahoo! Publisher and Google Adwords many pay-per-click (PPC) savvy online affiliate marketers have moved away from deploying websites and focus entirely on search engine marketing (SEM). This may be a good way for some to test the waters with marketing online affiliate programs but if you’re not familiar with setting up PPC campaigns tread lightly. The cost per click can quickly add up with little return on your investment if done improperly. As for myself I still believe content is king and always will be. Having real estate on the web is much like owning a piece of property, it only matures and appreciates in value with age.
An article published by Click Z News identified that according to eBay their largest affiliate earned over $1.3 million dollars in January 2005 commissions, the largest amount yet in their online affiliate program’s history. Their top 25 affiliates averaged over $100,000 per month each and the top 100 affiliates earn almost $25,000 each per month.
With these sort of numbers buzzing around the Internet it’s no wonder affiliate marketing is quickly becoming the numero uno money making opportunity online. There are literally thousands of people just like you making a very handsome living from selling other peoples products online.
Don’t be fooled though. As we all know there are NO get-rich-quick programs online or offline. Like any business making money with affiliate programs takes work, dedication and education.

Four Ways To Create Instant Affiliate Commissions

One of the easiest ways of starting an online business and earning quick profits is through affiliate marketing. With no website to develop, no product development to achieve, no refunds or customer problems to deal with, this is by far the most effective way of developing your online presence.

If you already have your affiliate products and you’re working at making more sales, an increase in commissions is the obvious goal of everyone. With more and more products hitting the online market, it’s essential to follow some simple yet crucial steps. So what are they?

If you want your affiliate program commissions to take off, literally overnight, these are the steps you need to seriously consider;

1. Do your research and check out the programs you’re thinking about promoting. It’s pretty obvious that you only want to promote a product that will give you the maximum paycheck in the shortest possible time.

The main factors to consider when doing this are obvious when you stop and think about them, but more often than not, are not fully considered before putting your time and money into making your product pay.

Check the commission structure and make sure it pays well. Also, try to find products that match your target audience and are already paying well to other affiliates. You soon know when a program isn’t meeting up to it’s promises – that’s the time to reconsider its worth and move on to the next.

As you’re probably going to be one of many affiliates promoting the same product, especially if it’s a good one, establish your USP – or ‘Unique Selling Position’. Set yourself up as offering that little something extra that makes you stand out above the crowd.

Write a short article to give away as an incentive to potential buyers. This gives you both greater credibility and extra drawing power.

Give information that’s not only free, but useful. When you do this, if what you give away for free is good, people naturally expect a great deal more from the bought product. Make recommendations about the product within the report if you can, and try to give just enough information to make people need the actual product.

2. When giving away free reports or ebooks, save and collect, at the very least, the name and email addresses of all those who download your gift. It’s now widely known that very few people make a purchase on their first introduction to a product.

This is where an autoresponder is invaluable as you can create a whole series of follow up messages to send to these prospects to entice them into buying your product. Anywhere between 6 and 10 messages are needed to finally clinch the sale, so automate this process and capitalize on the free report.

Once you have these prospects details, they are yours until the person unsubscribes. This means that you can send them information in the months ahead about other products you’re promoting, long after they’ve bought the original item.

If you develop an ezine, you are in a perfect position to send more valuable, and occasional free, information to these prospects who now value you as a source of knowledge and useful recommendations. You develop a relationship with them and they may stay with you for years to come. They begin to trust you and your recommendations and eventually, are likely to buy from you again.

3. Never underestimate the power of negotiation. Be prepared to haggle with a seller whose goods you wish to promote. Remember that all merchants need affiliates to market and sell their goods and will be more inclined to change their payment structure than potentially loose business if they see you as a good source of income.

Be bold and you could find yourself receiving a greater slice of the pie for all your advertising efforts. Don’t be greedy but be fair and you will be respected for it.

4. Use effective advertising techniques. ‘Pay Per Click’ will give you the most immediate results if you do your research right. Naturally, Google’s Adwords and Overture are the places to start, being leaders in the online PPC field. But, look around and research the smaller players who offer cheaper rates to a smaller audience. These include; ExcelSeek, JumpFind, LookQuick to name just three.

Ezine Top Sponsor and Solo ads can also give you a huge and quick return on your advertising buck with your ad being received by a responsive audience of your chosen market.

And as with any advertising campaigns – track your results. If you don’t know who’s clicking what, you’ll never know which ads are working.

Use these techniques and you’ll soon see an immediate improvement in your affiliate sales. Build on your successes and expansion and growth will follow.