"HOW TO PROFIT FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS"
By Dirk Dupon

An affiliate Program (also called associate, reseller or partnership program) is a revenue sharing system used by companies who market their products and services. The company you partner with has the products and services.

Affiliate programs let you sell products of popular online merchants from your web site and in return pays you a percentage of sales as commission. Usually anywhere between 10-20% of the sale.

There are different types of programs:

a. Pay per sale: If you refer a visitor to the online merchant's site and if he/she makes a purchase you get a percentage of the sale as commission. Depending on the merchant the commission may be just for that purchase or for all the purchases that customer makes in his life time, or all purchase that customer makes in a fixed period of time (usually 6 months to 1 year).

b. Bounty: You get a one-time bounty payment for the customer you referred. You will not get commission on any future purchases that customer makes.

c. 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 - $0.10 per click.

d. Two-Tier: You get commission on direct sales you generate and also get commission on sales generated by affiliates you recruited. Usually companies pay 15% commission for direct sales and 5% for sales generated by your affiliates.

e. 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 a questionnaire or application.

Joining an affiliate program is easy, and in most cases free.The advantage is that you get access to products from huge company's like the online bookstore Amazon.com.

TIP: Start with 1 program. Get it running smoothly and then add another. I would advice 3 to 7 programs working for you if the internet is a part time business. If you do it full time, you could handle more. Just don't end up neglecting some of them because you took on too much too soon.

You will be invited to use the affiliates marketing stuff; banners, graphics sales letters, and very important; a guide how to best market their products and services. You do the marketing, they take care of the order and you get paid for sending them customers.

Sounds great, right? It is a great way of earning some extra cash. But, before rushing off, read these important tips first.

If you want to succeed in this business, you'll need to be ahead of the rest. Begin with designing a good looking web site that is focused on content or a theme which you know a lot about. Then you may carefully pick a good affiliate program that can provide goods and services connected to your interest.

* Does the affiliate program offer you to join without buying the product?

* Will you be notified by e-mail when sales are made?

* Do they offer backend products so you can get repeat sales from the same person?

* How often will you receive a commission check?

* Do you get credited for a sale if people come back in month and then make a            purchase.

* Can you get around-the-clock help online or offline?

* Do you get a large percentage of each sale as commission?

* Do they offer you access to an online sales stats page?

* Do they use a reputable system to track your sales?

* Does the affiliate program pay commission for sales of people who sign up under you?

* Do they offer customers different ordering options?

* Will they keep in contact with you on a regular basis by e-mail?

These web sites house some good Associate Programs:

http://www.befree.com
http://www.refer-it.com
http://associate-it.com

The key to selling an affiliate product is to have a lot of information on a specific subject and then relate your affiliate product to that. Build up trust by supplying useful information on your chosen subject so that the visitor will see that you are knowledgable and your affiliate recommendations will appear much more attractive.

Suppose your web site is about Nascar racing. You can put recommended books on your site, or have a section where you write people can order books about Nascar

racing, auto sports, the history about Nascar, etc...

Your visitors will buy those books (I hope for you) because they trust you, and you will earn a commission from every sale. This will be little bucks, but it gives your site credibility, and that's important! Don't forget to update your web site regularly.

Tip: If you have a bookstore at your site: check out other book selling sites and ask the web masters in charge if they like to set up an affiliate page. If they do, link their site to yours and ask them to do the same. Every time people will visit their sites, they will see your book store link, and that will result in more traffic and more sales!

Provide interesting content to keep your visitors interested, or they will turn away. Remember to give before you take!

Selling an item for $19.95 is as difficult as selling it for $49.95. Beware of companies that only have affiliate programs to get new customers for a low cost paying unfair commissions. A trustful two tier affiliate program will pay you 15-45% in residual commissions.

Tip: Do not join too many affiliate programs. Join a couple and promote them as hard as you can. It will give you enough promoting and marketing work. If you splatter your affiliates all over your web site, your visitors will get confused, and click away from your site.

A few other sites that will help you finding good Associate Programs :

- http://www.associateprograms.com By Allan Gardyne. A categorized and searchable directory of over 1000 revenue sharing programs, recommended programs, reviews, discussion board, etc.

-The Toolkit Digest. To subscribe: the-toolkit-subscribe@onelist.com A moderated discussion list for the exploration of affiliate programs.

Two-tier commission programs not only pay you a commission for your own sales but also for sales generated by others who you introduced to the program. This is an incentive for you to encourage others to join the program. However, your main focus should be on generating your own commissions. Don't depend on others efforts to provide your income.

Be specific.

Too many web sites try to sell everything and they donīt know who to sell to. Get products that people ask for and focus your communication and marketing efforts against the audience that is interested in your services.

Of course, you get the best deal and the most money if you do something on your own. If you sell information and distribute it electronically you take 90-100% profit!

Smart entrepreneurs get their own product line and sell it through their own affiliate program. Perhaps you donīt have any own products or a service to sell? There are ways to solve this.

* Create your own information products. Write an E-book about a subject that you know a lot about, and then sell it from your own web site.

* Private label deals. Many companies will allow you to use their product or service and put your own name on it.

* Contact a company who is interested in more orders. You do the marketing and they fulfill the order. No risk, no inventory.

Make clear daily goals and write them down. Then do it. A big danger is spending a lot of time just browsing around and watching cool websites. A cheap excuse is "I have to do research". No way! Do your research AFTER you have completed your activities.

Get out and meet the crowd. Millions go online every day and they all have money in their pockets to spend. Why else than to your site and order form should they go? :-)

Article written by Dirk Dupon, author of: 'Web Site and Ezine Promotion',
tips, tricks and secret techniques to promote your Web Site or E-zine. Get
a FREE download: http://www.theweirdsite.com/idiots.htm