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Affiliate Marketing
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a way of making money online whereby an affiliate (otherwise
referred to as a "publisher") is paid a certain amount (usually a percentage of the
cost of the product being promoted) whenever someone purchases a product
through his/her affiliate link.
In simpler terms, affiliate marketing lets people earn money by promoting or selling
other people's products.
Affiliate marketing is actually very similar to traditional marketing where sales
people are paid commissions whenever they make a sale. The only difference is that
affiliate marketing is done online.
Participating in affiliate marketing typically requires you to sign up for an account
with an affiliate network or a site that offers an affiliate program. Upon signing up,
the affiliate network will issue a unique affiliate link for you for every product you
are going to promote. Your affiliate link is what will identify you as an affiliate and
keep track of the activities of the people who would click on your link(s) (e.g., how
many people have clicked on your link and whether they have actually made a
purchase or not). It is also through your affiliate link that affiliate networks will
keep track of your earnings.
There are generally three types of affiliate marketing--pay-per-click, pay-per-sale,
and pay-per-lead.
Pay-Per-Click
In pay-per-click (PPC) an affiliate/publisher gets paid whenever a visitor clicks on a
link on his/her site leading to the merchant's (product owner/service provider) site.
A very good example for this are the ads you see on websites.
A lot of the ads you see on websites are generated/supplied by online ad networks
(e.g., Google AdSense, AOL Advertising, etc.). Those ads, when clicked on, earns
publishers (i.e., site owners) anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars for each
click they get.
Pay-Per-Sale
As the name suggests, this type of affiliate marketing earns affiliate/publisher
money whenever a visitor/customer purchases a product through his/her affiliate
link. Products sold/promoted in this type of affiliate marketing typically come from
affiliate networks, such as ClickBank, Amazon, and eBay.
In this type of affiliate marketing, affiliates are paid either a percentage of the price
of the product or a fixed amount which are both dictated by the merchant (i.e., the
product owner).
Pay-Per-Lead
In this type of affiliate marketing, affiliates are paid every time a potential client fills
out a form. Some forms only ask people to fill out their email address, while some
ask for a lot more details and can be several pages long.
The forms are provided by the merchant usually in code form which you insert into
your website's code. The form codes are typically attached with a unique identifier
and function very similarly to affiliate links.
What is CPA?
You may have come across mentions of CPA in connection to affiliate marketing and
wondered what it is. Well, one thing's for sure, it's not about accountants.
CPA, or cost-per-action, is actually one of affiliate marketing's predominant
compensation methods where a merchant/advertiser pays an affiliate/publisher
only when people (i.e., internet users/potential customers) complete a specified
action. An action could be a purchase, a submission, a download, and so on.
CPA offers merchants/advertisers an opportunity to control their return on
investment (ROI) and be sure that they're not indiscriminately spending money on
terms that aren't driving business. This is what makes CPA the preferred
compensation method of most direct response advertisers.
For affiliates, CPA offer generally pays more to promote than the usual affiliate
offers such as those found on ClickBank and Amazon. Unfortunately, however,
getting accepted into a CPA network is a lot harder.
Compared to affiliate networks, CPA networks are far more selective. The joining
process is lengthier and they verify everyone who signs up with them. Some
networks will even cross-check the information you have on your application with
those found elsewhere. To complicate things even more, many of the top CPA
networks don't just want anyone applying.
Most CPA networks prefer applicants who have at least some knowledge in Internet
marketing and online business knowledge. Many CPA networks also require that
applicants have an established customer base or online presence (in other words, an
established web site or blog)—they see these as proofs of the applicant's capacity to
promote their offers effectively.
Choosing an Affiliate Program/Network and Product to Promote
With so many affiliate programs/networks out there, choosing which affiliate
program/network to join can be a daunting task.
Below are a few tips to help you out.
• Take time to think about what market/niche you actually want to be in. Doing
this can significantly cut down your list to a few affiliate networks/programs.
For example, if you like technology-related products like software and gadgets,
you’ll only have to find affiliate networks/programs that have a wide variety
of products you can promote. And if you are interested in the self-
improvement market, you will only have to consider networks/programs that
allows you to sell information products, such as ebooks, instructional videos,
etc.
• Ask around and do your research. Join forums, read affiliate blogs, visit review
sites, get in touch with affiliates, etc. A network receiving several positive
testimonials on various sites can be a good sign. There’s a caveat though, you
must be critical of what you read and hear because you are sure to come
across a few things which had been put out with the sole purpose of making
the bad ones look good.
• Payment terms, conditions, schemes, and methods are also very important
things to consider when choosing an affiliate network/program. You should
choose an affiliate program that offers good rates of pay, and one that clearly
tells you what you need to do in order to receive your commission. You also
need to find out how often the program pays its affiliates, the minimum
amount you are required to earn before you can receive payment (this is
usually referred to as “minimum payout”), and how they are going to pay you
(e.g., check, PayPal, etc.).
• If you already have a blog or site that caters to a specific niche/market, you
may want to pick a network/program that is aligned with the market/niche
you are currently in. This will enable you to promote products to your existing
subscribers/readers.
• In relation to the above tip, find out what your audience wants or are
interested in. Pay attention to their problems and questions, look for a solution
to their need, and offer the solution to them.
• Pick a new product to promote or a network that has new products that you
can promote. You can't expect a lot of people to buy from you if they are also
seeing the product you are promoting on numerous other sites/blogs.
• As much as possible, promote a product/brand that you personally use and
trust. If you are going to promote a product that you’re not familiar with, try
to examine it first and test it out for yourself. See how that product deals with
its customers, if it delivers real value, and if it actually does what it says it will
do. You don’t want to appear to your site’s visitors as someone who is just
there for the money.
• Pick a “clean” network. You should stay clear of affiliate networks that are
known to tolerate adware, spyware, and rogue affiliate techniques. This is for
your own and your potential customers’ good.
• Pick a network that provides good merchant and affiliate support. Simply put,
pick a network that cares.
Go to forums, read blogs, you’ll surely find people talking about these things and
more. To help you get started, here are some of them:
Forums
5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums
URL: http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com/
5 Star Affiliate Programs is considered as one of the top sources for high integrity
programs and supportive, success oriented information about affiliate marketing.
A Best Web
URL: http://www.abestweb.com/forums/
A forum for the affiliate community.
AffiliatePrograms.com
URL: http://www.affiliateprograms.com/forum/
Claims itself to be the fastest-growing affiliate forum in the world.
Affiliates4U (UK)
URL: http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/
Affiliates4U has over 50,000 member affiliate marketing professionals who stay
updated and discuss the latest news and trends within the affiliate marketing world.
Amazon.com
URL: http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=am-associhelp&ctx=256
A forum run by Amazon for its associates (i.e., affiliates).
AssociatePrograms.com
http://www.associateprograms.com/discus/index.php
This forum also has articles that can help affiliates of all levels of expertise.
Digital Point
URL: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22
A forum focused on affiliate programs.
Webmaster Talk
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/internet-marketing-and-business-talk/
A Webmaster forum that has a section dedicated to affiliate marketing.
Webmaster World
URL: http://www.webmasterworld.com/advertising/
A Webmaster forum that has a section dedicated to online advertising and
marketing.
Wicked Fire
URL: http://www.wickedfire.com/
An affiliate marketing/Internet marketing/Webmaster/SEO forum.
Affiliate Networks
Following are some of the currently popular affiliate networks. However, please note
that being popular doesn’t automatically mean that they’re the right ones for you. As
mentioned earlier, it is advisable that you do your own research before joining a
network.
ClickBank
URL: http://www.clickbank.com/index.html
Founded in 1998, ClickBank is a secure online retail outlet for more than 70,000
digital product vendors and 110,000 active affiliate marketers. It serves more than
200 countries, and is consistently ranked as one of the most highly-trafficked sites
on the web.
Commission Junction
URL: http://www.cj.com/
Founded in 1998, Commission Junction is based in Santa Barbara, California. It is
currently the largest affiliate network in North America, powering 62% of the top
500 web retailers affiliate marketing programs and operates worldwide.
ShareASale
URL: http://www.shareasale.com/
ShareASale is an affiliate marketing network based in Illinois, USA. It was founded in
April 2000. It currently has over 2,000 merchants, each of which is selling a
different type of product and each is ready to pay you commission on that sale if you
bring a customer to them.
Affiliate Window
URL: http://www.affiliatewindow.com/
Currently the biggest affiliate network in Britain, Affiliate Window was founded in
2000 and was one of the UK's first CPA affiliate networks.
The company won four A4U awards in 2008 for the Best Network, Publisher’s
Network Choice, Publisher’s Account Manager and Most Innovative categories.
Its clients include Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Toys R Us (UK),
and many others.
oneNetworkDirect
URL: http://www.onenetworkdirect.com/
oneNetworkDirect was developed with the goal of being a top affiliate network,
specializing in the software and digital marketplace. It features the largest selection
of digital products offered online today, including some of the world's most
recognized titles. Its merchants include EA, TrendMicro, Kaspersky Lab, Roxio, Best
Buy, and many others.
LinkShare
URL: http://www.linkshare.com/
Founded in 1996, LinkShare provides ecommerce businesses with a wide range of
online marketing services including Search Marketing (SEM), Lead Generation and
Affiliate Marketing.
Its clients include Fortune 500 and other prominent and emerging companies doing
business online, including J.C. Penney, 1-800-Flowers.com, American Express, and
Avon Products.
The company is headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco,
Chicago, Tampa, London and Tokyo.
Amazon
URL: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/main.html
Launched in 1996, Amazon Associates is one of the first online affiliate marketing
programs in the world.
The Amazon.com Associates program differentiates itself from other affiliate
programs by offering millions of products to choose from, industry leading
conversion rates and competitive advertising fee rates that produce more money for
their Associates.
Amazon recently became front page news when it was reported that its customers
have spent more than $1 billion via mobile device over a period of 12 months
ending in July 2010.
Google Affiliate Network
URL: http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/
Launched on June 30, 2008, the Google Affiliate Network offers:
• Industry-leading advertiser and publisher service
• Rigorous network quality standards
• Reliable conversion tracking
• Detailed reporting
• Automated payments to publishers
• Simple link and creative delivery tools
• Flexible commissions
• Access to top brands on the web
According to Google:
Google acquired the DoubleClick Performics Affiliate operations in March
2008. Together, we're creating new opportunities for monetization,
expansion, and innovation in affiliate marketing.
Performics was founded as the first full-service affiliate network in 1998
and was acquired by DoubleClick in 2004. Today Performics Affiliate
operates as Google Affiliate Network and remains committed to delivering
affiliate channel growth for advertisers and publishers.
AvantLink
URL: http://www.avantlink.com/
In August 2010, AvantLink debuted at position #171 on the 2010 Inc. 500/5000 list
and #23 in "Advertising & Marketing" industry. For a three year period AvantLink
recorded a 1651% growth rate with revenue of $189,059 in 2006, up to $3.3 million
in 2009.
AvantLink was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Park City, Utah.
TradeDoubler
URL: http://www.tradedoubler.com/
TradeDoubler is an international performance-based digital marketing company
founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Sweden. The company’s reach covers 18
markets across Europe with 650 staff located across their offices located in various
countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland,
and the U.K. It offers access to over 76% of the European online* audience through
its publisher networks.
eBay Partner Network
URL: https://www.ebaypartnernetwork.com/files/hub/en-US/index.html
Founded in 1995, eBay connects hundreds of millions of people around the world
every day. eBay is the largest marketplace in the world, with over 276 million
registered users worldwide. The total value of the goods sold through eBay in 2007
was more than $59 billion in 39 markets, including the US. With over 113 million
items in 50,000 categories.
LinkConnector
URL: http://www.linkconnector.com/index.htm
Launched in 2004, LinkConnector is an affiliate marketing network that helps
merchants and affiliates increase online sales and revenue. The company was built
from the ground up to address and overcome the limitations that exist in today's
market and to better empower online merchants and affiliates.
Promotion Methods
Ok, so you’ve already picked out an affiliate network/program and you’ve already
chosen a product to promote. The next thing you should do is to create a site on
which to promote your chosen product. If you already have a site/blog, you just have
to incorporate your affiliate link into your site/blog posts and get people to click on
it.
For those who don’t have a site/blog yet, you need to avail yourself of a domain
name and a hosting service. A couple of great places to register for a domain name
are GoDaddy and NameCheap (you only need one).
For your hosting account, you can get one from HostGator. This is one of the same
hosts I use. They’re great…excellent service.
After that, you need to set up your blog/site. An easy way to do this is to use
WordPress. HostGator has a facility called “Fantastico De Luxe” that makes it very
easy to install WordPress.
Once you’ve got your site all set up, you need to promote it.
Following are some of the most popular/widely used promotion methods in affiliate
marketing.
Pay-per-click Advertising
Pay-Per-Click or PPC is an advertising program wherein advertisers pay for their ad
based on the number of clicks that their ad receives/generates. That means an
advertiser will not be billed if their ad doesn't get clicked on. Additionally,
advertisers bid on the click price/cost of their ads.
If you've used a search engine (which you most likely have), there's no doubt that
you've seen PPC ads in one form of another. The screenshot below shows a couple of
Google PPC ads. As you can see, Google labels its ads as “Sponsored Links”. And, yes,
those are PPC ads.
Anyway, to run a PPC ad campaign, one must join a PPC ad network or any ad
network that offers PPC.
Before promoting anything via an ad network (whether through PPC or other
advertising program), it is important that you first read up on and familiarize
yourself with the rules, terms, and condition of the advertising network, the affiliate
network, and the merchant/product owner. Doing so will prevent you from violating
anything and spare you from getting penalized.
Article Submission
Article submission refers to writing of articles that are relevant to one's online
business and submitting them to article submission sites/directories such as
EzineArticles and Amazines.
Article submission presents you with many benefits. That is, if you do it properly.
These benefits include the following:
• It lets you to attract a good number of visitors, as well as links, to your site
without shelling out large amounts of money;
• Since most article submission sites allow you to put links in your articles, you
can use it to build your site’s inbound links and improve its ranking in the
search engine results pages;
• Your articles can establish you as an expert in the field/industry for which you
are writing, thereby building the trust of your potential customers and getting
them to visit your site and possibly make a purchase; and
• It's free!
Social Media/Network Sites
Also known as Web 2.0 sites, social media/network sites are generally sites that are
centered primarily on user-generated content (i.e., contents that are created or
provided/uploaded by users). Examples of these sites include (but are not limited to)
social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; social bookmarking
sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon; video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo;
forums; and blogs.
One way of using these sites for promoting your site (and product) is by putting
your site's link on your account profile (most social sites allow you to do this).
Another way is by commenting on other people's content.
An important thing to keep in mind when promoting your site by commenting is
NEVER to spam people. Always make sure that your comments and messages are
relevant to the discussions to which they are going to be attached (i.e., comments
made by other users before you, the main blog entry, the subject matter of the forum
thread, etc.) Blatant dropping of your link will not only annoy people and drive them
away, but it can also get you in BIG trouble.
Web Directory Submission
Web directories such as Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ are among the sites that are
most highly regarded by the search engines. Having your site included in some of
them could boost your site’s search engine popularity and rankings. There are
hundreds if not thousands of them out there. My advice to you is to look for the ones
that are of high quality and those that are related to your market/niche.
Affiliate Marketing in Numbers
Here are some facts and figures relating to affiliate marketing released by
AffStat.com in its 2010 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.
Most Popular Social Networks in the Affiliate Marketing
World
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com)
Facebook is currently the most popular social networking service/site. As of
November 2010, Facebook has over 547.56 million users, most of whom are in the
U.S. And the number is growing everyday. Last I heard it’s around 900 million in
2012..
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/)
Before Facebook, MySpace was the king of social networking. It is currently the
second most popular social network with 66 million members as of June 2010.
Bebo (http://www.bebo.com/)
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned by
AOL Inc. after being bought from Criterion Capital Partners in 2008. It currently has
over 40 million members internationally and is the number one social networking
site in New Zealand.
Hi5 (http://hi5.com/)
Hi5 is currently the 3rd largest social media site with over 50 million monthly
visitors.
Friendster (http://www.friendster.com/)
Friendster is one of the earliest social networks to come out. It was acquired in
December 2009 by MOL Global, the parent company of Asia’s leading online
payment solutions provider MOL AccessPortal Berhad. It currently has around 8
million members.
Google Buzz (http://www.google.com/buzz)
Google Buzz is a social networking and messaging tool from Google, designed to
integrate into the company's web-based email program, Gmail.
Microblogging Sites
Twitter FriendFeed
URL: http://twitter.com/ URL: http://friendfeed.com/
Tumblr Identi.ca
URL: http://www.tumblr.com/ URL: http://identi.ca/
Jaiku Hictu
URL: http://www.jaiku.com/ URL: http://www.hictu.com/
Bookmarking Sites
Google bookmarks Digg
URL: www.google.com/bookmarks URL: http://digg.com/news
Slashdot Mixx
URL: http://slashdot.org/ URL: http://www.mixx.com/
Mister Wong Jumptags
URL: http://www.mister-wong.com/ URL: http://www.jumptags.com/
Bibsonomy Diigo
URL: http://www.bibsonomy.org/ URL: http://www.diigo.com/
A1 Webmarks BuddyMarks
URL: http://www.a1-webmarks.com/ URL: http://buddymarks.com/
Article Submission Sites
Suite101 EzineArticles
URL: http://www.suite101.com/ URL: http://www.ezinearticles.com/
Helium ArticleBase
URL: http://www.helium.com/ URL: http://www.articlesbase.com/
WebProNews Buzzle
URL: http://www.webpronews.com/ URL: http://www.buzzle.com/
Isnare American Chronicle
URL: http://www.isnare.com/ URL: http://americanchronicle.com/
TheWhir SelfGrowth
URL: http://www.thewhir.com/article-central URL: http://www.selfgrowth.com/
ArticleDashboard SearchWarp
URL: http://www.articledashboard.com/ URL: http://searchwarp.com/
ArticleCity IdeaMarketers
URL: http://www.articlecity.com/ URL: http://www.ideamarketers.com/
Site Reference Article Alley
URL: http://www.site-reference.com/ URL: http://www.articlealley.com/
Article Snatch GoArticles
URL: http://www.articlesnatch.com/ URL: http://www.goarticles.com/
Articles Factory Amazines
URL: http://www.articlesfactory.com/ URL: http://www.amazines.com/
Video Sharing Sites
YouTube Metacafe
URL: http://www.youtube.com URL: http://www.metacafe.com/
Break Dailymotion
URL: http://www.break.com/ URL: http://www.dailymotion.com/en
Revver Vimeo
URL: http://revver.com/ URL: http://vimeo.com/
Free Web Directories
DMOZ (PR 8) So Much (PR 5)
URL: http://www.dmoz.org/ URL: http://www.somuch.com/
Pegasus Directory (PR 5) RoAsk (PR 4)
URL: http://www.pegasusdirectory.com/ URL: http://www.roask.com/
viesearch (PR 4) Wikidweb (PR 4)
URL: http://viesearch.com/ URL: http://www.wikidweb.com/
Autowebdir (PR 4) Pedster's Planet (PR 4)
URL: http://www.autowebdir.com/ URL: http://www.pedsters-planet.co.uk/
Net Insert (PR 4) Link Centre (PR 3)
URL: http://www.netinsert.com/ URL: http://linkcentre.com/
Jayde (PR 3) Exact Seek (PR 3)
URL: http://www.jayde.com/main.html URL: http://www.exactseek.com/
Affiliate Programs Search/Directories
Affiliate Ranker Affiliate Programs
URL: http://affiliateranker.com/ URL:
http://www.associateprograms.com/directory/
Affiliate Scout AffiliateGuide
URL: http://www.affiliatescout.com/ URL: http://www.affiliateguide.com/
Affiliate Scout Affiliate Guide
URL: http://www.affiliatescout.com/ URL: http://www.affiliateguide.com/
Affiliates Directory Click Quick
URL: http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/ URL: http://www.clickquick.com/
Affiliate Tips Affiliate Cash Directory
URL: http://www.affiliatetips.com/ URL: http://www.affiliatecashdirectory.com/
Offer Vault Jam Affiliates
URL: http://www.offervault.com/ URL: http://www.jamaffiliates.com/
Affiliate Tools
KeywordSpy (Paid)
URL: http://www.keywordspy.com/
KeywordSpy lets you perform advanced keyword research and keyword tracking to
study what your competitors have been advertising in their Adwords campaigns and
other PPC campaigns. It provides you with complete in-depth analysis, stats, budget,
affiliates & ad copies of your competitors.
Market Samurai (Paid)
URL: http://www.marketsamurai.com/
Market Samurai is currently one of the world’s leading PPC and SEO keyword tool. It
allows you to do very detailed keyword research and reduce your competition
dramatically. I use this, and a few others. Market Samuria does remain one of the
best around.
Google Keyword Tool (Free)
URL: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
The Google Keyword Tool allows you to build extensive, relevant keyword lists from
one simple interface. It lets you generate keyword ideas, review traffic estimations
for existing and new keywords, and (if you’re running ad campaigns on Google
AdWords) add keywords directly to your ad groups.
Google Trends (Free)
URL: http://www.google.com/trends
Google Trends is a public web facility of Google that shows how often a particular
search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of
the world, and in various languages.
Google Analytics (Free)
URL: http://www.google.com/analytics/
Google Analytics is the enterprise-class web analytics solution that gives you rich
insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.
I hope enjoyed this quick overview of affiliate marketing. While it didn’t go in depth
into the actual “How To” do affiliate marketing, it was beyond the scope of what this
guide covers.
If you’d like to get pointed in the proper direction with your marketing goals, please
sign up to my newsletter below. In a world of online charleton’s who only have their
own self interest at heart, I’ve garnered the reputation of being one of the most
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How To Get Laser Focused, Stop
Procrastinating, And Get It Done Today….
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