Blaine561's Internet Marketing Information Center

I write a lot about what I look for in an affiliate when managing programs for various merchants. It always amazes me how many signups I get from sites with no affinity to my sites and also who never ask me a question about the performance of my merchant’s site. If you don’t know some of these basic facts about an affiliate program you are going to place advertising for on your site, then you are really not doing your job well.

So here are the 10 most important things you need to know about a retail merchant’s site:

1. Make sure the site is the site professionally designed. First impressions are important. Nothing will turn off the visitors you refer to a site than to have them see an ugly site on the end of a link you have asked them to go to. You lose credibility with your visitor, something you never want to do.

2. Make sure the ecommerce shopping cart is easy to use. We still have lots of clunky shopping carts in the marketplace. These hinder conversions and mean you won’t do well with the offer. How do you tell? Go buy something and see if you think it’s easy to use. You’ve seen more than most people, use your experience.

3. Make sure your site has a close affinity to the merchant site. Don’t sign up for an affiliate program just because they have a large payout. If your site is all about “cats and dogs” and you refer someone to a residential lending site, what do you think your chances of conversion are? Low, low, low… so don’t do it. Refer visitors to sites that match your site in content and voice. You’ll get higher conversions making up for someone else’s supposedly higher payout.

4. Check to see if they are selling any brand name products. Having brand names does make it easier to sell online. Having a branded category name is even easier. Does that mean you have to have a brand name to be successful… no. It just makes it easier.

5. Ask them what the conversion rate of visitors to sales is. Depending on the conversion rate and the average sale price I can give the retailer a pretty good idea if he is going to be successful in attracting affiliates. A 1% conversion rate can be good depending on what you sell, and I have some customers that run at 4% as well. Likewise, an affiliate must look at the affiliate conversion rate to determine which program will do the best for him. How do you find out… ask. Good affiliate managers will tell you and you will learn which ones to trust very quickly.

6. Ask them what the average price per sale is on the site. Low priced items are not affiliate favorites as they have to drive lots of traffic to earn any money. A retailer with at least a $60 average sale is a bare minimum. Many times it may be a packaging issue, but if the retailer hasn’t figured it out by the time you show up… don’t expect them to get them to package their products correctly.

7. Check if they are selling a unique product. This goes to the competition. When I hear the phrase: “Well… there’s really nothing quite like it on the Internet”, you should I know that the merchant has not done any online research. There is competition in virtually every segment of every product type on the web. Sometimes unique is good, sometimes it is a little too “niche-y”. If your site has affinity to a niche product you should be fine, if not don’t stretch too much out of your comfort zone.

8. Make sure the merchant is able to offer a competitively priced retail product. He doesn’t have to be the cheapest for sure. But if the competition is less expensive and they don’t have a value proposition to support the pricing model, you will have trouble getting sales.

9. Similar to #7: Make sure the merchant isn’t allowing others to sell the same product less expensively than you are able to sell if for. Some retailers are actually the manufacturer, so he may have lots of margin in his products. This is okay as long as he doesn’t offer favored deals to other affiliates.

10. Work with merchants who offer an aggressive affiliate payout. I’ve got this last because if any of the first parts are not in order, high payouts won’t do you any good. Also, brand names many times prescribe low payouts to affiliates, since they are… so well known. You might be better off with an aggressive competitor that really values you.

11. Bonus Answer: Find Affiliate Managers you trust. Find affiliate managers that promptly answer your questions and respond to your needs… such as getting you paid promptly. Building these relationships will enable you to more quickly determine if the program fits you.

And now once you are loaded with all of this data, your site will have appropriate highly converting product links from good retail merchants with management in place to make your life easier.

Affiliate programs can be a great way for you to earn money off of your website. However, you are not going to make a good income off of just any affiliate program, there are too many for that. The key to success is finding the affiliate business with the most potential. How do you go about finding the good versus the bad you may wonder?

There are thousands of affiliate programs on the internet with each one offering a different commission you can receive. If you can find the affiliate business that pays well you have a better chance to make a higher income. The commission structure is vital information that you should be aware of. You should also research how reliable the affiliate program is with paying their affiliates.

Try and find an affiliate program that is continuously growing and has potential. You don’t want to find an affiliate business that is brand new because of the risk that the business may fail. However, it is important that the business has not reached its peak. You should see your commission checks steadily rising the longer you are with the program.

When looking into the affiliate program think to yourself “is this a product that I would be interested in?” You want to think from the visitors’ perspective and find a business that has public interest. Obviously you want to find an affiliate program that is somewhat related with your website. If you can find a program that you are interested in, you will be much more inclined to promote it with enthusiasm.

Even if the product is enticing, take a look at the sales page and its general layout. The layout of the page can be a determinant of whether or not a person buys the product. Make sure that it is simple to place an order and easy to spot the order form. Also check to see if the page looks professional or cluttered. A page that gets the message across and sells the product without too much information is a well displayed sells page.

You want to join an affiliate program that makes your life easier. The program should provide you with the basic essentials to allow you to promote their business such as banners, pop-ups, image banners and more. This way you can place these tools on your website to promote their affiliate business with little effort whatsoever. If they provide you with the tools for success, this shows they care about their affiliates.

Finding the right affiliate program is crucial to your success and your outlook towards the affiliate marketing business. If you have a bad first experience, odds are you will want to quit. Finding a quality business will help provide you with success and hope for further accomplishments.

If you own a site that commands a huge amount of traffic, but as yet have not found a way in which to turn your traffic into cash then you may want to consider an online marketing program. The affiliate-marketing program is a way of generating revenue, without having to go through any of the complications of having to sell products or dealing with customers. All that is required is that a website owner be willing to host advertising materials, such as banners and text links within the site. Amazingly there are no strings, no complications and no fees to be paid, making it a simple and effective way to earn money out of a site without any hassle.

The Affiliate marketing program works by rewarding website owners with a sort of commission based revenues. One of the most successful and profitable programs is that of sports betting. The online sports betting revolution has changed the face of Internet gaming and betting. It’s unprecedented growth rate and enormous turnover of billions of dollars each year, has made sports betting one of the most successful online gaming sectors. Due to the success of the industry and the potential growth rate and clientele base it provides the perfect business partner for a new affiliate.

Not only has online sports betting become a multi-billion dollar industry, but they have also become generous with the proceeds of their business. Affiliates are reaping the benefits of this success, by earning exorbitant revenues from the players that they manage to attract through the affiliate sites. Rather than offering a small payment on receipt of a new customer, the sports betting affiliate program offers a percentage of each player’s lifetime money generated for the site. With percentages topping 35%, there is an extremely valuable pool of opportunity for new affiliates to exploit.

Through a number of non-intrusive advertisements any sites can develop a revenue that will make the most out of your sites traffic. The affiliate marketing program is a simple an effective way of subsidising any income and making the most of your websites popularity. Without having to concern yourself with customers or large expenditures, the sports betting affiliate program offers an outlet of opportunity. Best of all the system is fully automated, meaning that the affiliate program or sports betting site will sort out all of the payments and track the customer base. Leaving you as the affiliate site owner, free to review and track their account as the money comes in.

I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that there are many good affiliate programs out there. The bad news is that you will have a hard time identifying which are the best. Everyone has to decide for themselves which program they know and like enough to promote on a continuous basis.

When it comes to the best affiliate programs for me, I have considered a couple of things. First, who is my target audience? (And I had to make sure it was not me, a trap that most people fall into). Since most people using the internet are females between 20 and 50 (I read this some place not too long ago). I decided to pick them as my target market and design my site around them.

My second consideration was what this group is buying on the internet. What I discovered was that they were shopping for all kinds of things on eBay, Amazon, and Overstock.com. Upon further research I noticed that this group had a lot of stay at home moms who were interested in earning extra money for various reasons and were heavy into surveys, data entry, and typing jobs. I spread my research further using information that I gathered from search engines and other websites concentrating in this arena. Here I saw a lot of duplication and not necessary things that I would be comfortable with associating myself.

I started to do some thinking on my own and reasoned that if most people use the internet for information, then maybe I should provide some information. So, I have an eBook on how to make money on the internet as a free offer on my website. I also set up a FREE Newsletter where I offer marketing tips on a continuous basis so that I can stay in touch with my customers.

Looking at the web site with what I had up to this point, left some room for creative thinking. My thought was that if these ladies were going to work and shop on my site I should give them some things to shop that are not readily available in every neighborhood shopping strip or mall. So I picked the Playboy store and Fredericks of Hollywood as a special attraction. The Dollar store, Golfsmith, and Entrepreneur Magazine were thrown in because of their brand value. And that is it.

I know I have a site that I am very comfortable with and think it represents the best affiliate programs for my business. That may change tomorrow, but right now I am having a lot of fun with it.

Your approach to finding the best affiliate programs may be different from mine, and that is fine. However, keep in mind that it is a business that you will be getting heavily involved in, so look for what will work best for your personality and your style.

Affiliate programs are a great way to make money, especially if you do not have a product of your own. The majority of affiliate programs are free to join and you can get started with most of them within 24 hours. So what are you waiting for — get busy and have fun!

The online gaming industry has become the epitome of online success stories. Whilst gambling or gaming has always been a popular pursuit, its online incarnations of the popular industries have truly revolutionised the idea of gambling. Few online industries have developed so far and so quickly in terms of turnover and membership as that of online poker. Whilst the offline standard game of poker has always been played by players around the world, the increased opportunity afforded by the virtual realm has offered up a whole new array of options and opportunities. Online players have become accustomed to fast paced matches at any time of the day and against anybody from around the world. These new online poker players have the opportunity to play for any amount of money, and whilst some may miss the sportsmanship involved in face to face play, the new chat forums and message boards have opened up a new range of opportunities ready to be explored.

The explosion of online poker was not an accidental occurrence, it came in on the back of the success of the gaming industry in general. One of the primary reasons for this online success can be attributed to the marketing method that is unique to the online game. Affiliate marketing programs are a great way for any industry to reach a large audience without have to spend much money on expensive advertising campaigns. It works by creating a network of small sites, which host banners and links leading straight to the poker sites. The affiliate site owners are rewarded in turn when they produce a new customer. The affiliate can expect to receive a percentage of up to 35% of a player’s total money generated, having forwarded them on to the relevant site.

Because the affiliates are rewarded so handsomely for their part in the business deal, they are encouraged to promote themselves and subsequently the sites that they represent. It is through this business ethic that the poker industry has been able to flourish. With the number of affiliates increasing each month, the poker sites can broaden their range of influence. So even if the visitors to sites fail to click on the links there and then they are getting across the brand name, and even sewing the seeds of temptation in peoples minds. The more affiliates the poker sites can attract the greater the number of people that they can potentially reach. In terms of the affiliate, the greater the number of members generated the higher the profits. So in effect the two industries are complementing each other perfectly and have no doubt increased the visibility and popularity of both. Without the affiliate program it is hard to think what the online poker industry would be like. The affiliate marketing industry is one of the most successful and risk-free forms of advertising, both on and offline.

Affiliate marketing is just one of a host of advertising opportunities for online industries. Whilst traditional off-line advertising such as sponsorship of events and individuals, magazines, newspapers, billboards and television or radio, produce results they are often very expensive. Whilst some industries or companies may choose to utilise some of these off-line options, most back this up with extensive online advertising, most notably that of affiliate marketing.

The affiliate-marketing program is a cleverly conceived advertising system, which utilises all of the capabilities made available by the Internet. Unlike traditional advertising where companies pay a subsidiary company money to advertise their brand in a bulk up front payment, affiliates work on a sort of reward or commission based level. Because of the way the industry is run there is no need for either the affiliate or the advertising site to pay money up front, which in turn benefits both parties. The fact that no money changes hands until a new client is generated, the onus is on the affiliate to provide results, which in turn benefits the site that has commissioned the advertising.

Many industries have utilised the affiliate style of advertising, but few have been as successful as that of online poker. By distributing advertisements throughout a plethora of sites, all at little or no cost the poker industry has been able to infiltrate a number of websites and therefore develop an increased awareness. Unlike many other online industries, the poker industry doesn’t really have a recognised off-line equivalent. The game of poker is largely played by professionals behind closed doors or in large casinos or between a group of friends around a table. Therefore it was far more necessary to promote not only the sites but also the notion of online poker as a powerful and exciting gambling medium.

Affiliates are rewarded by the poker sites with large percentages, sometimes up to around 35% of the money generated by players that join through the links on their sites. So with each player they can hope to earn a regular, if slightly small income. In order to increase this income the affiliate must promote not only the site, but also themselves in order to increase their site traffic. Because in the affiliate program nobody is guaranteed to go to an affiliate site, click the link and become a fully signed up member. In fact the percentages don’t really favour the affiliate. It is for this reason that so many affiliates have has to advertise their own whereabouts in order to gain visibility and hits, and then hopefully in turn earn some money. With affiliates becoming marketing machines looking to earn more money, the poker sites that they represent have been reaping the benefits by generating huge numbers of new clients. So with the affiliate industry earning more and the poker sites generating billions each year, it shows just how successful the system is at not only advertising but increasing the revenue of everybody associated with either industry.

An affiliate marketing program is a revenue-sharing marketing strategy where a merchant pays their affiliates a commission for referring business to their website. The webmaster signs up as an affiliate in the affiliate marketing program and gets a login id. He then collects information about the marketing material for the affiliate marketing program and uses it on his web site as banners, ad- links and search boxes. If a visitor to the website is interested in one of the affiliate marketing program links then he clicks the referred link and purchases the product. The marketer identifies that the particular sale has been through the affiliate marketing program, and he pays the affiliate his commission. By having an affiliate marketing program the owner does not pay for expensive advertising but pays when a sale, lead or subscription action occurs.

There are numerous benefits that an affiliate marketing program has to a marketer. Affiliate marketing programs have become one of the easiest way to advertise the products in the market. An agreement is formed between the website owner or affiliate and the merchant. The website owner allows the merchant to promote his product through his site and the merchant pays the affiliate commission for the sales generated through these sites via the affiliate marketing program. Affiliate marketing programs are a cost effective medium to provide brand awareness. It also provides a wider market for the merchant. The marketer gets a chance to identify new markets which he might not have thought of without the affiliate marketing program. Affiliate marketing programs have beaten the traditional advertising techniques by giving maximum exposure world wide. The affiliates can introduce the products and services to the niche markets which have been neglected and thus boost the business of the marketer.

There is affiliate marketing program software called Affiliate Network Pro which enables a person to start his own affiliate program. There are many features including multi-language, instant payment module, affiliate directory,, sales reports, anti fraud blocking, email messages and reminders etc. Financial affiliate marketing programs are also available which provide facilities such as auto loans, debt recovery and settlement programs, and the best converting payday loans.

Affiliate marketing programs are not just for customers, but it also provides a strategy for development of business to business partners. Here the merchant and the affiliate become partners. If a person owns a website, sells his products through the site, and if he pays other website owners, or bloggers for sending customers to his site, then he becomes the marketer. If you have a website and direct surfers to various merchants for services and products through blogs, or e-mail links then you become the affiliate. There are several merchants who are affiliates too. They have their own affiliate marketing program, receive traffic from other affiliates and they also direct traffic to other merchants in return for commission.

Affiliate programs are a great way to make money on the Internet – one of the few ways, in fact, that has managed to stand the test of time. The web today is a very different place to what it was at the start of e-commerce, but the success of affiliate marketing programs has only increased. In an unstable market like the Internet, it makes sense to seize on proven strategies like this and put them to work for you.

So what is an affiliate program? Basically, the idea is that, instead of running your own e-commerce website, fulfilling orders and all that jazz, you just set up your website to drive customers to someone else’s. For example, if you’re running a website with DVD reviews, you might think that it would also make sense for you to sell the DVDs – so you just sign up to an affiliate program, and link through to a store that does using your affiliate code. In return for the referral, you get a commission as a percentage of the sale price, typically somewhere from 1% to 5%.

The most important choice you have to make is exactly which affiliate program to join. You can’t join too many, because your website will quickly become cluttered – and besides, many of the larger ones have rules that say you can’t do this.

If your site is anything to do with books, music or movies, you would almost certainly do best to go with Amazon’s affiliate program. This can work especially well if your site is quite narrowly targeted and focused. A site with comprehensive discographies for ‘70s glam rock bands, for example, will probably find that adding affiliate links next to the name of each CD will drive a lot of sales. This is because the more focused your site is, the easier it is for it to become an authority in its chosen area.

For non-media items, such as collectibles, eBay’s affiliate program can also be effective. It is a live-updated list of current eBay auctions on items relevant to your site that your visitors will then hopefully click on, rewarding you each time.

Ultimately, though, your site might not fit into one of the big affiliate programs. In this case, just do a search for whatever your site is about followed by the word ‘affiliate’, and see what turns up. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Marketing products and services through the Internet is unquestionably easier and more rewarding compared to traditional marketing methods. With the millions of people worldwide getting online each day, there’s an enormous possibility for a merchant to sell his products and generate huge income.

However, merchandisers are not the only ones who can benefit from online marketing. A booming industry nowadays, provides great opportunity as well to individuals as affiliate marketers. In affiliate marketing, an affiliate marketer doesn’t need to have his own products and services to sell. All he needs to do is to refer people to the merchant’s business site for them to buy the products and thereby, earn a commission.

The key to an affiliate marketer’s success is to choose a good affiliate program and to employ excellent marketing techniques in promoting or selling the products to consumers. Why good and not the best affiliate program? There is no “best affiliate marketing program,” as one program might make one affiliate marketer a millionaire and the other a frustrated marketer. In other words, it can be a success to one and a failure to another. But there certainly is a good affiliate marketing program to start with. How to make it best would now depend on you.

But before you think how you are going to make it best and financially rewarding, first think about how you are going to land on a good affiliate program with the thousands of affiliate marketing opportunities abounding in the Internet today. Try to look into the following tips and suggestions on how to best select the affiliate program that’s right for you.

Information, that’s you need in order to make the right choice. It is helpful when you have already focused your search to a specific interest, which may be the theme of your website (if you already have one). In this way, you would be able to direct yourself towards a program that really matches your needs, wants and resources. It would be easier for you to eliminate options that are not suited to your own criteria for a good affiliate marketing program. You can join affiliate forums and learn some tips and get suggestions from experienced affiliate marketers. However, be wise enough to weigh their ideas before you buy them.

The Internet Affiliate marketing program networks are good places to look for choices. Here, merchants and affiliate marketers like you meet. The merchants advertise their affiliate programs to interested affiliates who sign up in the network for free. Third party affiliate program networks are helpful since they provide you with access to a large number of advertisers (merchandisers) simultaneously. You can easily track and compare their sales records, performances, benefits, products and services.

So now you have choices, the next question is which among those options is the right one. Here are some things to consider in deciding which to take and which to reject. First is the quality of the products and services. As an affiliate marketer your goal is not only to make visitors of your site click the link to the business site; but more importantly, to promote the product so they would buy it. If the customers are not convinced upon going to the business site, then you don’t earn. Make sure the products you are endorsing are worthwhile or in the business context, saleable. Ask yourself: if I were the customer, would I buy it? Would I recommend it to my family or good friend? If you can’t convince yourself or your family and friends to buy it, take a look at your next option.

Another is the affiliate program or the merchandiser’s history. Look into their previous and present sales data, their proven and tested affiliate marketing systems and their partners’ experiences with them. Although, success of the program really depends on you, this one is still very important. The sales records don’t only show how good the affiliates are, but they speak about the products’ reliability, market availability and the company or the merchandisers’ reputation as well. Moreover, look into and carefully study the company’s compensation plan. Your purpose for joining the program is to earn, so make sure you’ll be paid for all your efforts fairly.

If you do not have much time to promote intensively the affiliate products by creating banners, graphics and articles, choose affiliate programs that help you create these for your web site. It would be great if the company provides training on how to effectively market products online. Remember that affiliate marketing is a partnership, so make sure your partner is able to support you as you help him promote his products and services.

Take down all the advantages and disadvantages of each program you are considering so you can clearly see the difference among your options; then later, compare the advantages of the programs with your own checklist. Take time to gather all the info you need to choose the right program. Remember an informed choice is the best choice.

The online poker industry is a booming business making millions each day for companies world-wide. Poker sites just like any other business need to advertise through a variety of avenues in order to reach a wide enough audience. Advertising through billboards, magazines and even television can be an expensive business, which is why so many use affiliate programs. With these programs websites can reach huge audiences without having to pay a penny. That is until one of these affiliate sites bring a customer to their address, then it’s time to share the profits.

The genius in the poker affiliate system is that nobody can lose. Affiliate sites that don’t attract any guests simply receive no money, whilst those who attract numerous people reap the benefits. The poker site can offer affiliates advertisements or banners directly or the potential affiliates may join any one of the number of online poker affiliate vendors. This middleman approach disperses the funds further but offers affiliates more opportunities to advertise extra sites and earn revenue elsewhere.

Most sites offer new affiliates a percentage scheme, whereby the affiliate receives money each time somebody who has joined through one of their banners spends money on the poker site. Making money in this way can start out as a bit of a dribble rather than a raging torrent of income, but given time it can increase. The more people that join from your site the more money you can earn. It’s a simple enough equation but it works. Some schemes also offer programs for affiliates who attract more affiliates. You can pick up a small percentage of each member that the associated affiliate attracts, or even that of further affiliates that they encourage to join. Once the ball gets rolling it is easy to gather clients and affiliates, which in turn means money for you.

A select few poker sites also offer a second option for affiliates, which involves a one off cash payment for each member that joins and makes a deposit through them. These are rare and whilst they may lead to short term gain, it can be less profitable in the long run. It is a way of guaranteeing a substantial cash reward, without having to wait for it to come over many months. Although you may or may not lose out in the end for some affiliates this is the more preferable option.

To become an affiliate website will have to join either a affiliate site vendor or a poker site. This not only allows them to receive relevant advertising materials, but more importantly also allows them to receive funds after picking up a customer. This process is almost always free and is just like signing up to any site, taking just a small amount of time and no deposit. With everything in place a website owner can finally become an affiliate and begin reaping the rewards of being an Internet entrepreneur.