Internet Affiliate Marketing 101 - It's All About Relationships.

By Glenn Beach

So you've found the perfect affiliate program, you've signed up and they gave you a website....now what? "They" say that "all you have to do" is drive traffic to your site...but you don't have a clue where to begin...

Never fear, Affiliate 101 is here...here's a list of a few simple, free or inexpensive tasks you can accomplish today. Details follow, first just the list:

1. Send emails to friends and family;
2. Make new friends on the internet;
3. Print out and distribute posters, business cards, and/or postcards;
4. Write articles and post free ads.

First of all, don't panic. You don't have to do ALL of these, just whatever you feel comfortable with. But I do heartily suggest that you push the envelope a little on your comfort level...

Email Friends and Family: If you're uncomfortable with contacting family members (they CAN be your sharpest critics) first scan the options, maybe one of the less obtrusive ones would work.

Be sure to write ONLY to friends. Anything else will be considered spam; any worthy company will drop you like a hot potato when they receive legitimate spam complaints.

Consider the friends and family you might write to and decide the best approach for each:

1. The Second Opinion Approach: save this for the hard nuts to crack, flatter them with "I've signed up for this opportunity and would really like to hear your opinion..."

2. The Beating Around the Bush Approach: "I'm making some extra money doing this biz, do you know anyone who might need a few extra dollars?"

3. The Direct Approach: for those close friends that you KNOW could use some financial miracles in their lives... you can lead with the business opportunity or with the products. I think it's Avon that has a nice promo these days, "products you can buy and sell". Simple and to the point...

4. The Chummy Letter Approach: just write a letter to a friend as you usually would and casually mention what you are doing, that it's on "wait and see", or already is making you a little money, or whatever.

5. The No-Mention Approach: just add a signature to all your emails that includes your website's URL and your email address, maybe the name of your company. Subtle, let's them explore if they want.

Getting to Know You...

How do you currently meet people on the internet? Game chat rooms, forums, opt-in email lists, Yahoo groups, messenger services...these are only a few ways to meet people. Many sites such as Yahoo, AOL, or ICQ let you create a profile including favorite websites, etc. While direct advertising is often frowned upon or prohibited, usually signatures at the bottom of posts is allowed. Many friendships formed in forums and chat rooms lead to email and website exchanges.

Stuffing Envelopes...

Printed fliers can be distributed everywhere you go, posted on your car...be creative. Include a business card or flier in every piece of mail you send including bills, on tables in restaurants, in phone booths, stick them in business books in the library. Make it fun! If you have mailing addresses rather than email addresses of anyone who might be interested, send them a flier or postcard.

Become a Famous Author

Anyone can write an article, everyone is good at something or has an experience that would help someone else out. Article writing helpsbuild trust and over time will brand your name and drive traffic to your website. And it's free. Submit your articles to individual webmasters and editors as well as article directories.

Banner Swapping and Text Linking

Some say that banners are not very effective in getting traffic to your website, but hey, it's free and it doesn't hurt to try. It's best to spend some time finding a high traffic site or two and not fill your site with banners. Text links are still your best bet.

There you have it, lots of good ideas for beginning promotion of your website.

I'll leave you with one more thought, something to come back to and mull over as time goes on...Spend some time on this one...

Find an online entrepreneur that you truly admire. There are lots out there, but there will be someone that really rings true for YOU. Maybe it's this person's style, or background, but something makes him or her stand out in your mind. Think of something that you can do FOR this person, and pursue that thought. Joint ventures...more on this later.

About the author: Glenn Beach is a poet, writer and home business entrepreneur in Nova Scotia, Canada. Free newsletter, more articles, and business start-up info at: http://www.work-at-home-business-opportunity-canada.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glenn_Beach

How I Started My Own Work At Home Internet Business With Very Little Investment !

By Debra Hamer

Have you always wanted to work at home? Have your own business? Didn’t think it was possible? No more commuting in traffic (plus gasoline prices right now are ridiculous). No more “business attire” (work in your jammies) and no more Corporate America breathing down your neck. I didn’t think it was possible. I had always been a pessimist. Didn’t think I could do it. Didn’t have the knowledge or skills required.

I had worked in the travel/customer service industry for 25 years. I was laid off over two years ago after 9/11. I submitted my resume to countless job postings with no response. Obviously after awhile I was feeling unwanted, useless, and depressed. No job prospects, no money, no direction. I not only needed an income, I needed a purpose, a reason to get up in the morning other than the cats and bird needed to be fed.

What was I going to do?

The light bulb finally came on in my head and I realized that I had some resources right at home. A computer and internet access. I normally surfed the net to shop (shopping mind you, couldn’t afford to buy) and playing computer games to pass the time.

I happened upon an opportunity to take surveys online. Sounded easy enough and for a $35.00 investment to access a database of survey sites I could start making some money. I registered with every survey site listed in that database. A tedious task! In two months time a made $102.50 and a $10.00 gift card. I wasn’t going to pay the bills with that kind of money. Back to the same dilemma!

What was I going to do?

I started searching the web for information about working from home. To my amazement there are countless opportunities. Now the question was not if I could have my own business but what kind of business did I want? I’m not a salesman! I didn’t want to have to worry about inventory, packaging, shipping, merchant accounts, etc. I had very little money to invest, so my out-of-pocket expenses would have to be low, really low.

What was I going to do?

I found a website which offered me the chance to start my own business with incredibly little cost. The following is what was provided:

1. A domain name registered for $30.00.
2. Hosting of my website at a low monthly fee of $24.95.
3. My website was created free of charge which included a free auto responder.
4. I had to join five affiliate programs (signup was free) which their links would be placed on my website. These were some of the top affiliate programs (paying good commissions with multiple income streams). I found many favorable recommendations for them at several different websites.
5. They immediately got me started on how to build a mailing list fast and how to generate traffic to my website.
6. I was provided a home business tips newsletter that goes out to my email list on a daily basis. I don’t have to do a thing, it’s automatic.
7. Plus, I am provided with more tools, tips, ideas and marketing strategies (from well known “Internet Marketing Gurus”) than I thought possible. All free of charge.

They’ve done the research and testing to know what works and what doesn’t. Just have to follow their lead. These people give you step by step instructions. Go to any internet marketing website and see how much information is given freely. I think you will be as amazed as I was and still am.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some costs involved. But I’m talking a couple of hundred dollars not thousands! I have been overwhelmed with information, ideas, tools and resources!

No one is going to do it all for you. You will have to spend time learning and working to promote your business. Point is YOU too have the opportunity to become your own boss!

Take action now, don’t wait, and grab a piece of the internet boom for yourself. As I said before I was always the pessimist, but now I see a half full cup instead of a half empty one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Debra enjoys collecting jewelry and gemstones. She operates a retail web site that sells wedding and bridal shower favors and gifts at http://favorsgiftsgalore.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debra_Hamer

Affiliates Need To Read Their Newspaper.

By Alex Hachtman

Millions of people check the news everyday-- in the morning paper, online, and on the nightly news.But far too often affiliates do not find out what has occurred in affiliate marketing that day; this is important because affiliate marketing changes daily.There are many resources for affiliate marketers to learn about the day’s happenings. The best way to learn about the changes in affiliate marketing is by visiting forums often.

Forums provide a great resource by allowing new affiliates to learn from the experts.New affiliates hear and learn about the different opinions and techniques that are used in the industry.In turn, this information helps educate the affiliates and helps them decide whether they agree or disagree on the particular subject or technique.By visiting forums often you can learn timesaving tips as well as common mistakes that you can avoid.

Here are some of the most popular forums that are most useful for affiliates:

* AbestWeb: http://www.abestweb.com/
Who it’s for: affiliate program managers and affiliate marketers.

With over 14,000 members this is a vast pool of knowledge that you can draw from.

* WebmasterWorld.com: http://www.webmasterworld.com/
Who it’s for: webmasters and marketing managers.

For all of your questions about anything having to do with Web design, this is the place to go.There are a lot of quality discussions that are segmented as well as moderated.

* Search Engine Watch Forums. http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forum/index.php
Who it’s for: webmasters and affiliate marketers.

Here you can find discussions and questions that deal with all aspects of search engines.Some of the topics include: Questions on specific search engines and directories, specific discussions on search engine optimization and web marketing, general search issues, and current issues.

* ReveNews.com: http://www.revenews.com/
Who it’s for: webmasters, affiliate program managers, and affiliate marketers.

This site is a great location to find articles on various topics and learn about what is news worthy in the industry.

There are also forums strictly for affiliate managers.Here, managers can learn about those issues that are strictly pertinent for them, such as keeping an affiliate program in-house or outsourcing.You can visit http://www.10xmarketing.com/affiliate-program-management.asp to learn more about some of the options that are available to managers.These forums provide a great resource to learn about the technical details of running a program.

Forums teach valuable information about affiliate marketing that will make help make affiliate sites more successful.By visiting and posting often in these forums many people become experts on certain topics.Networking opportunities will also arise.Many of these forums help industry leaders form business relationships.Forums are an amazing resource; do not overlook them because they are vital to ones success. Since affiliate marketing changes everyday, one should visit them as often as you watch or read the daily news.

Alex Hachtman, of 10x Marketing, wrote this article.

10x Marketing provides companies with Internet marketing solutions that will increase consumer visits on a regular basis, thus increasing potential sales and revenue.

Contact 10x Marketing today for more information about your companies affiliate program. See http://www.10xmarketing.com/res/ecommerce-affiliate-program.asp for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Hachtman

ClickBank Questions.

By Stephan Miller

It would seem that Clickbank would provide more for their customers. Obviously, when it comes to internet marketing and affiliate programs, you could put it in your top 10 links. No other database of affiliate programs offers such a possibility for profit on either the affiliate side or the product creation site. And you can't beat the fact that the commissions from over 10,000 products get consolidated into one check. But there are still a few lingering questions that may get you thinking.

What is up with the site? I mean, a site shouldn't be overly complex. In fact, complexity can be a turn off. Then again, I have found more complex site templates from free sites. And it's not just that. How many of you Clickbank affiliates have found news about Clickbank or FAQ's about Clickbank on a forum, clicked the link and the FAQ is on the Clickbank domain. But, if you go to the Clickbank homepage, there is no link to the page you just visited.

I don't know about you, but if I were running a business, I would make sure that customers and vendors could get all of the information possible and not have to find out news through third party sources.

But, on the other hand, I can't complain. The checks do come in. I have never had to search for a customer service link on the site, because there has been no reason to. You make sales and you get a check. It's that simple and I have never found anyone who says otherwise.

Then you've got to wonder about the search feature. There is none. But why? For one reason, if Clickbank itself had a search feature, any internet user who is familiar with Clickbank clicking on an affiliate's hoplink could recognize this. They could then go to Clickbank and buy the product under their own affiliate ID at up to 75% off, which wouldn't matter much to Clickbank or the product seller, at least in the beginning. They still collect their cash.

But eventually, the product seller would notice a drop in sales. Affiliates would become less than satisfied with the results of all their hard work and stop working as hard to make sales that weren't coming in anyway. Therefore, there would be less advertising of the product in total. You can't underestimate the value of an affiliate army who are rewarded accordingly.

There are plenty of third party products available that will essentially build a search engine on a Clickbank affiliate's site for them.

Even without this, there are some out there who know what a Clickbank Hoplink looks like and just where to put their own Clickbank ID in order to make a commission for themselves.

Should the affiliates themselves be responsible for protecting their sales. I don't think so. Of course there are products that can help you protect your links, but shouldn't the responsibility rest on the product developer. Our heroes, the third-party software developers, come to the rescue again by providing software to do this for you, but only a few of the product developers selling through Clickbank rely on these products. This leaves a lot of affiliate out in the cold, relying on link cloaking to protect their sales.

I love when I sign up for an affiliate program and click the link assigned to me to test it out and I am delivered to the main page of the site. There is no "?hop=" behind the URL, just "www.mysite.com." This lets me know that my only job is to get the word out on the product and not become an expert on encryption just to make a sale. Just to let you developers know out there, it is also great not to create a link for affiliates from any page designed for sales. You've just defeated any work we as affiliates or you as a responsible marketer have done to save our commissions. Send the link after the sales if you want to but don't treat your affiliates like dirt by telling their lead that they can get a 50% discount by signing up for your affiliate program.

Another reason for product developers to check out link cloaking software: link popularity. If you use the conventional hoplink, Clickbank gets a link back to their site. If the affiliate has to encrypt the link himself, no one gets the link credit. If you buy one of these scripts, your affiliates will advertise a link that points to your site. Just something to think about.

Then there is sales notices. There are none. There used to be a time when Clickbank would send you an e-mail each and every time you made a sale. Spam? Only if you consider a check from the IRS junk mail. Personally, Clickbank could fill my inbox to the limits with notices like this. But this service is no longer there.

I don't want to even start with Clickbank's sales reports functions. Lets just say that they could be improved, a lot.

This is even another area where third party vendors lend a helping hand. You can create affiliate sales reports, profit reports, send e-mails to your customers, and even graph sales trends with such software. Some are scripts that you run on your site. These will send out a thank you e-mail, add the customer to your database and even activate an autoreponder to send out e-mails to your customers in the future. Others allow to have multiple products, multiple sites, and only one Clickbank account.

So what am I trying to say? Just that with the money you would think Clickbank is making, it seems that they could create a more elaborate, user-friendly site. Despite this, you can't beat Clickbank for high commissions and consolidated payments. In fact, some of the holes in the Clickbank system has allowed some innovative software developers to step in and provide very useful tools. Those who use Clickbank to sell their products should take notice and guarantee an effective affiliate sales force by at least checking these solutions out. In turn, they will be rewarded with more sales and affiliates who trust them.

Visit http://www.clickbankebook.com for more details on the resources presented in this article.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephan_Miller

Collect Visitors Info First Before Sending Them To Affiliate.

By Catherine Franz

Honestly, I'm not a big affiliate fan because in the past I haven't gotten 90% of the money promised either because they disappear before they pay out or they have so many exceptions -- paying out once a quarter, has to be over X dollars first, etc. Another negative side is that some of them think that 10% commission or some low amount is worth the 20 hours it takes for us to sell it. Usually the 10% equal $10 and $10 isn't worth my reputation even $1000 actually.

Today’s article is not about the pros and cons of being an affiliate member. There are some good affiliate programs out there where you will get a check, their exceptions are small or nil, and the commission reasonable for the amount of time, risk, and reputation you place on the line for their product or program.

This article focuses on collecting their information before you give them the affiliate link so you can increase your mailing list numbers or residual income.

Almost all affiliate referrals are handled by providing someone with the affiliate link. The reader then goes from your place to their place. If this is what you have been doing, take the "L" (for loser) off your forehead, and read this to "get SMART quick."

Stop LOOSING a valuable marketing opportunity -- and stop it now!

Instead, set up a bridge page (also called a portal page or doorway page). Use the terms bridge and portal instead since the word doorway has a separate search engine meaning that can be confusing.

A bridge page works simply like this. You set up a bridge page on your web site. You send them to this page instead of to the affiliate site, collect their information, and THEN send them to the affiliate site.

The objective is to offer them something for fr*e*e that they must register for on that bridge page so you collect their information. In fact, you can offer several things.

You set up two pages actually. One that is the bridge page and the other a thank you page. After you collect their information THEN you send them to the thank you page. On the thank you page, you thank them for whatever it is they did and then give them an option to NOW access the affiliate site.

Here are a few ideas on items you can offer on the bridge page to collect their information:

* To subscribe to your ezine. If you have more than one, list these all. * To register for an ecourse. * To receive an ebook. * Offer your opinion or testimonials on using the affiliate’s product/program.

Now, one of the main things most people do not think about is offering them something to purchase. And this is something affiliate offerers lookout for when you sign up to be an affiliate (at least the good ones do). They don't want their competition becoming an affiliate and then snatching the customer on the way to their site. I am chuckling on this one -- I think it is great actually. Most affiliates don't even know this is happening to them.

Here is a duzie of a hint that I've only seen one affiliate program do. This will give you a head start and it’s kind of sneaky too.

You can offer something at a price on the bridge page that has to do with that topic (you have a focused buyer here). Example: The affiliate item is a software product. You can write an ebook on the same topic. Yes, will this piss off some affiliates. You bet, but guess what -- that’s business. And also guess what -- it’s going to take them a while to figure it out what you are doing too. They are so busy trying to obtain more affiliates they don't have the time to research each one.

Offering something for a price isn't as effective as something for fr*e*e. Then again, you have to decide what is your call to action for the bridge page. Is it to collect name and increase your mailing list or to make residual income. Don't get greedy and offer both. It will bite you in the "assets". Too many choices and it confuses the visitor and so they don't make any decision at all and leave without choosing anything -- no freebie, no affiliate link.

When you set up your doorway page, set up the metatags and searchable keywords that you wouldn't otherwise be able to place on your site. Make sure that these same words are in the content.

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Franz

How To Boost Your Affiliate Sales With Free Articles.

By Michael Southon

Free Articles continue to be one of the most effective ways of quickly generating traffic and sales, without paying for advertising.

But how can you use free articles to promote an affiliate link? Putting your affiliate link in your Resource Box is not going to work, for a number of reasons:

- people can easily remove your affiliate ID

and just visit the main website of the affiliate

program (you get no commission)

- an affiliate link makes you look like just another

beginner, instead of an expert with something

unique to offer

So how do you use articles to promote affiliate products? Here are some strategies:

(1) Turn your website into a 'Marketing Resources Directory'

On your website display book covers and provide brief reviews for a range of eBooks or software that deal with web marketing.

You could divide your directory into categories: Web Marketing (general), Affiliate Programs, Search Engine Positioning, Email Marketing, Copywriting, Ezine Publishing, etc.

In your Resource Box at the bottom of your article you could say: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in online business. Visit his collection of marketing resources at: http://www.yourdomain.com

(2) Write a Free Report

Write a free report on web marketing and turn it into an exe format free eBook.

Your free report might have 5 or 6 chapters, each chapter dealing with a different aspect of web marketing (Affiliate Programs, Search Engine Positioning, Email Marketing, Copywriting, Ezine Publishing etc).

In each chapter you would include recommendations (and your affiliate link) for eBooks or software that deal with that topic.

Your Resource Box could say: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in online business. Download his free report, 'Web Marketing In 5 Easy Steps': http://www.yourdomain.com/free_report.html

(3) Customize the affiliate links in Free eBooks

Most web marketers produce free or trial versions of their eBooks, and in many cases the order links in these free eBooks can be customized with your affiliate link.

You could build a directory of these free eBooks, each customized with your affiliate link.

The Resource Box at the bottom of your article might read: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in online business. Visit his collection of free eBooks today: http://www.yourdomain.com

(4) Use your Resource Box to get new subscribers to your Newsletter and then promote your affiliate programs in your Newsletter.

This is the strategy most people use. But promoting your affiliate links in a weekly Newsletter is a subtle art - the best way to learn is to join the Newsletters of marketers who specialize in this and study their techniques.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Southon

The Key to a Successful Affiliate Program.

By Michael Southon

Two Christmases ago I tugged on one of those paper crackers and after a small bang, out popped a piece of yellow paper the size of a credit card.

On one side was a riddle that didn't make much sense, but on the other side was an 'Inspirational Quote' that made a lot of sense.

So much so, that I still have it in my wallet.

This is what it said: "The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours".

I'm constantly amazed to see affiliate programs that offer 20%, or even as little as 15%, to their affiliates.

It is generally accepted that the production of any information product is only 10 percent of the whole process.

What's the other 90 per cent? Marketing!

My own affiliate program gives 50% commissions, and I wouldn't dream of offering less. After all, who makes the sale - me or the affiliate?

It may be disappointing to see 50% of your sale price going to your affiliates. But it's worth remembering this: without your affiliate, that sale simply wouldn't have occurred.

Of course, there are many other factors involved in building a successful affiliate program, but this is the first and most important: make your affiliates your equal partners, because they'll be doing 90% of the work.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Southon

How To Win The Affiliate Game.

By Michael Southon

Are you frustrated with your affiliate programs?

I used to be. Very frustrated! One day, in sheer desperation, I wrote to one of my affiliate programs and suggested that the market was now saturated with their product - it was no longer possible to sell it.

The next day I received a very nice reply. "The Internet is HUGE", they said. "We predict it will be five years before the market is saturated with our product. And long before that, we will have introduced our next product." They were right, of course. The problem was not with the market (the Internet is huge). Nor was the problem with their product. The problem was in the way I was presenting it.

Since then, my affiliate sales have soared. Why? Because I learnt a few secrets to winning the affiliate game. Here they are:

1. Choose affiliate programs that relate very closely to the theme of your website. Let me give you an example. Of the three affiliate products I sell from my web site, the one that does best by a long way is an eBook that shows people how to generate free Ezine advertising. Why does it do so well? Because my website is a directory of ezines and most of my visitors are already interested in Ezine Advertising before they even arrive at my website - I don't have to persuade them very much.

2. Buy the product yourself! Research across dozens of affiliate programs shows that at least 70% of sales in any affiliate program are made by the small percentage of affiliates who actually buy the product they're selling. It makes sense doesn't it (how can you recommend something you've never used)?

3. Banners - they don't work anymore, and some experts believe banners will actually damage your affiliate sales.

4. Personal recommendation. The human factor is very important on the Internet - people want to know that someone else has bought the product and that it worked for them. But to write a convincing personal recommendation, you'll have to buy, read and use the product you're selling.

5. 'Over-selling' - this is the most common mistake of affiliates. Keep in mind that all you need to do to succeed with affiliate programs is to get your potential customer to click through to the affiliate website in an 'open-to-buy' mindset. If the affiliate program is good, the affiliate website will make the sale. So don't try to sell the product from your website - just aim to get a click on your affiliate link.

5. Standard Ads. When you join an affiliate program, you'll probably be given some standard ads to use. Don't use them! Why? Because your potential customer has probably seen those exact same ads on dozens of websites and in dozens of Ezines. And if that standard ad hasn't led them to buy the product so far, it probably won't now. Something new and original is required.

6. Back-end sales. Once you're succeeding in one affiliate program, join another program that offers a related product and use the technique that marketers call 'back-end' sales. It's a well known fact that people are much more likely to buy from someone they have already bought from. So when someone makes a purchase from your affiliate link, send them a nice follow-up letter. At the end of the letter, tell them about your other affiliate product and how it can help them.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Southon

10 Sizzling Tips For Affiliates.

By Ken Hill

1. Create an infopacked mini site. Build your mini site for a specific niche audience and then choose affiliate programs specifically for that niche audience.

2. Test and track your ads and promotions for your affiliate programs.

Tracking and testing your ads will show you exactly which ads, promotions and affiliate programs pay off the most for you and are excellent choices for you to continue to promote.

3. Publish an ezine.

Your ezine will give you a powerful way to promote your affiliate programs to your subscribers.

Choose affiliate programs that relate to the content of your ezine and that make it worth your while to promote them.

4. Promote your affiliate programs by recommending their products.

You could recommend your affiliate programs to your ezine subscribers in your publisher's note or you could create a recommended resources section where you promote your affiliate programs in every issue.

You could also recommend your affiliate programs to your visitors by creating a recommended affiliate programs section where you list your favorite affiliate programs along with descriptions of their products or services.

In addition, you could create a best affiliate programs section that helps you build up your second tier by listing the affiliate programs that have paid off the most for you.

5. Write product reviews where you detail the benefits you like about your affiliate program's product.

Make your product reviews honest and hype f~ree and post them on your site along with your other articles.

6. Write your own ads for your affiliate program.

A good way to create your ads is to look at the ad copy on the site of the business you want to promote and also ads they provide for their affiliates to use, and use their unique selling proposition or USP to write your ads.

Their unique selling proposition is a unique benefit that they promote in their ad copy that their competitors don't stress or offer to their visitors.

It could be that their product saves lots of time, is easy to understand, that their product is a complete answer to a problem, or it could involve their price.

Some businesses develop more than one USP so you'll be able to choose the one that you think works best in getting more targeted visitors to their site.

7. Try out the support of the companies you want to promote by asking questions.

This will help you to find out how long it takes them to respond to emails (if they respond to emails) and how professional they are.

8. Create freebies that promote your affiliate programs.

You could offer your visitors a f~ree email course, an ebook filled with your tips or articles or an ebook that provides your visitors with places to promote their businesses.

When creating freebies for an affiliate program that is 2 tier, increase your profits by letting your affiliates in your second tier use your freebies as a promotional item.

9. Create a directory.

Your directory could be an article, ezine, ebook or affiliate program directory.

List your own resources within your directory to increase your commissions. For example, you could add your own affiliate programs to your affiliate programs directory or your ebooks to your ebook directory.

Add a what's new section to your directory to garner more repeat traffic from your visitors.

You could also provide a tutorial on the subject of your directory, or add things to your directory that your visitors can use on a regular basis to get more repeat traffic.

10. Run ezine ads for your affiliate programs.

You could purchase sponsor, feature, classified or solo ads for your affiliate program.

Choose ezines with subscribers targeted to be interested in the products of the business you want to promote.

Run your ads for multiple issues in a row when possible to maximize the profit you get from your ads.

You can also run f~ree ads in ezines as many ezines offer
f~ree advertising on a weekly, monthly or per issue basis to
get more new subscriptions.

Running free ads can help you find out which ads work best,
and which ezines are most responsive before you purchase
ezine advertising.

Article by writer, Ken Hill. Get more marketing tips by
joining Ken's Top Notch Marketing Ezine at:
http://www.netpromarketer.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Hill

There's a "Tween" In Your Future - Are You Ready ?

By Liz Micik

Within 15 minutes of coming through the door from school, she has her neck crooked around the phone. A music CD tucked into the computer's drive drowns out all but the occasional giggles of that conversation. While her fingers fly over the keyboard, you risk a quick glance and count six open "chat" boxes. She's IMing (sending instant messages with) the friends she didn't get to talk to at school.

That's just how she communicates.

Once the "he said," "she looked" minutia of the all important social event (lunch hour) of the day have been dissected, the conversations begin to move outward. Movie trivia websites are visited en masse, and the merits of a certain pair of kahkis for sale on one site versus another found the day before cause more windows to be opened, as this virtual gaggle of girls move around the web together.

Sometimes, tasks are split. Three girls visit different movie theater sites where start times for this week's chosen film are carefully matrixed against which parent might be able to drive the group to which venue.

That's just how decisions are made.

Some people call her a tween. She's between 8 and 12 and attends middle school, Sunday school, and high school football games where she and her friends pay far less attention to each other's older brother on the team than their slightly older siblings. Usually that's all an anxious parent in this group is able to watch out for. They don't know the half of what she is capable of yet.

According to brand analyst and Clickz columnist, Martin Lindstrom, 22% of these tweens have already made an online purchase on their own. Lindstrom's study excerpt didn't discuss how they were able to pay for these purchases, but it's a good bet a majority of them were done using mom or dad's credit card. That's a pretty safe assumption when you consider that tweens determine what brand is purchased 60% of the time in a typical household.

60%!
Clothes, music, accessories, gifts, games and other entertainment used to be the exclusive province of the American teenager. The 13 and over crowd used to decide where those dollars were spent. But they're passing the baton to their younger brothers and sisters while they pursue their own, more diverse, interests, also online.

That's just where the teens and tweens are spending their time these days.

Tweens are even more intensely committed to the Internet than their older teenage siblings. Teens are spending in excess of 16.7 hours per week online according to a 2002 Yahoo study. That compares to 13.6 hours spent watching television, 12 hours spent listening to music and 7.7 hours talking on the phone.

Did you catch it?
Do you see what the real difference is between these two groups? And do you understand just how large, and just how evolutionary the impact of that difference will be on your business?

That's the piece of the puzzle that I think is being overlooked. It's been buried beneath an already staggering pile of statistics.

It's not about the numbers at all.

It's about the fact that tweens have already assimilated the Internet completely. It's about the fact that tweens have already begun to filter their media differently, and process that input differently. They don't surf websites anymore, clicking their mouse to zoom in to see the pocket detail on those jeans. They "experience" a site clicking their mouse to turn 3d model images wearing those jeans, or clicking hotspots in panoramic images designed to make them feel as if they are in a room at a store.

They don't spend 16.7 hours on the Internet, then 13.6 watching TV, then 12 hours listening to music, then 7.7 hours talking on the phone. They spend 16.7 and 13.6 and 12 and 7.7 simultaneously. They move from one media to another effortlessly, automatically typing coherent messages for up to five conversations at once, laughing at a girlfriend's joke on the phone, and tapping their foot to the relentless beat of the music. At - the - same - time.

"Tween" is not just a convenient demographic catch phrase for a bundle of statistics. It's also a very apt description of where this particular generation will fall on technology timeline. The web "experience" is likely to continue unfolding long after they have grown up and become everyone's prime demographic.

I have a tween in my house. And she really is somewhere between. Her reliance on a strong social network of girlfriends is as old as the hills. But her communication methods raise the bar on the definition of multitasking. Sometimes I watch her and wonder if we haven't finally broken through another old barrier. I wonder if she's tapping into, and effectively using, more than the 10% of our brains than science claims we use.

But probably not. It's still clear that not all of her senses have been enhanced.

She still can't seem to hear me when I ask if she has homework.

Liz Micik has been an Ordinary Marketer for nearly 25 years, helping companies tell their story to the right people in the right way to sell their products and services. Visit www.ordinarymarketer.com to sign up for the Inside Edge, a free monthly multimedia newsletter, and find out how you can get extraordinary results from marketing you can live with.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Micik