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Choosing Affiliate Programs
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What To Look For When Choosing Affiliate Programs
by Jonathan Kraft
So you've decided you want to become an Internet Marketer,
huh? Will you sell someone else's products or sell your
own?
If you choose to sell someone else's products, how will
you know what to look for? After all, this is a new venture
for you.
Or maybe it's not. Maybe you have been trying out some
affiliate programs which have not brought you any money,
or, worse, have not paid you for the affiliate traffic
you have sent them.
If you are the new person, or the person who is floundering
in Internet Marketing, this article will offer you some
simple tips for choosing an affiliate program.
This article doesn't cover getting traffic to your site,
which is another huge piece of the puzzle, and will be
covered in a later article, but let's just start with
choosing affiliate programs.
#1. You should find affiliate programs that:
a) are relatively easy to set up (code is either created
for you or easy to create)
b) will pay you well. This depends on your definition
of what being paid well means, but generally, for most
beginners, and some novices, if you can see yourself being
able to make more than $250/month, the program is at least
worth looking at
c) give you products which people actually use. There
are lots of products in the market which will sell, but
do you really want to be selling pet rocks? If you do,
please don't take offense. Most legitimate affiliate advice
sites won't feature affiliate programs that are exclusively
selling something like 8-Track players and tapes. While
there are probably collectors out there who would love
an 8-track player and cassettes, the fact is that the
market is done with 8-tracks. The point is, there should
be a genuine need for, or interest in, what you are selling/reselling.
So you find a program which meets the above criteria.
Now what? Do a Google search on the company. Find out
what people are saying about them. You may have to dig
a bit, but the combined experience of the professionals
(and not-so-professionals) who develop and contribute
to the Internet on a regular basis is, collectively, the
best source of advice you will find on making money, or
affiliate programs, anywhere.
If you want advice on some great affiliate programs, you
can visit sites which have already reviewed the information
about companies and present it to you in a straightforward
way. If you are ready to find some great affiliate programs,
then you will be able to find categories of affiliate
programs on these sites, which will generally represent
the type of products you would like to sell.
Search engines love content, and so do your site visitors.
Content is one of the most important aspects of getting
people to your web site, and helping them to see the value
in what you're selling. You should strive to choose programs
with products which are related to your web site.
In other words, if you have a site which features information
about the Toyota Camry, you're going to be pretty hard
pressed to be able to get your page content matched up
so that you could sell, say... baby rattles.
Find affiliate programs which relate to what you already
do, and then promote those products.
Finally, see if you can find someone to actually talk
to (ok, email would be okay) who has received regular
checks or payments from marketing products. We think that
this is, perhaps, the most important part of any affiliate
program, because the main reason you promote their products
is to receive a check for your efforts.
So there you have it, some simple tips for choosing great
affiliate programs! Hope this helps you to reach your
income goals, and also helps you to develop a long-term
plan for on and off-line financial and personal success.
About The Author
Jonathan Kraft has been an online marketer for many years.
He is a massage therapist, web designer, legal services
broker, has been a high school teacher, and is an all
around nice guy. He works with a team of people on www.affiliateadvice.us,
where you can check out some great affiliate programs
that meet all the above criteria. |
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