What’s Your Favorite Affiliate Program?

One thing about the affiliate business is that you are never out of options as far as programs to promote and networks to join. Networks such as CJ, LinkShare, Clickbank, and Pepperjams provide you with everything you need to promote products online and make money. Personally, Clickbank and CJ have been the best networks to work with but a lot of guys have had success with those other networks. So here is my question for you:

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Is your decision based on conversion rate, customer service, or easy of use? Please share.

My Biggest Affiliate Marketing Mistake

Every affiliate makes mistakes. When you are new to this field, it’s easy to make mistakes. But one of the biggest mistakes that I made when entering this business was not doing my homework. I entered markets that I shouldn’t have, and I failed to do a proper market research to understand the dynamics of markets. When you choose a market, you should pay more attention to those little things that could go wrong. Don’t just think about how fat your pay check will be.

Take the credit card market. The players in this industry are highly regulated, and you should be extra careful entering in this market. These companies will ask you to make changes to your pages on a consistent basis. And they threaten to remove you every time you miss the smallest little thing. These guys can’t afford to have you misrepresent their offers, and that is why this market is such a pain in the butt. Let’s say you have a blog and you keep blogging about these credit cards. Something that you wrote years ago could come back to haunt you here. That’s right. Many credit card companies don’t care when you wrote your post. If they can see it, they are going to ask you to remove it.

What if you wrote a piece on top 5 credit cards years ago? You may have to remove one or two of those top 5 cards if you are warned by your affiliate manager. Then you are left with only 3 cards. You see the problem? You have to do major edits to fix the headaches caused by credit card companies. And this stuff is not exclusive to the credit industry. You are going to see it in most highly regulated industries. If you ask me, do yourself a favor and do a proper market research to make sure what you are getting yourself into. Getting $100 per credit card is nice, but the amount of work you have to go through to comply is a big turn off!

Make Money With Amazon

I don’t know about you, but I truly envy the young generation. Our kids have Macbook Airs and Netbooks to play with. I may not be that old but the best I had in the 90s was a commodore or an Amiga. And let’s not forget that the Internet was not what it is now. These days, anyone can make money the Internet. In fact, if you are not trying to make money on the Internet, you are missing the boat.

If you don’t know where to start, you should look no further than Amazon. Amazon a lot of innovative service that you can use to make money online. Amazon’s affiliate program is one of the best converting affiliate programs on the Web. These guys constantly come up with new widgets and features that you can use to test Amazon offerings on your websites and see how much money you can make. You can use Amazon Web Store to host your own stores and make money online. If you need hosting, you can use Amazon’s cloud computing to pay as you consume.

Making money with Amazon is not that hard. Now, I am not suggesting you are going to make millions with Amazon easily but even if you make a few hundred dollars a month from Amazon, that could help you save money or take your family somewhere. You don’t have to own a business or be a pro affiliate marketer to make money with Amazon. So why in the world wouldn’t you want to make some cash with Amazon?

The Right Way To Start An Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate marketing is a low-risk method to generate leads for businesses online. Whether you are a credit card company or just want to sell life insurance online, you are better off investing in creating an affiliate program and use your affiliates to drive traffic. But getting the best out of an affiliate program is not easy. You can’t just expect to put up an affiliate program and start generating leads. It things were that easy!

A lot of companies understand the importance of using affiliate programs to drive leads. But not many know how to maximize their opportunity with affiliate programs. Thankfully the World Wide Web provides us with a wealth of information that anyone can use to build a killer affiliate program. Here are the steps I would take to make my affiliate programs perform better:

• Set the Rules: I hate to be tough on my affiliates, but you need to define what you tolerate and what you don’t with your affiliate program. If you don’t set the rules, you can’t expect others to follow them.
• Proper pre-launch: if you are launching a new product, and you want to use your affiliate program to push the product, make sure you give your affiliates enough incentives to push your products. Provide your affiliates with sample videos, content, and even the real thing to help them push your product better.
• Affiliate Giveaways: do giveaway cool gadgets to encourage affiliates to try harder to win them. I like what Hydra Network is doing with their affiliate program. Having the chance to win that Motorcycle keeps me awake at night.
• Affiliate Goodies: provide your affiliates with free stuff to giveaway. It could be e-books, reports, and complimentary services.
• Affiliate Tools: if you want to get the best out of your affiliate program, you’ve got to provide your affiliates with tools that can help them become more productive. Provide them with sample e-mail newsletters. Give them banners, video widgets, and even audio files to distribute. Allow them to deep link to your pages.
• Affiliate Training: it’s easy to assume people actually know what they are doing online. But a lot of them don’t. Teach your affiliates how they can promote your product. They will appreciate it.
• Reach out to Top Affiliates: top affiliates can bring thousands of leads to your business in a snap. These guys have mastered the art and know exactly what to do to generate leads. You should reach out to them and make them feel special.
• Be Active: if you have decided to hire an affiliate manager, make sure you hire one that knows how to stay in touch with your affiliate army.

Running an affiliate program is not an exact science. You should use outside-the-box ideas to motivate your affiliates. You can always copy what other successful programs are doing, but I do recommend having some originality. Your affiliate program can be a powerful promotional tool, but only if you do everything possible to get the best out of it.

Do You Have a Lot of Time On Your Hand?

The times are tough. You do not have to be a genius to figure this out. Many folks are losing their jobs, and that trend is expected to go on for a while. What really amazes me how clueless some of these folks are. I get it. You are worried about your family and providing for them. That’s noble. But you should not sit on your butt while looking for a new job. Being laid off could be the best thing that has happened to you. A lot of folks have come to the conclusion that they can’t work on their own and need an employer to give them directions and a paycheck. But now is the time to test that theory. Let’s face it. The job market is not expected to get better anytime soon. And there is a good chance you are going to have to spend months to get a new job. Why not use these few months to start or build your business?

Affiliate marketing is a tough business. There are tough lessons that everyone has to learn before truly getting this business. But you’ve got to start somewhere. You can’t just sit around and wait for interviews. Being laid off doesn’t mean you are home free. If you are a millionaire, may you are. But if you don’t have that kind of money, why not take steps that can get you there. Who knows. Maybe by the time you have found your next interview, you won’t even need it.

What Should I Do: Affiliate Marketing For Beginners

I have talked in the past how important it is for new affiliate marketers to get the basics down. Affiliate marketing is a fun busines, but it can be hard breaking for a lot of us. If you your basics, you can always go back to them and come up with profitable campaigns. But if you have no idea what you are doing and are just throwing darts in the dark, there is a real good chance you are going to keep missing.

New affiliate marketers have a lot to deal with. It’s not just about finding the right niche or creating a keyword list. You are going to have to make tough business decisions. How are you going to handle your hosting? How are you going to raise funds? What’s your plan B? What’s your plan A? These are just a few questions that you should consider beforing dreaming about ways to spend your millions.

Here are what I call the basics of affiliate marketing:

• Know the nature of this business: don’t expect to make hundreds of dollars on a daily basis from the same day you get started. You may achieve it but the odds are not too high.
• Treat your affiliate business as as business: a lot of affiliate marketers are guilty of treating their affiliate business as hobby. Don’t fall into that trap. Hobbies don’t often put money on the table.
• Have a plan and stick to it!: every business needs a business plan. It doesn’t need to be 400 pages with all those forecast numbers. But you’ve got to have something to go back to.
• Be a student of the game: don’t be an I-know-it-all person. Nobody knows everything. I don’t care how good you are. You’ve got to keep learning and evolving.
• Know your priorities: there is a time to play games and there is time to do business. Don’t forget what puts money on the table.
• Be rational: don’t make rash decisions just when something goes wrong. Quitters don’t win.
• Be irrational: don’t give up too easily. Don’t do exactly what others are doing. Be innovative. Think out-side-the-box.
• Make sound investments: affiliates are often guilty of buying too many e-books and training courses. Find a couple of good ones and try them out. Don’t spend thousands of dollars on pricey conferences.
• Have focus: don’t take on too many products. Think linear. I am not suggesting you should put all your eggs in one basket but at the same time don’t focus on too many products.
• Take time off: it’s not healthy to spend 15 hours in front of a computer everyday. Take time off. Reward yourself. Take breaks. Eat and exercise well.
• Network: who you know can be the difference between your succeeding or failing in this business. Take time to network with fellow marketers. What do you have to lose?

These are what I like to call the basics of affiliate marketing. There are a few other things you need to keep in mind but in essence as long as you know what you are dealing with, you are not setting yourself up for a nasty surprise. Affiliate marketing is a tough business. But freedom to do what you love is well worth it.

Do You Care About Your Customers?

If you think about it, there are really three types of affiliate marketers out there. There is one group that only cares about making money. They sugar coat even the worst products on the market and sell them to their leads regardless of how much value they can get from those products. The second group does care about their customers but often give in to the temptation of following the first group. Then, there are rare few affiliates that care about providing value to their customers. Sure. They want to make money but they understand that if they provide their customers with top notch value, the money will come.

Unfortunately, a lot of affiliates are forced to make tough decisions when the money is not there. Think about it. If you are only days away from running out of money, what would you do? In this economy, there is a good chance that you will have to hustle to get a job. But would you sacrifice your business integrity to make some quick cash and ride these tough times out? Not many have this excuse though. Real business individuals understand that you need to put your customers first. By providing your leads with the best information possible, you can help them make more knowledgeable decisions and get more value out of your relationship. If you only think about your bottom line, then you are not going to maximize your affiliate opportunities. Selling something and pretending that it is good is one thing. Knowing the true value of a product and communicating that with your leads is a whole other story.

Your take: which group do you belong to?

Do You Need a Website For Affiliate Marketing?

I know how this sounds. I have been preaching about affiliates building assets online to secure their long-term future in this busines. But in reality, you do not need to have your own website to make money with affiliate marketing. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are not too many affiliate programs that allow offline sales. But you can use Web 2.0 services such as Squidoo and Weebly to get your content on the web.

The truth is, Google often ranks Squidoo and Weebly sites faster. The same can be said about Wordpress.com blogs. You have probably seen it before. As soon as a product comes out, many top affiliate marketers either by a domain name with the exact name of the product in it or they use site such as Squidoo to push those new affiliate products. But in reality, you should always try to build your very own assets. Think about it. You spend hours writing reviews and pushing your affiliate products. Wouldn’t it be better if you push your very own website?

Building an affiliate website is not that hard. You can use Wordpress or Drupal to have one up and ready fast. There are thousands of plug-in and themes that you can use to enhance your website. At the end of the day, the sooner you get started with your website, the more long-term value you are going to create. Who knows. You may end up selling your website for thousands of dollars. You never know!

The FoolProof Way To Make Money Online from Affiliate Marketing

A lot of gurus tell you that you should follow their success blue-print to make money online from affiliate marketing. Got to admit. If you find a blue-print that actually works, then you should use it to make money. But in reality, you don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars to get your hands on these blue-prints. There is one formula that works over and over again – the early-mover blueprint. You have heard it before. Early movers have an advantage in the business world, and the same can be said about affiliate marketing. If you can outdo your competitors in the agility department, you have an advantage over them.

A lot of affiliate marketers wait a while before promoting new affiliate products. Why? Because they want the early-movers to try these new products out and see if they are viable affiliate offers. There you go. The ultimate formula. If you can get good at moving early, you can make money while the superstars are staying on the sidelines watching you. You can stick around for more than you have to and go head to head with the gurus. But I personally prefer guerrilla tactics. You know, the sort of tactics used by 100 soldiers to bring down an army of thousands.

If you are just entering the affiliate marketing world, there is a good chance that you will find it difficult to outdo the gurus in their own game. These guys have refined their affiliate blueprints over and over again, and they have access to more funds than you do. At the same time, they are pretty much set with their ways and are not too open to drastic changes. They have to go through a process they have defined to set up their campaigns, which means they are going to be slower than you! And that’s your decisive advantage over them. Grab a product early, promote the heck out of it, and move out when the market gets crowded (or stick around if you want to grapple with the giants). This strategy has worked for years and will continue to work. Agility is not everything in business, but it still counts!

Are You Stuck In the Never Ending Cycle of Non-Action?

We have all heard it before. Action is all that matters. You simply can’t expect to do nothing and make it in the affiliate marketing world. Now, a lot of affiliates who don’t make it keep spending time on things that don’t matter but since they don’t consider that non-action, they never realize where they have been wrong. Non-action doesn’t mean you sit on your butt and do nothing all day. Non-action means taking a low priority action instead of a higher priority one. I learned my mistake by reviewing the 7 habits of highly effective people. Just because you are spending 15 hours a day in front of a computer doesn’t mean you are being effective.

A lot of folks keep worrying about how much money they are going to make tomorrow. I am more worried about how much I am going to lose. Not money, but time! Time is the most important asset you have. Money can be made and lost, but you can’t get your time back. You have one life to live, and it’s gone. You never get a second chance. So the decisions and actions that you take better be good ones.

A lot of affiliates spend so much time reading this training system or that ebook just to find out how they can make more money. But in reality, you can’t keep wasting time consuming others’ products without you actually doing some work. Reading is a great way to keep on top of things but if you read too much, it can actually hurt your business. Think about it. While you are reading the next greatest ebook, someone is innovating and building a solution that will put you out of business completely. That’s not fun, is it?>