Q: How does this work?

 

A: An affiliate program isn't really a "program". It's a business arrangement. For newcomers to Internet marketing, they provide an excellent opportunity - a way to earn money without producing your own product. Affiliate marketing is a rapidly growing, cost-effective way for businesses to increase traffic and for website owners to make money. They are usually remarkably easy to join and operate. They are also usually free to join. Companies use these revenue sharing arrangements to pay commissions to website owners for sending them customers or "leads". You are paid a commission if the person buys a product or service, or perhaps if he or she simply fills out a form, or asks for a free sample. You can be paid per sale, per lead or per click. Other names: Affiliate programs are also known as associate, reseller, commission, bounty, pay-per-lead, pay-per-sale or pay-for-performance programs. Here's an example Let's say you love golf, so you create a website in which you recommend the golf books, magazines, videos and golfing gear you use and love. The merchants selling those products provide you with affiliate links which you paste into your site. When visitors click on those links and buy those products, you earn a commission on each sale.. Some affiliates earn pocket money. A few make millions of dollars.

 

Q: Why are you sharing your secrets?

 

A: Easy, when you guys use my site and start making $100 a month or more, you'll keep on using it and referring friends and family. I have advertisers that keep the site free for you guys but it only stays free if I give them traffic. "Quid Pro Quo ~ This For That."

 

Q: How can I get started, seems confusing?

 

A: It can be overwhelming at first but the best thing you can do is just start. Trust me, it took me a year of screwing up to figure out how it worked so you guys get to bypass all that. First, check out the website and the informatin contact page. Find a program you like, click on the link provided and scroll to the bottom of the page. Once there they should have a link that lead you step by step. Once you have an account, they will offer banners and links to their site using your code. Copy the code and paste the HTML code in your MySpace profile.

 

A. The simplest way is to click on the "Information Tab" link at the side of this page and search our growing directory or any one of the many Google ads on this site. Affiliate networks such as Commission Junction, LinkShare and ClickBank are also a good place to start. Also while searching make it a habit to scroll down to the bottom of any commercial site and see if they offer an affiliate program.

Q. What is the best affiliate program?

A. Wrong question. You should be asking: "What is the best affiliate program for me?" Or: "What is the best affiliate program for my site?"
There's no sense in trying to sell investment seminars to people who have no money, or arthritis cures to healthy young teenagers. Choose an affiliate program which best suits the visitors your site attracts - or you plan to attract.

Q. I am only 15. Will companies pay me?

A. Yes. Most won't ask your age. As long as you can type those keys on your computer sensibly enough, you can sign up for some of them. Some will ask for your Social Security Number. Some insist you have to be at least 18.
Make sure you read the affiliate agreement before you join.

Q. What are the worst affiliate mistakes?

A. If you send spam (bulk unsolicited email) your reputation will be ruined and your Internet service provider may close down your site. Only selfish, greedy, inconsiderate, thoughtless oafs send spam.

Lots of people have created shopping malls based on affiliate programs. There are already thousands of shopping malls on the Internet, so it would appear to be futile to add yet another one - unless you are absolutely brilliant at marketing and can also make the site attractive enough so that people will keep coming back. Targeting a small niche is likely to work much better.

I suppose the next worst mistake is trying to promote something that is totally unrelated to the theme of your site - it's a bit like a shoe shop trying to sell toothpaste.

Another thing to be wary of is being conned into promoting some all-hype-no-substance program. That, too, can wreck your reputation.

Another big mistake is to build a site which is just a simple list of marketing products or affiliate programs. Thousands upon thousands of newbie affiliates do that. You have many thousands of different niches to choose from.