Work Those Affiliate Programs and Make Some Cash
| Category: Affiliate Marketing - Development | Date: 2003-04-28 |
14 October 2000
So youve joined your first affiliate/associate program and slapped that big old banner on your site. All you have to do now is sit back and wait for the bucks to come rolling in.
Not so fast there, Bucky. Theres a lot more to making money with affiliate programs than that. If your best effort is going to be that banner, dont plan on retiring any day soon.
Just like everything else online, youll get out of it what you put in. So if you want to make some serious cash with those programs youre joining, you need to promote them. There are a variety of methods you can use, but Ill discuss the few that I know seem to work the best.
My first suggestion to you is to join only programs that relate to the theme of your website. Make sure its a "good fit" with your site and that it pays out a "healthy" commission. Getting paid $2.00 in commission may not be worth the work involved in promoting the program. Try weaving the URLs throughout your site or devoting a whole page to their topic. Dont just use banners; use alternatives like text links within your pages. Banners have become so saturated online that a lot of folks tend to ignore them, plus the extra weight they add to your pages makes them load slowly.
Most programs you join will give you a variety of ads to use in your promotion efforts, but for best results you really should be creative and write some of your own. All too often I see the same old ad repeated over and over online until I want to scream. A little creativity and stressing the benefits will take you a lot further than canned ads that 10,000 other programs are using.
Make a habit of scanning discussion boards and look for any opportunity to answer a question or give advice using your affiliate link. Make the link a part of your signature line and use it in your e-mail correspondence and newsgroup postings.
If you publish your own ezine, make sure you keep a list of text ads for all of the associate programs you participate in and pick 2 or 3 to put in your newsletter every time you publish. If youve purchased the product yourself, a personal endorsement will pique your subscribers interest and motivate them to click through. Your subscribers trust you, so dont recommend anything you dont believe in.
Dont forget about placing your ads in other ezines that cater to your target audience. There are plenty of inexpensive newsletters just waiting for your ad copy. For instance, an ad costing you $10.00 could result in three associate sales adding up to $100.00. Thats a pretty nice return on your investment.
One trick that has worked well for me over the years is placing my associate links in e-books that Ive written. Since the books are given away for free theres no telling how many people will see those links and possibly make a purchase. If your book is well written and popular you could stand to make some decent revenue from the associate programs that youve placed in it.
Associate programs really are a great way to make some cash online, but a banner alone is not going to do it. Start promoting your "special link" every chance you get....and youll be rolling in the dough in no time at all.
About the Author
Merle (just Merle, thank you) is an experienced Internet Marketer/Promoter. She knows what it takes for business websites to be successful. She has been online for over four years and has two other websites to her credit: MC Promotions - http://www.mcpromotions.com/ and Merles World - http://www.merlesworld.com/
:To contact see details below.
merle@mcpromotions.com
http://www.marketingchallenge.com/
So youve joined your first affiliate/associate program and slapped that big old banner on your site. All you have to do now is sit back and wait for the bucks to come rolling in.
Not so fast there, Bucky. Theres a lot more to making money with affiliate programs than that. If your best effort is going to be that banner, dont plan on retiring any day soon.
Just like everything else online, youll get out of it what you put in. So if you want to make some serious cash with those programs youre joining, you need to promote them. There are a variety of methods you can use, but Ill discuss the few that I know seem to work the best.
My first suggestion to you is to join only programs that relate to the theme of your website. Make sure its a "good fit" with your site and that it pays out a "healthy" commission. Getting paid $2.00 in commission may not be worth the work involved in promoting the program. Try weaving the URLs throughout your site or devoting a whole page to their topic. Dont just use banners; use alternatives like text links within your pages. Banners have become so saturated online that a lot of folks tend to ignore them, plus the extra weight they add to your pages makes them load slowly.
Most programs you join will give you a variety of ads to use in your promotion efforts, but for best results you really should be creative and write some of your own. All too often I see the same old ad repeated over and over online until I want to scream. A little creativity and stressing the benefits will take you a lot further than canned ads that 10,000 other programs are using.
Make a habit of scanning discussion boards and look for any opportunity to answer a question or give advice using your affiliate link. Make the link a part of your signature line and use it in your e-mail correspondence and newsgroup postings.
If you publish your own ezine, make sure you keep a list of text ads for all of the associate programs you participate in and pick 2 or 3 to put in your newsletter every time you publish. If youve purchased the product yourself, a personal endorsement will pique your subscribers interest and motivate them to click through. Your subscribers trust you, so dont recommend anything you dont believe in.
Dont forget about placing your ads in other ezines that cater to your target audience. There are plenty of inexpensive newsletters just waiting for your ad copy. For instance, an ad costing you $10.00 could result in three associate sales adding up to $100.00. Thats a pretty nice return on your investment.
One trick that has worked well for me over the years is placing my associate links in e-books that Ive written. Since the books are given away for free theres no telling how many people will see those links and possibly make a purchase. If your book is well written and popular you could stand to make some decent revenue from the associate programs that youve placed in it.
Associate programs really are a great way to make some cash online, but a banner alone is not going to do it. Start promoting your "special link" every chance you get....and youll be rolling in the dough in no time at all.
About the Author
Merle (just Merle, thank you) is an experienced Internet Marketer/Promoter. She knows what it takes for business websites to be successful. She has been online for over four years and has two other websites to her credit: MC Promotions - http://www.mcpromotions.com/ and Merles World - http://www.merlesworld.com/
:To contact see details below.
merle@mcpromotions.com
http://www.marketingchallenge.com/
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