Affiliate Revenue for the Complete Novice - Part 1

By: Andy Will
Submitted: 2007-01-17 12:55:42
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The term affiliate revenue is used to refer to the process of making money by advertising other peoples products. If you've ever visited an affiliate provider then you'll know what I'm talking about.

There are many such websites where both buyers and sellers of information products (usually ebooks and software) come together to promote, sell and buy products.

What happens is that a person will create a new ebook or piece of software and offer it for sale through an online marketplace, if you sign up as an affiliate at that particular marketplace then can start promoting that person's product.

Here is what happens:

- You sign up as an affiliate

- You choose a product to promote (each product will offer you a % share of the sale - usually between 50% and 75%)

- You direct visitors to a special URL containing your affiliate ID

- If the visitor buys the product - you get a percentage of the sale. Easy

Well actually, it isn't as easy as that at all - otherwise all the affiliates I know would be rich!

There are some steps that will help us increase our chances of making a sale.

1. Always use a landing page. This is where you set up a single page for the sole purpose of getting the visitors email. If you can capture a visitors email then you can follow them up again. If you just re-direct someone then you are as well saying goodbye to them forever. Using a landing page also hides your affiliate ID.

2. Set up an auto-responder to send out your own reviews of the products you are trying to advertise to your mailing list (captured in step 1). Most people don't buy something the first time they see it. Do this over the first 2 weeks. If they haven't purchased it by then then they probably won't.

3. Use as many affiliate programs as you can and don't just stick with the big ones. If you have a website then this can reap great rewards as it looks better if you show other products on your site other than "virtual ones".

A quick and very effective way to get visitors to notice your affiliate link is by advertising through Google Adwords. By doing this you increase the chance that someone will spot your ad and click on your affiliate link. Google ads is good but in the beginners hands it can be a bit daunting.

Another great way to use your own website to generate affiliate revenue is to use Google adsense. This basically takes the Google adwords Ads that other advertisers have created and displays them on "Keyword Relevant" sites - for example, a site about motorcycles would attract Google ads relating to motorcycles.

If you are using this method then just make sure that your website is highly optimised for "Very Relevant Keywords" otherwise you'd just be wasting your time. Also, it is a good idea to use a tool like wordtracker.com to find some rarer keywords that may not pick up as much searches but will rank your site higher in the search engines if there isn't as much competition.

Finally, if you are really serious about earning an affiliate revenue then be aware - it takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work. Quick fixes don't work in the long term.

Hard Work Now = Affiliate Revenue Later

Andy Will is webmaster at http://www.affiliate-revenue.co.uk

Article source: Expert Articles