Building An Affiliate Income - Picking Profitable Affiliate
Programs
Copyright 2003 by Kevin Bidwell All-In-One-Business.com
It's a great feeling to open your mail and see a check there
for $ 500 or more. It's an even greater feeling to get two or
three!
While there are hordes of affiliates out there who never make
a sale or get a check, there are a few of us who get checks every
month, all year long. No matter what kind of site you have, you
want to be one of those people.
There are several steps to building an effective affiliate income:
1. Identify a workable market niche. 2. Locate solid affiliate
programs to offer that niche. 3. Build a site and newsletter with
high-quality information tied to that niche. 4. Get your targeted
visitors to the site and signed up for your newsletter. 5. Send
your visitors with open and receptive minds to the affiliate sites
you represent, ready to buy.
In this article I will look at the second step: Locating affiliate
programs that will make you the long-term money you want and need.
There are a number of places you can look for affiliate programs.
Here are a few I use:
Our Own Search Engine of Affiliate Programs
http://all-in-one-business.com/programs
Our New Programs Mailer (this focuses on new two-tier affiliate
programs):
http://all-in-one-business.com/newpro
Allan Gardyne's Associate Program Directory
http://AssociatePrograms.com
Here is how you can identify a program that will make you a
good income over the coming months and years:
1. MAKE SURE IT IS TARGETED TO YOUR NICHE
If your niche is radio controlled car racing enthusiasts, you
don't want to offer them internet marketing courses. Instead,
you will want to offer them products related to RC racing.
2. DETERMINE IF THE COMMISSION IS SUFFICIENT
Sending an email to your list doesn't cost you anything, right?
WRONG! Here's why...
Every time you send out an email about one product, you are
giving up the opportunity to send out a recommendation on some
other product. This is called opportunity cost.
I do a product recommendation to my list about once per month.
I know that the average return per subscriber for each of those
mailers is around 10 to 20 cents per subscriber.
If I choose to recommend a product to my list and the commission
is too low, I may make only 2 cents per subscriber.
So, that mailer "cost" me 8 cents per subscriber. That is a
HUGE amount of wasted opportunity.
The commission offered on your product needs to be enough to
justify your cost in advertising the product. 40-50% of a digital
product and 30-40% for a "hard good" is probably reasonable. If
someone is trying to give you less than this you most likely need
to walk away.
Of course, re-curing commissions have a few other variables
to consider.
3. MAKE SURE THE PAGE HAS A SOLID SALES PROCESS
Before you recommend a product--even if you truly believe in
the product--make sure you take a close look at the sales process.
Is the sales page readable? Compelling? If not, don't send people
to the page--they aren't going to buy.
4. CHECK OUT THE PRODUCT YOURSELF
DON'T RECOMMEND A PRODUCT YOU HAVEN'T AT LEAST *EXAMINED* YOURSELF!
Recommending products you have not looked at is like Russian roulette--you
might get by with it for a couple spins, but eventually it will
shoot you in the head.
A well-known marketer recommended an ebook he had not read himself.
He had read the first version, but not volume 2. Later, when it
became obvious the product was pretty much a waste of money, the
"guru's" recommendation--sent to his list--now appeared as a testimonial
at the sales site.
It hurt this guru's credibility and his own ability to make
sales.
5. MAKE SURE SOLID TRACKING IS IN PLACE
You should be able to see how many visitors you have sent to
the affiliate site, how many purchased and how much sales commission
you have earned. This is a bare minimum.
Following these five recommendations will go a long way toward
getting you nice commission checks week after week.
============================================================
Kevin Bidwell is owner of the amazing Success
Secrets Course
Kevin has just finished writing a report on earning a passive
income.
Find it Here: Passive
Income Report
You can also Earn
Money Referring Others !
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