The idea of affiliate marketing isn’t a new concept but if you are unfamiliar with it the idea is simple. I have a product and if you tell your friend about it and the buy it then I will give you 20% of the sales price. Sounds great right? But how is this accomplished in the virtual world? This is done via affiliate URL’s that are tracked using your internet cookies. When you click on a promotional affiliate link it stays in your cookies and if you make a purchase on that website it then tracks who the affiliate member is. You can click the link today, but then go back months later to the site to make the purchase and the affiliate can still be tracked and make their commission.
In my affiliate marketing I focus on Internet Businesses (Business Coaches and other Virtual Assistants) as well as promoting products that I use in my own business such as Mozy, StudioPress and GoDaddy. There are plenty of Entrepreneurs out there who have affiliate marketing programs that work really well because they have proven products that work and the Entrepreneur is well liked and trusted. When looking for an affiliate program to join ( and joining is free ) you will want to join one that gives you the tools to easily promote that Entrepreneurs product.
These types of tools are things like product graphics, pre-written email messages and Tweets. If they don’t provide those types of items then you are going to need to create them on your own and that can take some time to do on your end. How do you know if someone has an affiliate program? If they have a program this will be listed right on their website and you can check it out before joining.
An example of some really great programs ( that I am a member of ) are Ali Brown, David Neagle and Katrina Sawa. These are higher end Entrepreneurs who have teams of people who create their affiliate promotion products for them, have proven products that work and often have new items to promote. They also have specific websites called Affiliate Resource Centers where you can see how many clicks and sales you have generated.
Most affiliate programs will pay you one to two months after the sale is made once your sales amount reaches $50. The money can be transferred right into your PayPal account or you can opt to be paid via check.
I have made money with these affiliate programs and you can to, here’s how.
- Utilize the pre-written email messages. Why? Because a professional Affiliate Manager or the Entrepreneur has written them and they are the ones who know ‘how’ to sell their products. These message can be sent out to your email marketing list or made into a blog post on your blog.
- Utilize the pre-written Tweets provided and create automated Tweets to be sent at specific times to promote a specific product, service or upcoming event. I currently use HootSuite to automate my Tweets and Status updates. You can also use Social Oomph (previously known as Tweetlater) to automate your tweets as well.
- Add a graphic to your web site or blog site promoting the Entreprenur, one of their products or an upcoming event.
Affiliate marketing can be fun, especially when making money!! What are your favorite affiliate marketing programs?
Source by Dawn Cullo
