Saturday, February 28, 2009

Affiliate Marketing Information for Newbies

To review the basics: you already know that ebusinesses or online companies (merchants which are also called advertisers) need affiliates (also known as publishers) who run their own websites and drive traffic to the merchant using specially coded links. If the referral (i.e., the customer) results in a sale, or lead, the advertiser pays a commission to the publisher.Leads are a great source of income and many newcomers overlook this important revenue source when reviewing affiliate marketing information. A lead could include the customer signing up for a free membership or trial subscription, adding their name to a mailing list, filing out a form, downloading a report, or any other type of action whereby the customer registers their email address with the merchant without having to buy something. Leads pay less than sales but they’re easier to generate and many lead to sales commissions later on. What most people like about affiliate marketing is that it costs nothing to get started -- other than the cost of your website’s domain name registration and hosting. It’s free to register with all the legitimate online retailers and network providers. If you’re thinking of joining a network which asks for a fee, or they require a minimum sales amount in order to participate, you should avoid that program. Some Points to ConsiderHere’s some additional affiliate marketing information and tips for you to keep in mind:You are allowed to place banners or text links anywhere on your site, blog -- or within newsletters or emails as long as you don’t spam. Merchants can not dictate to you where you can place links.Your affiliate tracking ID is embedded in the link code automatically. You don’t need to know any scripting language since this is all done for you. Publishers also don’t need to know any advanced webmaster skills but they will need to be able to copy and paste small bits of HTML code in order to place them within a webpage or an email.Carefully read the affiliate marketing information provided to you by the merchant regarding the commission rate paid on sales. It can either be a flat rate or a percentage of the total sale.Adult sites or sites that promote violence, hate, hacking or illegal activities such as online gambling are not allowed.Your website or blog must have a top level domain name; that is, you can not use the services of any free web host such as Google’s Blogger, or MySpace, to participate as a partner with many of the merchants.The networks usually require you to have an active account. If there are no clicks, leads, or sales generated by your affiliate links for a period of six months, you may be dropped from the program. You can reregister, but if you fall into this category it’s time to consider whether or not you have the time and effort to pursue that particular network’s programs.Publishers are paid monthly on the commissions earned provided their account balance reaches a minimum payout, usually $50 or more.Get The Info and Focus on Your Niche For more affiliate marketing information we suggest you check out the free tutorials at SBI’s Affiliate Masters Course which will take you through the process of developing a niche website and bringing in traffic. The course will stress the importance of going this route as it will be much easier on you if you only focus on those markets and customers which are especially interested in the products you endorse. We hope you’ve picked up some new affiliate marketing information as well as tips and ideas from this article. You may be new to affiliate marketing this year, but with a bit of guidance and training you have the opportunity to build revenue-producing websites and earning a living on the internet for years to come.

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