Earning money from affiliate programs

Earning money from affiliate programs

Copyright 2005 Richard Grady

Affiliate programs allow you to refer visitors/subscribers/customers to someone else's website and if your referrals purchase anything, you get a commission. For digital products, this can be as much as 75% of the purchase cost!

Used correctly, affiliate programs can be extremely lucrative. Used incorrectly, they will earn you absolutely nothing. I should also add that you don't even need a website to promote affiliate products so they are incredibly flexible. The following tips will help you to use affiliate programs wisely and hopefully, in a way that earns you some money :-)

If you plan on placing affiliate links on your website (or in your newsletter), you should only link to products that are relevant to your own content. It is a complete waste of time linking to irrelvant products just because they pay a high affiliate commission.

Always try and review the products that you link to before making any sort of recommendation - if the product sucks then this will reflect on you.

Don't expect each affiliate link to earn you a fortune within a few weeks. Some affiliate programs won't make you any money at all and it is just a case of testing to see which ones work and which ones don't. Instead of taking the view that you want one program to earn you a thousand dollars a month, aim a little lower - maybe $50 or $100 - but work with several programs. To illustrate this point, I promote a number of affiliate programs and each one earns me between $150 and $1000 a month.

Most of the commission payments I receive are for less than $300 a month BUT I receive lots of them. Last month, these 'small' amount added up to over $3,000!!
The beauty of affiliate programs is that you don't have to deal with customer enquiries, payment collection, delivery, complaints or any of the administration tasks that go with selling a product - the product owner does all of this for you. Your role is simply to direct traffic to the appropriate site (sure, this is not always an easy thing to do but it does mean that this is the only thing you need to concentrate on).

Ok, so what if you don't have a website?

No problem! There are numerous ways of advertising your chosen affiliate program without the need for a website or newsletter. For example, it is quite common to set up a pay-per-click advertising campaign with a company such as Google Adwords which links directly through your affiliate link to the main product website. The visitors never even pass through your website and as long as you are earning more in affiliate commissions than you are spending in PPC fees, then this really is money for nothing.

From a personal point of view, I have been using affiliate programs to earn money for some time now and I have recently built several small websites specifically to promote affiliate products of one sort or another. I am not looking for these sites to make me huge profits - just a couple of hundred dollars a month each. But remember, this is a couple of hundred dollars EVERY month for doing NOTHING (once the initial site is set up).

There are so many advantages to promoting affiliate products, not least the fact that you don't need to create your own product in the first place and there are considerable financial rewards if you get it right.

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Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts),
visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html

Tips for Starting a Home Business

Tips for Starting a Home Business

Copyright 2005 Mal Keenan

Starting a home business is a dream that many people share.
You can work according to your own schedule, "fire"
difficult clients, avoid difficult bosses, spend more time with your family, escape a lot of the daily stress faced by employees at their jobs, and pursue your own interest more.

It's a big leap from being an employee to working for yourself, so a little preliminary planning can never hurt.

You will need to look ahead to several areas of your life to make necessary preparations, before you actually leave your job. In some cases, such as a layoff, you won't have that opportunity in advance, but still, these are very important factors to consider.

Market research and a business plan are essential. Timing is very important. You will need to think about the type of business you're starting, current economic conditions, your financial situation, and the potential market for your products or services.

If you have no other means of financial support, you should accumulate some savings to carry you through your business startup. Most experts typically suggest six months to one year of living expenses as a cushion. Don't forget that you will need to provide for benefits you may have received at a job, such as health insurance for yourself and your family and funding into a retirement plan. Of course, if you have a spouse or partner who is employed and is willing to provide these necessities during your startup phase, you are that much ahead of the game.

It is important that you choose the business structure that's best for your business. Each form of business organization has both legal and tax implications, so be sure to consult with professionals in this area.

Of course you will want to have a comfortable and quiet work space. Ideally, it will be out of the mainstream of activity. This is important not only to reduce noise, but also psychologically for you and your family, to create a sense of "at work" and "at home". While some truly start their home business from the kitchen table, you'll find that the separation will help you run your business much more efficiently. Don't forget to allow space for manufacturing and inventory storage, if your business involves those things.

Working from home, sometimes long and unusual hours, makes it very easy to ignore both your physical and mental health. The usual advice applies - try to eat a proper diet and exercise, and even if you don't have a family at home, don't work all the time. Entrepreneurs often report the one aspect they miss most from having a regular job is the contact with coworkers, so be sure to maintain a social life, even if it's only through a business networking or support group.

Finally, try to surround yourself with positive, supportive people, hopefully starting with your own family. This will be a critical part of your support system. It's not always possible to get "buy in" from your family. Those who love you the most aren't usually trying to stand in your way - it's just that working in a home business is something unknown to them, and like everyone, they tend to be fearful of something they don't understand. If you find yourself in this situation, you they don't understand. If you find yourself in this situation, you may be able find the support you need in a business networking or mastermind group.

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