Affiliate Marketing 101 - Converting Your Prospects

By Norman Miyamoto

Going from squeeze page to sale can be a difficult part of affiliate marketing. There's a massive difference between free information and information that costs even $1, and making your prospective customers convert from passively reading to pulling out their credit cards can be a difficult jump. There are really three things to check off your list before you should try to sell to your customers. First, you need to build the trust and immersion in your ideas that cause people to buy. Secondly, you need to introduce a deal so valuable and worthwhile that your prospective customers become interested. Finally, using a combination of psychological selling and informative copy, you should hook your customers into a purchase. These three steps are explained in greater detail below.

Building Trust:

This is the fundamental and primary goal of any marketing campaign. With so many competitors out there, truly innovative and powerful marketers need to build trust to ensure that their prospective customers keep coming back to them, and not falling to the competition. Building trust starts with creating value for your customers, which can take the form of free information or sample products, an informative guide, or merely brief video or text content explaining how you can help them. Without being able to offer anything for them, you can't expect your prospective customers to convert immediately.

This is where so many wannabe affiliate marketers make mistakes. Instead of building trust and creating the environment that results in sales, they sell their products short and introduce a sale from the get-go. While this may result in one-off sales and some low conversion rates, it immediately puts the buyer on the defensive, and destroys any potential trust that could have lead to greater sales. It's ultimately your decision, but the smart money (and massive payoffs) rest with building trust and introducing sales later on in the process.

This means that the most lucrative and profitable campaigns are almost never those that focus exclusively on direct ad - sale advertising. While Google AdWords might bring in a sale now and then, it's never building relationships with your customers, never creating a permission asset, and ultimately never creating the trust that's so essential for a profitable business. Focus on trust first and foremost, and then worry about monetisation and sales targets once you've built the trusting customer.

From here, it's a matter of introducing offers that interest and entrance your prospective customers. Simply mentioning your product isn't enough -- it's about building the benefits that the product can create for your customers, and highlighting why they're so important. This part of closing a sale is introduced in greater detail in part two of this quick guide to affiliate marketing, along with the best methods to make your customers pull out their credit cards and convert from passive readers into active buyers.

I enjoy surfing, bodysurfing and listening to various genres of music. I also like to surf the internet when time allows me to.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Norman_Miyamoto

Paying Affiliates - How to Decide on Affiliate Commissions

By Angela Wills

Paying your affiliates their commission is certainly an important part of setting up your affiliate program. Now there are no hard and fast rules for an appropriate commission to pay your affiliates but there are a number of things to take into consideration:

Your costs: How much will it cost you to produce your product. Of course this will depend greatly on whether or not your product is a physical or a digital (information) product. Information products are great to sell because beyond the initial setup costs, the expenses to produce them are completely free!

Your industry: For example, if you are in the internet marketing industry then you will have to work hard to get some of the heavy hitter affiliates because they have so many options to choose from. If you are in an industry such as quilting or something that doesn't have many competing affiliate programs you may be able to offer a lower commission and still have affiliates willing to promote it.

How to Pay: Working on the internet, many affiliates will prefer to be paid by paypal rather than check. If you are going to be paying by check you'll want to make sure you do offer a paypal option for those who don't want checks.

Here is an example of some typical commission rates for different types of affiliate programs. These are just examples and you need to work your own numbers to decide on your own rate:

Information Products: Typically info products owners offer their affiliates a 50% commission. Of course this can vary and it's not uncommon to see commissions of 30-50%.

Physical Products: A common rate for physical products is anywhere from 4-30%. Again, you need to consider your expenses.

Event: Some people offer commissions on an event such as a seminar or conference and this can really vary depending on the conference cost and also the expenses incurred by the organizer.

Service: It is not all that common to see an affiliate program for a service, but I've set my own program at 10% commission and have seen this in others too.

Pay Per Lead: Often, people will host a pay per lead program where you get paid anytime someone fills out their name and email to get a free report. This is typically anywhere from $0.25 - $1.00 per lead.

Don't get stuck on deciding on a commission, make an informed decision and then go with it. If you are completely unsure then start with one on the lower side and then work your way up as you are more comfortable if you need to.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angela_Wills

Affiliate Tips

Affiliate Marketing and CPA

Due to the way that our economy is right now, people are getting tighter and tighter with their money because of the recession we are in as of the time of this article.

This hurts a lot of people, yet at the same time opens a new door of opportunity for you. That is that you know have the idea of making money from home online, so you know longer have to trust a job for your security and rely on others.

One of the subjects that most people hear about is called affiliate marketing. The information that is out there can overwhelm a newbie for sure, but it all has the same basic concepts.

The most important step that you need to do before you ever begin is your market research. Take a look around and find the subjects that you are most interested in. This is where you will begin.

You want to find out what potential customers are looking for what you have to offer them. This is what is called in the marketing world, keyword research. You want to find the exact words that people are typing in Google and are searching for. If you do not do this, all your efforts will be totally wasted.

If you find the right keywords that your potential customers are looking for, then your website that you create will rank higher, which will in return bring you a hoard of organic free traffic.

I know for a beginner it might seem overwhelming, but it really is not hard. You can start with a free tool at Google called, Google Keyword Tool External.

That is where you will enter a word or a phrase that identifies your product that you will be promoting.

So once you are there, you then click on the Get Keyword Ideas which will give you a huge list of keywords and show you how many times each month people are looking for that phrase.

Then you want to make sure your market already has a demand for your product. You want to make sure there is competition, but not so much that you can not get ranked for it or make any money.

Keep in mind, if you don't have an audience for your product or service, you are wasting time. Do your research and it will bring you more success than you could of ever imagined.

If you would like to know more information on affiliate marketing and how you can really profit online through research and something we call CPA marketing, then check out my information here: http://www.cyndiparker.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cynthia_Parker

Extra Income For Single Moms - Dads Too!

Being a single mom has always been tough, but in today's economy, it is darn near impossible. Earn extra income for single moms without getting scammed sounds just as hard.

In this article I'll basically be talking about making money on the Internet. Single moms do not have a lot of extra time to trade for a paycheck, so they need to find something they can do from home, like working online.

But, you have to be careful, scammers are everywhere, preying on those who are desperate for money. Believe me, I know, I've been taken for a ride myself a time or two. If you really want to work from home I suggest that you find something which does not require any type of financial investment and doesn't sound "too good to be true."

Scratch all the late night info-mercials and flashy sales pages with pictures of fancy cars and million dollar mansions... they don't work!

The best way for single moms, or single dads for that matter, to make extra income is to do what's called affiliate marketing. Basically you are selling other peoples products, namely digital "how to" products in exchange for a commission. You do not need any of your own money or experience, all you need is a willingness to learn and to take action. In this terrible economy, so many people have turned to the Internet to try and make ends meet... Some have been successful, many have not. As long as you learn the ropes there is no reason you cannot make all the money you need.

I realize how confusing and frustrating it can be trying to earn extra income for single moms and dads. It is to your advantage to understand the process right from the beginning. Get a jump start towards your success by following a blueprint that will eliminate the time consuming, trial and error process often associated with online marketing. Easy to follow videos are included that will guide new marketer's, technically challenged individuals, and even teenagers, step by step towards financial success. It's free to check out my site. Please visit http://www.4daymoneymakingblueprint.com to see what everyone is talking about.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alice_Byers

Affiliate Marketing Tips - Does the Affiliate Network Matter?

By Steven Wagenheim

Does the affiliate network you sign up with REALLY matter? Well, the honest answer is, yes and no. If that sounds a bit like a copout, let me explain. See, it's not all about the network. Yes, that's one variable, but it's not the only one. As a matter of fact, it's not even the most important one. In this article, I'm going to explain what the factors are that really determine the success that you'll have. The actual network you sign up with is very close to the bottom of the list.

Let's start out with why the affiliate network IS important. Each one IS different. For example, they all have different payment schedule policies and how you get paid. For example, Clickbank pays you directly. Now, you can even get paid direct deposit every week, which is great. I know if no other network that does that. Of course to qualify for payment through Clickbank is a lot harder than other networks. You need 5 sales and at least 2 major credit cards. PayPal payments don't count.

On the other hand, a network like PayDotCom doesn't have such a restriction. You can make just one sale and qualify for payment. The problem with PayDotCom though is that they don't pay you directly. You get paid by the merchant of the product. And that's where you can sometimes run into problems. See, the sad truth is, some merchants don't pay, or don't pay on time or not without a lot of badgering from you. Plus, payments are not made until after the refund period is over. So you're waiting a very long time for your money.

I personally use Clickbank and PayDotCom, but I only use the latter through merchants I know and trust.

What really matters more than this is the market you target and the product you choose. If you pick a poor product that doesn't sell well, it doesn't matter what affiliate network you choose, you won't make any sales.

So, while affiliate networks do affect things somewhat, they are nowhere near as important as choosing a product that sells because the market has a burning need for a real solution to its problem.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

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Clickbank Success - How to Promote Products Correctly and Receive Massive Commissions

By Matthew Lord

One of the great things about affiliate marketing is that you do not have to put too much stock in one product. You can literally promote any product on clickbank and make a sale the same day! This is not easy to do, but it is possibly. Clickbank success relies mainly on properly marketing your products to customers who want to buy.

So where do you need to promote affiliate products in order to collect large commissions?

The one place you need to promote affiliate products is one eBay. While you should also promote in other ways such as article marketing or pay per click, eBay will get you a quick return on your investment.

eBay classified ads are great because they allow you to promote affiliate products for a period of 30 days for only $9.95 per ad. This is a great deal, because eBay gets a ton of website traffic! Most ads that are placed on eBay get viewed between 100-300 times per month. While that may not sound like a lot, remember that eBay conversion rates are much higher than regular conversions. This is because eBay searchers are looking to buy products, and often times in search engines people are just looking for free information.

The key to eBay classified advertising is volume. If you average 150 views per ad and have 100 ads on eBay, you will generate 15,000 visitors per month. If the product you are promoting pays you $30 per sale, and you convert at 4% which is common for eBay classified ads, then you would make 600 sales and $18,000.

eBay classified ads are very powerful for affiliate marketers, and many of the top affiliates use this platform to promote products and collect these massive commissions. So use eBay classified ads and you can achieve the clickbank success that you desire!

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