Work from home

Affiliate marketing is usually only for people who have their own websites. In rare cases, merchants or networks will allow affiliates to join without a live website, but these are few and far in between. You'll see this more often with in-house programs.

Merchants offer to pay commissions for affiliates to put links to their products and/or services on their websites. When a visitor clicks on one of your links and buys something, you get credited for the sale and you make money. Commissions are ONLY paid when a sale is made. These programs are completely free to join and they will never ask you to pay anything. There is no membership fee to pay and you don't have to upgrade. It is strictly "get paid when you make a sale".

If you've ever bought anything online, chances are that you purchased something from an affiliate site and you don't know it. Affiliate websites are often much better than the merchant site itself because affiliates promote several merchants at one place. It gives the visitor many choices and they can compare prices for the same or similar products.

Is there a website that you particularly enjoy visiting? A special store where you buy on a regular basis? A special service or product that you're very fond of? Look to see if they have an affiliate program. If they do, apply to join their affiliate marketing program and promote it on your website with your own testimonial. Nothing sells better than personal experience.

Networks

There are numerous independent networks that handle affiliate marketing programs for merchants. By joining as an affiliate, you have access to hundreds of participating merchants who offer affiliate programs, such as:

LinkShare

Commission Junction

Share a Sale

Reg Now Computer software only

Affliate Window - UK

Site Link - Australia

Clickbank.com (read the fine print!)

LinkShare Referral Program

Share a Sale

Affliate Window - UK

If affiliate marketing is an area that interests you and you're not familiar with the ins and out of affiliate marketing, we would strongly suggest to visit the Affiliate Marketing Forum . You will learn everything you need to know about the best and worst sources for affiliate marketing and merchant partners. It's free to register and you'll learn plenty there! If you want to be successful, surround yourself with successful people.

Indies or in-house affiliate programs

Networks charge a fee to their merchants to be promoted via their networks to their affiliates. These fees vary from network to network and many merchants cannot justify the expense because they're just too small, or just don't want to pay these extra expenses. So they choose to have an in-house program that they run themselves.

Is an in-house program better than a merchant through a network? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. It all depends on the affiliate reporting program they use. Some are very good, others really need to be improved and are very limited. The majority of my merchants are in-house programs. I find them more trustworthy than working with CJ or Linkshare. But that is just my opinion.

Some of the cons you can, not necessary "will", encounter in in-house programs

access to fewer merchants
fewer options to promote the merchant
access to banners and text links only
no creatives, no dynamic links, no datafeeds
link to any page or product on merchant site with a text link only; generally speaking text links work better than banners or images, so this is really a problem, it just limits your promotions on your website.
Many have inexperienced or unresponsive affiliate managers (this also happens in networks)
many user ID's, usernames and passwords to remember, not to forget all the sites where to log in
no consolidated payment, so you have to make enough sales to reach the minimum payment of the merchant before you get paid

Some of the pros of in-house programs - not ALL

easier to communicate with the merchant or affiliate manager - more responsive and eager to help
commission rates are often higher
tracking of sales and clicks is often more trustworthy, many offer phone, fax, email, and mail tracking
depending on the program, a customer could be your customer for life, meaning you get a commission every time they place an order even if they go straight to the merchant site or call them to order (example: TheraBreath)
the majority don't work with parasites
can offer very high quality links, pictures, creative designs, articles
you can find products and services that appeal to a smaller niche that you won't find anywhere else
in many cases you don't need a website to join them
some will offer free hosting if you choose to get your own domain name for the pre-made website (GrowerFlower is one of them)
2 tier programs are common with in-house affiliate programs
many have their own discussion board and forum

How do you get started?

First, you need to know how to build a website. It doesn't have to be expensive, and in most cases, you don't even need to know any HTML or other programming to get started. If you've never built a website before, this program offers a 10 day Free Trial. I tested this one for the full 10 days, that's how http://www.exquisite-gardens.com was born. I found it fairly easy to get around and build pages, the support is very good, they answer your questions in less than 24 hours. You can also call them. They are located in Vancouver, BC, in Canada, but their prices are in US funds.

If you're Canadian, dotCanada.com offers very affordable web hosting and it also has a built-in website creator if you need it. They have great discounts if you pay for several months or a year at the same time. Prices are in Canadian funds.

These tools are great to walk you through the steps of building websites. Take advantage of free trials, don't be afraid to make a few mistakes. That's how you learn! You have absolutely no reason not to be able to build your own website.

If you already have a website and need a good web host, we strongly recommend HostSave. I have two websites hosted with them with more to come. My-biz-world has been hosted with HostSave since April 2001 and I couldn't be happier with their service and support. Extremely reliable host that provides more than enough options at very low prices. No set up fees!

Ok, now you know where to go to build your own website. What's next?

Now you need products and/or services to promote. So where do you find them? These are established Affiliate Networks:

LinkShare

Commission Junction

Share a Sale

Reg Now Computer software only

Affliate Window - UK

Site Link - Australia

Clickbank.com (read the fine print!)

LinkShare Referral Program

Commission Junction

Share a Sale

Affliate Window - UK

It's 100% free to join any of them and you don't have to pay anything to join any merchant programs. You can join all Networks and promote several merchants from one or more networks on the same website. Or you can choose to promote only one merchant per website. At your discretion.

Browse the merchant directories in every Network, see what type of products and services they have, look at their links. Then pick a subject that you'd like to talk about, join merchants that offer related services and products, and start building!

How do you choose a good affiliate program to promote?

Depending on the product or service you choose to promote. Is it something that people only buy once? Software, computers, web hosting would fall in this category. There is no residual income (very rare in affiliate marketing) or a chance for multiple commissions from the same customer with these programs, you get paid on new sales only. If that's the case, then look for merchants who offer the highest commission for your chosen product and the longer return cookies. All this information is available on the merchant page in every network.

If you're building a shopping mall, or promoting something that people would buy often or on a regular basis, such as clothing or jewelry, choose merchants that allow unlimited sales versus those that only pay once on the original transaction. Again, look at the cookie duration, and pick those that last longer. You could be making commissions on several purchases by one customer, or get a one time commission regardless of how many times a customer buys from one of your links. This is very important to understand. There are some merchants, either as part of a network or totally independent, who have ways to track phone orders, while many don't. If you can find one that does, you should do well since you won't lose commissions on offline orders.

An example of that is a Bad Breath affiliate program which is an independent program. NO cost to join, and they provide the website with a link generator to link to the page you want to link to. Those who call the company to order have an extension number which is your affiliate number. Once a customer has ordered through your page, they are your customer for life. Your affiliate number is included in the database with the customer's information. Every time the customer orders, you get a commission. If you want to know more about bad breath, you can download the free e-book here.

Now look at the commission structure of the merchant. Some merchants pay a fixed amount per sale, others will pay a percentage on each sale. If the percentage is low, 3-5%, it may not be worthwhile to promote. On the other hand, if the products are expensive, or if it's something that can be sold regularly, it may be a very lucrative merchant. Do some quick math to see if it's worth your time. Selling products that give you 3%-5% commission is still better than selling NO products from a merchant who offers 20% commission. YOU are the only one who knows if it's worth your time or not.

Some merchants automatically approve you on the spot as soon as you click "join program", while others want to review your website first and then decide whether it is appropriate for their products and/or services. It takes anywhere from a few hours to several weeks to be approved or declined depending on the merchant.

Should a merchant decline you for any reason, you can email them and put a personal note to let them know why you are applying to their program and why you think they would be a good fit for your site. In some cases, affiliates who don't have a home address in the US get turned down by merchants who only cater to the US market. This is the internet, the WORLD wide web, so a quick note to the merchant can usually reverse their decision.

Another reason to be declined by a merchant is if you have several websites listed with the network and the merchant doesn't look at all of them, they only look at the first site that pops up. If that site is not something that is relevant to this particular merchant, you will be declined. Again, a quick email to the merchant should reverse their decision and approve you.

You can drop merchants at any time in any network. But be careful, read the agreements FIRST. Just like you can drop a merchant, merchants can also drop you as an affiliate. You are there to make sales for them. If you don't make any sales, and/or you don't send them any targeted traffic or not enough, they can terminate your affiliate agreement with them. Since there is no costs involved, and you're not making any money with them anyway, it isn't a big deal.

How do you choose a Network?

First of all, all networks have their own forum at Affiliate Marketing Forum. Each network has a representative who answers questions and responds to problems or concerns. Some merchants also have forums there for their own programs. Many Affiliate Managers (AM), people who represent merchants and your number one contact for your merchant(s), answer affiliates' questions and are also quite active in various discussion forums. Some are more helpful than others, and some AM never answer emails from affiliates. It's up to you to decide which merchant you want to promote regardless of their interaction.

Commission Junction (CJ)

CJ is an established network with a lot of merchants. However, CJ is HIGHLY pro-parasite and strongly recommend parasites to merchants. What are parasites? They are companies which display popup, pop under, or side/bottom scrolling ads on your website(s) without your approval or the approval of the customer. These ads have the ability to overwrite your cookies on the customer's computer and set their own cookies in the place of yours. In other words, they are stealing your commissions without your permission! Before joining merchants at CJ, visit Affiliate Marketing Forum for more info on parasites. Look for merchants who have the "Trusted Merchant" seal of approval. This will save you time and possibly a lot of money. Another reason I highly recommend Regblock , the best parasite blocker of its kind and the least expensive. Where AdAware and Spybot highly target cookies and see everything as dangerous and only remove it AFTER it's in your computer, Regblock stops it from getting installed in your machine in the first place. On the bright side of CJ, not all merchants use parasites. That's why reading the merchant agreements is very important before you join or start promoting them.

CJ has a consolidated payment structure, which means that once you reach the $25 minimum payment from ALL merchants combined, you get paid. This means that if you joined 10 merchants in CJ, and you made $5 with one, $10 with another, $3 with another, etc., CJ, not the merchant, will pay you once you reached the $25 minimum from all commissions earned from all merchant programs. You can set your minimum payment to any amount as long as it's over $25. This is especially useful for affiliates who live in countries other than the US and have to pay a bank fee to deposit foreign cheques in their bank account. With CJ, if you haven't made a sale in 6 months, they will suspend your account and you have to email them to reactivate it. If you can't make a sale in 6 months, you really need to take a good look at what you're doing and the merchants you're promoting because there's definitely something wrong somewhere.

How to choose a CJ merchant?

The following explanation was posted by Leader, who is a Moderator on the Affiliate Marketing Discussion Board. She has been working with CJ for several years, in fact it is the main network that she works with to choose merchants. She understands their structure better than most people. I thought this would be helpful and useful for new affiliates who would like to join, or have joined, CJ but don't understand how it works. You can find this post on the board here. If you want to register for ABW (registration is free and will allow you to view many more threads), you can do so by clicking here. Remember that a discussion forum can generate heated debates, arguments and flaming remarks!

*General* guidelines to working with the CJ "rating system" (bars and EPC) for picking per-sale merchants.

Your site, and your marketing skills, have a lot to do with what will work well for you. It is possible to do well with a 2-bar merchant, and it's also possible to do 0 with a 5-bar merchant.

I use this system in conjunction with other things, like whether I can sell a particular item or my overall opinion of the merchant (I won't sign up for known clods, for instance).

"Map" Legend-->Roughly speaking: Low EPC = under $5, Medium EPC, $5-10, High EPC = over $10.

This guide does not apply to low-paying Lead merchants (contests, etc).

1 bar + high EPC = not many people want that merchant's products, but the few who do look for that will convert well. Result, once in a blue moon a sale happens.

1 bar + really low EPC (under $2)= The merchant stinks! People come, but they don't buy.

1 bar + low EPC = The merchant stinks, but a sale may occasionally fluke in. Still a waste of clicks.

5 bars + lousy EPC = The merchant stinks. But enough flukes happen out of their outlandishly huge traffic stream, that they make money despite a lousy CR. Ebay's one of these.

4-5 bars + high EPC = A probable winner. Exception: Some things, like mortgages, have such a high commission that they can get 5 bars even with relatively little action going on.

2 bars = a probable stinker.

3 bars = Iffy. It may be good, or it may be a stinker in disguise.

Vast gaps between 7-day EPC and 3-month EPC amounts/oddball trend graphs: These are BIG warning signs.

The breakdown of the fish visibly a' jumpin' is this:

HIGH 7-day and LOUSY 3-month EPC = Reversal Maniac. The sales are coming in fine, but are being taken away before the payment happens. Believe the LOW figure.

ROTTEN AWFUL 7-day EPC with GOOD 3-month EPC = Tracking has recently become messed up (or, probably more accurately, messed with)! Or, the merchant has died! A check of the 7-day trend graph will often show recent, multiple $0 EPC days. Run away from these like the plague that they are. EXCEPTION: Batching merchants (those who report sales for a certain period all at once - once per week, biweekly or monthly).

Things bouncing all over in the trend graph, when it's not a batching merchant = a red flag. Be wary, it may be a twitchy hand on the Switch causing those spasms...

Share a Sale (SAS)

Probably the smallest network with less merchants than CJ or LS (Linkshare). The best part of SAS is that they are 100% PARASITE-FREE! Merchants AND affiliates at SAS are not allowed to use any type of software, coding, programming, or anything else that may steal commissions from legitimate affiliates. SAS have their own forum also on the Affiliate Marketing Forum and they have SAS representatives and other Affiliate Managers who answer questions and help others. SAS also has a consolidated payment structure, which works exactly the same way as CJ. The minimum payment with SAS is $50. When your commissions don't get stolen by spyware, it's a pretty easy minimum to reach!

LinkShare (LS)

Linkshare is also a large network with many merchants. Linkshare also allows the use of parasites and promotes them to merchants. You can read about LS and some of their merchants on the Affiliate Marketing Forum . Linkshare's payment structure also works differently than CJ and SAS. Each merchant has a minimum earned commission requirement before you can get paid. Some merchants choose to send you a cheque directly while other commission cheques are sent through Linkshare. So what this means is if you joined 10 merchants with Linkshare and all have their own minimum payment requirement, if you earn $5 with one, $10 with another, $3 with another, and so on, you won't get paid until you have reached the merchant's minimum payment. If one of your merchant has a $25 minimum, you will have to earn a minimum of $25 in commissions with that merchant alone before you get paid. It's not a combination of commissions from all merchants like CJ or SAS. So when you join merchants through Linkshare, take this into consideration. Don't join Linkshare merchants for the fun of it. If you don't think you can sell enough of their products to earn the minimum commission payment before you can get paid, don't join them! If you drop a merchant before you reach their minimum payment, in most cases you also forfeit any commissions earned.

There are many more networks available, but those are the main ones. Some only have merchants in certain categories (computers, software). Others work mostly with parasites. Really read the TOS and all agreements BEFORE you join a network and merchants.

Next step... promote your website: test, test, test, and test some more. Then submit to search engines and start promoting!

If you need help with search engine optimization for your website, visit our SEO page.

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