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Affiliates!? What are they and how to use them? |
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Written by Bec
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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
Hi All,
Well for this entry I thought I would spend a little bit of time going back to the basics. I first discovered affiliate programs in the late 1990's when I was building my first websites. The sites were all very basic (and had not been updated in years) however, they have steadily brought in income, not huge amounts by any means, but cheques nonetheless. I knew there had to be a better way to cash in on affiliate marketing than to have a simple static site that never changes so I set about finding a better way. (see end for answer).
Tell me! What exactly is Affiliate Marketing?
According to 'Wikipedia',
'Affiliate marketing is a web-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor, subscriber, customer, and/or sale brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts.'
Affiliates are great if you know how to use them correctly.
For instance, I have been hearing a lot about Aweber recently and decided to investigate this morning. I will speak a bit later about what Aweber actually does.
In this example I just want to illustrate that many sites these days allow you to sign up as an affiliate if you have a website.
So what do you do? Search until you come across a website that you like, and one where you think you may be able to promote their products or services. If that site has a link that says 'Affiliates' then you can sign up as an affiliate and an affiliate link will be generated for you. This will come in the form of a link, or a banner (or both) which you would use to promote their site on yours (which will track sales, sign ups or clicks and earn you money!!).
For example, the Aweber link that I created this morning is http://www.aweber.com/?287945. So if you have a website or blog where you regularly write about a specific topic, you can use this link to promote the product. This allows you to earn a form of commission (each affiliate site will publish their remuneration package). Some sites pay by direct transfer into your bank account, some will send you a cheque and some use paypal. If you are promoting certain products, always make sure that you create an affiliate account so that you can have a mutually beneficial relationship with the 'seller'!
Once you are an affiliate, most companies will also supply you with banners. They could look like this:
Or like this: (or many different sizes depending on what you need)
Now once you have displayed the links or banners on your site (or blog or ezine), then you have the chance to sell or promote those products or services to your viewers. Each time a sale is made, you receive a commission based on the published remuneration package. Doesn't that sound good??
These visitors are tracked through 'cookies' which record the imprint a computer makes and will remember it until the next time someone who has clicked on your link, visits their site and makes a purchase.
Do you understand how this can help with generating a bit of extra income? If you are able to insert affiliate links seamlessly into your site, people will click. The web is for 'moving around' and most people do not stay on a specific website very long. Something usually catches their eye, a clever link to a different page.
Usually the best place to put an affiliate link on your site is on something you are writing about and recommending. It should be relevant to the content on your page and something your readers, clients or customers can relate to. Alternatively, a well placed banner can also direct traffic. There are many different ways to promote an affiliate link and we will speak about them a later article.
For example, if you sell 'dog biscuits' on your website there is no point advertising 'aeroplane repairs' as most people who visit your site would more likely click on 'dog groomers' or something related to what they are on your site for. This is not always the case as some dog owners may also repair their own planes, but definitely not all of them. A link for 'aeroplane repairs' would be better suited for a pilot type site. This may sound overly simplistic however you need to be careful not to overlook it as targeting ads generate a lot more prospects.
So what is that better way I was talking about at the beginning? Affiliate links are great to use when you want to recommend things to people who are browsing your website (and earn extra cash while you are at it!) They can be in text link or banner form and are getting more advanced each day. By advanced I mean there are now video ads, ezine ads and signature ads just to name a few.
Apparently it takes someone seeing something on average 7 times before they buy. That's why starting a site with some interaction is key. What I will be doing now is signing up with Aweber so that I can create a newsletter to send my smart readers more helpful hints that I come across in my 'Work @ Home' Life!
Stay tuned!
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