Affiliate Guide

We can and will provide you with a complete guide to starting and finishing affiliate programs:

Introduction

Affiliate marketing occurs where advertising is placed on a website, and the website owner is rewarded for the performance, rather than exposure, of that advertising. In other words, an advertiser will pay the website owner a commission or fee if people visit that website, click on the advertiser's banner, and/or do something of value on the advertiser's website, such as make a purchase. The website that carries the advertising is known as the 'advertiser' or affiliate, and the advertiser is known as the 'publisher' or merchant.

All advertising banners are linked to a URL (web address) that is encoded with an ID number for each affiliate. When a visitor to an affiliate's website clicks on a banner, that ID number 'follows' the visitor's activity on the merchant's site. This ensures that the affiliate is credited with any commissions earned if the visitor buys something from the merchant. There are few requirements to get started as an affiliate, however you will need to make some important decisions to ensure you get off to a good start.

Website

The essential requirement is a website. There are a number of tasks you will have to perform in order to have a functioning website.

a. Domain Name

Ideally, you should also have your own domain name, e.g. www.netlister.com. This gives you greater credibility and recognition than using a URL which is an extension of someone else's domain name (such as your web host's), but you will have to pay to use your own domain name.

‘Dot com' (.com) domain names have the greatest universal credibility. However, the problem with "dot com" names is that most generic type names have been taken. You may even decide to use a domain name with your own country's extension, such as ".co.uk" for the United Kingdom. To check whether your preferred domain name is still available, visit Antech Solutions.

b. Build a Website

This is perhaps the most difficult task in internet marketing. If you want to be successful at internet affiliate marketing, the only way to avoid learning web design is to have your site developed by a professional designer. However, this will probably be very expensive.

We recommend going with Antech Solutions for a web design quote. Call 08707442243 Now.

This will at least give you a start and help you get your own website up and running.

c. Website Theme

There are no real restrictions on the subject matter of your website. You need to bear in mind, though, that one of the keys to affiliate marketing is traffic. This means that the more people who visit your site, the more promotional opportunities you will have. Therefore, your site should be about something that you think other people will be interested in. It could be about yourself, or your favorite sport, hobby, or band. If you have a special knowledge or skill, then try to build your webpage around that, because that will make it is easier to promote your web page.

Find a Web host

Once you have designed your website, you need to find someone to host it for you, unless you use one of the free services mentioned above. Most I.S.P.'s provide web hosting services. If you are just starting off, it is best to go with the cheapest plan available from a reliable web host. If you want your own domain name, your web host may require you to accept a higher plan. In the early stages at least, you won't need any more than 2MB of server space. If your web pages are an average of 50KB in size, you can have up to 40 pages on your site. Download limits should not be a problem either.

Your web host should also provide good statistics about your site's traffic. The most important information you need is where your visitors are coming from to get to your site, and especially the keywords they have used to find your site in the search engines. Antech Solutions is a reliable web host that provides good statistics, although the detail varies according to the plan you are on.

FACT: Antech Solutions Ltd can provide you with a quick start if you are interested in starting affiliate programs with your own site. Click here for the Special offer.

Choosing Merchants

Your choice of merchants can be a very difficult decision. Most affiliates (website owners) simply use trial and error to determine the most suitable merchants. However, there are some important principles to which you should adhere.

a. Consistency with your website

The merchants that you choose should sell products or services that are consistent with the theme of your website. This is because those products and services should appeal to the people who visit your site.

Some affiliates take a reverse approach. They try to identify one or two good merchants, then develop a website which has the primary function of promoting those merchants. This doesn't mean that they fill the website with those merchants' links and banners. Rather, the website will "set up" those people who visit the site to be more inclined to buy from those merchants. For example, if you feel that Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble are good merchants, you might develop a site which provides book reviews, and which is linked to these merchants to enable the visitor to buy those books easily.

b. Reward System

The next point to consider is the reward system you want to use. The most common are:

i. Commission on Sales

Most merchants will pay you a percentage of the sales made by visitors referred from your website. The problem with this method is that you are relying on the ability of your affiliate to close a sale with the visitor. Therefore, you should try to actively promote the merchant and/or its products on your site, so that the visitor is already thinking about making purchase as he/she clicks on the merchant's banner.

ii. Pay Per click

Some affiliate programs will pay you a small amount (normally less than £0.05) whenever someone clicks on one of their banners or links on your site. This is the surest way to at least make some money, but you need a lot of traffic if you are going to rely on pay per clicks.

iii. Pay Per Lead

This method involves the affiliate paying the referrer if he/she sends someone to the affiliate's site and that person does something like sign up for the affiliate's newsletter, register as a member, or complete a survey. The normal lead payment is US$0.50 to $1.00. This is perhaps the best type of program, provided the requirements for being paid are not too difficult.

For non-U.S. website owners, pay per click and pay per lead programs are the best, since many commission-based programs rely on selling goods or services that your customers may be reluctant to buy. However, if you are going to rely on pay-per-click or pay-per-lead programs you will need a lot of traffic, or a high conversion rate, to generate much revenue.

iv. Focus

Many affiliates make the mistake of filling their sites with banners from a dozen or more merchants. A better approach is to focus on one or two programs, since this indicates that you have personally chosen those merchants as the best for your visitors. It should also mean that your site is not cluttered with advertising, and obliges you to provide some content.

c. Best Rewards

The next selection criteria is the amount of the reward that you will or may earn from sending a visitor from your site to a merchant. Remember that once a visitor has left your site, he/she is unlikely to return straight away. This means that is in your interest to obtain the maximum possible return for driving someone from your site.

d. Reliability

The affiliate program industry has a reputation for late or non-payment of commissions to website owners, so you need to be careful to stick to reliable affiliates and programs. This is where Commission Junction is very good, since it is extremely reliable in its payments. The other advantage of Commission Junction is that you receive one payment each month which covers all the money owed to you by their merchants. Learn more, take another guide on how to succeed with affiliate programs.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is not simply a matter of creating a website, putting up a lot of advertising banners, and just waiting for your commission cheques to arrive. You will have to work hard to develop your site, select the right merchants, promote your site, and convince your visitors to visit your merchants. But at least now you understand the basics of affiliate marketing, and are on the right track to success.

We recommend affiliate beginners to read literature that is worth reading. Click here...