If you re reading this article then you share a goal to be financially self sufficient. You re also probably here because you need some help trying to find your niche in the online home business industry. Being an affiliate means that you are in the business of promoting another company s product instead of your own. The idea of being an affiliate is nothing new. Major corporations such as Amazon, eBay and http://Buy.com all offer programs to help sell their products. It s a win win situation for all parties. You get paid a commission for each qualifying referral that buys a product and the company only has to pay you for a positive performance (when you refer a customer that buys).
Many Opportunities, Which One Is Right?
You may be interested in promoting a physical product, a digital product or neither. What I mean by neither is that some companies will pay you just for sending a potential customer to their product or website. This would be called a lead .
Each of the scenarios above has countless different promotional methods to use and companies to associate with. For the beginner affiliate, information overload is the main source of frustration to get over. It s hard to stay focused on any particular plan because as you do your research, you begin to see the flood of information coming at you. I call it the candy store effect. You go into a candy store knowing you want to buy peppermints, but get distracted by the chocolate, lollipops and taffy.
I ve been there and experienced all of this and it cost me valuable time and money. The right opportunity is only right when it works for you. Too many times you ll come across offers that state their product or marketing plan is the best plan available. Well, it might be for them, but not necessarily for you.
You should pick an opportunity that feels comfortable for you. Maybe you already have experience with a particular product, industry or sales method. Go with what you know best. If you don t have experience with anything related to sales or online commerce, just go with what interests you the most. Sometimes you just have to do it to learn it.
#1 Physical Product Promotions:
You may enjoy the idea of becoming an affiliate for a company that sells physical products. As mentioned above, Amazon and http://Buy.com would be examples of this. Not a bad way to go because promoting products that potential customers already know is half the battle. The downside however is that commissions for physical product sales is low. Usually no more than 15 of the purchase price and normally it s less than 10 .
#2 Digital Product Promotions:
No, I don t mean digital music players, but it could mean digital music files. See you already know what a digital product is. Just to be sure let me explain further. What exactly is a digital product? It s anything that can be bought online and downloaded. You may have purchased an anti virus software tool online, downloaded it and installed it without having to wait for a physical software CD to arrive in the mail.
Digital e books would also be another example of a digital product. These e books have been very popular because they re educational and easy to find.
The main advantage of promoting digital products is higher commissions compared with physical products. It takes much less effort to develop and sell something that s electronic. It s also faster because the purchaser of a digital product usually has instant gratification when they can just download and use within minutes of the purchase.
One disadvantage to a digital product is that there isn t the same name or brand recognition as with a physical product. Everybody has heard of an iPhone but you may not be familiar with the guy next door who wrote a how to e book about building chicken coops.
# 3 The Neither Category Promotion
Remember I said above that you can earn money from promoting neither a digital or a physical product? It s true and this offer is usually called a CPA offer. This stands for Cost Per Action. It means that a company will pay you just for referring potential customers, also called a lead . An insurance firm may pay you as much as $50 for having somebody submit personal information to be contacted and learn about their insurance programs.
The advantage of a CPA offer is normally a higher conversion rate. You re not trying to get somebody to spend money. You just need them to fill out some information. I ve seen CPA offers that will pay a few dollars just for referring a person that inputs a name and email address into their system. This is done to build a company s email newsletter list. The thought behind this method is that the company feels they will make up for that $2 referral commission they paid you by upselling the referred customer with their products at a latter time.
Where To Begin?
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate, the most common way is to join a marketing network. A marketing network basically brings a company and people willing to promote their products into one venue. This makes it easy to view the various offers and to track your performance within the network offerings.
The better physical product networks to look into would be Commission Junction or ShareASale. These networks have some big names like Geico, http://Buy.com and REI.
If you want to promote products directly with a vendor then you should try Amazon or eBay. They have their own affiliate network that they manage themselves.
To promote digital products most people turn to Clickbank. Clickbank only deals with downloadable products and has a high commission structure. You can earn as much as 75 of any referred sales that you make.
Interested in CPA networks? You should try Copeac or Neverblue. They specialize in CPA offers and have a good reputation in the industry.
Be Warned
Approval into these networks is not automatic. You usually have to provide some history on your past and present affiliate promotions. Having a website is almost a requirement before these networks will consider you. They want to make sure potential members are serious about promoting their offers. Education in the industry is vital. There are ways to get a head start and break into a successful online marketing career.
In Summary
Information overload and glittering distractions are the main reasons why people fail when trying to start a business online, especially an internet marketing business. Don t be lured by false claims of instant riches without hard work. It just doesn t happen very often. Real work is rewarded by real results. I have to admit I ve tried many different ways to succeed online. Most of them were misleading and took me away from what I already knew.
Educating myself and surrounding myself with people with the same goals was the main key to my success. Once I had the mindset, the forum and the support of others, I excelled beyond even my own expectations. Don t reach for the latest money making trend or scheme. You know in your heart that only hard work and education will get you there.
Get 20/20 vision on your online marketing goals. Only with the right tools, guidance and tested techniques can you really succeed. Imagine an online community supporting each other. It was the key to my success.
Author Resource:
Take a free look at what our membership has to offer. Marketing tools, tutorials and support not found anywhere else on the web equals greater profits for you. http://www.my-linker.com/hop/isnre
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