Affiliate Programs Guide

Affiliate programs are also known as associate programs, partners and resellers, all are basically the same concept of generating more sales/leads and rewarding the affiliates for doing so.

If you have some internet marketing experience, affiliate programs should be seriously considered, as half the battle is getting customers to your site. Of course it is not quite as easy as that.

People who are actually making money from affiliate programs either own their own program (worth considering if you sell online) or put alot of hours every day of hard work into their sites. Don't be fooled these are not get rich quick schemes. They require alot of hard work for little or no return.

Where to start
OK so you need a site to sell from. If you don't already have one a good place to start is to construct a site about one of your interests or a subject you already know a lot about.

This will enable you to keep interested in your site and be an authority in your area. Create a community by starting your own forum or by offering lots of free information.

Know your audience
From these beginnings you can integrate affiliate links into your site, selling products or services that your visitors may be interested in.

This is where it pays to know your visitors. By identifying your audience you can then choose your affiliate programs based on your users. i.e. a fishing site's audience is very different to a web developers site.

Experiment with different products and services, you may be surprised at the outcome. It is not usually the obvious products that will sell. Think about other products your target audience may be interested in.

Believe in your products
Nothing sells a product or service like a well written opinion or review. Don't over hype, just illustrate how the product/service changed or affected you, and why you cannot live without it. Reviews offer great consumer confidence and added content for the search engines.

Promotion
Once you have started to research your market and test various affiliate programs, time can be spent promoting your site. See our Promote section for more info...