what is online marketing
Your first interest in any type of marketing campaign is to start developing a marketing strategy that is going to be focused on who you will need to determine your target market is. This is exactly who you think will be your consumers. For starters, you need to know how to break down your consumers.Target market is the group of potential customers that will be selected for the reception of your marketing strategy. It certainly makes it easier to develop your strategy if you know exactly who/how old/where people live when trying to sell things to them. If you are looking to segment the market, you need to determine the different target markets for each segment. For example, if you are selling tires, (which everyone needs) you will need to divide your market by knowing how people shop for tires, and who they are.
If you are selling high cost/quality tires, you have to market to a market that is likely to buy them such as middle aged and established consumers as opposed to teens and twenty-something's who may not be able to afford them.
There are different means that are used by professional marketers that help you to find your target audience. You can use both of them that are within your means. Some of these methods include:
1. Researching the market through surveys, interviews, and setting up shop in a mall to see who questions you the most etc. to see who would benefit the most from your product and be most likely to buy.
2. Host experimental sessions for people to try out your product and give their opinions for improvements etc. so that you can ensure that you giving the people what they want or need.
3. Host trial websites that are geared toward finding the market by letting the market come to you. You can best do this by utilizing keyword centered articles that will let you know who is coming toy our website.
It really doesn't matter if you stand on your front porch and just ask people what they want in a product or service like yours or not, as long as you get a good handle on who your market audience is. If you are selling T-shirts, you will likely want to appeal to younger people who are more likely to wear them; which means that you should market your wares to those people. To do this, you will have to begin your strategy where you know you will find them, on the internet.
When you are using the internet to market any product or service, you must understand the basics of what internet marketing is. When you are marketing on the internet, you are looking to reach a larger audience and therefore, you need something that will catch their attention and bring them to you. In order to do this, you will have to bring these people to your website.
Once you have your website built, you have to work on getting people to visit not just once, but over and over again. You can start this by using your website to do more than just sell stuff. You should always try to host a website that is also informational. It is generally the website's that offer up to date information as well as sell wares.
It is through the information that you establish yourself as a trustworthy authority to your consumers. Doing this establishes trust with your consumers and brings them back again all of the time. Nobody wants to visit a website that is profiling outdated information in a month. It is the up to date website's that get and keep clients. These are also the website that the search engines find relevant during a query.
A nice tip for keeping your information up to date; especially if you are selling a product or service that is rarely updated is to keep a weather program or stock ticker program running on your website because the search engine spiders and robots will view this as new content and still return to your site on a regular basis .
If you are running a website that can sell things directly or order services and make payments there etc. you will want to generate as much sales as possible.
What this means is that you need to make search engines come to your site for a particular product or service before others. It is because of this need that search engines have to become your best friend, which I will explain what these are below.
Search Engine Basics
Search engines are computer programs that are used to explore the internet in search of web pages. They do this by using "spiders," "crawlers," or "robots" which are used to search for the most up to date information on any given search request. This may seem like an odd place to introduce you to the search engines, but I can assure that this section is well placed. Giving you the basics here will help you to understand what I am saying in the later sections.Anyways, back to the basics and explanation of search engine spiders.
These spiders (like those that are used by Google) are able to follow the links present on web pages that are located by specific keywords. When spiders are searching for a new webpage, they copy all or parts of the text present on the
page into their search engine database. Other spiders revisit these pages on a regular basis so that they can register changes or dead links. The wait time varies greatly from search engine to search engine. It is for this reason that your website should stay current.
The search engine will have hundreds of millions of web pages in its database. In order to deliver relevant results, the search engine companies have developed special ranking algorithms that calculate the order of search requirement results. The keyword or keyword phrase the visitor enters into the search form of the search engine will determine which web sites get picked up by the query. The pages the search engine find most relevant will be listed first. This will determine where you will be listed upon search requests.
For instance, if you are searching for "Beethoven," and the search engine finds a main headline on that page containing the phrase "Ludwig van Beethoven," it will assume that this page is fairly relevant to your needs. If, on the other hand, it finds the phrase only once, and it is buried in a long text, it will ignore it because it will assume that this is not important. That is why so many websites use special keywords more than once in a particular article or webpage, because that is how the spiders pick them up and place them higher in the results of a search.
What does this mean to you as a business person? Well... this means that in order for you to even consider affiliation; you must first have a website. If you want your website to get attention, you have to appeal to search engines first. Many potential affiliates will not want to associate with just anyone prefer a site that gets traffic. Knowing about search engines and how to appeal to them will get you this traffic. I will offer more on traffic in another section later. Right now I would like to get you started with website affiliation because that is what this book is about and I have already given the basics about marketing in general.
The Fundamentals of Affiliate Marketing
As you can imagine from the above section that spends a great of time focusing on the basics of internet marketing, you must realize that it was all just an informed lead in to the affiliation, which is the whole reason that we are here. The first thing that you have to think about when getting into the affiliation game is how to go about it. In order to understand this, you will need to know exactly what it is and get basic knowledge about it.Affiliate programs are an excellent way to generate income for your site or someone else's, and it is a pretty good introduction into ecommerce, however but it's a numbers game. Basically, the more people who visit your site, the greater your chances become for creating a good income, especially if the programs you participate in are related to your site topic. Chances are you have probably come across many commercial sites that claim to offer the best affiliate program. What you will often learn is that this is simply not true.
So what exactly is an affiliate program, you might ask? An affiliate program is where a company offers to pay you a certain amount of money for either a click through from your site, or a fixed amount for a lead (where the visitor signs up for a newsletter, etc.) or a percentage of a purchase made by a visitor as a result of a click through. Even if the visitor does not make a purchase on the advertiser's site right away, most programs will offer "cookie duration" of usually around 30-90 days.
What this really means is that as long as the visitor has the cookie in their cache; even if they return to the advertisers site one month later, you will still receive the commission from the sale however, as in all things that are business related, cookie duration is not a guarantee when you sign up for an affiliation program and is something that you need to check for before signing on.
Looking for the Best Affiliate Programs
The best way to try to explain this to you is to give you some of my personal experiences when looking for an affiliation program.
When I first started searching for and implementing affiliations with various companies; it was one of the largest parts of time wasted during my day when it came to managing my website. I spent a disgusting amount of hours searching for suitable affiliate programs, implementing the links and then keeping track of what they did.
If you are hoping that marketing a website affiliation is going to get you rich quickly, forget about it. You will have to spend a lot of time in your project if you want to make it work for you. Then again, all money making ventures do, just ask Donald Trump.
Of course, the income that was generated from each program was actually pretty low at that time because at that time the number of visitors to my site was not high either. With this in mind, it was not particularly uncommon for companies to disappear on me without warning me about it and since most affiliate programs only pay out at around the $25 mark, I would lose a lot of revenue in the end.
The other part of affiliation that I was not happy with was the idea of another companies banner's being plastered all over my site, if you place too many of them on any given page it only serves to confuse and irritate your visitors. think about it; how do you like it when you visit a site. Any more than one animated element on a web page can be very distracting which leaves you with nothing gained at all, and many affiliate programs insist upon this type of bargain when signing on. By now, you must realize that I learned a lot just by trial and error. Affiliate tracking can also a problem.
After you have successfully applied to become an affiliate for a company, they will usually supply you with some personalized code or link. It is very important that this code is implemented correctly into your page; because otherwise you may be sending the company visitors without being reimbursed. Most snippets of code contain a unique user id; which is used by the company to distinguish which site sent traffic. Even if you do implement this code in the right way, it has been my experience on occasion for it not to function correctly.
Having heard of my experiences, you can see why I would not really recommend that you hunt around and sign up without much research and thought first when finding a good affiliate program. Your time is too valuable and could be better spent creating content and updating your site. But there are some excellent individual companies offering affiliate programs out there.
What I have discovered to be very successful is to take advantage of companies like Offers Quest or Google for text link advertising. Text links are a great resource as they are bandwidth friendly, and when they are implemented properly add valuable content to your site which can also assist in search engine rankings.
When it comes to website affiliation, you will also need to know how to conduct a market study because this is how you will find your target audience. Without a targeted audience, your marketing campaign will not be effective. Below I have begun to give you an outline of what you should include in your market study. It is best to write it down; especially if you are hoping to entice someone else into investing in your marketing venture. That and it is a good way to keep track of your objective and provides a good guideline of what needs to be done.
Marketing Study Outline - What you need to know
In order to be able to conduct a decent targeting and marketing campaign, you must first understand the fundamentals of finding out who they are. They only way to do this is to follow a specific guideline for you to follow. Check out the guideline below.
1. Your Objective to the Research
Explain in one paragraph why the research is being done, what you hope to learn and for what purpose the information that you attain may be used
2. Description of the Market
This should be general like one paragraph
Who is your Target Market(s)
Why you chose this particular market
Get a complete profile of your market (e.g., demographics, psychographics, behaviors)
What benefits does your market seek (i.e., what points-of-pain or problems are being solved)
What factors can affect their decision to purchase or use your product/service
What attitudes do they have about the products/services that are currently not on the market
How is the product used
Products and Services that appeal to the target market
In general terms, what is currently so appealing to this market
If there are no current providers, what types of products/services may appeal to this market in the future (i.e., what is used now to solve the problem).
3. Market Metrics
Get many Size estimates (current and future) for all of the following:
Overall market
Current size as it stands
Potential size for the future
Actual penetration of current products/service within the entire market
Individual market segments
Current size
Potential size
Actual penetration of current products/service within the total market
Usage rates
Frequency of product purchases
Growth estimates (current and in the future) for:
Overall market
Individual market segments
Competitive Analysis
You must include a Summary of who your Current Competitors are
Listing the competition by market share ranking (by each target market if possible) is a good way to size them up. You can also be more specific by searching for individual points listed below.
Current Competitors - full analysis of top competitors including:
Products & Services (e.g., description, uniqueness, pricing, etc.)
Their Market share at current
Current customers (targeted audience)
Positioning and promotion strategies
Partnerships/Alliances/Distributors
Recent news
SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats
It is extremely important to focus attention on the SWOT section of this report. While most other information in this report can be gleaned from company and secondary materials, much of what appears in the SWOT section is based on the researcher's own opinions of the competitor based on the information that is collected. Consequently, this is often one of the hardest areas of the report to write as well.
Potential Competitors (any competition in the future)
You will need to get an explanation (though it need not be as detailed as Current Competitors) on who they are or maybe and why they are seen as potential competitors
5. Additional Extra Variables
Discuss factors that may affect this market (e.g., technological, social, governmental, competitive, etc.)
Market Trends and what is expected to happen in the future
If you can follow these basic tips for finding and selecting your target market, you should be ready to search online and check out the competition and their rankings in the search engines. Below are some general guidelines for you to follow in creating your competitive analysis which is the most important factor in being an affiliate marketer. Knowing your competition just as well as your audience is the key point which is going to keep you on top of the competition.
GUIDELINES FOR DOING A COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competitive analysis section works best when it follows a format like the one that is shown below. In general, I would recommend that this report would be made about each of the major competitors. While most of this report is intended to focus on the overall analysis of the competitor, you should recognize that you are primarily interested in how this information may impact your company and, specifically, a product or product line to you affiliates
For this reason, you should make sure, where possible, to focus your information on how it impacts the markets in which your products will compete with theirs. That is how your report will stand out among the other marketing
affiliates in a merchant's eye. It should be included in your proposal whenever it is possible. I have listed the guidelines in sections to make it easier for you to read and then furthered the report guidelines for you as well for easier reading. Please note each sub-section within a section will contain 1-5 sentences that explain the sub-section.
General Company Information which includes name, location (headquarters, other locations of importance), website address
Summary of the Business which includes a section that will summarize the company, business units and the general nature of the business
Business Overview should include sections on the history, ownership structure, types of businesses, mission, strategy/objectives, and key executives
Recent News/Developments such as important company developments within last 6-12 months (e.g., reports from news sources, press releases, financial statements)
Financial and Market Share Analysis - includes sections on corporate performance, trends, market share for product
Marketing in general should include sections on products and services that are offered, target markets, positioning, customers/users, pricing model, promotional efforts, sales force, and distribution
Other miscellaneous Issues like adding sections on technology capability, partnership arrangements, and intangible issues
A list of your competitors where you will list key competitors facing this company
SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Below, I am going to actually pin point what should be included in the market study like I did above, however in more detail and with explanation on how to write it. I am listing them in steps rather than points to make it easier.
1. The information that is provided in a market study should be based on the research that you have collected AND NOT on one's own perceptions, guesstimates or other unsupported statements. This information should be based on fat alone! The only exception to this may be within the SWOT analysis; however, even most of this should be supported with some evidence.
2. If you are unable to find any specific bit of information it is probably a good idea to make this known so that the person reading the report would know of this potential limitation of the market study and be ready for it. Obviously you need to collect good research so you do not end up having too many of these statements.
3. It is generally a good idea to define the most important terms and concepts when you first introduce them so as not to confuse the reader. This will benefit those reading the report who may not already possess knowledge in this area. Alternatively, you can create a glossary or definition section in the Endnotes area of the report.
4. Wherever it is necessary you should explain how the research was conducted or how data was collected (e.g., explaining how survey was done). This just helps the reader to understand your methodology so that they can decide how trustworthy the information is.
5. Make note of any limitations of secondary research (research you obtained from other sources) that you used. Unless there are very any significant limitations you can generally include this as an endnote.
6. If you are investigating a new/different way of doing something with present customers, then you will need to provide a discussion of the cost/benefit of alternative options. That is, what will customer give up to use something new versus what they will get from using the new product?
7. Remember to reference as much stuff as you have to in order to get the best information. I would suggest using endnotes instead of footnotes of texts because this gives you the most accurate account. Endnotes appear next to the sentence, word, quote, number, etc. but usually not as a superscript and usually in parenthesis like this (1). The full reference would appear at the back of the report in an Endnotes section.
Once you have completed your market analysis and target audience, you will want to present it to the companies that you are looking to affiliate with. That is what the next section deals with. It is going to show you how to create partnerships with the merchants.
To be more specific, even if you are going to a "like" website as an affiliate, you don't want to approach a site that is selling the exact same thing as you because that makes you direct competition with you. For example, if you are selling designer clothing of a particular label, you do not want to try to go to a site that is selling the exact same items as you, but a like site that may offer the same brand, but not the same items. That way, both sites are selling the same label, but can push each other's sites for the items that they don't carry.
Once you know exactly what type of website you want to run and which web companies are actually offering you the right revenue sharing opportunities for products and services that complement your web site genre, you can't just offer to put up banners and buttons on their behalf. It is best to begin by writing up a review page of the product or service and how it will definitely help boost sales, especially if you are recognized as being knowledgeable in your field.
One of the best ways to show that you know what you are doing is to offer articles and reviews on your website about your items for sale. Keyword articles are best for getting search engine to come calling. You can also put in a brief history of the product's inception etc. Basically just put in as much information as you can about your product or service so that visitors and merchants will know that you are on top of things and know what you are doing. Here are some more things that you should do when dealing with potential affiliates that you are trying to get in with.
Talk to People
Talking to people could not only increase your sales, but also save you some heartache in the long run. It is very easy to talk to an affiliate company, and you can start by contacting the merchant, let them know what you are doing to promote their product and ask their advice as to how you could improve your marketing technique. Think about it, it is always best to approach a potential affiliate with a standing technique in mind as well as an outline of what you plan to do to help them. If you have the means, try it out for a while so that you can approach a merchant with solid facts backing you up.
When you ask the merchant for advice you are setting yourself in great standing with them and showing them that you understand their knowledge. After all, the merchant knows their product best right? They would also have a
very good idea of the strategies that are used by other affiliates to boost sales. Don't bother checking for this information on an affiliate site because you will not be getting to the nitty gritty of it.
By contacting the merchant yourself, you are also showing your enthusiasm for marketing their products and services and that you are working to become known as a "power" or "super" affiliate! Any merchant who understands affiliate marketing knows that over 90% of sales are generated by less than 5% of their affiliates. A good merchant will see your efforts and give you further information and resources and may even boost your commission fees as a result of your efforts and success. All of this means more money for you both!
Dealing with merchants directly:
When you are dealing directly with a merchant, there are some things that you have to realize. You need to know how to deal with them but also what to expect to encounter from the as well. That is what this section is going to help you with. Let's take a look at some of the various things that you can expect to hear and deal with when going through a merchant.
a) If you are going to go to the trouble of emailing a merchant and they don't respond the first time, do not worry about it, be persistent because many merchants receive countless numbers of emails daily and take time to sift through them and weed out the spam. If they still fail to respond to your, think twice about continuing promotion on their behalf because a lack of communication can also be indicative of other problems such as payment or just plain disinterest. You should also bear in mind that some merchants work on the shotgun principle. What this means is that they make big
Having heard of my experiences, you can see why I would not really recommend that you hunt around and sign up without much research and thought first when finding a good affiliate program. Your time is too valuable and could be better spent creating content and updating your site. But there are some excellent individual companies offering affiliate programs out there.
What I have discovered to be very successful is to take advantage of companies like Offers Quest or Google for text link advertising. Text links are a great resource as they are bandwidth friendly, and when they are implemented properly add valuable content to your site which can also assist in search engine rankings.
When it comes to website affiliation, you will also need to know how to conduct a market study because this is how you will find your target audience. Without a targeted audience, your marketing campaign will not be effective. Below I have begun to give you an outline of what you should include in your market study. It is best to write it down; especially if you are hoping to entice someone else into investing in your marketing venture. That and it is a good way to keep track of your objective and provides a good guideline of what needs to be done.
Marketing Study Outline - What you need to know
In order to be able to conduct a decent targeting and marketing campaign, you must first understand the fundamentals of finding out who they are. They only way to do this is to follow a specific guideline for you to follow. Check out the guideline below.
1. Your Objective to the Research
Explain in one paragraph why the research is being done, what you hope to learn and for what purpose the information that you attain may be used
2. Description of the Market
This should be general like one paragraph
Who is your Target Market(s)
Why you chose this particular market
Get a complete profile of your market (e.g., demographics, psychographics, behaviors)
What benefits does your market seek (i.e., what points-of-pain or problems are being solved)
What factors can affect their decision to purchase or use your product/service
What attitudes do they have about the products/services that are currently not on the market
How is the product used
Products and Services that appeal to the target market
In general terms, what is currently so appealing to this market
If there are no current providers, what types of products/services may appeal to this market in the future (i.e., what is used now to solve the problem).
3. Market Metrics
Get many Size estimates (current and future) for all of the following:
Overall market
Current size as it stands
Potential size for the future
Actual penetration of current products/service within the entire market
Individual market segments
Current size
Potential size
Actual penetration of current products/service within the total market
Usage rates
Frequency of product purchases
Growth estimates (current and in the future) for:
Overall market
Individual market segments
Competitive Analysis
You must include a Summary of who your Current Competitors are
Listing the competition by market share ranking (by each target market if possible) is a good way to size them up. You can also be more specific by searching for individual points listed below.
Current Competitors - full analysis of top competitors including:
Products & Services (e.g., description, uniqueness, pricing, etc.)
Their Market share at current
Current customers (targeted audience)
Positioning and promotion strategies
Partnerships/Alliances/Distributors
Recent news
SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats
It is extremely important to focus attention on the SWOT section of this report. While most other information in this report can be gleaned from company and secondary materials, much of what appears in the SWOT section is based on the researcher's own opinions of the competitor based on the information that is collected. Consequently, this is often one of the hardest areas of the report to write as well.
Potential Competitors (any competition in the future)
You will need to get an explanation (though it need not be as detailed as Current Competitors) on who they are or maybe and why they are seen as potential competitors
5. Additional Extra Variables
Discuss factors that may affect this market (e.g., technological, social, governmental, competitive, etc.)
Market Trends and what is expected to happen in the future
If you can follow these basic tips for finding and selecting your target market, you should be ready to search online and check out the competition and their rankings in the search engines. Below are some general guidelines for you to follow in creating your competitive analysis which is the most important factor in being an affiliate marketer. Knowing your competition just as well as your audience is the key point which is going to keep you on top of the competition.
GUIDELINES FOR DOING A COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competitive analysis section works best when it follows a format like the one that is shown below. In general, I would recommend that this report would be made about each of the major competitors. While most of this report is intended to focus on the overall analysis of the competitor, you should recognize that you are primarily interested in how this information may impact your company and, specifically, a product or product line to you affiliates
For this reason, you should make sure, where possible, to focus your information on how it impacts the markets in which your products will compete with theirs. That is how your report will stand out among the other marketing
affiliates in a merchant's eye. It should be included in your proposal whenever it is possible. I have listed the guidelines in sections to make it easier for you to read and then furthered the report guidelines for you as well for easier reading. Please note each sub-section within a section will contain 1-5 sentences that explain the sub-section.
General Company Information which includes name, location (headquarters, other locations of importance), website address
Summary of the Business which includes a section that will summarize the company, business units and the general nature of the business
Business Overview should include sections on the history, ownership structure, types of businesses, mission, strategy/objectives, and key executives
Recent News/Developments such as important company developments within last 6-12 months (e.g., reports from news sources, press releases, financial statements)
Financial and Market Share Analysis - includes sections on corporate performance, trends, market share for product
Marketing in general should include sections on products and services that are offered, target markets, positioning, customers/users, pricing model, promotional efforts, sales force, and distribution
Other miscellaneous Issues like adding sections on technology capability, partnership arrangements, and intangible issues
A list of your competitors where you will list key competitors facing this company
SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Below, I am going to actually pin point what should be included in the market study like I did above, however in more detail and with explanation on how to write it. I am listing them in steps rather than points to make it easier.
1. The information that is provided in a market study should be based on the research that you have collected AND NOT on one's own perceptions, guesstimates or other unsupported statements. This information should be based on fat alone! The only exception to this may be within the SWOT analysis; however, even most of this should be supported with some evidence.
2. If you are unable to find any specific bit of information it is probably a good idea to make this known so that the person reading the report would know of this potential limitation of the market study and be ready for it. Obviously you need to collect good research so you do not end up having too many of these statements.
3. It is generally a good idea to define the most important terms and concepts when you first introduce them so as not to confuse the reader. This will benefit those reading the report who may not already possess knowledge in this area. Alternatively, you can create a glossary or definition section in the Endnotes area of the report.
4. Wherever it is necessary you should explain how the research was conducted or how data was collected (e.g., explaining how survey was done). This just helps the reader to understand your methodology so that they can decide how trustworthy the information is.
5. Make note of any limitations of secondary research (research you obtained from other sources) that you used. Unless there are very any significant limitations you can generally include this as an endnote.
6. If you are investigating a new/different way of doing something with present customers, then you will need to provide a discussion of the cost/benefit of alternative options. That is, what will customer give up to use something new versus what they will get from using the new product?
7. Remember to reference as much stuff as you have to in order to get the best information. I would suggest using endnotes instead of footnotes of texts because this gives you the most accurate account. Endnotes appear next to the sentence, word, quote, number, etc. but usually not as a superscript and usually in parenthesis like this (1). The full reference would appear at the back of the report in an Endnotes section.
Once you have completed your market analysis and target audience, you will want to present it to the companies that you are looking to affiliate with. That is what the next section deals with. It is going to show you how to create partnerships with the merchants.
How to Deal with Online Merchants - Creating Partnerships
When you decide to become an affiliate marketer, you are basically just asking another web host to add a link to your website to theirs which will bring your website more traffic and hopefully generate more sales for them, which gives you a commission sale. Of course, there are some things that affiliates look for in a website before they will sign you on as an affiliate. Before you even consider signing on as an affiliate, you should make sure that your website has something to offer that theirs doesn't.To be more specific, even if you are going to a "like" website as an affiliate, you don't want to approach a site that is selling the exact same thing as you because that makes you direct competition with you. For example, if you are selling designer clothing of a particular label, you do not want to try to go to a site that is selling the exact same items as you, but a like site that may offer the same brand, but not the same items. That way, both sites are selling the same label, but can push each other's sites for the items that they don't carry.
Once you know exactly what type of website you want to run and which web companies are actually offering you the right revenue sharing opportunities for products and services that complement your web site genre, you can't just offer to put up banners and buttons on their behalf. It is best to begin by writing up a review page of the product or service and how it will definitely help boost sales, especially if you are recognized as being knowledgeable in your field.
One of the best ways to show that you know what you are doing is to offer articles and reviews on your website about your items for sale. Keyword articles are best for getting search engine to come calling. You can also put in a brief history of the product's inception etc. Basically just put in as much information as you can about your product or service so that visitors and merchants will know that you are on top of things and know what you are doing. Here are some more things that you should do when dealing with potential affiliates that you are trying to get in with.
Talk to People
Talking to people could not only increase your sales, but also save you some heartache in the long run. It is very easy to talk to an affiliate company, and you can start by contacting the merchant, let them know what you are doing to promote their product and ask their advice as to how you could improve your marketing technique. Think about it, it is always best to approach a potential affiliate with a standing technique in mind as well as an outline of what you plan to do to help them. If you have the means, try it out for a while so that you can approach a merchant with solid facts backing you up.
When you ask the merchant for advice you are setting yourself in great standing with them and showing them that you understand their knowledge. After all, the merchant knows their product best right? They would also have a
very good idea of the strategies that are used by other affiliates to boost sales. Don't bother checking for this information on an affiliate site because you will not be getting to the nitty gritty of it.
By contacting the merchant yourself, you are also showing your enthusiasm for marketing their products and services and that you are working to become known as a "power" or "super" affiliate! Any merchant who understands affiliate marketing knows that over 90% of sales are generated by less than 5% of their affiliates. A good merchant will see your efforts and give you further information and resources and may even boost your commission fees as a result of your efforts and success. All of this means more money for you both!
Dealing with merchants directly:
When you are dealing directly with a merchant, there are some things that you have to realize. You need to know how to deal with them but also what to expect to encounter from the as well. That is what this section is going to help you with. Let's take a look at some of the various things that you can expect to hear and deal with when going through a merchant.
a) If you are going to go to the trouble of emailing a merchant and they don't respond the first time, do not worry about it, be persistent because many merchants receive countless numbers of emails daily and take time to sift through them and weed out the spam. If they still fail to respond to your, think twice about continuing promotion on their behalf because a lack of communication can also be indicative of other problems such as payment or just plain disinterest. You should also bear in mind that some merchants work on the shotgun principle. What this means is that they make big
promises, set a high payouts knowing full well that few affiliates will ever reach it. Next thing you know, they get as many affiliates promoting their products and services as possible which will give them the maximum exposure, with the minimum cost and effort on their part. It's not a good business model for them to use in the long term and after a while affiliates drop away, but not before the company has raked in thousands. Many MLM (multi-level marketing) programs also work on this principle and only the guys at the top generate any serious revenue so you need to expect this and watch out for it.
A good way to protect your payments from merchants is to sign up for affiliate programs that are extremely well established ad networks such as Offers Quest or FastClick if you want to get paid for your work. When you are working with a major ad network means that even if you only make a few dollars from each program, those dollars that are generated will all feed a common account, accumulate rapidly which will allow you to reach the payout threshold in a shorter time period. Most ad networks work with merchants on a "money up front" or monthly "pay as you go" basis because this decreases the risk of those merchants who are suddenly disappearing with your hard earned commissions.
For this to work, you need to demonstrate your web marketing prowess
b) Unless you have a web site that already generates high traffic, don't ask the merchant for higher commissions in the first communication. So many affiliates do this and end up being totally ignored because most affiliates probably can't deliver on their promises due to the fact that too many of their claims are unachievable. If you don't have a solid sales record for the product or service you are promoting, you'll need to prove yourself to merchants off the bat and put some thought into your promotion and rack up a few sales before attempting to secure higher payout rates. Be professional in your communications
c) When you are communicating with merchants, you have to make sure that you use a professional manner not the laid back style that you use when talking toy our friends. If you have suggestions of how a merchant could improve an offer that would convert into more sales, let them know, but be very polite and constructive in your feedback - not insulting by saying things like: "Your banners suck" because this will alienate them .
d) You have to remember that the Internet as a trading place is still very new in comparison to the business platforms of the last few millennia like regular advertising through television or newspaper ads. Some of the quality companies that are offering an affiliate program may be just breaking into this side of marketing and will appreciate any feedback you can give them.
e) A smart merchant understands that good affiliates can't be found everywhere as is often assumed and hoped. Merchants need someone that acts business like and treats them with respect, assists with resources and provides prompt payments. Smarter affiliates understand that a merchant wants quality promotion and sales performance for minimum outlay. Successful merchant/affiliate partnerships happen when both parties understand these points and work together because that is when the money starts rolling in.
Here is a sample of the type of contract that you can expect to see from a merchant and/or some of the listings that will be in it.
Sample Affiliation Contract was located at and provided by: http://partners.pcsecurityshield.com/agreement.html?CLIENT_NAME=nextaisle
PUBLISHER TERMS OF AGREEMENT
PCSecurityShield ACTIVELY monitors traffic for Fraud. If we detect Fraud, your account will be made inactive pending further investigation.
1. All websites, newsletters, companies, or individuals need official approval from PCSecurityShield, Inc. ("PCSecurityShield") http://www.pcsecurityshield.com before they can become an Affiliate Partner ("Affiliate"). Only websites and newsletters that have been reviewed and approved are permitted to use the programs. PCSecurityShield reserves the right to withhold or refuse approval on any website, newsletter, company, or individual for any reason, whatsoever.
2. In order to be eligible for Affiliate approval, all websites and newsletters must meet the following criteria:
1. Be content-based, not simply a list of links or advertisements, nor can the site be centered around making money off of our Advertisers
2. Be written in English and contain only English language content
3. Receive a minimum of 1,000 unique page views per month
4. Have a top-level domain name
5. Cannot offer incentives to users to click on ads; incentives include but are not limited to awarding them cash, points, prizes, contest entries, etc.
6. Be fully functional at all levels; no "under construction" sites or sections
7. Spawning process pop-ups and exit pop-ups are prohibited for click approved affiliates
3. The content of the website and/or newsletter cannot contain any adult content nor link from, or to, any adult materials including but not limited to:
1. Explicit, vulgar or obscene language
2. Posting or referencing of sexually explicit images or other offensive content
3. Promotion of adult services, such as phone sex or escort services
4. The content of the website and/or newsletter cannot infringe on any personal, intellectual property or copyrights including but not limited to:
1. Racial, ethnic, political, hate-mongering or otherwise objectionable content
2. Investment, money-making opportunities or advice not permitted under law
3. Gratuitous violence or profanity
4. Material that defames, abuses, or threatens physical harm to others or to you
5. Promotion of illegal substances or activities such as illegal online gambling, how to build a bomb, counterfeiting money, etc.
6. Software Pirating (e.g., Warez, Hotline)
7. Hacking or Phreaking.
8. Any illegal activity whatsoever
9. Any questionable or controversial subject matter
10. Any spoofing, redirecting, or trafficking from adult-related websites in an effort to gain traffic
5. You cannot place our advertisements into your framed environment, unless approved by PCSecurityShield in writing.
6. Unless expressly approved in writing by PCSecurityShield, Inc., YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED to provide compensation, benefits, or incentives of any kind whatsoever, including, but not limited to, points, cash, contest entries, or rewards, to encourage a user to click on an advertisement or to complete a form.
7. In order to be approved as a "Click Program" Affiliate, all websites and newsletters must meet the following criteria:
1. Be approved as a "Leads Program" Affiliate
2. Be content-based, not simply a list of links or advertisements, nor can the site be centered around making money off of our Advertisers
3. Cannot offer incentives to users to click on ads; incentives include but are not limited to awarding them cash, points, prizes, contest entries, etc.
4. Spawning process pop-ups and exit pop-ups are prohibited
8. You cannot send Unsolicited Commercial Email (i.e., SPAM). You cannot post any specific messages to newsgroups, chat rooms, bulletin boards or any other places unless expressly approved in writing from PCSecurityShield. You can post messages which are generic in nature and do not mention any specific client or offer, which are expressly approved in writing from PCSecurityShield. You must be in compliance with our Policies and Guidelines posted at
9. If you fraudulently add leads or clicks or inflate leads or clicks by fraudulent traffic generation (as determined solely by PCSecurityShield,
such as pre-population of forms or mechanisms not approved by PCSecurityShield), you will forfeit your entire commission for all programs and your account will be terminated. PCSecurityShield reserves sole judgment in determining fraud, and you agree to this clause.
10. It is the OBLIGATION of the Affiliate to prove to PCSecurityShield that they are NOT committing fraud. PCSecurityShield will hold your payment in 'Pending Status' until you have satisfactorily provided evidence that you are not defrauding the system. We flag accounts that:
1. Have click-through rates that are much higher than industry averages and where solid justification is not evident
2. Have ONLY click programs generating clicks with no indication by site traffic that it can sustain the clicks reported
3. Have shown fraudulent leads as determined by our clients
4. Use fake redirects, automated software, and/or fraud to generate clicks or leads from our programs
11. Filling out this form constitutes an agreement between PCSecurityShield and the Affiliate. The commission payment that is generated to the Affiliate varies per registered subscriber to the programs offered and/or per clicks. This commission payment is made approximately 60 days after the end of the month and after receiving payment from the Advertiser. Delinquent Advertiser payments received by PCSecurityShield will be credited to the
A good way to protect your payments from merchants is to sign up for affiliate programs that are extremely well established ad networks such as Offers Quest or FastClick if you want to get paid for your work. When you are working with a major ad network means that even if you only make a few dollars from each program, those dollars that are generated will all feed a common account, accumulate rapidly which will allow you to reach the payout threshold in a shorter time period. Most ad networks work with merchants on a "money up front" or monthly "pay as you go" basis because this decreases the risk of those merchants who are suddenly disappearing with your hard earned commissions.
For this to work, you need to demonstrate your web marketing prowess
b) Unless you have a web site that already generates high traffic, don't ask the merchant for higher commissions in the first communication. So many affiliates do this and end up being totally ignored because most affiliates probably can't deliver on their promises due to the fact that too many of their claims are unachievable. If you don't have a solid sales record for the product or service you are promoting, you'll need to prove yourself to merchants off the bat and put some thought into your promotion and rack up a few sales before attempting to secure higher payout rates. Be professional in your communications
c) When you are communicating with merchants, you have to make sure that you use a professional manner not the laid back style that you use when talking toy our friends. If you have suggestions of how a merchant could improve an offer that would convert into more sales, let them know, but be very polite and constructive in your feedback - not insulting by saying things like: "Your banners suck" because this will alienate them .
d) You have to remember that the Internet as a trading place is still very new in comparison to the business platforms of the last few millennia like regular advertising through television or newspaper ads. Some of the quality companies that are offering an affiliate program may be just breaking into this side of marketing and will appreciate any feedback you can give them.
e) A smart merchant understands that good affiliates can't be found everywhere as is often assumed and hoped. Merchants need someone that acts business like and treats them with respect, assists with resources and provides prompt payments. Smarter affiliates understand that a merchant wants quality promotion and sales performance for minimum outlay. Successful merchant/affiliate partnerships happen when both parties understand these points and work together because that is when the money starts rolling in.
Here is a sample of the type of contract that you can expect to see from a merchant and/or some of the listings that will be in it.
Sample Affiliation Contract was located at and provided by: http://partners.pcsecurityshield.com/agreement.html?CLIENT_NAME=nextaisle
PUBLISHER TERMS OF AGREEMENT
PCSecurityShield ACTIVELY monitors traffic for Fraud. If we detect Fraud, your account will be made inactive pending further investigation.
1. All websites, newsletters, companies, or individuals need official approval from PCSecurityShield, Inc. ("PCSecurityShield") http://www.pcsecurityshield.com before they can become an Affiliate Partner ("Affiliate"). Only websites and newsletters that have been reviewed and approved are permitted to use the programs. PCSecurityShield reserves the right to withhold or refuse approval on any website, newsletter, company, or individual for any reason, whatsoever.
2. In order to be eligible for Affiliate approval, all websites and newsletters must meet the following criteria:
1. Be content-based, not simply a list of links or advertisements, nor can the site be centered around making money off of our Advertisers
2. Be written in English and contain only English language content
3. Receive a minimum of 1,000 unique page views per month
4. Have a top-level domain name
5. Cannot offer incentives to users to click on ads; incentives include but are not limited to awarding them cash, points, prizes, contest entries, etc.
6. Be fully functional at all levels; no "under construction" sites or sections
7. Spawning process pop-ups and exit pop-ups are prohibited for click approved affiliates
3. The content of the website and/or newsletter cannot contain any adult content nor link from, or to, any adult materials including but not limited to:
1. Explicit, vulgar or obscene language
2. Posting or referencing of sexually explicit images or other offensive content
3. Promotion of adult services, such as phone sex or escort services
4. The content of the website and/or newsletter cannot infringe on any personal, intellectual property or copyrights including but not limited to:
1. Racial, ethnic, political, hate-mongering or otherwise objectionable content
2. Investment, money-making opportunities or advice not permitted under law
3. Gratuitous violence or profanity
4. Material that defames, abuses, or threatens physical harm to others or to you
5. Promotion of illegal substances or activities such as illegal online gambling, how to build a bomb, counterfeiting money, etc.
6. Software Pirating (e.g., Warez, Hotline)
7. Hacking or Phreaking.
8. Any illegal activity whatsoever
9. Any questionable or controversial subject matter
10. Any spoofing, redirecting, or trafficking from adult-related websites in an effort to gain traffic
5. You cannot place our advertisements into your framed environment, unless approved by PCSecurityShield in writing.
6. Unless expressly approved in writing by PCSecurityShield, Inc., YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED to provide compensation, benefits, or incentives of any kind whatsoever, including, but not limited to, points, cash, contest entries, or rewards, to encourage a user to click on an advertisement or to complete a form.
7. In order to be approved as a "Click Program" Affiliate, all websites and newsletters must meet the following criteria:
1. Be approved as a "Leads Program" Affiliate
2. Be content-based, not simply a list of links or advertisements, nor can the site be centered around making money off of our Advertisers
3. Cannot offer incentives to users to click on ads; incentives include but are not limited to awarding them cash, points, prizes, contest entries, etc.
4. Spawning process pop-ups and exit pop-ups are prohibited
8. You cannot send Unsolicited Commercial Email (i.e., SPAM). You cannot post any specific messages to newsgroups, chat rooms, bulletin boards or any other places unless expressly approved in writing from PCSecurityShield. You can post messages which are generic in nature and do not mention any specific client or offer, which are expressly approved in writing from PCSecurityShield. You must be in compliance with our Policies and Guidelines posted at
9. If you fraudulently add leads or clicks or inflate leads or clicks by fraudulent traffic generation (as determined solely by PCSecurityShield,
such as pre-population of forms or mechanisms not approved by PCSecurityShield), you will forfeit your entire commission for all programs and your account will be terminated. PCSecurityShield reserves sole judgment in determining fraud, and you agree to this clause.
10. It is the OBLIGATION of the Affiliate to prove to PCSecurityShield that they are NOT committing fraud. PCSecurityShield will hold your payment in 'Pending Status' until you have satisfactorily provided evidence that you are not defrauding the system. We flag accounts that:
1. Have click-through rates that are much higher than industry averages and where solid justification is not evident
2. Have ONLY click programs generating clicks with no indication by site traffic that it can sustain the clicks reported
3. Have shown fraudulent leads as determined by our clients
4. Use fake redirects, automated software, and/or fraud to generate clicks or leads from our programs
11. Filling out this form constitutes an agreement between PCSecurityShield and the Affiliate. The commission payment that is generated to the Affiliate varies per registered subscriber to the programs offered and/or per clicks. This commission payment is made approximately 60 days after the end of the month and after receiving payment from the Advertiser. Delinquent Advertiser payments received by PCSecurityShield will be credited to the
Affiliate in the month that they are received. PCSecurityShield does not guarantee payment to the Affiliate if the Advertiser does not pay PCSecurityShield. Commission payment totals must exceed $25.00, otherwise this payment will not be made until the $20.00 minimum is reached. International Affiliates (outside of the United States & Canada) agree to a minimum $50.00 to be reached.
12. Affiliate agrees not to carry objectionable materials on their website which would revoke their affiliation as determined by PCSecurityShield. Affiliate will only run approved banners and text in their advertising of our programs and will NOT create their own banners or advertising text, unless expressly approved in writing from PCSecurityShield. Violation of this forfeits your commissions. Affiliate WILL NOT spam or send
unsolicited email mentioning or promoting the Affiliate programs. Any violation of this will result in the Affiliate being liable for damages of $1.00 per email sent and other damages as deemed by a court of law.
13. Editing of an Advertiser's program images or copy is strictly prohibited. Affiliate will only use approved banners and text to link to an Advertiser's sign-up pages. Affiliates will not mislead people to make it seem that they are signing up for an offer that is offered by the Affiliate site. Affiliate can ONLY use banners and approved text, any other use of link and sign-up processes will result in the loss of all sign ups/leads accrued for the Affiliate.
14. PCSecurityShield reserves the right to terminate any Affiliate's contract for any reason whatsoever. Termination notice will be provided via e-mail and will be effective immediately. All legitimate moneys due to Affiliate will be paid during the next billing cycle. If Affiliate defrauds the system, then payment is revoked as determined solely by PCSecurityShield.
15. You guarantee that all content, products, and services on your website are legal to distribute and that you own or have the legal right to use any and all copyrighted material.
16. Affiliate irrevocably covenants, promises and agrees to indemnify PCSecurityShield and to hold harmless from and against any and all losses, claims, expenses, suits, damages, costs, demands or liabilities, arising from any and all claims and lawsuits for copyright, slander, libel, and trademark violation
as well as ll other claims resulting from member's web pages.
17. If any Affiliate violates or refuses to take part in their responsibilities, or commits fraudulent activity against us, PCSecurityShield reserves the right to withhold payment and take appropriate legal action to cover its damages.
18. PCSecurityShield reserves the right to change any conditions of this contract at any time. Change notices are sent to Affiliates by email, and Affiliates are responsible for complying with any changes to the contract within 10 calendar days from the date of change. Failure of the Affiliate to terminate the agreement within those 10 calendar days will constitute acceptance of the changes to this contract.
19. PCSecurityShield gives no warranty, express or implied, for any and all services and products provided, including, but not limited to, warranty of merchantability and warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. This statement expressly includes any reimbursement for losses of income due to disruption of service by PCSecurityShield or its upstream providers.
20. You agree to settle any dispute under this agreement under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Any litigation arising under this Agreement will be brought in the federal or state courts of Western Pennsylvania.
21. Any legal action taken by an advertiser, agency, client, person, or entity against PCSecurityShield for actions of you (the affiliate) that violate these terms and conditions, you accept that PCSecurityShield will work with the advertiser, agency, client, person, or entity to divulge your personal information. You also agree that PCSecurityShield is not liable for your actions, and you will bear all costs (legal or otherwise) that PCSecurityShield incurs if PCSecurityShield is sued by advertiser, client, agency, person, or entity.
22. If any provision of this agreement shall be held or made invalid or unenforceable by a court decision, statute, rule or otherwise, the remaining provisions of this agreement shall not be affected thereby.
23. You must be 18 years or older to sign up as a PCSecurityShield affiliate.
12. Affiliate agrees not to carry objectionable materials on their website which would revoke their affiliation as determined by PCSecurityShield. Affiliate will only run approved banners and text in their advertising of our programs and will NOT create their own banners or advertising text, unless expressly approved in writing from PCSecurityShield. Violation of this forfeits your commissions. Affiliate WILL NOT spam or send
unsolicited email mentioning or promoting the Affiliate programs. Any violation of this will result in the Affiliate being liable for damages of $1.00 per email sent and other damages as deemed by a court of law.
13. Editing of an Advertiser's program images or copy is strictly prohibited. Affiliate will only use approved banners and text to link to an Advertiser's sign-up pages. Affiliates will not mislead people to make it seem that they are signing up for an offer that is offered by the Affiliate site. Affiliate can ONLY use banners and approved text, any other use of link and sign-up processes will result in the loss of all sign ups/leads accrued for the Affiliate.
14. PCSecurityShield reserves the right to terminate any Affiliate's contract for any reason whatsoever. Termination notice will be provided via e-mail and will be effective immediately. All legitimate moneys due to Affiliate will be paid during the next billing cycle. If Affiliate defrauds the system, then payment is revoked as determined solely by PCSecurityShield.
15. You guarantee that all content, products, and services on your website are legal to distribute and that you own or have the legal right to use any and all copyrighted material.
16. Affiliate irrevocably covenants, promises and agrees to indemnify PCSecurityShield and to hold harmless from and against any and all losses, claims, expenses, suits, damages, costs, demands or liabilities, arising from any and all claims and lawsuits for copyright, slander, libel, and trademark violation
as well as ll other claims resulting from member's web pages.
17. If any Affiliate violates or refuses to take part in their responsibilities, or commits fraudulent activity against us, PCSecurityShield reserves the right to withhold payment and take appropriate legal action to cover its damages.
18. PCSecurityShield reserves the right to change any conditions of this contract at any time. Change notices are sent to Affiliates by email, and Affiliates are responsible for complying with any changes to the contract within 10 calendar days from the date of change. Failure of the Affiliate to terminate the agreement within those 10 calendar days will constitute acceptance of the changes to this contract.
19. PCSecurityShield gives no warranty, express or implied, for any and all services and products provided, including, but not limited to, warranty of merchantability and warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. This statement expressly includes any reimbursement for losses of income due to disruption of service by PCSecurityShield or its upstream providers.
20. You agree to settle any dispute under this agreement under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Any litigation arising under this Agreement will be brought in the federal or state courts of Western Pennsylvania.
21. Any legal action taken by an advertiser, agency, client, person, or entity against PCSecurityShield for actions of you (the affiliate) that violate these terms and conditions, you accept that PCSecurityShield will work with the advertiser, agency, client, person, or entity to divulge your personal information. You also agree that PCSecurityShield is not liable for your actions, and you will bear all costs (legal or otherwise) that PCSecurityShield incurs if PCSecurityShield is sued by advertiser, client, agency, person, or entity.
22. If any provision of this agreement shall be held or made invalid or unenforceable by a court decision, statute, rule or otherwise, the remaining provisions of this agreement shall not be affected thereby.
23. You must be 18 years or older to sign up as a PCSecurityShield affiliate.
24. Your traffic must come from relevant countries to the campaigns. We monitor IP source and will remove credit for non-country relevant traffic. This means English related campaigns must be delivered to English speaking countries. USA based campaigns must be delivered to USA based citizens, and so forth. (i.e Clicks coming from China for USA based campaigns may not result in credit).
Nowadays, you can get millions of different goods and services on the Internet, advertisers look to individuals and companies to help them sell their products by using webmasters and others to spread the word. These advertisements can come in the form of banner advertising on affiliate sites, text links, reviews written by affiliates, direct email, blogs etc.
How it works is that the advertisers pay webmasters for displaying the ads, or for click throughs that are sent to them, (Called pay per click) which is a commission that is paid on any sales that happen as a direct result of a referral from their web site or email message or during each visit. I will explain more on this in a later section.
The fact of the matter is that you will likely not need to be bothered with a merchant at all if it weren't for the money involved. The fact that affiliations can be used as a mass promotional opportunity for both sides that results in more money for both just adds icing to the cake. That is why the next section is about mass promotion through affiliation.
Using Affiliation as Mass Promotion Tool
There are Hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs out there that you can choose from and all of them are claiming to be the best. Some of them will give you the impression that all you have to do is implement their banners and links and wait for the money to start rolling in. This CAN be the case at times, but this scenario usually only applies to very large sites that have massive web traffic already. For most of us, being a successful affiliate requires a little more work than that!
When you are selling your wares through a website, you will be needing as much help as you can get and that is why affiliation is such a good deal. It gives you and like companies the chance to market your wares in more than one spot. As the marketing affiliate, it is your job to get you and other companies together to do it. Most affiliates use their own sites and combine marketing strategies with others. Your website is likely not geared toward one thing in particular so affiliates who come in will gain a lot more from your services.
As the variety of goods and online services offered over the Internet has grown at an incredible rate over the last few years, and in response, so has the competition. Web site visitors need to have a very good reason for clicking on a link or banner. In most affiliate programs, you are offered a wide variety of banners that you can place on your site; all of them will be effective in getting attention from your target audience.
If you can gather a click through rate of at least 2%, then you are doing very well. It has been my experience, that highly colorful and picture filled banners do not perform as successfully as their simpler counterparts. The main reason for this is the time it takes to download it. If a banner is the last thing to load on your page and the banner ad is excessively byte "heavy", by the time it has loaded your visitor may already have scrolled down the page already and miss it entirely.
Heavy banner ads can also slow down the loading of your pages, or even some of the critical elements of your page and you can lose your visitors altogether. This is why A graphically rich banner can also confuse the actual message because the artwork and marketing blurb can be imbalanced. For these reasons, I would recommend that banners you implement be no more that 15kb wherever you possibly can.
Banners that have a lot of animation in them, such as rapid flashing, are also something to consider very carefully before setting them up. While these do achieve high click rates, they are also highly annoying to the average visitor. If you do decide to implement this form of banner advertising, you have to use it very sparingly.
Whenever you begin selecting any form of advertising that requires graphics you should try and keep the theme of your site in mind. In general, while graphical ads are meant to stand out and catch a visitor's eye, it shouldn't be to the point that everything else on the page is ignored. Whenever you can, you have to make sure that all banner ads or advertising that you use uses a link that opens in a new window. That way, if a visitor does choose to visit one of your advertisers it is easy for them to return to your page and review what they actually came to your site for.
A lot of companies are now offering their affiliates the options of using pop up and pop under ads. However, the fact is they annoy most visitors and are usually closed before they even have a chance to load by automatic program blockers. It is for this reason that you should use pop-unders instead and preferably those that only display once per visit. I will talk more about pop-unders in a later section
Successful affiliate marketing requires patience
If you are sure that your web site can get a lot of traffic and generate fantastic sales for a certain company, you have to contact them to negotiate a tailored arrangement. If they aren't too enthusiastic to begin with, be patient because companies are approached every day by affiliates wanting to cut a "better deal".
The reality of it is that many affiliates cannot deliver what they promise, and the companies are extremely aware of this. For you as a potential affiliate marketer, you need to implement their links and banners, go the extra mile with ad articles and other unique strategies, generate some sales and then approach them again better prepared. You'll probably find that they'll have a change of heart. Finding good affiliates is very difficult and if you are performing for these companies they will keep you.
Most forms of advertising take some time to kick into gear. Putting a link up for a couple of days and then pulling it down because it is not generating any interest may not be a reflection on the product, but just in the way that it is being presented to your web site visitors. You know how fickle they can be.
If you have run successful campaigns before, try to remember the elements that made it a success and implement them again. Of course, you need to remember that what works for one product may not necessarily for another, but it's worth a try. Again, if you are having problems with promotion, contact the company. They will more than likely have thousands of affiliates and will know what strategies are working. A good advertiser may even go to the trouble of reviewing your site and provide you with some tips and hints based on their observations.
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