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| Wednesday, July 19, 2006 |
6 Easy Ways to Cloak and Redirect Affiliate Links
by Wayne Wu You may have heard all the hype over affiliate links getting stolen and losing up to 40% of affiliate commission. All these attempts prey on people to instill in their minds that they may not be getting what they deserve. I know that commission stealing is a problem, and affiliate networks like Clickbank have taken steps to plug the leaks in their systems. I use cloaked affiliate links or redirect pages a lot not because I'm afraid of having commission deliberately stolen from right under my nose, but because I'm annoyed at the length and ugliness of affiliate URL's. The whole idea of cloaking or redirecting has much to do with people's nature. To be more specific, it's all about psychology. It's interesting that people are hesitant to click affiliate links and tend to cut off the ugly looking part in an affiliate link before pasting it to the browser. Now Let's compare the following two links: http://www.make-you-rich.com/copy.asp?storefront=weishengwu And http://www.make-you-rich.com/ Which one looks more clickable? The answer is pretty clear. You can replace long URL's with cloaked links or short, server-side redirects so that people won't feel pitched and won't be turned off by links that are obviously affiliate links. There are several ways to create clean links that you can use to direct buyers to your sales pages. Read through the description below and see which one meets your needs and fall within your skill level. 1. Directory Redirect Connect to your web server and create a properly named directory. Then create an index.html and put a redirect code in it. 2. Sub-domain Redirect Most web hosting providers allow you to have several sub-domains. Simply log on to the control panel, set up your sub-domain and then set up the redirection. 3. Redirect Script Several scripts are available out there that you can install on your web page to protect and redirect your links. You may need to put the code between the head section. 4. .htaccess This is only recommended for advanced users because it involves modifying the .htaccess file on your server. Here's how to do it. Create a properly named directory. Put a file called .htaccess by creating it using a text editor. This file should contain the Redirect command, the location of the directory you want redirected relative to the root of your site and the full URL of the location you want that request sent to. You can find all the above mentioned codes for free. Do your research and then implement it to see how it works. I have put a link for downloading a free e-book containing these codes on my blog. Besides creating redirect pages, you can cloak your affiliate links using commercial software programs or services. Listed below are popular ones on the market. 5. Software Programs: Affiliate Link Cloaker and LinkGuardII. These two programs take your long, ugly link and mask it with a redirect link. 6. Services: NameStick turns long, ugly affiliate or website links and turn them into short, clean links (cloaked or not cloaked). It allows you to set up domain forwarding and unlimited sub-mains. NameStick forwarding domains and sub-domains are bookmarkable, and you can customize the title visitors see in their bookmark listings. I use NameStick service to create many neat and clean affiliate links to make my business look bigger. If you're serious about your business, you need to take action right away. Redirect or cloak your links to make them more clickable. You may be surprised by how a little effort on your part can make a big difference to your online business. About the AuthorWayne Wu is the owner of home business ideas and opportunities website located at : http://www.ecominfozone.com/. Visit his site for free Internet home business tips and website marketing secrets. Also, be sure to check out his blog at: http://www.ecominfozone.blogspot.com/ and download 3 free e-books Dotcomology, Adwords Made Easy and SEO Made Easy for marketing strategies at : http://www.ecominfozone.com/optin.html |
posted by girat purwadi @ 6:57 PM  |
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Why You Should Promote Residual Affiliate Programs
by Baba Jani
Are you a webmaster in need of additional income? Or are you planning to set up an online business but you still don't have any product to sell? If so, affiliate marketing may be the best solution for your problems. With affiliate marketing, you won't need to worry about the products you have to sell. All you need to have is a website with sufficient contents that are related to the products of a certain online company offering affiliate programs. By becoming a member of the program, or by becoming an affiliate, you can start earning a certain amount of money right away!
Affiliate marketing is some sort of business relationship established between a merchant and his affiliates. In affiliate marketing, an affiliate agrees to direct some traffic to a merchant's website. If that traffic is converted into some kind of action, like a visitor purchasing a product on the merchant's website or a visitor becoming a lead for the company, the affiliate who directed the traffic will be compensated. Compensation may take the form of either a percentage sales commission for the sales generated or a fixed fee predetermined upon the application of the affiliate on the merchant's affiliate program.
Promising a lot of benefits both for the merchants and the affiliates, affiliate marketing has become one of the most popular online marketing methods today. In fact, almost every merchant or retailer site today offers an affiliate program that any one can join into. Most retailers would entice people to become affiliates or members of their program by promising great benefits like large commissions, lifetime commissions, click through incomes and a lot of other benefits. But would all these affiliate programs bring off the same benefits?
Most affiliate programs would pay you, as an affiliate, a one-time commission for every sale or lead you brought to the merchant's website. Commissions for this kind of affiliate programs are usually large, ranging from 15% to a high of about 60%. Other affiliate programs would pay you a fixed fee for every click through or traffic you send to the merchant's site. Programs like this often pay a smaller fee for every click through, usually not getting any larger than half a dollar. The good thing about this kind of program, however, is that the visitor won't have to purchase anything in order for the affiliate to get compensated.
If your affiliate marketing program facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don't let important affiliate marketing program information slip by you.
Another type of affiliate program is the residual income affiliate program. Residual affiliate programs usually pay only a small percentage of sales commission for every sale directed by the affiliate to the merchant's site. This commission often comes only in the range of 10% to 20% sales commission. Because of this, many people ignore residual affiliate program and would rather opt for the high paying one-time commission affiliate program. Are these people making a mistake, or are they making the right decision?
We can't tell, for sure, if people are making a mistake by choosing a high paying one-time commission affiliate program. But we can definitely say that they are making a large mistake if they ignore residual affiliate programs. Residual affiliate programs would indeed pay at a lower rate, but merchants offering such kind of programs would generally pay you regular and ongoing commissions for a single affiliate initiated sale! That means, for the same effort you made in promoting a particular affiliate program, you get paid only once in a one-time commission program, and a regular and ongoing commission for a residual program!
So, are the benefits of promoting residual affiliate programs clearer to you now? Or are they still vague? If they are still vague, then let's make them a bit clearer with this example.
Suppose there are two online merchants both offering web hosting services on their sites. The first merchant offers a one-time commission type of affiliate program that pays $80 for every single affiliate initiated sale. The second merchant also offers an affiliate program, but this time a residual affiliate program that pays only $10 for every single affiliate initiated sale. As an affiliate, we may get attracted at once at what the first merchant is offering, as $80 is definitely a lot larger than $10. But by thinking things over before actually getting into them, one may be able to see that the second merchant is offering us more opportunity to earn a larger amount of money.
Supposed you have directed traffic to the merchant and it converted into a sale, you'll get paid once by the first merchant for the sale you have initiated. But with the second merchant, you'll get paid monthly for as long as the customer you have referred to the merchant continues to avail of the web hosting service. That means that for the same effort of getting one customer to avail of the merchant's service, you get paid monthly in residual affiliate programs while you only get paid once in a one-time commission type of affiliate programs.
So, are residual affiliate programs worth promoting? Definitely yes, because you virtually get more money from these types of affiliate programs in the long run! And would residual affiliate programs work best for you? Probably not, probably yes. It is not really for me to tell. But with the benefits that residual affiliate marketing can provide, it would really be unwise to ignore such programs.
Now you can be a confident expert on affiliate marketing program. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on affiliate marketing program.
Sincerely,
Baba Jani Webmaster and feature writer at http://www.yourdoor2success.biz/ Subscribe my Weekly Biz Opportunity Tips Newsletter mailto:bizoptips@listbotspro.com Free Viral E-Book to download http://www.yourdoor2success.biz/mtyhpoon.exe
About the Author
I'm a freelance writer, I've done many articles writing in my hand. Visit my website for more articles and especially for healthy tips at www.yourdoor2success.biz and my blog site at www.bloggers4marketing.com
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| posted by girat purwadi @ 6:51 PM |
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| Tuesday, July 18, 2006 |
Points To Look For In Choosing An Affiliate Program
by Robbie Fanucchi
Copyright © Robbie Fanucchi http://www.rjfanucchi.com/Affiliate programs are a proven way to make income on the Internet. Affiliate programs offer beginners a way to get started. It's perfect if you don't have your own product to sell. So what should you look for in choosing an affiliate program? The list below will point you in the right direction. 1. Does the affiliate program offer you a free way to join without buying the product or service? 2. Contact other affiliates already in the program to see if they have had any problems. 3. Is the product or service related to your target audience? 4. Can they notify you by e-mail when a sale is made? 5. Do they offer backend products so you can get repeat sales from the same person? 6. How often will you receive a commission check? 7. Do you get credited for a sale if people come back in month and then make a purchase. 8. Can you get around-the-clock help online or offline? 9. Do you get a large percentage of each sale as commission? 10. Do they provide you with proven sales material? (links, banners, classified ads, sales letters etc) 11. Will they give you the leeway to create promotional ads. 12. Do they offer you access to an online sales stats page? 13. Do they use a reputable system to track your sales? 14. Does the affiliate program pay commission for sales of people who sign up under you? 15. Can they offer customers a lot of different ordering options, so in return you won't lose sales. 16. Will they keep in contact with you on a regular basis by e-mail? Starting out with an affiliate program is one of the best ways to get your feet wet in Internet marketing. Remember to choose companies that fit the criteria listed above. About the Author To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://www.rjfanucchi.com/3 easy steps can get you a money making websiteFree e-book, Dotcomology: The Science Of Making Money Online |
| posted by girat purwadi @ 9:47 PM |
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| Monday, July 17, 2006 |
How I failed with my first affiliate program
by Martin Malin This is about why I was not successful with my first affiliate program. Retrospectively, I realize what I did wrong. Maybe this article will help you to avoid making the same mistakes :-) About 2 years ago, I started my first affiliate scheme. I've read 2 or 3 e-books on affiliate marketing, joined several forums and finally, I was on my way to "boost my business". Did I have enough knowledge to start? Yes, I did. But what I was missing was experience, which resulted in bad priorities. Here comes first advice: don't overdo the theory, learn by practice. Literally - be your first affiliate. We all know that - nothing's for free. You may need much smaller budget for your affiliate program than for PPC campaign, but it takes what it takes. And you won't succeed if you are not ready to do what's necessary. Before you start, make sure your website actually sells at reasonable conversion ratio. Without it, don't start affiliate program at all, it's a waste of time and money. This is the very first priority. Back then, I had wonderful opportunity to manage affiliate program for e-book-selling website owned by friend of mine, and it already had average conversion. Well, here's the first mistake - we didn't even try to improve conversion, we were dreaming about affiliate success instead. Anyway website wasn't bad, so we had some real chance.. So we bought tracking software, put the offer on our website, submitted to about 15 affiliate program directories, and invited a few friends to join. And we waited. Nothing big happened; we received about 50 unique visitors after first month. I tried to contact potential partners directly and was disappointed by the fact almost no one replied my emails. My advice is: Make sure every your customer gets your affiliate offer. Submit to ALL affiliate program directories you can find, it's the best you can do to start. You are more likely to get affiliates this way, then by contacting website owners directly. When contacting directly, learn to evaluate website. Design is less important than content. Be real, don't waste your time contacting websites much more successful than yours - they'll have no motivation to join and they will use their ad space for more attractive offers. Use tools to research websites, e.g. Alexa toolbar (traffic estimation for website) or Google toolbar (importance of website by Google page rank). We gave our affiliates banners, text links. Give them also customizable product reviews to include on their sites. Their task is to pre-sell, make visitors curious about product. Product review is better than banners for this purpose. Be active in forums and social networking websites. Be where other people from your niche market are. Ask, discuss - it will give you ideas, opportunity to learn and share knowledge. You may also meet potential affiliates this way. Make own affiliate website with content related to your e-commerce site, or start a blog on your site. Thus try yourself how hard it is to promote your products. Be ready for fraudulent purchases with stolen credit cards - set up reasonable payout minimum. Owners of stolen credit cards contacted us usually within 2 months from fraudulent purchases. Check suspicious affiliate's website; ask him what he/she does to be so successful, do not accept websites from free hosting services. Conclusion: After 5 months, affiliate program finally generated positive ROI. I took a regular job, quit managing affiliate program due to lack of time. At the time I quit, we made about $150 of profit :-). As far as I know, it still works as one of advertising channels for the website, however never managed to outperform PPC campaigns. After all, it was worth the effort :-) About the Author Martin Malin currently works as SEO consultant and web designer. Checkout my latest ecommerce design at: http://www.qualityunit.com/affiliate/software.html . I write "A straight e-book about online marketing" based on experiences of real marketers, not self-appointed millionaires. Please post your experience and feedback to mmauthoring@gmail.com, e Points To Look For In Choosing An Affiliate Program by Robbie Fanucchi Copyright © Robbie Fanucchi http://www.rjfanucchi.com/Affiliate programs are a proven way to make income on the Internet. Affiliate programs offer beginners a way to get started. It's perfect if you don't have your own product to sell. So what should you look for in choosing an affiliate program? The list below will point you in the right direction. 1. Does the affiliate program offer you a free way to join without buying the product or service? 2. Contact other affiliates already in the program to see if they have had any problems. 3. Is the product or service related to your target audience? 4. Can they notify you by e-mail when a sale is made? 5. Do they offer backend products so you can get repeat sales from the same person? 6. How often will you receive a commission check? 7. Do you get credited for a sale if people come back in month and then make a purchase. 8. Can you get around-the-clock help online or offline? 9. Do you get a large percentage of each sale as commission? 10. Do they provide you with proven sales material? (links, banners, classified ads, sales letters etc) 11. Will they give you the leeway to create promotional ads. 12. Do they offer you access to an online sales stats page? 13. Do they use a reputable system to track your sales? 14. Does the affiliate program pay commission for sales of people who sign up under you? 15. Can they offer customers a lot of different ordering options, so in return you won't lose sales. 16. Will they keep in contact with you on a regular basis by e-mail? Starting out with an affiliate program is one of the best ways to get your feet wet in Internet marketing. Remember to choose companies that fit the criteria listed above. About the AuthorTo find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://www.rjfanucchi.com/3 easy steps can get you a money making websiteFree e-book, Dotcomology: The Science Of Making Money Online |
| posted by girat purwadi @ 11:24 PM |
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| Sunday, July 16, 2006 |
Billionaire Affiliates?
Can the sky be truly the limit with affiliate marketing? Just how much can one affiliate marketing web site be worth?
Well, 2 British guys may well have set the bar at a new all-time high for the affiliate marketing industry. The prestigious Sunday Times newspaper in London recently profiled the astonishing success of web entrepreneurs Duncan Cameron and Simon Nixon of www.MoneySupermarket.com. Their web site enables visitors to easily compare a massive range of financial products such as credit cards, insurance and mortgages.
The UK-based entrepreneurs only started in the affiliate marketing business in 1999 and their business is now valued by the Sunday Times at an astonishing $925 million–Yes, you did read that correctly by the way, although I did fall off my chair when I read their real life true story. This makes them near-billionaires, and achieved largely via affiliate marketing in less than 5 years! It also makes them probably the wealthiest affiliate marketers in the world today!
More importantly, what does their success tell us about the affiliate marketing industry and what can we learn from their astonishing level of success?
1. Clearly, there is a lot of money to be made in the Financial Services industry as an affiliate marketer. Credit card companies for example, pay huge commissions (from $30 up to $80 and more) for every successful card application completed. This highlights the enormous potential of this niche.
2. Their site is easy to navigate and use, allowing the comparison of several related financial products at one time.
3. The site solves problems for people and provides easy solutions. It is designed for people who perhaps do not spend too many hours surfing but need services like this one.
4. The web site "pre-sells" a massive range of financial products. "Pre-selling" has been a frequently used term in the affiliate marketing industry. The site gently informs visitors of all the key details associated with any financial product and allows visitors to make truly informed decisions.
5. It tells us that Affiliate Marketers like you and I can compete with big companies in the financial services niche. Here are just a few affiliate marketing sites that I found today, each with tremendous Google rankings. I happen to know that each are all home-based or small independent businesses:
www.creditcardaddition.com
www.canadiancreditcenter.com
www.credit-cards-comparison-charts.com
www.creditcards121.com
www.ccapplication.com
The amazing thing is that affiliate sites like those above often significantly outrank some of the biggest financial institutions in the world. That, more than anything else, shows the power that can rest with the little guy or gal, working at home on their affiliate marketing business.
It is true that financial services is a highly competitive niche. However, this can also be viewed positively as it validates the business model. When I interviewed Colin M. in my Success Alert book recently, I came to realize that he certainly viewed it this way. Colin M. is an example of a guy making a mere $250,000 each year just from one financial services affiliate web site based around credit cards.
So, should we all go out today and build ourselves a range of affiliate marketing web sites based around the financial services industry?
Well, the business model is certainly valid and clearly there is a lot of money to be made from this niche. However, the competition out there is fierce so be aware of this. Never though, has the small business operator been able to so effectively compete with large corporations.
Perhaps more importantly though are the lessons of helping people find solutions to their problems and gently pre-selling them all the way to an affiliate commission. This approach can usefully be applied to any niche market in the full knowledge that it does work amazingly well. Honest and useful product reviews are always a massive benefit to potential buyers.
Maybe you don't want to end up like the www.moneysupermarket.com guys but you can easily duplicate Colin M's success as profiled in my recent Success Alert book. |
| posted by girat purwadi @ 9:55 PM |
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When I decided to quit my job and start an internet business, I was clueless. I researched and found several viable opportunities however the more I read, the more I realized how difficult this was going to be. I did not have a product and was in no position to create one. I had it in my head I wanted to sell something so I started out in the drop shipping business.
I researched wholesalers that were willing to drop ship and found a few. I built a simple yahoo! site, created a merchant account, got my resellers license and voila, I was in business. Did I get a sale? Nope, because I did not know how the internet worked with regards to website marketing. No one could find my site and I was a marketing failure.
Because my site didn’t sell anything, I gave up and continued on the research path. I slowly learned about how to market my site but wasn’t sure I wanted to stick with drop shipping. My site costs combined with credit card merchant costs and plain old competition didn’t really leave me with much profit. I realized I still had much to learn.
I went back to the research drawing board and joined a few forums to learn what else I might be able to do. At that time I learned about affiliate programs. I met people I trusted and admired who promoted affiliate programs. I asked a lot of questions and began my research. Affiliate marketing appealed to me. I didn’t need a merchant account, I didn’t need inventory, I didn’t need my own product and I could even get away without a website. Wow, how good is that? So off I went.
As I began to research I found the best selling products were informational products and the best commissions were internet marketing products. Because I was familiar with setting up a website previously I decided to set up another site to list of all my affiliate sales products. I fell into the trap that most new web business owners fall into. Setting up a ‘How to Market on the internet site’. I liked it because I was familiar with it and I had purchased some of the products through my research. So why not? Well, simply put there is too much competition in that category. I still have my site today but my sales are minimal. I offer only products that I trust and many of them I use but it’s not a business path I’d recommend to someone starting out, particularly because many beginners tend to gravitate there. There are lots of other things that have good marketing potential. Affiliate marketing can be successfully applied to almost any product on the net.
If researched carefully and applied correctly, affiliate sales can be a very profitable internet business. The object is to find something you can sell and promote for merchants that will offer you a commission to sell it. You don’t have to carry inventory, collect money, worry about delivery or even have a website (although a website is a good idea), but you’re going to have to think about what products best suit you with regard to sales. I feel it’s best to sell things that you like. Things you’re interested in or have a fetish about. For instance, let’s say you love crystal. If you love it then you probably know something about it, but more importantly you will enjoy researching it and offering it to someone else.
Next, research web businesses that sell crystal and offer affiliate programs. I recommend using Commission Junction or Linkshare. Keep in mind that the sites you select can sell other things, however you’re focusing on just crystal. Find several sites and apply to them all. Most affiliate programs are free. A note to the wise, be sure to read the affiliate agreements and understand their rules. They are not all the same.
Once you’ve signed up for the programs of your choice, pay per click (PPC) search engines are the best and easiest way to sell your affiliate products. You can promote each product individually or you can promote them all by building a website and promoting your website. Again, be sure to read the agreements as some affiliate programs restrict affiliates offering their competition on the same website. This isn’t true for all of them but you want to stay aware.
To get started you’ll need to set up accounts with PPC search engines such as Google, Overture and Findwhat. Research how they work and set up some simple ad campaigns to start. You will also need to research keywords and what words cost the least and are the most effective. This is a topic for another article, however time spent and proper research tools such as Overture’s view bids and search term suggestion tools will help keep your costs low and your profits high. By the way, use each of the keyword tools provided by each PPC search engine; this will help guide you as to what keywords to use. Keywords entered by users can differ from search engine to search engine.
If you choose to build a website, keep your sight on topic. Getting back to our crystal example, keep your site focused on crystal or glassware, don’t throw in pictures or garden chairs. The worst mistake you can make is being everything to everyone. I know; I’ve made that mistake.
Offer information such as types of types of crystal, how it’s made, textures, weight, where it’s made, history of crystal, etc. Concentrate on offering information. If you give people valuable information on something they’re more likely to buy it.
Of course crystal is just an example; you can apply the same principles to sofas, bicycles, computers, toys or whatever you might take pleasure in. Give it some quality thought, research carefully and take your time. If it’s something you enjoy, you’ll enjoy your business.
About the author: Elizabeth McGee is the owner of Pro-Marketing-Online, the Expert Marketing Tools site. If you wish to learn more about how to market online from the experts and find expert, trusted tools for promoting your site then please visit Pro-Marketing-Online or subscribe to her newsletter found at http://www.pro-marketing-online.com/ or email Elizabeth at webmaster@pro-marketing-online.com |
| posted by girat purwadi @ 9:46 PM |
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