How to Affiliate Market

Did you know you can work from home and start a business with no money, no employees and in your spare time, or full time if you want? What I am going to share is a work at home business that requires no inventory, no shipping product and no marketing materials to buy. In fact, to be an Affiliate with your own online business requires not much more equipment than the computer you are already using to read this article and some elbow grease.

You will be working with some of the largest, most respected retailers in the world, not some fly by night holes in the wall that nobody has ever heard of.

What is an Affiliate? Affiliate Marketing, if your not already familiar with the concept, is basically receiving a commission for getting buyer and seller together. Basically the merchant (retailer or seller) is referred a customer from the publisher (the affiliate). When the customer purchases a product or service from the merchant the publisher gets paid a commission. Affiliate programs are typically managed by a "Network", the Google Affiliate Network being one of the biggest and most popular.

Origin

Affiliate Marketing was first put into practice in 1989 by a Mr. William J Tobin, the founder of PC Flowers and Gifts. According to Wikipedia, "Launched on the Prodigy Network in 1989, PC Flowers & Gifts remained on the service until 1996. By 1993, PC Flowers & Gifts generated sales in excess of $6 million per year on the Prodigy service. In 1998, PC Flowers and Gifts developed the business model of paying a commission on sales to The Prodigy network (Reference-Chicago Tribune-Oct, 4, 1995).(Ref The Sunsentinal 1991 and www.dankawaski.com)."

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Making Money as an Affiliate

Most Affiliate programs pay out based on a revenue sharing or pay per sale (PPS), some payout using a cost per action (CPA) method and a small minority use a cost per click (CPC) method. By far, the PPS method which is similar to paying a commission is the most popular so let's focus on that with an example.

Making money. Let's say someone writes a blog about cats. They love cats and put their heart and soul into their writing, and their blog, and create a good following of cat owners. Any company that sells cat food would certainly love to get their product to this audience, as would pet stores, vet's or any company serving cats and the pet industry.

The blog author decides to become an Affiliate and advertise pet food. Every time someone reads the blog, clicks on the pet food ad and purchases pet food from the retailer or pet food company, the blog author makes a commission. The affiliate can duplicate this with many products on their blog and across many blogs.

Another method, the CPC method is based entirely on clicks when the advertiser is not interested at all in targeting a particular audience. An example of this would be when an advertiser pays for their message being broadcast to a large group such as an email blast or tweet. I detail how to make money using a CPC method and getting paid to tweet in Make Money Tweeting.

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Products Offered by Affiliates

Almost any type of product you can think of is available to make a commission on as an affiliate. Automotive accessories, books, computers, phones, clothes, music, food, wheelchairs, just about anything. About the only things I have not seen being made available are those types of goods that require licensing to sell, such as real estate, stocks and things of that nature.

Big Name Retailers

Many of the most well know companies pay affiliates to drive traffic and sales to their e-commerce sites. Companies we all buy from everyday such as:

eBay

In fact if you've ever clicked on a product when reading a blog you may have been directed to a retailer. If you were chances are that was Affiliate Marketing at work.

Basically the prospective customer is routed to the retailer's e-commerce site to transact the sale. This means the retailer handles the entire process; credit card processing, order confirmation, shipping, returns, any complaints, everything. The affiliate simply makes the introduction and once the sale was transacted gets paid a commission according to the Network terms.

Become an Affiliate Marketer

Step 1. - Select

To become and Affiliate contact the merchant or retailer directly or join an Affiliate Network. In my experience joining networks are free. (I am involved with a few on the list below and have never paid a penny to join.) The Network acts like the intermediary between the merchant (seller) and you, the publisher.

The advantage of working with an Affiliate Network is they manage the merchants which makes it much easier for the Affiliate, and the Affiliate has a much broader range of products and services available to offer their audience, prospective customers.

Many Networks receive a percentage of the commissions you earn. This gives the Networks incentive to provide the Affiliates with tools and support to maximize sales and commissions. The more you earn the more the Network earns.

Affiliate Networks:

Google Affiliate Network

PepperJam

Commission Junction (CJ)

Clickbooth

Linkshare

I use Google Affiliate Network and Commission Junction and am happy with them. Also I have been an advertiser in an e-commerce company for many years and worked with a number of Affiliate Networks as the Merchant. As the Merchant Google and CJ were the best to work with and extremely interested in the Affiliates success. The had certain requirements that had to be met exactly to ensure ROI. That's not to say PepperJam, Linkshare, Clickbooth or any other are not fine networks, I just cannot comment on their specifics as I do not have direct experience on a personal level.

Step 2. - Apply

Once you joined a networks(s) you select the individual companies you want to promote, and apply to be accepted. Companies like Cabela's, Office Depot, Quicken, Verizon, Discover Card, Go Daddy, and thousands upon thousands more. Applying to the individual companies is basically reviewing their specific terms and clicking a link. If it sounds super easy it's because it is. Enough said on this it really is a no-brainer.

Step 3. - Copy and Paste

Once approved by the individual companies, the Network will supply you with links, images, banners and other similar tools you will use to advertise. You will pick those you want to use and copy and paste them onto your blog.

Step 4. - Analyze

The Networks provide you with analytics and traffic reports to analyze your performance. Consider A/B testing and other "best practices" to get the best results and make the most money. That's an entirely subject all in itself which won't be covered here.

Summary

Affiliate marketing is a great way to work from home with no money, no inventory, and no employees. As an affiliate you don't do any shipping, customer service, credit card processing. You pick you own hours to work, which products you offer and which companies you represent.

Click Here and get started making money as an affiliate now!

More Money Making Ideas

See my work From Home Jobs List that includes American Express, Amazon, U-Haul and more at http://doyahaveaminute.blogspot.com/2012/05/work-from-home-jobs-list.html

Like to tweet? Make money at it http://doyahaveaminute.blogspot.com/2012/05/make-money-tweeting.html

Dozens more ideas and opportunities at http://doyahaveaminute.blogspot.com/2011/11/why.html

Publish A Blog

How to blog. Blogging takes a great deal of time researching and writing, and if you're like me, rewriting. I'm going to break it down step-by-step and when applicable give you either/ or options and explain both without making it overly complicated. In the end you should know how to do a blog.

1. Pick a subject

When thinking of your subject keep in mind you are trying to blog about a subject that is focused, aka niche, but not too narrowly focused that your potential audience is small. For example, gardening might be a good subject but growing sunflowers might be to narrowly focused.

You want your blog to be helpful and solve a problem for your reader so pick something that you know well or extremely interested in. And give yourself some credit when you're thinking of things you know well. You may not be the best in the world at something but if you're pretty good at it you are probably better then most people.

You will need to update with new content regularly to keep your blog fresh. CurationSoft is a great tool that will make content development much easier Click Here!

1a. Pick something you care about.

Ultimately your goal is to create pages and pages of original content so pick something that you are passionate about.

This is your time.
This is your blog.
This is your voice.

Make this more fun than "a job". This isn't something you have to do 9-5 each day. You will not have a boss pushing you and how far you go and how much money you make is entirely up to you and based upon your efforts alone. IF you don't pick a subject or multiple subject you love you will more than likely disengage before having the opportunity to make a decent living.

2. Pick and Choose Keywords

If you remember from page 1, I mentioned getting found online is key. You may have written the most eloquent blog - that nobody can find and gets little traffic. It's critical that your blog is written utilizing the proper keywords so it can be found. What are the proper keywords? Good question. Keywords are the words people use to search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL when trying to find something.

Good news to get you started with your keyword research. Google provides free tools to help with keyword research. These tools are available in the Google Keyword ToolKit. The SEO Book is a tremendous resource

or you might use the SEO Tool Searchmetrics - try for free

3. Choose a Domain Name

Seems simple enough, so keep it simple and don't make it confusing. Stick with a .com URL. Not .info or .us or .biz., etc. Don't add dashes or _(underscores). If you can, try to use some of the keywords that you came up with in Step 2.

Tips for Domain Names

Use a .com
Keep it as short as possible.
Use conventional spelling. Make it easy to say and easy to spell.
No hyphens.
Use keywords.
Use general terms if possible.
Make sure you can use the same name on Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter for example. This may take extra time but it's worth it. Here's a really cool tool making that process easy. knowem? checks dozens of sites for you.

4. Pick a Blog Platform

Wordpress & Go Daddy Hosting - A Winning Combination For Your blog!
Blogger

5. Getting Paid

One of the way you can make money with a blog is to Affiliate Market. Please see How to Affiliate Market where we go into detail how to make money Affiliate Marketing.

Make Money on Twitter and Facebook

Companies will pay you to refer their products within your circles of influence; these are your friends and followers. You earn money by promoting stuff you like. This works for Twitter, YouTube, Blog and Tumblr users. I will tell you who the companies are and exactly how in a moment. But first, let's look at why advertisers pay you and I to promote their products.

Social Proof

It's called Social Proof and in effect the foundation of Social Media. It's really been around forever. The most famous study of social proof is Muzafer Sherif's 1935 experiment. Social proof is also one of Robert Cialdini's six principles of persuasion, (along with reciprocity, commitment/consistency, authority, liking, and scarcity) which maintains that people are especially likely to perform certain actions if they can relate to the people who performed the same actions before them. This is more commonly know as simply "a referral", a concept and term that's been around seemingly forever.

When you tell someone in your circle of influence that you like or endorse a product or service as "good" or "preferred", the chances that person also buying the product or service increases. Advertisers know this and that's why a referral is so powerful and valuable.

Examples in Action

We are all familiar with how referrals work in daily life. How they work on the web and in Social Media are similar, here are some examples*.

Wisdom of your friends social proof – Learning from friends thru the social web is likely the killer app of social proof in terms of 1:1 impact, and the potential to grow virally.

Friends inviting friends to play through Facebook and other social networks helped Zynga grow from 3 million to 41 million average daily users in just one year, from 2008 to 2009.

Moms, arguably the most valuable demographic on the social web, rely heavily on friends and family recommendations. A recent Babycenter study showed moms rely on the wisdom of their friends 67% more than average shoppers; and they rely on social media 243% more than the general population.

Friends referred by friends make better customers. They spend more (a 2x higher estimated lifetime value than customers from all other channels at One Kings Lane); convert better (75% higher conversion than renters from other marketing channels at Rent the Runway); and shop faster (they make their first purchase after joining twice as quickly than referrals from other channels at Trendyol)

They also make better contributors. People who see content from their friends on TripAdvisor contribute personal content to the site at 2x the rate of others, and are 20% more engaged than other users.

Ready to Make Some Money?

Companies will pay you to update and maintain their Twitter accounts. The requirements are a computer and good spelling skills. Learn more, get the details and get started.

Here are two services that pay you to refer products within your circles of influence, again, your friends, family, or followers. How you do this is with a simple post or tweet. The companies are Sponsored Tweets and MyLikes.

Sponsored Tweets

SponsoredTweets.com is an online marketplace that allows you to connect directly with advertisers to engage in sponsored conversations through Twitter. Advertisers compensate you with cash in exchange for a sponsored tweet. Think of it like eBay for tweets.

How it works:

1. Set your price, add a category and some keywords and wait for offers.
2. Choose your offers. Pick some, pick all, pick none. You decide which offers to tweet.
3. Receive payment. If you accept an offer, your account will be credited within 24 hours of your tweet.

With SponsoredTweets you typically wait for offers to come to you and then just accept and tweet those you like or that fit your audience. You are not required to tweet every offer. In fact, I only tweet about 1/2 of the offers I receive.

Start Now

If you want to start right now and have someone guide every step check out the "Get Paid to Mess Around" program to the right here.

More Work From Home Methods and Jobs

I have many more money making ideas and methods at http://doyahaveaminute.blogspot.com/

If you are looking for traditional jobs, I have work at home jobs on my blog as well. My list now includes companies like American Express, Amazon, U-Haul and more http://doyahaveaminute.blogspot.com/2012/05/work-from-home-jobs-list.html

* Source: Tech Crunch, Social Proof is the New Marketing http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/27/social-proof-why-people-like-to-follow-the-crowd/

How to Sell Online

Want to work from home selling products online? For many years I was an executive at an e-commerce company that sold $18,000,000 in sales annually, selling over 10,000 different items. Let me share with your the four key steps and resources you can use to sell products online and making money from home with an e-commerce site.

It's not complicated. If you can take a picture and create (or copy) a few lines of text you can have product available online and for sale in literally an evening if not sooner. If you are drop shipping product you don't even need to take a picture, your vendor will supply pictures for you. You don't need programming skills. You don't need to produce a product yourself. Ready? Let's get started.

Step 1.

e-Commerce Store

You will need an e-commerce site. This is your website that does the selling. Your "store", your "shopping cart". Nothing gets sold without an e-commerce site.

Big Commerce

I have reviewed dozens of e-commerce options and Big Commerce is overall the best I have found. Don't take my word for it, Big Commerce was voted #1 by the worlds most popular review website and Big Commerce powers over 25,000 web stores. (see chart below)

What makes Big Commerce my choice is that it's an all-in-one, easy to use, SEO and marketing machine. Click here to check out BigCommerce and Try it free or click the Big Commerce banner to the above to go to the Big Commerce site for more information.

You can access the full Big Commerce review here http://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-blog/bigcommerce-voted-1-e-commerce-platform-by-worlds-most-popular-software-review-website/

Act now and receive up to $100 in Google AdWords Credit When You Purchase a BigCommerce Plan

Step 2.

You need a product to sell. If you don't have a product, then drop ship.

Drop Ship

There are ways to source quality products to sell online from reputable companies that will ship the product to your customer for you. This is called drop-shipping. What is drop shipping? Nothing new, it's a business model that has existed for a long time. You advertise, sell, collect the money, the drop shipper ships product to your customer and you pay the supplier (drop shipper) keeping the profit. Companies that offer drop shipping will often have images and ad copy available and approved and ready for use in your web store.

There are a few ways to find drop ship companies that will work with you. One is by contacting companies that offer products you would like to sell and see if they drop ship. A email to the company with your contact info and website URL can get the ball rolling. The drop ship supplier will usually reply with their specific form or application that needs to be completed and submitted. This can be a slow and time consuming process.

A second and quicker way to find drop ship companies is to join a drop ship directory. Drop ship directories save you tremendous amounts of time by having a database of product suppliers ready. Usually suppliers are grouped by categories so you can compare products and programs easier.

I recommend Worldwide Brands and have worked with Worldwide Brands as a product supplier and drop shipped products for hundreds of their customers, people like you, working out of their homes.

Watch this free video with 20 tips that will change how you look at finding product to sell online.

By the time you're done watching this video series you will know exactly how to source products that you will sell online from your home.

Get a Free Preview of Worldwide Brands Membership

Step 3

SEO , Keywords and Traffic

Step 3 in the process of selling product online is getting your site found.

You need traffic and beyond that you need buyers to shop your site and make purchases. Big Commerce has SEO tools available. Take it a step further and make sure your site is optimized to attract the best traffic. The SEO Book is a great resource. You will learn:

Keyword Reseach
On-page SEO
Link Building
Competative Research
and More!

Step 4

Seller sites are great places to list products for sale. Sites such as Amazon, ebay and even Sears.com allow you to list products for a minimal fee. You can reach millions of potential customers and start selling by using the simple templates Amazon, ebay and Sears provide. When you sell on these networks you will get the benefit of having your products in front of millions of potential customers right away.

Sell on Amazon Click Here!

Sell on eBay Click Here!

Sellers Marketplace on Sears - clicking takes you directly to the marketplace at Sears Seller Portal

Some lesser know auctions sites that don't get the same amount of traffic as eBay would but offer much less competition so they may be worth checking out.

eBid
Ubid
WeBidz
Webstore

More Info To Get Started Fast

Voted No.1 Internet Marketing Service Online By Imreportcard.com. Chris Farrell Membership Is For Those Serious About Creating A Regular And Continuous Income Online Click Here!

Get training from an internet millionaire Click Here for more information!

Work From Home Jobs List

Get paid working from home.

My list of companies offering work from home employment that pays you include Apple, American Express, Amazon, U-Haul and more.

This is the place for work at home jobs, freelance writing opportunities and online work opportunities that put money in your pocket and freedom back into your schedule. I've spent years researching and putting this ever growing list together.

Please stop back for new updates every few days as I find new and more lucrative opportunities.

Work from Home Jobs Listing with keywords and direct links to hiring URLs.

1. ABC Financial: ABC Financial hires remote workers. Select “Remote – National” when you begin your search.

2. Accolade Support: Accolade Support provides Call Center services using at home staff. Get more information here.

3. ACD Direct: ACD Direct is actively looking for Agents. Get more information and apply here.

4. Aetna: Apply for jobs with Aetna. To search for work from home jobs, put “home” in the keyword field. Start your search here.

5. Alpine Access: Alpine Access is looking for working in the US and Canada. Start the hiring process here.

6. Amazon: Amazon lists dozens and dozens of work from home jobs. The keywords to use to conduct your search is “at home”. Begin finding work from home jobs here.

7. American Express: To locate work from home jobs with American Express put “work from home” in the search field. Search for American Express jobs here.

8. America’s Remote Help Desk; is looking for at home workers. Start your search for available opening here.

9. Apple: Apple at Home Advisor. To search, put “home base” in the keyword field. Search for Apple work from home jobs here.

10. Asurion: Customer Service Work from Home Jobs available

11. Convergys: Convergys hires work from home staff for sales, customer services and other openings. Search openings and get the requirements here.

12. Cymetrix: Cymetrix utilizes work from home agents. Go to the Careers tab, enter “remote” in the Descriptive Keywords field. Go to Cymetrix now.

13. De Tech: work from home setting appointments. No cold calling, easy to follow scripts, $400-$1600 per month income potential according to company web site. Watch the video and get the details to apply.

14. J. Lodge: J. Lodge was the first quality service company to fully integrate Americans with disabilities in an at-home office structure. Find out more and search for current openings here.

15. Live Ops: LiveOps operates a virtual call center with a community of over 20,000 sales and customer service professionals. As an independent contractor providing services to LiveOps’ clients, you are your own boss! To find out if Live Ops is for you start here.

16. NTI: NTI is a nonprofit organization specializing in assisting Americans who need work-from-home jobs due to physical disability. If you fit the profile search for jobs here.

17. TeleTech: TeleTech has telecommuting (work from home) positions. To find them start here and put “@home” in the Search, Enter Keywords box.

18. U-Haul: U-haul utilizes at home employees for their Contact Center. Look at the requirements and openings here.

19. VIP Desk: VIP Desk is always on the look out for talented individuals. Get more information and find out if VIP desk if right for you.

20. Voice Log: Voice Log has openings for work from home operators. Find out more and apply here.

21. West at Home: Employs thousands of home-based agents located across the country as well as the industries most robust and advanced infrastructure to deliver superior service to our clients’ customers. Apply here.

22. Working Solutions: Working Solutions looks for skilled, educated, and motivated people to assist customers with sales, service and technical support transactions. Agents work directly with customers over the phone, through online chat sessions, and email. Start the application process here.

This valuable content brought to you free of charge. If you would like to make a donation to keep this site running I certainly appreciate it.

Net Profits Media assumes no responsibility for any jobs or opportunities presented. It is up to each individual to perform due diligence before accepting any opportunity. If you know of any companies that are not on the list that are real and legit employers please let me know. I will update this listing and share with everyone.