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:
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:
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
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.
or you might use the SEO Tool Searchmetrics - try for free
.
Big Commerce
Watch this free video with 20 tips that will change how you look at finding product to sell online.
More ideas to get you started and how to sell products online at auction sites or e-commerce marketplaces. 
