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What are Affiliate Programs?
Anytime you’re learning something new, it’s important to gain a good understanding of exactly what it is you’re going to learn. So we’re going to keep it simple here and start by looking at the basics. We’ll explain just how you can get all the knowledge you need to build a successful affiliate marketing business. But first, we’ll take a quick look at the evolution of this thriving industry.
Affiliate Programs were the upshot of some visionary marketing strategy. Advertising dollars were being spent in the millions, without the guarantee of sales. If only there was a way to advertise and pay only if a sale was made. Well, there was – and these visionaries created a program that provided them with 100% efficiency for their advertising dollars. They created a program whereby a merchant would pay a website owner, called the affiliate, a commission for a sale generated when a customer was sent to their site from the affiliate’s site – but only if the customer bought something. Thus, pay-per-sale was invented.
One of the pioneers of this concept was Amazon.com, who now has over 600,000 affiliates. Many others discovered the profitability of this idea and followed suit. So you can see that Affiliate Programs weren’t just a fad – they’re here to stay! They’re driven by the massive trend to online shopping. After all, why should people fight the hassle of shopping malls when they can sit at home at their computers and use online shopping malls for all their needs.
And Affiliate Programs are a natural progression of online shopping. As more and more people shop online, there’s more and more opportunity for affiliate marketers to profit. The direction of consumer buying these days is online – just look at retail statistics of late – not very encouraging for them. That’s why many retail merchants are opening their own online stores.
In order to attract traffic, or potential customers, to their online stores, merchants aren’t spending the millions of dollars on media advertising that they used to do. Now they’re offering their own Affiliate Programs to anyone who wants to work at home. And it’s costing them money only when the affiliate sends them customers who buy. At the same time, the affiliate makes money just from having a link on his site that sends customers to the merchant’s site. Pretty simple, don’t you think?
Who administers Affiliate Programs?
Although the Affiliate Program system is simple, the administration – the thousands of people working behind-the-scene to make it run smoothly and efficiently – is fairly complex. So how does this affect the young affiliate entrepreneur? Not at all, really. That’s because the administration of Affiliate Programs is totally taken care of by professionals whose main purpose is to ensure the business end of things runs efficiently, thus allowing the affiliate to concentrate on building his websites.
These third-party companies, sometimes referred to as Affiliate Management Networks, have a very important job. They track all transactions on all the websites of all the affiliates – that’s a lot of work! Here’s a simple look at the path of this tracking:
They look at the affiliate’s site and track visitors to that site.
They track which visitors to the affiliate’s site click on a link to the merchant’s site.
They track if that visitor buys anything.
If the visitor buys something, they track the amount of commission the merchant will pay the affiliate, according to their agreement.
They track all commissions owed to the affiliate by all the different merchants.
They pay the affiliates those commissions once a month, either by check or by direct bank deposit. (Think of that – you can earn money in the bank without ever leaving your home!)
A few of the most well-respected Affiliate Management Network companies are:
Commission Junction
LinkShare.com
iCommissions.com
CommissionSoup.com
Some companies prefer to administer their own sites, like Amazon.com, because for them it’s well worth their time. For many, though, this takes too much time and effort, so they’d rather rely on one of these Affiliate Management Network companies.
You’re never alone in Affiliate Programs
Perhaps this still sounds a little intimidating? Relax. There’s always help – literally at your fingertips. This is really a simple business. So much is done for you. It still takes some work, but the rewards are HUGE. All you need to do to start your own successful affiliate marketing business is to join an affiliate program. Its easy – just go to the merchant’s site, click on the affiliate link, fill out the application, and start making money. And it’s free to join!
Of course, you still need your own website. And maybe that’s the part that scares you the most. Well, not to fear – help is here! There are many successful affiliate marketing entrepreneurs out there who’ll be happy to lead you through the process. We’ll showcase one of the best here: James Martell’s Affiliate Marketers Handbook. James Martell started where you are now – thinking about getting on the Internet bandwagon. He fell off that wagon many times, but each time learned another technique that would help him stay on. He’s assembled these techniques in his Handbook. And for a minimal sum you can get this program and work your way through the easy-to-follow 8-step process that’ll teach you to build successful traffic-attracting websites of your own.
And just to keep you in touch with this fast-paced industry as you build your websites, you can subscribe to James Martell’s Affiliate Buzz, a twice-monthly audio newsletter full of tips, resources and updates on the industry. As this industry progresses, you’ll want to stay abreast of new developments – that’ll keep your affiliate marketing business on the leading edge.
The Affiliate Program industry has emerged as one of the most successful businesses in the world. And that’s just another advantage – it’s worldwide! People all over the world are seeing the opportunity presented here. People all over the world are creating successful affiliate marketing businesses.
Now, you can start your business. You can get on the bandwagon. Learn to play your instrument. Learn to read your music. After a while, you’ll be qualified to play a symphony! You’ll be able to play at the concert of this world-renowned business. And besides the satisfaction of hearing the beautiful music you’ll play, you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor – financial freedom!
