Affiliate programs allow a business to generate a lot of traffic, therefore boosting sales through promotion by third party sales or websites. It’s also a cost effective way to market your products and services, because you pay only for the efforts that actually turn into sales.

Establishing your own affiliate system can be either simple or overwhelming, all depending on how many affiliates you want to recruit, as well as your payment policy and the type of product that you offer.

In terms of your affiliate systems, there are two options for your business: outsource the entire system or manage your own affiliate system through your own web host. Each one is noted its own advantages as well as disadvantages.

If you have a small network of affiliates, then you can run your own affiliate software. If you decide to recruit a large number of affiliates, then you will probably need an external business to help you manage your network. The reason for this need is because you’ll find it easer to deal with a large number of sign ups, track payments, monitor clicks, and so on if outsiders help you sort it out.

Kinds of affiliates
There are numerous types of affiliates out there to pick from. There’s the pay per sale option, where a person is paid only if a sale is generated from the affiliate’s link. It’s the least attractive to affiliates, unless the product is in high demand and the most profitable for business.

The other type is the pay per lead option, where you pay only for traffic. With this type, the affiliate is paid only if a visitor is generated from the affiliate’s link. It’s attractive to affiliates although costly to website owners, due to the likelihood of non-sale visits.

Things to keep in mind
When setting up an affiliate network, something to consider is whether you’ll approve affiliates automatically or manually. It’s generally recommended to start affiliate programs with your established customer sites then progress to new ones.

If you opt for the pay per clicks program, you may have to control the affiliates because the quality of visitors will be a huge factor when it comes to the generation of sales. By manually reviewing, you’ll also be able to evaluate the website or individual affiliates to see if it’s in the best interest of your company.

If you decide to use your own affiliate system, one of your biggest challenges will be how to compensate affiliates with a percentage of what you receive from customers. To do this, you can rely on software such as Affiliate shop to assist you in tracking and managing commissions.

The post Creating An Affiliate Marketing Program first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

Want to start a new affiliate program but not sure whom to approach? Well, there are a number of ways in which you can get access to high quality, efficient affiliates – if you know where to look. Here’s a first hand primer on how you can get the best affiliates.
Before you actually start hunting for the perfect set of affiliates, you will need to tune your mind into thinking like one.

That way you can prepare your affiliate program to cater to their requirements. It will also prevent you from receiving any surprises or shocks in future.
Most top quality super affiliates are concerned with the quality of the product they are promoting. They know that if they associate with a poor quality product they not only risk their reputation online but also earn less in terms of incentives.

That’s why ensure you have built on a solid, high quality product to promote.
Make sure to establish a good incentive package that rewards affiliates well. Otherwise you risk losing out on top quality talent and just finding the mediocre affiliates. Make sure to have a good performance bonus package and perks as well.
No affiliate will want to join your affiliate program if they find you have never built affiliate sites!

This is one of the first things most affiliates will ask you. So start building your own affiliate sites to get access to more qualified affiliates.
You as an affiliate program owner will obviously need to track the affiliates’ performance. For this there are plenty of tracking software available. However, make sure to use software which doesn’t invade the affiliate’s privacy and that he or she is comfortable with.

Else you risk losing them in the long run.
In order for your promotional efforts to be successful, you need to adequately train your affiliates. You also need to provide them with easy access to all possible promotional and advertising material. From banner ads, to textual copy, to links to specific sections of your site etc. – these will all help in propagating your product better. Get feedback.

It is always a good idea to ask for your affiliates’ feedback on a continual basis. That way you know your expectations and theirs and also get to understand their concerns. If they have any problems, you should be ready to sort them out.
If you want access to high quality super affiliates, you’ll want to notch up your conversion rates on the site

Any serious affiliate worth his salt will hate being taken for a ride. If they find out your site’s sales conversions are very slow, they’ll abandon your program and move on to something more lucrative. Make sure you tweak and fine tune your site to improve sales conversion rates.

It maybe extremely time consuming but communicating with each affiliate program on an individual basis may actually work. It’s because serious affiliates usually disregard such emails as spam. Therefore if you want your email to stand out favorably, consider contacting them personally and personalize the email content. Make sure to include the website owner’s name because you want to show that you made the effort to search for their name.

The post Starting A New Affiliate Program Can Be A Challenge-Learn More Now first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

Affiliate marketing is probably the most effective means today of conducting Internet marketing for an online business. The affiliates create a buzz for the online business, and the products are promoted to thousands of Internet users. This is why an online business should have an affiliate marketing program as part of its marketing strategy.

To establish an affiliate marketing program, the online businessman needs to accomplish two steps. First, he should recruit as many affiliates as possible. The more affiliates, the more promotion for the products. And the more promotion, the more sales. Second, the online businessman should prepare promotional materials that must be sent to the affiliates.

When both steps are done, the businessman will find that his online company will have an increase in sales. Then, perhaps, the online businessman will just go with the flow and focus on product quality and product delivery. Or perhaps the online businessman can still push his sales further upwards. How can this be possible?

All that an online businessman needs to do is to develop and provide incentives for his affiliates. Here are four recommendations for such incentives.

1. Incentives for selling X worth of products within a limited period of time – The online businessman can offer cash incentives for affiliates who are able to convert their referrals into sales that reach a certain amount, perhaps $1500, within a certain period of time, perhaps within one month. When affiliates are aware of such an incentive, they will likely double their efforts so that they can meet the quota sales within the specified time frame.

2. Incentives for selling seasonal products – The online businessman can also offer incentives to affiliates who are able to sell seasonal products or products that are offered only during certain periods of the year. The cash incentive will go to the affiliate who can sell the highest worth of seasonal products.

3. Incentives for selling the highest worth of products during slow months – All online companies experience slow months. These are the times of the year when the sales are alarmingly low. But this can be overcome when the online businessman can offer incentives to affiliates who are able to generate sales during these slow months.

4. Additional commissions or bonuses for selling X worth of products – The online businessman can offer higher commissions to affiliates who are able to generate a specified amount of sales. That is, if the sales of the affiliate reach a certain bracket, the percentage of commission in the pay-per-sale set-up will be increased. This will encourage the affiliates to go for more sales.

The post Incentives In Affiliate Marketing first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

Affiliate Marketing is currently one of the most popular and lucrative business opportunities online. It is an agreement between the merchant, or the one with the product to sell, and the website owner or the affiliate, or the one who allows the use of his site to promote the merchant’s product or service. Thus, affiliate marketing is a relationship between the merchant and the affiliate.
Meanwhile, an affiliate-marketing network is a program that involves a network of individuals and organizations with the purpose of helping each other through affiliate marketing. There are many affiliate-marketing programs where both merchants and affiliates can go to find what they need. In such affiliate marketing networks, affiliates can choose from thousands of products to advertise. Similarly, the merchants can proffer their products and look for affiliates who will advertise their products.
The Commission Junction Affiliate Program is, one of, if not the largest affiliate marketing networks in the internet today. It is a leader in performance based online marketing offering excellent opportunities for both merchants and affiliates. The company serves millions of clients making it one of the largest ad networks today.
It facilitates the relationship between advertisers and affiliates and leverages its expertise in the affiliate marketing business to ensure the best results for its clients. Commission Junction has affiliate programs mostly for physical goods. The company excels in niche markets, as most niche markets require physical goods as affiliate products.
As the market leader in affiliate marketing solutions, Commission Junction offers many advantages for both merchants and affiliates. The Commission Junction system is excellent and full of good features for both parties. As a Commission Junction merchant, you only need to sign up and have your affiliate program available to thousands of potential affiliates. New merchants are listed on the homepage of the Commission Junction Account Manager. Affiliates will be able to see this listing upon log in, ensuring maximum exposure for the merchant. In this manner, the merchant has the opportunity to attract the best affiliates to carry his product or service.
Another advantage that Commission Junction offers to merchants is the promotion to the Commission Junction affiliate network upon sign up via the Commission Junction email newsletter. Being in the Commission Junction affiliate network provides excellent opportunity for the merchant to find quality affiliates who can bring in more clients and more sales.
Since the key to affiliate marketing success for merchants is finding the right affiliates, Commission Junction offers the best way for merchants to succeed, by bringing merchants and affiliates together. The merchant’s affiliate program will also be listed in the Commission Junction Account Manager for life giving you more exposure. You can also purchase special listing for higher affiliate exposure.
Commission Junction also has many advantages for affiliates. It has more merchants than any other affiliate marketing company today. An affiliate of Commission Junction has access to the largest directory of affiliate programs encompassing thousands of products and services. Affiliates have the luxury to choose what product they will advertise.
Commission Junction has an excellent record of accomplishment in the affiliate marketing business, so it makes sense for any affiliate to be a Commission Junction affiliate. The company offers a huge number of affiliate programs in every category of products and services. In addition, affiliates of Commission Junction receive notices via email whenever new affiliate programs are added. Commission Junction offers the best opportunities to make a profit for both merchants and affiliates. It combines resources to further the sales or profit of each party.
However, Commission Junction also has its downsides. For one, the commissions are relatively lower, being in the 7% to 20% bracket. Yet, despite of the lower income potential, Commission Junction is still one of the best options for affiliate marketers. Commission junction has also had its share of setbacks such as during the early part of 2002 when merchants dropped out because of the hike in prices.
All the same, Commission Junction remains as one of the best choices when it comes to affiliate marketing. It offers the best features and opportunities for merchants and affiliates. Its marketing solutions help marketers increase their profits. Indeed, there are many reasons why any affiliate or merchant who want to succeed should join Commission Junction.

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What could be better than exceeding your personal
sales goals for a given month or year? How about
doubling, tripling or even more of you sales goal for
the month? This is exactly what affiliates can do for
you. The amount of growth potential through
affiliates is unlimited; the more affiliates you have
the more money you can make, after all, if Sam Walton
tried to run every Wal-Mart store, he obviously
wouldn’t be very successful. You must realize that
for maximum growth you cannot do it alone. Think of
the success of companies such as Avon or Home
Interiors. Their success is based on two things; a
great product and excellent affiliate programs.
To attract affiliates to your company you should make
it worth their time. Offering one percent of sales,
is not an attractive offer, the higher the commission
that you are able to offer your affiliates the more
affiliates will be tempted to join your team. You
should also provide your affiliates with the tools
that they will need to successfully market your
product such as banner ads, articles, and anything
else that will help them to better market the product.
You should provide the affiliates with updated
product information through newsletters, new
promotional campaigns and other things to motivate and
inform the affiliates.
You can choose to run your affiliate program in a few
different ways, both of which are beneficial to your
business. A one-tier affiliate program allows you to
generally offer a larger commission and pays on one
level. The affiliate will receive a predetermined
amount for each sale. Using a two-tier affiliate
program, affiliates are paid on two different levels.
This is done by allowing the affiliates to recruit
others to sell under them. In this situation, the top
level affiliate would receive a slightly larger
commission than the recruit or second level affiliate.
For example if the top level seller makes 20% of the
sale, then she/he would make 15% giving the second
level affiliate the 5%.
Setting up the affiliate program can also be done in
two different ways. One way is to do it yourself
through an affiliate tracking software. This software
will provide you with a way to track affiliate sales
as well as allow the affiliates to view their
progress. The downside to this option is that you are
responsible for making payments. You can also choose
to hire an affiliate tracking company to do all the
work for you. These companies will allow the use of
credit cards and completely run the affiliate program
from billing customers, paying affiliates, and also
pay you. This is a great option for the busy business
owner or the beginning business owner and it is
affordable as most affiliate tracking companies charge
a small one time fee. However you choose to run your
affiliate program it is sure to increase profits for
your business.

The post Multiply Your Sales Through Affiliate Programs first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

If you’re a webmaster, web publisher, or web merchant, chances are you have already come across the concept of affiliate marketing.
As online joint venture partnerships, affiliate programs allows both content publishers and web merchants to maximize their online profits by working with each other.
Content publishers, including webmasters, ezine writers and forum owners, are able to focus their energies and resources on what they know best…creating great content to attract web visitors.
Affiliate merchants on the other hand, are able to focus their efforts on creating great products, receiving online payments, and getting their products to customers.
The success of affiliate marketing has resulted in an unfortunate problem:
Because they are so popular, there are now so many affiliate merchants fighting for affiliates that it has become hard for them to differentiate themselves from each other and to attract good affiliates.
Put another way, while affiliates can help merchants solve the problem of finding customers, merchants are now facing the problem of having to first find good affiliates!
This has given rise to some innovative merchants setting up affiliate programs that pay affiliate commissions to multiple tiers of affiliates, the most popular being 2 tier affiliate programs.
What this does is to create a unique opportunity for “Affiliate Recruiters” who join multi tier affiliate programs to serve a slightly different function.
These affiliate recruiters, often owners of websites, ezines, and forums that attract other webmasters, focus their energies recruiting other webmasters to sign up as their “sub-affiliates” and to sell the affiliate products.
As a result, when affiliate products are sold by their sub-affiliates, these affiliate recruiters will also get paid a referral commission.
Two important points to understand are:
1) The affiliate programs must be free to join…no “sign-up” fees, “set-up” costs, nor “product-testing” fees are involved…otherwise they become traditional multi level marketing programs, and run the risk of affiliates trying to make money by “pushing products” to other affiliates.
2) While these programs create a new role for “affiliate recruiters” who can make money by specializing in recruiting affiliates, the products will still have to actually be sold to real customers for the merchant, affiliate recruiter, and affiliate to make any money.
If you are currently an affiliate merchant having problems recruiting good affiliates, why not consider using a multi tier affiliate program and let “affiliate recruiters” do this work for you?
If you happen to run a webmaster related site, or happen to know many webmasters or successful affiliates, why not consider being an “affiliate recruiter” by recommending multi tier affiliate programs?

The post A Unique Opportunity For Affiliate Recruiters first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

You started your own online business, everything’s there; your website’s running, every link in it is functioning as it should be, the products or services you’re selling are there, but your sales are at an all time low.

Why? You probably thought that starting an online business just requires you to put up a functioning website; this is where you are wrong.

Starting an online business is not as easy as it seems. As with other businesses, you have to advertise your products in order to lure people in and start buying your products.

So just how do you advertise in the internet?

Simple

There are a number of ways to promote your online business in the internet. One of them is through affiliate programs.

Affiliate programs works by posting your banners and links to other websites. Most of these are free; you only pay affiliates for every customer referrals from their website who buys your product.

For example, Customer “A” visits your affiliate’s website, then customer “A” gets interested in the product you are selling, and then customer “A” clicks on your link or banner in your affiliate’s website. Customer “A” is then redirected to your website so that he/she can buy the product you are selling.

You then pay your affiliate with a specified amount of commission for that product.

How would you find affiliates who would want to post your links and banners free?

There are so many people in the internet willing to post your links and banners free. People like to use affiliate programs because they practically do not have to do anything hard through this form of advertising.

All they do is promote their website in order to generate targeted internet traffic to their website, therefore, generating targeted traffic to your website and produce more sales.

All they do is hope and pray that a visitor from their website will buy your product in order to get a commission.

To find a good number of affiliates who are willing to promote your products free, you first have to sign up with an affiliate-tracking program.

After signing up, you now have to make a decision on how much you are going to pay your affiliate for each sold product.

You then design some banners or text link that your affiliates can use to post in their website.

Now you are set. All you have to do is wait for affiliates to sign up in the affiliate tracking program and start promoting your products.

Although affiliates can promote your products or services free, you still have to take care of your affiliates in order to promote your product more diligently and with loyalty.

To get affiliate’s loyalty and get them to work harder in promoting your products, pay them well. Give your affiliates a high commission rate for every products sold with their referrals. Not only that it will keep your affiliates from leaving you but it will also attract more affiliates to sign up for you.

You also have to track the sales generated by each and every affiliates referred to you. If you have lots of affiliate, you can easily track their referrals and sales through the affiliate tracking company you signed up for.

You also have to pay your affiliates as early as possible for their sales. Letting them wait for months will discourage them to promote your products and leave you. For this, you have to set up a minimum payment requirement in order to track which affiliate you have to pay.

Be professional, answer questions from emails from your affiliates regarding your affiliate program as soon as you can. Do this in a friendly and professional manner.

Create an affiliate’s newsletter. This is a great way to show your support your affiliate and a great way to give them tips on how to market your products more effectively.

Give your top affiliates bonuses for the sales they bring you and include them in your newsletter for your affiliates. This will get your other affiliates to work harder in promoting your products, and a little competition is good for your affiliates.

Create an affiliate’s only chat room. This will enable your affiliates to speak with each other and discuss about how to make your products to sell more. Providing them with chat rooms or discussion boards will show how much you support them. It is also a good way to give tips and advice on how to market your products.

Affiliate programs are a great and cheap way to advertise your products. Your affiliates will work hard if you give them enough benefits and bonuses for promoting your products or services.

The post Promoting your Business Using Affiliate Marketing first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

Question: Why aren’t my affiliates promoting my affiliate program? And, how do I get more to sign up?

Dear Affiliate Manager:

I can tell you in a heartbeat whether or not your affiliate program is attracting loyal, motivated affiliates. It’s easy. Just put yourself in your affiliate’s shoes. If you’re not creating loyalty in your affiliates, they’re going to look for a better program to promote, and you’ll be left in the dust.

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s go through some key components of making your affiliate program attractive to affiliates, so they don’t start shopping around.

1. Reputations are on the Line.
Of course, number one is quality. Do you have quality products and customer service? An affiliate’s reputation is on the line every time we consider promoting a product or service. If your products are junk or you’re making our referrals upset in any way – we’ll drop you faster than something *really* hot.

2. Lay the Money on the Table.
It’s not just about the percentage commission. That won’t motivate and make loyal affiliates, but, it is a start. Are you talking 5%? Then, unless you offer millions of products at great prices and have a solid reputation, you’re not going to be getting a whole lot of affiliates.

3. Who’s getting credit?
Show your affiliates that you value them by setting long cookies and they’ll keep sending you traffic. How long are your cookies? The longer the better.

4. Closing the Deal.
If your affiliates are sending you traffic, I hope you have a newsletter (or ecourse) on that sales page for two reasons. 1. It means you’re smart and know how internet marketing works, and 2. It means that the affiliates get more than one chance to close the deal, because you’re going to be following up with the lead and closing the sale for us. This shows us that you take your business seriously – a very important indicator.

5. Like Frosting on the Cake.
Assuming all things are equal, if your program is two-tier or residual, you’ll have affiliates lined up to promote you.

6. Are you even trying?
There is nothing more frustrating than joining an affiliate program that you’re really excited about, logging in and seeing … nothing but a couple of links. No content, no ebooks, no videos. Zip. This is especially disappointing if you know the author or owner is sending out a weekly newsletter. Share your articles with your affiliates, allow them to be rebranded, and I guarantee you’ll get loyalty.

7. That’s just Rude.
Almost more insulting than not providing any content is providing ‘leaky’ articles. Yes, I have seen affiliate programs that so “generously” provide articles for their affiliates. But, the articles had plugs for their other programs in the body of the article. Now, I’m not naming names, but I do feel that’s pretty cheap to be stealing from your own affiliates.

Those are just a few ways to tell if your affiliate program stinks.

I hope you read and reread this advice. Treat your affiliates like partners and they’ll plaster your link all over the web. You’ll have affiliates lined up to promote every new product you offer, and they’ll sing your praises every chance they get.

The post Dear Affiliate Manager, 7 Ways To Tell If Your Affiliate Program Stinks first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

Avangate, the e-Commerce platform for electronic software distribution, has launched its Affiliates Program, company officials announced today. A major addition to the existing solution, the Avangate Affiliates Program is a sales and marketing tool benefiting shareware and software authors and publishers looking to expand their online sales and take advantage of new markets. For affiliates, the program is a good way to make a website profitable as they earn commissions for referring sales to vendors’ web sites.

The Avangate Affiliates Program is extremely flexible: it allows software authors and publishers to recruit new affiliates and also to manage their commissions. Same as for the Avangate solution for software vendors, ordering pages on affiliates’ web sites are customizable and “buy now” links easily generated through the Control Panel.

“With the addition of the Affiliates Program, Avangate becomes a powerful electronic sales platform”, commented Dragos Stanescu, Sales Manager. “The system integrates an easy to use and secure online ordering system including effective antifraud filters and order screening, additional marketing services as well as consultancy on how to increase online software sales. This, I am sure, will prove very attractive to vendors and affiliates alike”, added Stanescu.

Another key benefit of the system is the Avangate reward tracking system, ensuring the customer referral cookie is kept active for 120 days. Registered affiliates can therefore earn commissions even when customers place orders a few months subsequently to visiting their web sites. Commissions are also earned on software products bought at the same time as referred products.
More information on the Avangate Affiliates Program can be found at: www.avangate.com/affiliates
***

About Avangate

Avangate is an eCommerce platform for electronic software distribution incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus additional marketing and sales tools, such as an affiliate management system, automated cross selling options as well as consultancy on how to increase software sales via the internet.
Avangate is produced and managed by GECAD ePayment, member of GECAD Group – delivering top IT solutions world wide since 1992.
_____________________________
For further information, contact:

Avangate
Tel.: +40 (0)21.303.20.68 Fax: +40 (0)21.303.20.67
Email: info@avangate.com Web: www.avangate.com

For Media related enquiries, contact:

Delia Ene – Marketing Communications Manager
Tel.: +40 (0)21.303.20.68 Fax: +40 (0)21.303.20.67
Email: delia.ene@gecad.com

The post Avangate launches Affiliates Program first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.

In preparing the affiliate marketing program, the online businessman must first find professional affiliates. One affiliate is not enough. Therefore, there should be a sizable number of affiliates that will create a significant impact on the sales of the online business. But once the affiliates have been recruited, the next important step for the online business is to provide his affiliates with promotional materials.
A promotional material is a feature in the website or Internet system that can be utilized by the affiliate to advertise and pre-sell the products of the online company. Without such promotional materials, the affiliate marketing will be slow or will come to a stand still. But one affiliate is different from another. Thus, the online businessman should be able to identify the type of promotional material that will meet the unique needs of the affiliates.
Here are some promotional materials that an online businessman should consider preparing for his affiliates. These promotional materials are quite basic and the online businessman may try other methods that are less conventional and more revolutionary. In the meantime, these are great for any affiliate marketing program on its first steps.
1. Effective email ads – This type of promotional material is ideal for affiliates who have e-zines or newsletters that they send their consumer/visitor base. In fact, most professional affiliates have their own newsletters.
Therefore, a shrewd online businessman must place email advertisements that will be included in the newsletters. He should create several email ads with varying lengths. Some affiliates like these ads to be short, while others prefer longer email ads.
In writing email ads, the online businessman should remember to use animated words that trigger emotional responses from the readers. The reason for this is that buying is mostly an emotional action.
2. Signature Files – This type of promotional material is sought by some affiliates who have signature lines. Thus, the online businessman must submit several clever lines to his affiliates. When the affiliate finds a signature file that he likes, he will include in his own signature line.
3. Articles – This type of promotional material is needed by affiliates who wants good content in their websites, and even in their newsletters. The online businessman should have good articles that can be posted in the affiliates’ websites. Such good articles can also help the website’s ranking in search engines
4. Banners – This type of promotional material may not be the most effective that it can still attract visitors. The online businessman must be ready with his banners that will fit various parts of the website, such as the toolbar, the sidebar, the top, and the bottom.
5. Product Images – This type of promotional material is attractive to affiliates who wanted to display the images of the products that they are promoting.

The post Affiliate Marketing and Promotional Materials first appeared on Como Hacer Dinero Con Max.