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Affiliate Projects for Beginners
Keep your eyes open for opportunities to get in early, ahead of the competition...
How To Become a Successful Affiliate; if I Can, Why Not You? About two years ago, I convinced myself (totally taken in by the hype of some slick marketers) that forex trading was a way to earn easy money from the internet. I started to make thousands of dollars, but only on paper with demo accounts. Feeling superbly confident, but with no spare cash, I managed to talk a friend into lending me $500 to open a 'mini' account with a forex broker. I blew all $500 in less than a month, mainly because I didn't really have a clue what I was doing. In spite of learning a lot since then, I have shied away from live trading. Plenty of people make money from it but for me it's a bit complicated and I don't like the risk involved. More than that, I found an easier, better and more exciting way of earning much more than I was ever likely to by trying to win with forex trading. After one year I was making a good living as an online marketing affiliate, mainly from promoting forex and stock trading courses and services (see more below). I've never looked back. I didn't stop at financial products, though. There's a whole world of things to sell, all from the comfort of your own home almost anywhere in the world, and you don't have to create (or buy) any of them yourself! I've never looked back. Before the end of my first year I was making 5 figures and now have a >$100K annual income. For many that may sound like 'pie-in-the-sky' but there are many ways to achieve this and more, and those internet millionaires really do exist. Most of them began with very little. How does Affiliate Marketing work and how are you paid? Affiliate sales are simple in concept, made using automated programs. No products to buy, stock, receive payment, ship, support or return. No personal contact necessary between affiliate and vendor (seller) or affiliate and purchaser (buyer) who is often unaware that a 'middle-man' is even involved. Transactions (order, payment, delivery, even returns) are all handled by the publisher usually through an independent third party 'shopping cart' and affiliate program management system. This automatically allocates affiliate sales commissions at the stated rate and terms. You can monitor this process. Depending on the program, regular payments are made by check, ACH direct deposit or wire transfer to your bank or PayPal account. Generally as an affiliate you often don't need to know that much about what you're promoting. Once you start affiliate marketing you will see the same principles apply to all markets. Some are less competitive than others. Some appear to be saturated (but it's not true). The idea is to find a few 'niches', learn what you need to and start making money. Where did I begin my affiliate education? Admittedly, the easiest part of being an affiliate is the sign-up process. Actually making some money needs a bit more effort on your part! If it didn't, every internet marketing affiliate would be rich and many are not. Just like financial market traders! It usually takes time too, especially if you're a beginner. You may also aspire to becoming one of the online marketing elite – a Super Affiliate. It is not so far out of reach. Most people simply do not know where to start or how to promote their new affiliate marketing business. Unlike forex trading though, while it may take a while to learn to make (or lose) money, but with high risk, with affiliate marketing you always have full control of your spending and there's no need to spend money you can't afford. Nobody, in spite of promises or guarantees is going to have a successful business without spending something. And there is no way you will make thousands of dollars when you start. It's just not possible even with unlimited time at your disposal. You will in fact need a few dollars available ($50 or $100) and some spare time, but you can still keep your regular job while you are learning the basics. One of the first (and still best) guides I bought three years ago was Holly Mann's Honest Riches 3, newly-revised for 2009. Holly, a single mother with a young son, began her own career and then wrote about exactly how she managed to start earning $4,000 a month. She did this while we were both living in Chiangmai, Thailand, but unknown to each other at the time. The book has sold over 35,000 copies and has been considerably updated. Honest Riches 3 is really 10 separate manuals, each dealing with a particular aspect of IM and is probably the best resource I know for anyone starting out in internet marketing. At the original price of $37, including useful added bonuses, it was pretty amazing value. If you can't afford a few bucks to start a whole new career, then perhaps you should not even try. Here's a way to get a jump start without even a website, simply by copying and profiting from successful sales campaigns. This is a 2009 program and many affiliates – especially those starting out in this business – as well as me, are happy with it:
Banking your earnings, then getting them as cash – anywhere Affiliate marketing is a truly global business and can be based anywhere there is an internet connection. Here's a typical example: I am British but I live in SE Asia; I just made $700 selling a $2,000 American product to someone from Sweden now living in Spain. We don't know each other and have had no direct contact. The money was automatically paid into my US bank account. I received the cash using my ATM VISA card. US citizens are likely to have tax liabilities wherever they live, but many others do not. It depends on your nationality and country of residence. There's nothing stopping you from moving somewhere else, though! All you need for business these days is access to a computer; it's not even necessary to own one yourself. A 'smart phone' may be all that you need. Mobile phone connections are often easier than finding a direct internet provider in many developing countries. Good affiliate programs (there are many scams, by the way) pay either by PayPal, check, direct deposit or wire transfer to a bank account. You can use PayPal money to make online purchases but if you want your earnings as cash you will need a bank account somewhere, preferably with an ATM card. If your country allows PayPal accounts to be linked to a bank account, getting your cash is easier especially if you have an ATM cash or Visa/MasterCard which is usable internationally. Unfortunately some potential affiliate marketers live in countries where this is not possible and international money transfer is difficult or not allowed. Certain countries allow PayPal accounts to be opened but cannot be linked to a bank account where the money can be withdrawn as cash. One alternative many have found invaluable is a USA bank account for non residents. This has a Visa card which can be used in ATM cash machines all over the world. The account is free to open and there are no bank charges or other fees for the first year. After that there are ways of keeping it free indefinitely. Get more details on my US Non Resident Bank Account report. It's normally $8.95 but I will give it to you free on request if you join any affiliate program I recommend. Email me and let me know the ones you have joined after visiting the Forex page (see below). Why am I happy to give you my report free, you may ask? Because there's another aspect to affiliate marketing and that's 'second tier' commissions. Basically if someone joins an affiliate program through your link, any sales they make (for which they will get the full commission) a percentage will come your way too. So when you choose programs like these, you automatically add another 'stream' to your income - without actually doing anything! I wrote the banking report myself, so giving it to you as a 'thank you' for becoming my sub-affiliate really costs nothing and I may enjoy some extra commission from the programs I'm recommending if you're successful. Everyone wins, and the publishers are more than happy to increase their affiliate numbers!
Remember that all administration and commission payments are managed securely and automatically by the publishers and affiliate programs. You don't have to do (or pay) anything except monitor your performance statistics and earnings to see how much you are due to be paid. There's nothing sweeter than waking up each morning and checking to see what you made while you were asleep or partying the night before! How does anyone get started? Start Writing Most website owners, including budding affiliate marketers is start writing about something they know how to do or are interested in, even passionate about. It might also be something that you can research and learn about (Google it), in order to promote or review a product that you can sell on commission as an affiliate. Begin with an outline; list the topics you could write about from your own knowledge or experience; everyone has some pet topic or hobby. There are almost certainly products related to it that you will later find, promote, sell and earn commission from. Using any text editor like Notepad, Wordpad or Word itself to create pages of simple, unformatted text which will eventually become part of a website or blog devoted to that topic. Each page should relate to and include keywords for a 'sub topic'. Don't worry about formatting or trying to make it look nice. That comes later. The important thing is 'content'. Content is and always will be king on the internet. Download a free guide called "Just Write It" to get some inspiration. 'Spread the word' to potential customers Once you have armed yourself with good ammunition there are numerous ways to 'fire your shots' around the whole planet, the best being your own website(s). The World Wide Web is not a misnomer; there are over 220 countries with internet access.
A cheap, quick and easy way to
accomplish all this is by signing up with a recommended, reliable hosting
service like
LunarPages. Apart from websites, you can set up email campaigns sending a series of messages to friends and contacts who have a possible interest in whatever it is you want to promote. In my case it was initially financial market trading products. However, having your own blog or web site allows greater exposure to potential customers. Sites can be free if necessary, but there are better alternatives that don't cost an arm and a leg and there are valid reasons for choosing them. Look for independent product reviews, forum comment and users' opinions. Forums and user groups are sources of potential new business for you too. Preferably write your own reviews, or at least modify others' texts enough to make yours look original! Publish information on your website or through emails to your contact or subscriber lists. But never spam! Build up a list of contacts or subscribers One of the most important requirements for successful affiliate marketing is having a mailing list usually built from from visitors to your web pages. You can offer those who join your list free items such as reports or other incentives at low cost or even for free. This is the quickest way to build a list of prospective customers, who, if you treat them with respect will begin to trust and purchase from you. And they come back for more! Using a managed service like AWeber, you can monitor exactly how your subscribers respond to your marketing emails. You can try it out yourself for free. TIP: SHORTCUT TO LIST BUILDING
Here's a brand new (Feb '09) easy and inexpensive way
I have found to
surreptitiously 'siphon' the mailing lists of the 'super affiliates' of this
business who each have several thousand members of targeted customers
and potential
purchasers they mail regularly with offers. Use the
Guru List Siphon
to 'jump start' your own affiliate business immediately by
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) The two most common ways of website selling are either paying Google or someone for PPC advertising – or, cheaper, even free, by using the search engines to generate visits originating from keyword searches on Google, Yahoo, MSN and many others. That takes time unless you really know the ins and outs of SEO mastery. After trying a lot of keyword research tools in the market, I finally came across Keyword Country, and it would be safe to say that Keyword Country is the most comprehensive and most complete keyword research tool I have ever seen. I have now been using it for over two years. Keyword Country connects to major search engines for keyword research (including Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK) and also connects to the industry by performing a deep analysis of the competitor websites. It also steals all the niche keywords your industry happens to be focusing on. The guys at Keyword Country claim that keyword research done through their software can yield up to 230% more traffic than any other keyword research tool available. It's certainly increased mine considerably. Build links to your websites or blogs Having independent websites 'hyper-linking' to pages on your own is a well-known, important way to increase your number of page visitors (and ultimately customers). There are many methods of website traffic generation, such as posting text with a link to your page or site on blogs, social networking sites, article sites, review sites, ezines, placing classified ads in digital or printed newspapers and magazines, leaflets, flyers, even on notice boards at your local supermarket or shopping and community centers. However, while these methods are effective they can also be tedious and time-consuming ways to get links back to the page where you are ultimately trying to sell products and generate commissions for yourself as an affiliate. Site links can also be bought, but beware. Much of this is detectable and your site can be excluded by the search engines. As opposed to two- or three-way reciprocal links bought through link exchanges or 'farms', the best ones are one way back-links; these are far more likely to give the big search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN etc) the idea that your site has genuine content that is sought after by others, and they promote your pages as a recommended source of information on a particular topic or keyword, by placing them in the top ten listings of searches. An easy way to do get these one-way links is with recently-introduced back-link generation software. Links from relevant sites can be placed automatically on every page of your website. This will work over a couple of months to slowly but surely (in a natural way that goes unnoticed by the SEO 'spies') significantly improve page ranking and search engine listings. You can try this service free for 2 weeks too, without paying anything upfront. We use this ourselves now and it does work. Forex and stock market trading products Whether or not you are a stockmarket or forex trader yourself, you can offset trading losses with virtually no outlay. Just a little effort can make you hundreds (even thousands) of extra dollars within weeks – there's no upper limit. You may well decide, as I did, that your chances of making money are greater than if you trade! If you want to promote forex or stock trading products, check out some of the recommended publishers with affiliate programs on our Forex Affiliate page. Get as much information and free resources offered by those publishers both to their potential customers and their affiliates. Learn how a Super Affiliate recently made over $50K from one of the programs I recommend there. Don't forget your copy of Holly Mann's Honest Riches 3. Great value at under $20 for some nice bonuses as well as this excellent guide to internet marketing. Or you can bypass a lot of the drudgery and get what amounts to a self-contained affiliate marketing business package:
The difference between affiliate and Super Affiliate
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affiliate marketing is an exciting, lucrative but very competitive business.
