Affiliate Marketing: Staying Away From Scams

Many of us are upset and frustrated with our current jobs. The low pay and sense of being undervalued drive many of us to dream of our own businesses. However, the costs combines with the risk factors stops most of us in our tracks. Affiliate marketing is a way for people to work for themselves with no risk. There is no cost to you and you’re paid on performance. However, today one has to be careful. There are plenty of scammers and con artists out there that are more than happy to take you money and hard work off of you. Unfortunately, affiliate marketing is not immune to these scammers. Daily, people are taken in by promises of big money with relatively little effort. In this article we will teach you some of the signs to look for and tell you how to spot a scam.

When you join an affiliate marketing scheme, you either going to sell a product or a service. With products, you usually have a choice and range to sell. How you decide to do this is largely up to you. You could also sell a service. Web page designs as well as increasing sales and internet traffic are all examples of services offered by affiliate marketing programs. 

How many times have you seen as ad on the internet promising huge earnings? Things like “Earn 1000$ a day” or Join our program now and become a millionaire. If your look closely at these ads they are not actually selling anything. Any company that is just selling the opportunity to make money is likely a scam. True, some affiliate marketing companies will have attention grabbing headlines like the ones mentioned above. However, if you go on to read the ad and information, there will likely be a detailed description of what they company sells. They will also have a disclaimer and terms and conditions listed. 

These companies that offer, the opportunity to make money are likely pyramid schemes. The only people paying money in are the ones actually joining. There is no income being created, just money being passed from person to person. Not only are these scams and you’ll loose what you invested, they are also illegal and you can face prosecution.

Another thing to watch out for is no free participation. If you have to pay to join then you may have stumbled upon a scam or what is known as a multilevel marketing program. Multi-level marketing programs are completely legal and some people make good livings out of them. However, if you’re not successful you may end up purchasing a bunch of products that you cannot sell.

True affiliate programs are free. That is part of their attraction. There are no costs to you and they should also be risk free. Any Affiliate marketing programs that demands your money is not an affiliate program. You should ask yourself why they are misrepresenting themselves this way if they are legitimate.

Many of us dream of being our own bosses. We would love to be able to take control of our lives and careers. The attraction of answering only to you combined with setting your own working hours and committing what your choose bring loads of people into the affiliate marketing schemes. Affilaite marketing can be an excellent way for a highly motivated, creative person to make an excellent living. There are some wonderful programs out there just waiting to be joined. However, for every great program there is likely one that is fraudulent. Con artists operate in many areas and unfortunate affiliate marketing is not immune.

Before joining, check to see what the company is selling. If they are not selling goods or services then they are likely an illegal pyramid scheme. If they require your own money to get started then they are what are known as a multi level marketing program. Affiliate marketing can be a great opportunity but you need to do your homework.

About author : angel

http://www.firstchoiceaffiliate.com

Imagine that you could earn commissions on a popular brand-name product just by placing a link on your website or in your email. That, my friends, is "Affiliate Marketing"!

OK... So it's not quite that simple, but it doesn't have to be much more complicated either. 

Let's start with a few definitions. An advertiser, or merchant, is the company who is selling a product. An affiliate, sometimes referred to as a publisher or partner, is another person or company who assists in the promotion of the product and earns a commission for doing so. (That could be you!) In between is the account management service that partners the advertisers with the affiliates and keeps track of the sales and commissions.

If you want to become an affiliate, you first need to choose either a product you want to sell, or an account management service. You will end up with both, but the choice of one will determine the choice for the other. If you choose the product first, the advertiser will direct you to the account management service that they already work with. If you choose the account management service first, they will provide you with a list of merchants that they do business with. 

To see if your favorite product or company offers an affiliate program, go to their website and check the menu bar or the bottom of the screen. Look around for the word "affiliate". Click on that link, read about their program and requirements, and fill out their application. Some companies require specific types of websites to place their links on. They will email you all you need to know to get started.

If you don't know what specific product you would like to promote, or if you want to promote several, I recommend browsing the participating merchants on the account management service's website. 

Try to stick to products or ideas that you are familiar with and passionate about. It will be much easier to market to your visitors if you can add value to the link you want them to click on. Personal recommendations or stories will get way better results than just a banner or solo text link. Give them a reason to "click here".

Welcome to the world of Affiliate Marketing! Good luck with your new venture!

So your home business blog is doing pretty well. Hundreds or thousands of visitors flock to your site each day, dedicated readers who return nightly to absorb your profound wisdom on life, foreign policy and the human condition. They’re receiving your priceless insights into the world, and you’re not making a dime. All that hard work isn’t doing anything for you except maybe making you feel good about enlightening the world, but come on! There’s got to be a way to also benefit financially from all your hard work.

It’s time for you to hear about affiliate marketing.

Simply put, affiliate marketing is a partnership with other websites. You put a link on your site to their site and get paid for each click, registration and sale. If you use affiliate marketing well, you can generate a high Return on Investment (ROI) with respect to the amount of time and effort invested in your home business blog. Used poorly, however, affiliate marketing can just be a waste of space on your site. Here are some tips on how to use affiliate marketing as more than placeholders.

1. Make the links relevant.

Your readers come to your blog for a reason. They come to read about your exploits in the jungles of South America or your forays into the vicious world of international politics. Chances are readers in these areas aren’t going to want to go to a site selling Barney toys. Things they might be interested in are products that will save the jungles of South America or a book about an international diplomat. You don’t have to totally exclude the random Barney toys, because maybe some tree-huggers are into Barney, but make sure that most of your affiliate marketing links are related to your content. Users will be more likely to click them.

2. Imbed affiliate marketing links in your articles.

If you just discovered a great charity for saving the jungles of South America that has an affiliate marketing program, include the link in the body of one of your articles. Links on the side can get lost by resized windows or ignored completely as useless advertisements. Anything within an article, however, will be read and considered, because the author of the article, whose opinion the reader respects, feels that the other site is useful or worthwhile. The reader will be more likely to visit the link, and you’ll be more likely to make money.

3. Change the affiliate marketing links.

This is especially important if you have a returning user base. If your affiliate marketing links never change, people will not go to them because they will be old news. Always be on the lookout for new affiliate marketing opportunities that you can take advantage of. New links will add mystery and intrigue to your site. Users will be more likely to notice changes than to let the links simply fade into the background.

4. Make text of the affiliate marketing links exciting and inviting.

Most people aren’t going to click on a button that says ‘Click here.’ Other than pure curiosity, which admittedly should never be ruled out, there is no incentive for users to follow these directions. “Save the South American Jungle From Certain Slaughter” has a much more enticing ring to it, what with the alliteration and all, and is sure to get your tree hugging audience interested. Along the same lines of interesting and exciting, whenever possible include some kind of picture or banner with the links. A list of blue underlined words on the left hand side of a page is tough to wade through; a banner with a forest fire draws immediate attention, and drawing attention to your links should be the goal of any affiliate marketing plan.

5. Don’t rule out unpaid opportunities.

Some affiliate marketing programs are simply an exchange of links, a ‘you link to me, I’ll link to you’ deal. While these don’t directly make you money, they do increase traffic to your site, and increased traffic means more money. While your marketing plan obviously can’t be using all this kind, they can be useful in boosting traffic, and through traffic, revenue.

Ever heard of affiliate programs? These are forms of Internet advertising that rewards the affiliates for driving traffic to the advertiser or for other transactions. The advertiser pays the affiliate to place a link on their website, and the affiliate sends traffic to the advertiser in return. Simply put, it's about paying commissions to people who help you make sales. It's that easy. NOT.

Affiliate marketing has its ups and downs. It could be draining if you are not armed with updated information and the technical how-tos. But this article's sole objective is to reach out to you and not to badmouth affiliate marketing.

Here are the following reasons on why web marketers go gaga over affiliate marketing as a form of Internet advertisement.

1. Low cost

Many are scared to go on a home based business because of the capital required. In affiliate marketing, you don't have to spend much to start raking in moolah.

2. Inventories not included

Product management fuss could be very stressing. An inventory is not asked to be maintained. The merchant does the maintenance required.

3. Unlimited income through leverage

When you have a paid job, your monthly income mainly relies on whether you go to work or not. With affiliate marketing, your affiliates could all just lead traffic to your site without having to lift a finger after providing them your ad copy and links. Though not every web marketer earns limitless, it still is a fact that all the necessary matters for the advertiser or Internet marketer are all there to be successful.

4. Go worldwide

With affiliate marketing, you are dealing with a global market place. All you have to do is choose a niche product and prepare all the necessary tools for your affiliates to lead traffic from just about anywhere to your website.

5. Low risk

The very main reason for Internet marketer's enthusiasm with affiliate marketing is its having a low risk factor. Especially for those with low budget set aside for advertising, affiliate marketing is just the way to do it.

6. No closing time

With affiliate marketing, your business works every single second of the day while targeting a worldwide market! What could be better than that?

But all of these will be put to waste if you don't have the right niche product and all the other important tools to make it big in affiliate marketing, i.e., well-SEO-ed website. So better work on this first before ever considering those benefits.

Copyright 2006 Craig Binkley

There is no denying the fact that Affiliate Marketing is very popular right now. The main reason for its popularity is simple: it benefits both the merchant (the supplier of the product or service) and the marketer (the person promoting the product or service) in many ways.  Presented below are two short lists of several benefits enjoyed by both merchant & marketer, respectively.

Benefits for the Merchant:

1. Instead of a sales force of one or two people, by using Affiliate Marketing a merchant can have a sales force of thousands or more.  Their products will be seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors instead of only those that they alone would be able to promote their product to.

2. The merchant does not have to worry about hiring, firing and all the other tedious tasks that come along with having employees in a business.  Software programs can run the affiliate program and do much of the mundane work.

3. Affiliate Marketing allows the merchant to get exposure for his product without incurring a huge expense.  Many affiliate programs pay the marketer a percentage of the products sale price.  Utilizing this type of program, the merchant wouldn’t pay anything to the marketer unless his product actually sells.

4. The advertising costs for the merchant are minimal compared to the aspect of the merchant doing all the promoting themselves.

Benefits for the Marketer:

1. Most affiliate programs are free to join.  You can join numerous programs and have a myriad of products available to promote, depending on your situation.

2. Your overhead should be low.  You don’t have to buy the products up front.  Your job is to get people to visit the merchant.  When the visitor makes a purchase, the merchant handles the transaction and the shipping of the product as well as any refunds that may be required.

3. There is no need to hire employees.  You can promote many different affiliate programs from one website.  This makes it an ideal way for a person to earn some extra income without a lot of work being involved.

4. Since the merchant handles the transaction, there is normally no customer interaction needed.  Of course you may get the odd email asking questions about the product, but under most circumstances there is no need for interaction between you and a potential buyer.

5. You have the option of changing products/programs as you see fit for your particular site or situation.  This wouldn’t necessarily be the case if you were promoting your own products.  If a certain product is not selling, you can easily exchange it for another, or perhaps even decide to stop promoting it altogether.

In Conclusion:

Affiliate Marketing works because it benefits both the merchant and the marketer. Each party benefits from the program in several distinct ways, thereby making Affiliate Marketing a wise and cost efficient way to sell products or services.

Affiliate marketing is one of the hottest home business opportunities around.  With some basic training, you can easily set up an affiliate business and get started in a couple of weeks.

Affiliate programs are the best way for you to sell someone else's products or service and get paid for it.  Selling through an affiliate program is a great way to sell on the Internet without getting knee-deep in product.

You market the product or service online (that includes websites, emails, forums, blogs as well as paid advertising). The company then is responsible for the product; they process the payments, ship the merchandise, and handle any complaints.  You provide the marketing and get the commission. Brilliant!

Say you own a website giving people information about Jazz Music. You could place links to products related to Jazz Music, CD's, download sites, etc. on your website. When your visitors click on your links they will go to the website you are promoting. If they buy, you will be paid a commission. Not bad for providing information huh?

You can find affiliate programs just about everywhere these days.  A good way to find programs you'd like to join is by doing a search on your chosen topic.  See what your competition is doing for a place to start. The affiliate networks such as ClickBank and Commission Junction are great places to look as well.

Look everywhere you shop online. Check the web sites for the words affiliate or partners. You’ll soon see there are almost no merchants online today who don’t have some sort of affiliate program.  If you’re going to have a website or blog, you should definitely have affiliate links.

When you register for your chosen affiliate program you will receive your own personal ID number. When you place your link to the website you're promoting on your website, you will use a link address which includes your unique ID. Anyone who makes a purchase via your personal link racks up commissions for you. These commissions are paid based on the pay schedule of that particular program.

There are a number of products which show you the ins and outs of starting your affiliate business. Check the resource box of this article to get the two best and most economical products on the market today. Each of these products is guaranteed by the product owner and each has its strong points. The most important one being, you get the information you need without spending a fortune.

Easy as pie?  Right? The truth is, you will probably need one of the resource products to get things set up; but I wouldn't spend a lot of money on them. Check out the recommended products to get you started. Above all, get started. You won't earn until you learn. Good luck!

In affiliate marketing, all people involved in the program get benefited. The affiliate earns income each time he refers a visitor to the website of the merchant. And on the other side, the merchant produces sales without spending a lot of funds for advertising and promotion. The goal, of course, of both sides is to attain as much earnings as possible.

Since the goal is to earn more income, both affiliate and merchant should consider including the practice of back-end selling in their business activities. Back-end selling is a great support for affiliate marketing. It can greatly augment the income produced from affiliate marketing.

Basically, back-end selling is the selling being conducted after the initial sale. That is, when a visitor becomes a paying customer for one product, another product can be advertised and sold to the same customer. This second product is called the back-end product. Since the customer is already acquainted with the merchant or affiliate, there is already an element of trust planted in between. Selling the back-end product may be easier than the initial sale.

Historically, back-end selling has helped boost the sales of both the online businesses and the land-bound companies. As indicated before, the major reason is the established trust between the customer and the merchant or affiliate. If the customer is satisfied with the first product that he purchased, he will logically assume that the online company is offering quality products. A satisfied customer can be easily turned into a “repeat customer”.

The usual technique in backend -selling is to make the customer aware of another product, This second product can cater to the other needs of the customer. And when the satisfied customer becomes aware of the second or back-end product, he will certainly look into it and may decide to purchase it. After such a sale, the merchant or affiliate may offer another back-end product.

Back-end selling had been proven to be powerful in augmenting the income many traditional and land-bound companies. This marketing practice has also made hundreds of online companies flourish and expand. Therefore, it can be a marketing practice that can surely work well with affiliate marketing.

While affiliate marketing will attract new customers and lead to the first sale, the back-end selling can build loyalty among the customers. In other words, back-end selling is one major ingredient in creating that winning formula in affiliate marketing.

Every affiliate should look into the financial promise of back-end selling when coupled with affiliate marketing. These two can make the affiliate earn unbelievably amazing income.

Copyright 2006 Mdarma 

Should you choose Affiliate Marketing Program as an Internet Business? YES.

Affiliate Marketing Program is a great way for anybody to start a home-based, Internet business. It offers a wide range of products and avenues to make good money quickly. Due to its potential, it is one of the most sorted ways to make an income through the Internet.

The most common reason that people do not get started in Affiliate Marketing is because they are not aware of what it is all about.

How can we earn a sizeable income through Affiliate Marketing Program?

To promote and sell other peoples products. The beautiful thing about this is that you have a great variety of products and services at your disposal. To help you in the Affiliate Marketing Program, there are many training materials that will enhance your Affiliate Marketing capabilities and help you to increase your income.

By selling other peoples products, you save a lot of headaches.  You do not worry about keeping your books, stock or having good customers support.  All these burdens are taken off your hand and you can have a good sleep. Your product or service provider will be handling all this challenges. You only worry how to increase your income. So you need to have some good training materials and guidance given to you step by step in Affiliate Marketing.

No doubt there are so many products are out there in the market, it is advisable to choose products that interest you. This will help you to effectively advertise and promote the products or services.  You must not allow your temptation to sign up for several products.  The secret is choosing wisely.   Do not select products that you do not know or not familiar with. My reason to say this is your interest and passion for a product or services will prompt you to be creative.

Remember that there is a very stiff competition out there. You must know what your competitors are doing.  Do not ignore them, find out what are doing check them out. This maybe tough but will benefit you when you are planning your marketing strategy.

What you have read is the tip of the iceberg. It would be very wise to spend some money and subscribe to a good Affiliate Marketing Program where you will be taught step by step the tactics to gain a sizeable income in a short time in Affiliate Marketing journey.

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 standstill. 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 it in his own signature line.

3. Articles – This type of promotional material is needed by affiliates who want 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, but it can still attract visitors. The online businessman must be ready with his banners that will fit into 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 want to display the images of the products that they are promoting.