Monday, July 20, 2009

Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Using these 3 Top Ways

Affiliate Marketing involves promoting for sale products belonging to someone else. You, as the affiliate marketer, get a commission for every sale that goes through as a result of your promotion. You do not necessarily have to have your own website and dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance are the responsibilty of the product owner making this one of the easiest ways of having an online business and making an income.

Let's assume that you have made a start and are already an affiliate marketer promoting a few products, but are not very successful at it yet. What would be your next goal? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? So, how are you going to achieve that?

Consider implementing these 3 powerful ways to boost your affiliate program commissions quickly.

1. Choose the best program and products to promote.

Naturally, you want to promote a product in a program that will make it possible for you to achieve the highest profits in the shortest possible time.

What are the factors to consider when selecting an affiliate program?

The company must:
  • Have a generous commission structure.
  • Have products that fit in with your target audience.
  • Have a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time.


And very importantly, if you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.


There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the leeway to be selective. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.


Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute free from your site if you have one. Remember that you are competing with other affiliates who are promoting the same program and you need to outwit them in your promotional strategies. If you write a short report about what the product can do for you, you will immediately distinguish yourself from the other less creative affiliates.


In the reports you write, always provide some valuable information and add a few recommendations about the products themselves. Do some online research into customer feedback on the product and include this information in your report. The idea is to begin to build up credibity so that people will turn to you when they want to buy a product.


2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free reports.

That is your list of prospects that needs to be nurtured and respected. They will form the mainstay of your buyers. You will need to email your list regularly giving them tips as well as promoting your affiliate products. It is a known fact that people very seldom make a purchase the first time they hear about a product. You may need to send out your message in different emails more than six times before someone actually buys.


As an affiliate, it is crucial to get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the website of the vendor. Bear in mind that you are advertising the product free for the product owners and you only earn commission when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever. With a list of prospects, you are able to send them other marketing messages and, in this way, are able to earn ongoing commission in place of a one-time sale only.


If you can, publish an online newsletter or Ezine. The internet marketers who are earning a very good income online all concur that it is better to recommend a product to someone you know than to try and sell it to a stranger. This is the reason behind publishing your own newsletter. You will gather a group people around your ezine that enjoys what you write which allows you to develop a relationship of trust with your subscribers.


This strategy requires that there is a delicate balance between providing useful information and giving a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials which your readers find helpful, you will build a sense of loyalty in your readers and that is likely to lead them to support you by buying your products.


3. When you begin to do well promoting products for a particular company, you are perfectly within your right to ask for higher than normal commission from them.

If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should approach the merchant and negotiate a higher percentage commission for your sales. If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose you because you are a valuable asset. Keep in mind, too, that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant, so do not be shy about negotiating higher commissions.


Test these affiliate strategies carefully and you could begin to see a difference in your commission checks in a relatively short time.



Sunday, July 19, 2009

Private Label Rights (PLR) - What is it All About?

I've been doing a lot of reading lately about Private Label Rights (PLR) content. I used to think that it was only for lazy people who didn't want to do their own writing. But as I learn more, I've come up with lots of great ways I can use PLR in my own business.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, PLR is content that you get from the original author along with their permission to use it as your own. So you can get a great report, put your name on it and have your own product to sell or give away!

The first couple of products I created using PLR only took me about half an hour. There have been a few sales so far from them so that was definitely time well spent.

When searching for PLR content to use, I found there were a lot of different types of sites available. Some offered monthly memberships and others offered just one time purchases. So be sure to look around before you decide where to buy.

The site I found that was by far the best was PLRWholesaler. Not only do they have an unbelievable amount of content, but it's completely FREE. Most sites charge an arm and a leg for the amount of content that this guy is giving away.

And although I haven't been through everything yet, what I have read is very good quality. It's stuff you would actually want to use as your own.

Since it's free, I highly recommend that you check out PLRWholesaler and see if they have anything that you can use in your business. There just may be an ebook or audio recording that you could quickly brand with your information and start selling to your list.

Check it out by clicking on the banner and let me know what you think...








Thursday, July 16, 2009

How to Sell your Digital Photography at Stock Photo Sites

In the tough economic times of today, we have to become inventive to find additional ways to make money. Look around you - at your hobbies and interests - and see if you can open up a whole new (and exciting) career path. If taking photos is your hobby, consider turning it into a business that can make you money. As a digital photographer you can sell (or lease)online all those beautiful photographs you have been taking.

Here are some ways to do that.

Digital photography allows you to capture a variety of images in a variety of formats. Modern editing techniques can do wonders for your photos and turn them into professional-looking pictures. Do you remember those 'old-fashioned looking' pictures that photographers would take of people at the amusement park? The pictures looked faded and very old - an effect created by the sepia tone they used when taking the picture. That is just one of the kinds of effects you can create with your digital camera when you edit a photo.


Stock photography is a great way to break into the online digital photography market. You sell your photos to others who need pictures for websites, newsletters, magazines and e-zines and other media. Have you surfed the Web lately? Have you noticed that many of the photos look the same? Your unique photos can add a new flavor to what is currently available online. It is exciting - and not a little challenging - to see how people will respond to your photos. Latent talents can be unleashed in the process!



What type of digital photos will sell?


Just remember 'more of the same' will not make a good impression. The stock photography companies are also businesses that need to make money to survive and thrive. Be creative and try out new ideas for holiday photos or photos of daily life, eccentric people and ordinary people going about their daily lives. Test what works and what does not work. If a style or topic is not well received, don't take it personally. Just say to yourself "Hmmm, that is not what people are after. Let's try something different." Sooner or later you will develop a good sense of what webmasters and bloggers are after.

Once you feel more confident, create a website or start a blog (free at Blogger.com or Wordpress.org) and link it to the stock photography sites featuring your work. In this way, more and more people will be able to view your photos which, in turn, may lead to other opportunities opening up for you in the future.


It is worth it. Click Here for some constructive help and guidance with getting the project off the ground and turning it into a profitable enterprise or sideline.




Wednesday, July 15, 2009

8 Ways to Earn Money with Digital Photography

Are you a shutterbug?

If you like to snap pictures at family events or just out in the neighborhood, put that camera to good use in ways that will earn you money for your efforts.

This article will give you eight ways that you can make money with digital photography.

The world of photography has changed since the instant camera was developed. With a digital camera, you can take a mediocre shot and make it perfect just by using a variety of software options. Best of all, pictures can be printed on quality paper on your printer or at a store kiosk for just a few cents per picture.

Technology has created memory cards much like the flash drive storage medium to file and save pictures for sharing on the Internet. You can easily upload pictures from the memory card to your friends, family and a blog or website if you have one.

The 8 ways to earn money from your digital photographs are:

  1. Stock photography. This business is growing. For website newsletters, magazines and articles, publishers look for photos that capture the essence of their articles. It is not terribly convenient to go out and snap some pictures every time you need one. Selling stock photographs to businesses and individuals is convenient for them and lucrative for you.

  2. Wedding photographer. Okay so if you aren’t a professional you won’t be the main photographer at first but you can be hired to take candid shots at the reception or wedding photos after the ceremony. The happy couple can order as many pictures as they want and you can create wedding CDs of the pictures you took.

  3. Newspaper pictures. If you are in the right place at the right time, you might capture photos that are worthy of the newspaper. When news happens, a newspaper photographer might not be on the scene. You can capture the moments and sell them to newspapers. Snapping shots at community events may also earn you some money from local newspapers.

  4. Magazine photographer. Create a portfolio of photos that you’ve taken and submit them to magazines. Looking at your work, they may hire you for assignments. Magazines are a tough market to break into so cut your teeth on other smaller assignments for local newspapers.

  5. Local photography business. Ever gotten a mailing that shows cars for sale or houses for sale? Someone had to take those photographs. It could be you. Hire yourself out to area businesses to do the photographs for them.

  6. Event photographer. Some families like to document their events like family reunions, christenings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties. You can be the eyes in the room catching candid shots of everyone.

  7. Photography website. If you know a lot about digital cameras and photography, create a website to sell photography products. Keep visitors and customers coming back with engaging content on various aspects of photography.

  8. Give photography classes. Those cameras look easy to use but some of those symbols can mix people up. Teach others to use their digital camera and create great pictures that they, too, can market as a business.


There you have it. What started off as a hobby can easily develop into your new business venture.

If you are interested in learning the ins and outs of digital photography then
Click Here! for more information.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Guide to Making Money with Clickbank

"I Couldn’t Believe It At First…Had They Made A Mistake?"

"I Just Kept Quiet As They Deposited More And More Money Into My Account… Day After Day... After Day…

These are the words uttered by Chris Cobb when he realised that he had unwittingly stumbled on a winning way to make money with Clickbank using what he calls:

Your Set-and-forget Clickbank Cash System


In the system you’ll be getting the very basics in the e-book series and then step-by-step instructions and guidance in the videos -- which will literally walk you through the set-up process as if Chris was there in the room with you, guiding you step-by-step.

It's worth checking out.



Sunday, July 12, 2009

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing Part 2

Affiliate marketing is great to do from home.


  • There are virtually no production costs.

  • The product is already developed and proven by the merchant.

  • all you have to do is find as many prospects as you can that will bring in profits for both theAmerchant and the affiliate.

  • Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs.

  • There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there must be a product or service out there that is relevant to your website and your interests.

  • In addition, there is no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material.

  • The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the lowest cost and the most comfort.

  • You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right from the convenience of your own home.

  • In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant.

  • You do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping.

  • These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

  • Because of the global reach of the internet, you can relatively easily find thousands of prospects.

  • You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing.

  • By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn.

  • Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

  • All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business.

  • With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the least complex and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

Try it out for yourself and see how thrilling and potentially lucrative it can turn out to be if you put in the effort and work smart. All you need is a computer, an internet connection and time to invest in your new project, be it full-time or as a sideline.



The Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer Part 1

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online.


  • Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner. The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.


Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing.


Benefits on the merchant's side:



  • It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service.

  • Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques.

  • The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales.

  • Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.


Benefits on the affiliate's side:



  • Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit.

  • The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase.

  • As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing has become a popular of participating in the increasingly lucrative world of Internet Marketing and eCommerce.

We will continue exploring the benefits of affiliate marketing in the next post.





Saturday, July 4, 2009

6 Hot Tips to Get Your Articles Read

If you use articles as a means of promoting your online business or website, you know that getting them read by article directory visitors is a key to getting them to click through to your website.

Here are 6 ways you can help to ensure your article is read.

1) Use short paragraphs.

When the paragraphs are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it. It can get quite confusing and hard work to read. Sometimes, the reader will just quickly disregard the paragraph and move on to much easier reading articles that are good to look at as well as read. Paragraphs can be a single sentence, sometimes even a single word! Plus, don't forget that many of us skim read, and shorter paragraphs allow readers to get the jist of the article content quickly.

2) Make use of numbers or bullets.

As each point is stressed out, numbers or bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest. Format your bullets and numbers with indentations so that your article doesn't look like a single block of square paragraphs. With long lists, try bolding alternating bullet points. This too allows the reader to easily distinguish each item while scanning the article.

3) Use Sub-headings to further divide your article.

Subheadings are another visual key that article readers can use when scanning the article. It's a further indication of the topics the article covers. Use bold, or heading tags to distinguish the sub-headings from the content.Using your keywords or phrases along with the bolded heading can, in some cases, help with search engine rankings.

4) Keep your readers interested from the start to the finish.

By making the article flow from one paragraph to the next, and writing in a conversational style, you draw the reader from beginning to end.Conversational style may not be appropriate for all articles -- particularly technical or formal business articles, but in most situations, it is the most engaging style for people to read.

5) Make them want more.

Since the ultimate purpose in most cases is to draw readers to the website you're promoting, don't give it all away in the article. While it should be information-rich, keep some key information back -- you can then use that info as a teaser in your resource box.

6) Provide a good attention-grabbing title or header.

If your title can entice a person's curiosity you're already halfway in getting a person to read your article. Use statements and questions that utilize keywords that people are looking for. Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise.

Thanks to Jean at DupeCop.net for this snappy reminder of what strategies to use to draw in and hold readers' interest.

3 Essential Requirements to be a Successful Affiliate Marketer


  • What ingredients are required to make a success of affiliate marketing?

  • What does it really take to flourish as an affiliate marketer?

  • Are there any shortcuts to achieving success?


These are but some of the questions that constantly niggle at affiliate marketers - especially those who are just starting out.


Often affiliate marketing is put forward as one of the easiest ways to make money online, but that really is a bit of an over-simplification as there are many pitfalls in the way forward. As with any business getting to know your subject is crucial. So, too, is drawing up plan a of action and carrying it out efficiently and diligently. In this business, equipping yourself with the right tools is vitally important and can spell the difference between success and failure. We have consulted some of the most successful online affiliate marketers and they all seem to agree that the following are the top three requirements for success.


Essential Requirement 1: Your Own Website


A very important and almost indispensable requirement in Affiliate Marketing is having your own website. Some affiliates manage without one, but that is definitely not the norm. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website. Your website is the launching pad of all your marketing efforts. So, you must first build a user-friendly website, which will appeal to your potential buyers and encourage them to click on links to the products and services you are promoting and buy something from there. Concentrate your efforts on building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.
Remember searching for information is what most people do first of all when going online and they do not necessarily to buy something, so be sure to have a lot of interesting, relevant and useful content on your site, too. Visitors will enjoy reading articles that are helpful and interesting in keeping with the dictum 'content is king'. Good quality content will not only build your credibility, it will also assist in getting you higher search engine rankings. By regularly posting good articles, you establish yourself as a credible expert in the field, who people begin to trust and see as a trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is a vital step in building up a loyal consumer base.


Essential Requirement 2: Incentives for List Building


Competition is extremely tight in the internet world. You must always be one-step ahead of your rivals to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market. Therefore, you must use every possible avenue available to encourage people not only to visit your site but also to proceed to the websites of the products and services you are promoting. Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather prospects. By offering a free report on the subject, a newsletter or an e-zine in exchange for a name and email address is how you begin to build up your list. Other list-building incentives are: offering free software, access to exclusive services and other free ebooks. All these will not only be helpful to your prospects, but also actively build your list.


Essential Requirement 3: Link Popularity


The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be emphasized enough. Getting web traffic is at the top or very close to it of the most important requirements of the internet world. Attracting people to your site is something you should actively pursue including the necessary steps to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use when determining how your page ranks for search engines. So, to grow your link popularity, you need to launch aggressive reciprocal link and backlink campaigns.
One of the best ways to encourage both types of links, at no cost at all, is by submitting articles on your topic to e-zines and free article sites. Be sure to include your website link in the resource box of the article submission. You will not only gain exposure, you will also have the opportunity to advertise for free, just include a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity can potentially be. If your articles are original, relevant and useful, more websites will pick them up and use as web material on their websites.


These are regarded as the three essential requirements that an affiliate marketer needs to maximize earning potential. There are, of course, other requirements and tools that can be of enormous help to the affiliate marketer and will extend the range and depth of options available.


The possibilities are endless and limited only by your knowledge, creativity, resourcefulness and determination. You can always explore other ideas and adapt other strategies, which you think might help you become a high earning affiliate marketer.