Misconceptions About Affiliate Marketing

Good fun and down to the point info on Affiliate Marketing...

Before beginning to write my guest post for Chris’s blog, I went in search of what he’d already covered on the topic of affiliate marketing (the topic he asked me to write about) and found out something pretty important while digging through his posts on the topic and your comments on those posts. It would appear a decent portion of his audience hates affiliate marketing.

My name is Rae Hoffman-Dolan, aka Sugarrae, and I’ve been a successful full time affiliate marketer for over a decade now.

[waves while wearing protective gear]

Guest Post – Misconceptions About Affiliate Marketing

Solutions For The Excluded CA Amazon peeps

by DANNY SULLIVAN

If you’re in a state that Amazon has dropped, I’ve got two easy solutions for you that I’ve

tested: SkimLinks and VigLink. Both serve as “super-affiliates” on behalf of others. You insert a bit of their code on your web site. Then if you have any links to sites with affiliate programs, they automatically add their own affiliate codes.

This means you can be an affiliate without having to sign-up for a bazillion affiliate programs. In the case of Amazon, it also means those in states thatAmazon has dropped its affiliate program might be able to continue being anAmazon affiliate through these companies.

SkimLinks, for example, is based in London. That means it wasn’t dropped as an Amazon affiliate — and if you used its code, then you earned Amazon fees through its account. The downside is that you earn less than as a direct affiliate. But if you don’t want to change all your codes, SkimLinks and VigLink are very attractive.

I tested both over the past two month. In both cases, I didn’t have to strip any of my old codes — both have ways to “override” my codes with their own. I never understood how VigLink managed to stay an Amazon affiliate despite being based in California — I asked them twice about this and got no answer — but they did.

I wrote about VigLink more last year at Search Engine Land. That explains how its codes, as well as those used by SkimLinks, are both deemed perfectly find by Google. That’s handy given that Google Ventures backs VigLink. I’m currently using VigLink here, but I go back-and-forth between both programs, as I find it interesting to see how both work in the real world. If you use the links to either above, disclosure time, I earn referral fees.

Solutions For The Excluded CA Amazon peeps

How to Build a Simple Affiliate Marketing Machine That Attracts Targeted Visitors!

There are so many ways to make money on the internet and the opportunities continue to increase as more and more people are introduced to the world wide web.
Interestingly enough there are many areas where people are still using dial up internet connections to get in touch with the rest of the world.
Full article here:How to Build a Simple Affiliate Marketing Machine That Attracts Targeted Visitors!

Alice Order

How To Make Money in Your Spare Time Doing Simple Online Tasks | Zero 2 Hero

Many “online jobs” promising quick riches and little effort are really scams. While the tasks below won’t make you rich, they can earn you a little pocket money on the side—and these days that can make a big difference.

Most of these online money making opportunities only require you have a computer, a decent internet connection, and some sort of marketable skill (or the ability to provide valuable consumer insight to marketers). You’ll be operating as a free agent and can choose when, where, and how much to participate.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not, because as mentioned earlier, you won’t likely be able to quit your day job with any of these programs, which typically pay way less than regular part-time gigs. But if you’re a student, insomniac, or just someone who wants an occasional cash boost without the commitment required by a typical job, these are some of the best tasks you can do online in your spare time.

Also beware: because specialized skills aren’t always required, you do have to be wary of scams. Before you sign up to become a virtual focus group participant, paid survey taker, mystery shopper or any online worker, keep in mind this important rule of thumb: you should never have to pay to work. Also, read the fine print.

How To Make Money in Your Spare Time Doing Simple Online Tasks | Zero 2 Hero

How to Begin Simple Affiliate Marketing | eHow.com

What is Affiliate Marketing: How do I Start?

Affiliate marketing, at first, may seem daunting. Think of being a salesperson and having the luxury of not seeing people face to face. You are simply sharing products with others. Once you start in can be a bit addicting; I find myself in the store or running errands thinking, "I could promote that" and I run home and start a new campaign.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Step 1
   Think of things that you buy, want to buy. Look for individual websites that offer affiliate programs or join a site will provide you with a plethora of affiliates programs in one place.
2. Step 2
   Be careful not to find to many things at once. Focus on promoting one thing, when you have that finished start another. I would strongly recommend not doing multiple promotions until you get your feet under. I suggest this only because you want to make sure you are though. You can do two or more blogs a day and probably should but if you are just starting make sure you get the hang of it first. Once you start looking for the programs you will see them everywhere and you will start to look for them every time you visit a website. The affiliate program is most often listed at the bottom of the website.
3. Step 3
   Now you know what you want to promote, find a blogging service and design your first blog. Check the blog site's rules to make sure you are allowed to put in affiliate links. The blog site will walk you through the steps on how to design your blog.
4. Step 4
   Search for keywords to enter into your blog. There are many keyword search tools to help you with this and here's a tip, it is not always good to get the keyword with the most hits. It is better to find a keyword with low competition. Make sure you add the keywords to your blog so that people visit your site.

Full article here: How to Begin Simple Affiliate Marketing | eHow.com

Commission Junction

Commission Junction is an online advertising company owned by ValueClick and operating in the affiliate marketing industry.

The company is the largest affiliate network in North America, powering 62% of the top 500 web retailers affiliate marketing programs and operates worldwide. Along with being the world's largest Affiliate Network, Commission Junction also promotes their Search Marketing services and their media services.

Their corporate headquarters is located in Santa Barbara, California, with other offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Westborough and Westlake. Commission Junction has also offices in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain. The company has over 1,500 customers including Dell, Overstock.com, Buy.com, Home Depot, Zappos, and Yahoo!.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is an online advertising channel in which advertisers (online merchants that sell products or services) pay publishers (independent parties that promote the products or services of an advertiser on their Web site) only for results, such as a visitor making a purchase or filling out a form, rather than paying simply to reach a particular audience. This "pay-for-performance" model is in essence the modern version of the "finders'-fee" model, where individuals who introduce new clients to a business are compensated. The difference in the case of affiliate marketing is that advertisers only pay their publishers when the new client introduction results in a sale or a lead, making it a low-risk, high-reward environment for both parties.

How it Works

Advertisers in our network, the CJ Marketplace, populate their ad links in the interface, making them available for placement by publishers. Each link is assigned a commission, such as a fixed amount per lead or a percentage of a resulting sale on the advertiser's Web site. Publishers looking to monetise their traffic apply to join an advertiser's program. Upon acceptance, the publishers select and place the advertiser's links on their Web sites, in their email campaigns or as part of search listings.

When a consumer clicks on a publisher's link, a cookie is set on the visitor's browser that identifies the advertiser, the publisher, the specific link and payment rates. When the visitor makes an actual purchase online or fills out a form, that transaction is tracked and recorded by Commission Junction. Upon recording the transaction, Commission Junction handles all of the collection and processing required to ensure fair and timely commission payment for the publisher, and all of the administration and verification necessary to ensure quality sales and leads for the advertiser.