You joined an affiliate program

his Affiliate Program Tutorial (updated 2008) aims to give you a quick overview.

It's your road map to success as an affiliate.

I've been earning a good living from affiliate programs since 1998. Based on that experience, this tutorial tells you the 18 steps to take to generate a useful income from affiliate programs.

No tricks. No gimmicks. Just solid, reliable methods designed to work for years.

You have the choice of many different ways of earning affiliate commissions.

In my experience, you'll have your best chance of success if you do the following. Find a niche and create a useful, interesting, content-rich, keyword-rich website on one topic and weave in affiliate links and AdSense ads.

This method - with the more recent addition of AdSense ads - has worked beautifully for me since 1998.

I urge you to master this basic method. It's a bit like serving an apprenticeship.

As part of your apprenticeship you'll learn SEO (search engine optimization) skills, copywriting skills and various other Internet marketing skills which will prove to be invaluable, whatever route you choose next.

With any luck, you'll have a bit of fun, too! I do.

I include Google's AdSense in this tutorial. Strictly speaking, AdSense is an advertising network. However, in many ways it's similar to an affiliate program. I think AdSense is fantastic. It's free to join, free to use and easy to use.

It's often much easier to earn good money from AdSense than affiliate programs, so it's essential that you include AdSense in your plans.

OK. Let's get started...

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Choosing affiliate programs that make you lots of $$$$.

Certain affiliate programs have a very high profit potential. Others have about a snowball's chance in... well, don't have much chance of making an income at all.

So how do you choose? It depends upon the content of your site. It doesn't work to promote dog medicine to people if your site is about trips to Jamaica. While you might be able to relate the two, your site visitor probably will not relate their trip to Jamaica with getting cheap medicine for their dog. And when it comes to affiliate marketing, it's not about you. It's about your visitor. Affiliate income is about you, but you only earn the income by doing the marketing.
There are affiliate programs on just about anything, but only some programs are highly profitable. If you are working with a very profitable affiliate program, then you can actually build your entire site around the affiliate program itself.

So, which affiliate programs make the most money?
If you have a high traffic site (100,000 visitors per month), then you can make money with any affiliate program as long as it is related to the content of your site. However if you have a low traffic site, you need to be more selective to make money. Look for the following characteristics of a good affiliate program:

1. Lifetime commissions. Certain affiliate programs give you commissions on every product that is sold to the customer, forever. A great example of this is SpeedyPin. One of the designers of this site earns residual commissions from people purchasing calling cards, and these people signed up months ago through SpeedyPin.

2. Affiliate programs that have high profit for each sale will help you grow more quickly. However, simple logic will tell you that $2 is better than $0. It's better to make a profit of $30 per sale than $2 per sale, but if you stick and stay, you can get your pay. What this means is that patience and persistence are huge when it comes to affiliate marketing.

3. The product needs to be of great quality - something that you can actually vouch for. Why sell something that is poor in quality?

4. Information products can be the best type of affiliate products because they do have high profits. Many people will give you 50% commissions or more for selling their information product. Why? It costs virtually nothing to reproduce an information product. Stamping a CD costs 25 cents, or emailng the information costs less. If it's a good product, it can be resold for $9.95 (or more), and because the product designer doesn't have to market it, they will pay generously for your efforts.

To get a real idea of what are the best affiliate programs, you need to have a look at what affiliates are earning. Find out more information about what top affiliates are earning.

You can also have a look at the affiliate networks which put together a whole lot of affiliates with merchants.

The main affiliate networks are listed many places throughout the internet, and on affiliateadvice's affiliate program directories page. Check these directories out for a high quality selection of products in a wide variety of areas.

If you REALLY want to know what the highest commission products are, here are a few examples. But please remember that these areas are highly competitive, and it is hard to get search engine traffic for them

Information products - online newsletters and ebooks.
Credit Cards.
Online Gambling, sportsbooks etc.
Mortgages/loan companies
Software products
Web Hosting (very competitive area)
Office Supplies (such as inkjet cartridges)

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The Keyword Crash Course Review - Learn How To Make Money Online With Niche Websites

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Niche websites and blogs are where the money is at in Internet Marketing and Affiliate Marketing, especially on a local level. Out of all the emails I get asking me for help, this one subject is probably the most asked about. I simply don’t have time to answer all the questions. I’ve covered a lot of the subjects and strategies on this blog, but there is more some of you need to know to get started making money with niche sites.

Having said that, a while back I bought The Keyword Crash Course. This is a course that Mark Butler and Courtney Tuttle have developed. The whole course was about starting Niche sites, monetizing them and getting free traffic from search egnines like Google. Although I was sure I knew 99% of the stuff they were going to teach (afterall, I make a good income from this stuff already!), I was hoping to learn a few tricks that would make me more money or save me time. I wasn’t disappointed in the course. In fact, I felt like the Course paid for itself within the first 30 minutes of watching the first video. By the way, the course cost $597. I’ve spent a lot more on courses that didn’t have near the amount of information in them.

If you know Court and Mark, then you know that they are honest and helpful. In fact, they’re some of the most honest and helpful people I’ve ever met on the Internet. Everything is laid out for you and they don’t hold anything back. (unlike a lot of courses I’ve bought!) In fact, I’ll go as far as saying the Keyword Crash Course is the most legitimate and easy to follow course I’ve bought. It’s a nuts and bolts Course that nearly anyone can follow and make money with. You can take a look at it by clicking here.

Within the first 30 minutes of the first video, Court describes how to find profitable keywords using “The Formula“. This was the bombshell that I had been looking for. Every once in a while, something will come along that makes you set back and take a deep breath, all the while thinking “Damn, this is what I’ve been searching for!” That is how I felt when Court showed me The Formula for evaluating profitable keywords.

I’ll tell you this also, when you start finding those little Gold nuggets of Keywords, it won’t take you long to figure out that you can use them to build Affiliate Sites rather than Adsense sites if that is what you want to do. If more people would use The Formula, there would be a lot less people failing at this game.

Before this, I had my own system for finding good Keywords, but it was hit and miss. Some keywords paid very well, while others fizzled. I still get some keywords that don’t pay when I use The Formula, but a lot less. By using Court’s Formula, I’ve been able to amass about 90 keywords that will turn into some very nice Niche sites.

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Make Money With Credit Card Affiliate Programs

If you’ve been around affiliate marketing any time at all, then most of you know that Web Hosting Affiliate Programs pay some of the top commissions in the industry. What many of you don’t know is that Credit Card Affiliate Programs pay a lot more than Web Hosting Affiliate Programs in most cases.

While most web host will pay you between $25 and $100 per sign up, there are many Credit Card affiliate programs that will pay you $50 to $300 per sign up. Some of these affiliate programs will pay you every time someone fills out a credit card application while others just pay you whenever someonen you refer qualifies for a credit card.
Why Credit Card Affiliate Programs Can Be More Lucrative Than Web Hosting Affiliate Programs

Well, it’s simple really. How many people do you know need Web Hosting? Now how many people do you know need a Credit Card? Yeah, now you’re seeing the potential.

While you may have a hard time getting people to sign up under your webhosting affiliate program, simply because most people don’t need it, most credit card programs work well simply because you’ll be steering people to the sign up page with your affiliate link. Most of these programs have multiple cards to choose from, so if your Customer has bad credit, no problem, there’s a card for that. Do the want a credit card with reward points? No problem, most programs have those cards available. Have someone who wants a credit card with balance transfer? You guessed it, most programs have cards available for that also.

If you choose a Credit Card affiliate program that pays you per applications filled out, (which they pay around $2 to $5 per application), you may find that you can get more people filling out CC applications than are approved for the Cards. It just depends on what type of traffic you’re targeting.

Once you realize that it’s quite easy to steer people through your affiliate link, you start to realize the potential available to you to make money with these programs. In many cases, it’s as easy as putting your affiliate links where people who need credit cards will find them.
How To Get Started Making Money With Credit Card Affiliate Programs

There are a lot of credit card affiliate programs out there today. Due to the credit crisis we’ve fast over the last year or so, the number of credit card companies using affiliate programs has declined, but there are still plenty of others out there to make this a profitable venture.

One program that Beginners can get started in the Credit Card Affiliate business with is My Credit Card Cash. When you sign up with them, they give you a website already pre-populated with nearly 100 card offers. All that you must due is to promote your affiliate website url. Since they’ve already made the site for you, there’s no site building or other technical knowledge required.

Then, each time someone goes through your website and is approved for a credit card, you earn a commission. Some of these cards have a payout as much as $121. Most are in the $30 to $75 range. It doesn’t take long to see that there is a lot of potential here.

Currently they’re offering a 14 day trial for $1. After that, they’ll charge you $37 per month until 4 people have been approved for credit cards through your website, then it’s free. I was able to get 4 sign ups easily within the 14 day trial so my website was free. Click here to learn more about this program.

Most of these types of programs will charge a fee until you have a certain number of sign ups through your website. This is in part to keep people from signing up for their affiliate program and then doing nothing. They only want Affiliate Marketers who will be promoting their affiliate sites. This is why most will give you the website after you’ve signed up a certain number of people that are approved for a credit card.
Ways To Promot Your Own Credit Card Website

The nice thing that I like with credit card affiliate programs is that offline promotion is very effective. Once I had my website, I went and had some free business cards made up. The first batch simply said “Bad Credit? Need A Credit Card?” across the middle of the business card in bold print. Below that my Website url. I had 500 business cards made up the first time and left these everywhere I went. Grocerie stores, drive-in’s, bulletin boards around various busineeses (especially cafe’s) and so on. This is how I managed to get 7 sign-ups within my 14 day trial.

Later on I tried taking out small ads in several Thrifty Shopper type papers around my community. I think I was able to get a 1 month run with a business card ad for around $125.

The first week, I only had 1 sign-up. The second week I had 4, the third week I had 5 and the fourth week I had 9 signups. I then continued the ad for another month and my sign-ups leveled out between 7 and 14 per week. The longer it ran, the better it did on average simple because it was always in front of them when they opened the shopper.

I talked to one lady in Illinois who makes a full time income by taking out business card ads in Home Owner Association newsletters. She says most of these ads only cost her $5 to $10 per month for each Newsletter.

And that’s the trick to making credit card affiliate programs pay off, just as with any affiliate program, get your affiliate link in front people who want what you have to offer.

Although I haven’t tried it yet, a Classified Ad in small Local and Regional newspapers may also do just as good. In my area, I could take out one ad and have it placed in 8 different local community newspapers for about $90 per month.

Ways To Promote Your Credit Card Website Online

Now that I’ve showed you a few effective ways to market you credit card affiliate website offline, let me show you a few ways to do it online.

Basically, the way I started out marketing my own credit card affiliate website was the same method I used in the January $2500 Challenge. I signed up in several forums and answered questions about debt, finance, family related questions and questions about credit cards. My signature had a link to my site in it. In some post, where it was relevant, I left a link to my site.

I also promoted my affiliate website on Yahoo Answers and Wiki’s whenever I answered a question and where a link made sense and was helpful. If you go in and start throwing links all over the place, you’ll be banned in no time flat.

As I became busier with other affiliate ventures and my time was limited, I eventually built a website about Family Finance and had several links to a few of my credit card programs on the site. This site is one of my biggest earners still today. It’s pretty much on auto pilot, all I do is promote the site a few hours a week.

And that’s how I make money with Credit Card Affiliate Programs. I’ve been doing it a few years and once you get your system down, I think you’ll find that this is a pretty simple way to earn income. I find it a lot easier than promoting some other affiliate programs, but everyone is different. If nothing else, sign up for a trial and give it a try to see if you’ll like it. You never know, you might have a big earner on your hands.

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Become a Part of a Successful Affiliate Program

Affiliate programs are the ideal way to make your web site profitable. You can make money if you become a part of a successful affiliate program. These programs are also known as associate programs, partner programs, reseller programs and sponsor programs.

They are are a method of promoting the products of other companies in return for some percentage of all sales generated by you. These programs have been used by companies as a inexpensive way for them to generate lifetime customers. They are very popular because they are so easy to get into.


However, becoming a part of a successful affiliate program can be a little harder than anticipated. It will require research on your part and experimentation, unless you find one that comes highly recommended.

Affiliate programs are common throughout the internet and offer website owners a means of profiting from their websites. It is a win-win situation because everyone involved profits.

Business builders often waste tremendous amounts of money and a great deal of time trying out different affiliate programs. The programs can be found in most any niche including business, pharmacy, dating, adult, pay per click, casino and there are many more.

Often online entrepreneurs jump from one affiliate program to the next while many others promote more than one affiliate program. However, if you find a good affiliate program you will not have to jump from one program to the next. Stick with the one that you research well and with the one that appears to be a good match for you; although there is nothing wrong with promoting more than one.

Of course, if you have used the product, you will be more convincing when selling it. So try to find an affiliate program that peaks your interest in the product. One where you would like to own the product. Your enthusiasm and testimonial will be the best sales closer available to you.

A great affiliate program will offer a full list of informational articles, banners, videos, and additional website links to help you get started with affiliate marketing. They will often help you sharpen your skills with tutorials or by providing a step-by-step marketing guide.

An outstanding affiliate program will allow you to boost your income with wide-ranging affiliate program options based on successful automated systems and smooth processes which allows more time to make more sales.

When it comes to a good affiliate program, information products are KING, especially when it comes to packing in a paycheck. I recently read somewhere that content is KING, keywords are QUEENS and links are PRINCES! Something to keep in mind when promoting your affiliate program.

If you can provide your customer with items such as free courses from your affiliate program you have a better chance of promoting the program successfully. Additionally, if materials are provided for you to make off-lines sales as well -- that is a definite plus because there is a lot of off-line business that affiliate marketers are not going after.

Many marketers have taken advantage of affiliate programs and have been able to make a living from this income stream alone. And if you join one of these programs you will be able to accomplish the same.

Commission rates vary enormously from sector to sector, and even between merchants in the same sector. Commissions can be as high as 75%. Commission affiliate programs are very popular with advertisers because they entail no risk to the advertiser. They are normally paid by check but in some cases by PayPal or wire transfer.

Make sure that you are going to be paid more than $10 in commission for your efforts. It takes the same effort to earn $10 as it does to earn $100 or $1,000. Just make sure that you are paid well for the time and effort it will take for you to market the product. And most importantly, choose a great affiliate program that provides you with the tools you need to succeed.
from : http://www.articlesbase.com

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