Affiliate Programs
Now that you've got your website set up, it's time to make some money! It's simple - your website can start earning you money when you insert affiliate links and banners for products, services and referrals on the pages of your website.
There are hundreds of affiliate programs that exist on the internet. You just need to choose those which are most appropriate in relation to the subject matter of your site.
If your website is about cats, then you want to insert links and banners for cat-related products. You could search individual pet store websites to see if they offer their own affiliate program. You would be required to fill out a brief application before you are approved by the company.
Once you are approved, they will assign you your own unique ID code that will be used in all of your affiliate links. This code allows the company to track all the purchases made by people who initially clicked on the affiliate link on your website before they made their final purchase.
Affiliate Networks
There are also large affiliate networks which make finding different affiliate programs easy. This also makes payments easier since earnings from multiple affiliate programs can be combined into one payment.
Commission Junction is one of those large affiliate networks. They feature affiliate programs from companies like Sears, Best Buy, Travelocity, Yahoo, Marriott, Collectibles Today and many, many more.
Another large affiliate network is LinkShare. They feature affiliate programs from iTunes, AT&T, Macy's, CompUSA and many, many more.
Free LinkShare Membership! Enjoy the benefits of partnering with 400 top online merchants.
The great thing about affiliate programs is that they make it very easy for you. They supply all the links and banners for you to use (including your unique ID code). All you have to do is copy the HTML code that they provide and insert it into your website. If you want to create a link for a specific product, you can easily customize your affiliate link.
Affiliate Program Commission
What you want to consider is the commission percentage you will be paid by the affiliate program for every qualifying purchase. On average, a low commission rate is 2 to 5 percent, while a high commission rate is 15 to 20 percent.
The commission rate may influence how much effort you put into promoting a product on an affiliate program, or which products you choose to promote.
For example, Amazon.com offers a great affiliate program. However, on average they only pay around 4-8 percent for affiliate commissions on most items, with up to 10-15 percent on specific product categories. While Amazon offers one of the widest assortment of products, it may not be worth your time to promote a book that only costs, for example, $8.99 since your commission will be approximately 36 to 72 cents per sale.
A general marketing rule is to expect a 1 to 3 percent success rate on most marketing campaigns. That means, if you have a mailing list of 1,000 people, and you send out a newsletter promoting a specific product, maybe 10 to 30 people on your list may actually buy the product as a result of reading your newsletter.
But even if the customer doesn't buy the specific product you promoted, they can still search the rest of the affiliate's website and if they make ANY purchases during that same web session, you will earn the commission.
One of my favorite affiliates is Collectibles Today. They offer a 12 to 15 percent commission and they offer very unique items.
20% Off Sale at Collectibles Today!
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