I am a full-time affiliate marketer,
and have been succesful in this business since 2001. I'm involved
in many affiliate programs. I've been reading a lot of advice
lately that if you're going to truly succeed at selling something,
you've got to have some sort of success with it yourself. To try
and promote products that you have no interest in or success with
yourself can be a major exercise in BS. That's why all of the affiliate
programs and guides I mention below are ones that
I actually use myself to make money on the net.
I'll be the first to say that there
are many ways to make affiliate programs work. If you're new to
affiliate programs, and you don't have much capital to speak of,
you are going to need to work towards learning how to build websites
and getting them ranked in the search engines like Google, Yahoo
and MSN Search. With the right manual, this isn't an impossible
task, although these days it takes patience to wait out the period
between submitting a site and the time when it actually shows up
on the search engines. Here are what I feel are the two top programs
on the market for learning how to do this:
1)
Ken Evoy's SiteSell - No one brings you from point zero
to being successful as an affiliate marketer like Ken Evoy. In
the internet marketing world, Ken is known as the king of "overdelivering".
Ken's was the first manual I ever read when I began. He really
covers all the bases, and will take you from beginner to someone
who knows how to make money online.
2) James
Martell's Affiliate Marketers Handbook - 2002 - Learn how my downloadable, 8-step training manual
could offer the keys to YOUR success with affiliate programs on
the Net!
I bought James's manual after I had already gotten my feet wet as an affiliate
marketer, but his manual is great for beginners too. He gives very detailed instructions
on how to do exactly what he does, which is make a lot of money online. I make
a good living off of just the sites I built following his formula. Don't let
the "2002" scare you off. This method works great today, as it did
in 2002, and James always provides updates.
Affiliate Programs
If you already know your way around
affiliate marketing, and are looking for good programs to join,
here are my current favorites:
4LowRates.com
-
I love affiliate
programs where all you have to do is generate a lead. No one has
to buy anything for you to get your commission. Granted, 4LowRates.com
isn't the only company out there offering this, but I have tried
many, including Ameriquest and LowCost Lending with just as much
gusto as 4LowRates, and none of them converted for me. They
claim excellent average conversion rates, but for some reason or
another they did not convert for me. Perhaps these conversions are
coming from sources other that afffiliate marketers such as myself
- I don't know, I just know I've invested plenty with them and
very few people wind up filling out the application. 4LowRates
has a one-minute short form - that could be the reason they get
so many sign-ups.
Commission
Junction - Not many of us affiliate marketers would go very
far without Commission Junction. It is the ultimate source of
affiliate programs. Commission Junction is a very professional
organization, and gives the most useful stats about how profitable
a company's affiliate program is. Nowhere else will you get such
a selection and useful analysis of internet marketing affiliate
opportunities.
Linkshare -
In my opinion, the #2 affiliate program source behind Commission
Junction. While you will get access to many companies and there
are some good programs to be had, you don't get the same figures
you get with Commission Junction, such as the all important earnings
per click, which tells you how many dollars affiliates
make for every 100 visitors they send to each company.
Google
AdSense - Google's AdSense ads are a great addition to
an affiliate website. It is a great technology that matches
ads to the subject matter of the page, and a fantastic way for
affiliates to earn money. When someone
clicks on an ad, you make money - they don't even have to buy anything
for you to make money!
