Online Income Avenues

I think you'll agree with me when I say that one of the most commonly asked questions online is "What's the easiest way to make money online?"

If you posed that question to ten different marketers, you'd probably get ten different answers. But, in my opinion, the easiest way to make money online is to make commissions by selling other peoples products. You don't have to create a product, you don't have to handle customer support, you don't have to deal with the hassle's of running your own business... all you have to do is send traffic to the marketer's webpage & collect commission checks!

When you first join an affiliate program you are given an affiliate link that goes to the website of the product owner. This special link is encoded with your unique affiliate id and when you send someone to the product owners site through your special link and they make a purchase you receive a commission. This works out great for both you and the product owner, because you make a nice paycheck and the product owner makes more sales and cuts down on advertising costs at the same time.

One of the main things that makes affiliate marketing so great is that having or creating your own product isn't necessary. Along with that there is the added perks like not having to deal with customers support, complaints or refunds. The only thing an affiliate needs to be successful is some basic internet marketing skills and the desire to succeed. Don't panic if you don't know anything about marketing online, because there is plenty of fantastic information available on the subject all over the internet. So let's dive right in and talk about some simple tactics that affiliate marketers can use to increase their chances of success.

Use Unique Web Pages! Don't Try To Be Walmart!

First, let's talk about using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. It's very important not lump all of your chosen affiliate programs together on one website just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site or at the very least a sub domain focusing on each and every product and nothing more. This way you can streamline and target your marketing efforts for better results.

Another thing you can do is to include product reviews on the product webpages you set up, so visitors will have an initial understanding of what the product can do for those that buy them. When possible collect and include testimonials from users who have already tried the product and add them to the webpages. This really helps increase credibility and convert more visitors into buyers. Including articles that you write or with reprint rights that highlight the uses of the product and posting them on the website as an additional page will also help increase your free search engine traffic and chances of success.

Be sure to make the pages attractive, compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the product is about and will make them want to find out more. That is when they will click on your affiliate and help you make more commissions.

Get Their Name & Email Address!

Next let's talk about collecting contact information by offering free reports to your prospects. This does two important thing for your affiliate business. It allows you to further educate your prospects and follow up with them in the future with more information on the products you offer.

For this to work you will need a good autoresponder service. You will want to create a short report and series of seven to ten autoresponder messages that will be mailed to people who sign up to receive your free report. Did you know that according to research, a sale is usually closed on the seventh contact with a prospect? Hence the reason you will want to create a series of follow up messages.

When you are creating your content focus on important points like how the product can make things easier and more enjoyable for people who purchase it. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk folder before anyone reads them.

Do your best to convince those who signed up for your free report that they will be missing something big if they don't take the time to at least check out the product or service you're recommending. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Don't make it sound like a sales pitch. Keep in mind that by providing useful information to your prospects you will increase your chances of making a commission.

Traffic, Traffic, Traffic!

Ok, I want to touch on one more thing that you can do to increase your chances of affiliate marketing success. That is getting traffic. The kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think about it this way, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back.

One of the best ways to get this kind of traffic is by writing articles for submission and publication. A good rule of thumb it to try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and submitting these articles to you can generate as many as 100 targeted prospects to your site in a day.

That may not sound like much for all of the work you put in but statistics show that 1 out of every 100 people are likely to make a purchase. If you can generate a 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can make 10 sales based on the average statistic and the best thing is that the articles will continue to work for you even after you have moved on to another product.

None of the tactics that we have discussed are very difficult to do, if you think about it, it just requires a little time and an action plan on your part. Once you have completed the process for one affiliate program you can move on to the next and you will end up with a good source of income along with a thriving affiliate marketing business.

Choosing The Right Affiliate Product To Promote

One of the best ways to choose a product to promote is by deciding whether or not you are interested in purchasing the product yourself. If that is the case, chances are, there are many others who are also interested in it as well. Of course, you can't just base your decision to promote an affiliate program on weather or not you like the product, but it is a good place to start. Now let's go over some other thing you should consider.

- You will want to look for a program that is of high quality. For instance, look for one that is associated with many experts in that particular industry. This way, you can be assured of the standard of the program you will be joining.

- Look for the ones that offer real and viable products. How do you know this? Do some initial research. If possible, track down some of the members and customers to give you testimonial on the credibility of the program.

- Does the program cater to a growing target market? This will ensure you that there will be a continuous demand for your referrals. Do a little research and make inquiries. If there are forums and discussions groups related to the product topic participate and look for reliable feedback.

- A program with a compensation plan that pays out a residual income and a payout of 30% or more would be a great choice. There are programs offering this kind of compensation. You just have to look closely for one. Don't waste your time with programs that do not reward substantially for your efforts.

- Be aware of any minimum quotas that you must fulfill. Some affiliate programs impose pre-requisites before you get your commissions. For instance you may have to make more than a $100.00 or make ten sales before you receive your paycheck. If the sales target is too hard to achieve you may want to rethink joining.

- Select programs that have plenty of pre made tools and resources that can help you grow the business in the shortest possible time. Not all affiliate programs have these capacities.

- Check out weather or not the program has an automated system that allows you to check your referral statistics and compensation at any time.

- Does the program offer strong incentives for customers to make additional purchases or for members to renew their memberships. Affiliate programs that provide continuous help and upgrades for its products have the tendency to retain more customers. These things can assure the growth of your business.

Always get to know the product and program you are considering. Knowing the kind of program you are getting yourself into will help you anticipate and prevent any future problems you may encounter. Do some research and don't be afraid to ask questions before you join.

Here are some of the questions you should ask:

- Will it cost you anything to join?
Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining.

- When do they issue the commission checks?
Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice.

- What is the amount of commission paid?
If the program pays per sale (which are the ones I prefer) you can expect to make anywhere from 5% - 75% depending on the program. You will also find programs that pay for each hit or each impression.The amount paid for those type of programs is not much at all, so you must be prepared to send large volumes of traffic through your affiliate link to make a nice paycheck.

These are just some of the questions that need answering before you enter into an affiliate program. You should be familiar with all of the important aspects of your chosen program. They can help you select the right program for your affiliate business.

Ok, Now Let's Boost Your Affiliate Commissions!

Affiliate marketing doesn't require product development, dealing with customer support, complaints or refunds. As a matter of fact it is one of the easiest ways of starting an online business and earning more profits. Assuming that you have followed some of the above steps and that you have already chosen some affiliate