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Q: affiliate program ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: affiliate program
Category: Business and Money > eCommerce
Asked by: rodeovoss-ga
List Price: $35.00
Posted: 03 Jan 2004 20:28 PST
Expires: 02 Feb 2004 20:28 PST
Question ID: 292923
i am interested in starting an online affiliate business. please
pretend you are talking to a child for all purposes of this question,
i am new to this whole affiliate business. i would like some opinions
or a complte rundown  on affiliate programs overall.  then i would
like the most profitible affiliate programs available(i hear that
online gambling is the most popular). i also need to build a site for
the business...so if you could just reccomend the best places to build
a website(prices,customer servive,etc.),keep in mind that i have a
mac, i know alot of site builders will not operate on a mac(and no
knowledge of html).

Request for Question Clarification by leader-ga on 04 Jan 2004 11:24 PST
Hello rodeovoss-ga:

Just a little clarification. Do you want to run your own affilliate
program are are you interested in becoming an affiliate. In order to
run your own affiliate program you got to have a product to sell.
Online casio business is operated by mega large companies based in
Caribbean and Europe. They offer affilliate programs where you can
earn money. What exactly are you looking for?

A litle clarification will be great.

Thanks.

Clarification of Question by rodeovoss-ga on 04 Jan 2004 12:07 PST
i am looking to BECOME an affiliate.  i hear that if you pick the
right industry and partner with the right companies(sell/refer thier
products or servives) the commisions can be very lucrative...with time
over six figures.

Request for Question Clarification by leader-ga on 04 Jan 2004 13:32 PST
Thank you for the clarification. Yes, many industries who run
affiliate programs claim that. I have started work on your question.
Answer  
Subject: Re: affiliate program
Answered By: leader-ga on 04 Jan 2004 19:08 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hello rodeovoss-ga:

It is such a pleasure to answer this exciting question. First let me
describe in very simple terms, what an affiliate program really is? I
also will comment on some of the most profitable affiliate programs
that are available. Lastly, I will provide you information on how to
set up your very own website even if you don?t have any html
experience.

Contents:

1. Affiliate Programs
2. A few methods of getting paid through an affiliate program
3. Listing of useful affiliate programs
4. Frequently asked questions about affiliate programs.
5. How to attract customers?
6. How to market your website?
7. Most profitable affiliate programs
8. Best places to build a website

(1) AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Why did the companies start an affiliate program? The whole purpose of
an affiliate program is to establish a partnership with others and
convince them to sell your products. In this case, the parent company
(who is running the affiliate program) pays commissions to its
affiliates (who sell the company?s products) for selling its products.
Both, the company and the affiliates benefit from this partnership;
the company because it gets more customers, the affiliates because
they get commission for referring potential customers.

The affiliate programs really took off in 1998 with Amazon
(http://www.amazon.com) starting the very first affiliate program.
These affiliate programs are nowadays run by large as well as small
companies. According to Media Forrester Research, by the end of 2003
almost 21 percent of the sales will be conducted by the affiliate
programs.

Examples of companies that have well established affiliate programs
are Amazon.com and Cruise.com who have their very own product or
inventory to sell. Many people and businesses benefit from selling
these lucrative products as they themselves don?t have a product base
and run a business by selling an already established product of these
well known companies. If run effectively, you can earn a substantial
income by this method. Allow me to explain how does this work?

Take the example of online gambling business. Actually, these gambling
businesses are run by mega large companies who have presence mostly in
Caribbean and Europe. Almost, all of these companies run an affiliate
program. Ok! Here is a brief breakdown of how you become an affiliate
and how you can earn money?
______________________________________________________________________

(2)A FEW METHODS OF GETTING PAID THROUGH AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM

We take the example of an online casino affiliate program. Most of the
casino websites will provide you with a link or a banner to advertise
on your website. One method of earning cash from these banners and
links is that when someone clicks on the banner to go to the parent
company website, you earn a certain amount for referring those clients
to the parent company website. It can be as little as 5 cent per click
and as much as 25 cents per click. This method is known as ?cost per
click?. Another popular method is known as ?Pay per Sale?. Whenever, a
gambler goes to the parent company website from your website and signs
up for the membership, you don?t get anything but whatever money that
player will spent on the parent company website, you will get a
commission of his spending. For example, he spends $1000 in one month.
You can get 15 percent (depends on the program) of $1000. There is no
time limit. You will get a commission of his spending until he remains
a member of the parent company. That can mean almost thousands of
dollars in a lifetime of a customer. Alternatively, you may choose a
different payment method called ?pay per lead?. Now suppose, if
someone click on the banner and goes to the parent company website. He
signs up to become a member of the online casino ($100 membership);
you get half the price ($50 dollars) of the membership for referring
that person to the parent company website.
 
Fortunately, many companies allow their affiliates to combine the
earnings of different methods. This is known as multi-tier referral
payment. For example, John clicks on the banner of Casino XYZ from
your website. He is taken to the Casino XYZ website. You get a 10 cent
for John?s click on the banner. Now suppose, John likes the Casino and
becomes a member by paying a $100 membership fees, you also get $50 as
a ?pay per lead? referral method. John is a big time gambler; he
spends $5000 the first month on online gambling. You will get 15
percent commission on $5000. This means you have earned $750 + $50 +
$.10 = $800.10 from John, the first month alone. And, you may never
know how much John will spend the next month. (This is an example of
three tier referral payment).

These are just a few popular commission structures. There are still
more methods that parent company adopt in order to attract loyal
affiliates.

Don?t be confused by Multi tier referral payments and Multi tier
referral program. I have already discussed Multi tier referral
payments. Multi tier referral program is where you can earn additional
cash by referring another affiliate who joins the parent company
online affiliate program.

Since, we have taken the example of online casino gambling, I would
like you to review some of the commission structures offered by some
well known online casinos. Please visit the website of ?The Gambling
Associates Network? http://www.gambling-associates.com/affiliate-programs/casino-affiliate-programs.php
.

Almost all of the companies will provide their affiliates with an
online tracking system where they can run statistics on how much
commission they get, when did they get and from whom?

You must have noticed from the above discussion that you need to have
your own website in order to be recognized an affiliate. This is the
case with the online casino business. It might not be the case with
some of the other industries. Take for example, a travel industry
where certain well known affiliate programs provide you with a ready
made website that have your domain name and different variations in
colors and style.

This scheme is mostly seen is hotel booking and cruise booking
websites where you just have to attract customers to your website. As
soon as the customer books anything from your website, you get a
commission. Most customers will never know that you are working on
behalf of some well known hotel booking engine. I have seen many well
established websites like these and am aware of the inner workings, as
I worked in the travel industry.

______________________________________________________________________

(3) LISTINGS OF VARIOUS AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Affiliates Directory
http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/directory/index.shtml

Click Quick Directory
http://www.clickquick.com
(You may also select various categories by clicking on the left hand
side menu under ?Program reviews and ratings? heading)
______________________________________________________________________

(4) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

From the pages of Casino Affiliate Programs
http://www.casino-affiliate-programs.org/CAP/faq11.html
______________________________________________________________________

(5) HOW TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS? 

Now come to the main point. You have established a website but how do
you attract customers? Most experts predict that you need about 500
unique visitors to your website if you want to be really profitable in
the affiliate based programs. Let me tell you that it is quite a large
number. Fortunately for the type of commission that the online casinos
pay, even if you attract half the unique visitors, you can be
profitable. Suppose you attract 250 unique visitors per day. It means
7500 unique visitors per month. The industry average for the ?visitor
conversion rate? is around 1.5 percent i.e. out of every 100 visitors,
1.5 visitors will buy the product. At 7500 unique visitors, 112.5
visitors eventually become a member (paying $50 each). You earn 112.5
* 30 = $3375 per month. If you can attract 500 visitors you can make
$6750. If your conversion rate is 3 percent instead of 1.5 percent,
your earnings can be $13500 per month. Wait! This is just the ?pay per
lead? example where you get half the commission for anyone becoming a
member. Your income can be staggering if you are operating on ?pay per
sale? and some of your referrals are big time gamblers (see my example
above). And, this is only one tier referral payment example. Talk
about two or three tier program. AND IT?S TAX FREE????
______________________________________________________________________

(6) HOW TO MARKET YOUR WEBSITE?

But exactly how do you get traffic. To be honest with you, you will
have to spend some money on marketing to attract good traffic. One of
the best ways to do it is by paying ?search engine optimization
specialist companies? that can put your website on top of the search
engines. Although, they charge you anywhere from $2000 to $10000
depending upon the length of their contract but the rewards can be
great. You can also market your website by various other methods
through an expert company. Just type in keywords in Google search
engines like ?search engine optimization? , ?search engine
advertising? , ?website marketing? and ?website advertising? and you
will get a lot of companies to choose from.

I am asking you to use the services of these companies because
attracting customers to your website is the difference between profit
and loss. You just have to spend some money in order to get profits.

For the sake of this discussion, let us assume that you market your
website and get lots of visitors but will the visitors click on your
banner, links or buy from your website? For this, your website has to
look professional. Fortunately, it is not that difficult since you
will not be selling a product but just promoting it. In case of
affiliate programs like hotel bookings etc, you don?t have to make a
website. In case of online casino affiliate program, you have to have
a professional looking website. As I said earlier, it is not
difficult. What you can do is write a couple of good short articles on
the online gambling and put your own reviews of some online casinos
and how they operate. Confused? Take a look at
http://www.gambling-associates.com . You will notice that they have a
simple website that anyone can make. You can write your own reviews
and provide your own ratings. You also can write FAQ list and a couple
of other things. DID you notice that they don?t have any contact
information? That means that they too can be running a referral
business. But take a look at their website; it not only looks
professional but also doesn?t give any indication that they are a
referral service. The impression is that this is a website that
provides information on the authentic casinos and their inner
workings. Ah! our fifteen year old can do that. Review other websites,
too. What do you notice?
______________________________________________________________________

(7) MOST PROFITABLE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Nowadays, every industry claims to have the most profitable affiliate
program. Although, we know that certain affiliate programs such as
online casinos, dating and adult are the leader in the industry but
you can guess which is most profitable by simply matching different
affiliate programs. An easy way to do that is to check out such
directories as
http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com AND http://www.clickquick.com and
compare programs from different industries. Calculate your profit by
assuming that you get 250 unique visitors per day with 1.5 conversion
rate. You will get your answer. Just remember that profits on selling
an online gambling service, selling books and attracting potential
dates vary.

Please read, ?The big profits of being a casino affiliate?
http://www.dotaffiliate.com/articles/casino.html

TRRRRRRRRRRRRN!

(Did you notice that http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com and
http://www.clickquick.com
may also be referral services? If you sign up for a certain casino
membership from their website, they can get a commission. (Get an idea
on how you can make your website look professional).
______________________________________________________________________

(8)BEST PLACES TO BUILD A WEBSITE

First things first. It doesn?t really matters whether you have a Mac
or a PC. Nowadays, your website will be hosted on an online server of
web hosting company. You just need to be sure that the web hosting
package that you select is compatible with your operating system i.e.
Windows, Unix etc. Fortunately, almost all of the reputable web
hosting packages can support both systems and more.

You will be able to build and maintain a website online, using one of
my recommended websites. These websites can not only host your domain
but also they allow you to build a website in minutes. I am
recommending you these websites on the basis of their easiness,
customer service and price.

These are:

Website Pro?s
http://www.websitepros.com

Handzon (I have tested it myself)
http://www.handzon.com

I Page
http://www.ipage.com
______________________________________________________________________

Useful Search Strategy

?Web site builder?
?Affiliate programs?
?Online casino gambling? 

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you are not satisfied with my
answer. I will be obliged to serve your needs.

Sincerely,
Leader-ga.
rodeovoss-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars

Comments  
Subject: Re: affiliate program
From: rkm100-ga on 04 Jan 2004 22:18 PST
 
Selling Online Medicines is also very profitable.. you might consider
promoting lot of pharmacies, instead of one..
http://www.ecure.info/branding.aspx offers a similar a program, by
paying them USD 49 / month you get all things at one place.

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