Making Money With Affiliate Programs

Making money with affiliate programs is easy, but slow. Unless you get in on the ground floor of something really special, the dollars will only trickle in, weeks or months after the ads appear on your site. There's nothing wrong with this, since affiliate programs require no effort on your part, after the initial setup. The only problem is possibly unreasonable expectations on your end. The fact that many of these programs promise to make you rich overnight, might have something to do with that. If you approach affiliate programs, realistically, you'll do fine and get much from the experience. If this is a whole new area for you, please read Introduction To Affiliate Programs.

Here are some ways to get the most out of affiliate programs:

• Sign up for broad category affiliate programs.
  • An example is Amazon. They sell books--new and used, videos, software, and all sorts of specialty merchandise. Since almost every topic in the world has been written about, videoed, and had software developed for it, it's a pretty good bet you can find something at Amazon to promote on every one or your pages. This makes your affiliate program easier to maintain and the versatility makes it easier to reach your minimum payout figure.
    
    
• Sign up with an affiliate network, like Commission Junction or LinkShare.
  • By gathering your affiliate programs under one umbrella, you'll find it much quicker, easier, and more productive to be an affiliate than if you tried to keep track of a bunch of independent programs. Finding new programs, adding links, checking your status, and spotting marketing trends are all more efficient when handled by one website. You can also be more confident that the affiliate program is reputable and will be around for awhile, if they're registered with one of these companies.
    
    
• Promote your affiliate programs through email and message boards.
  • This does not mean spam. Simply add your affiliate links(s) to your signature on emails and message boards. When you write to people or post messages, your affiliate links will be visible to all who read them. This is a very low-key and free method of advertising, that pays off, nicely.
    
    
• Look for multi-tier affiliate programs.
  • These are programs that not only pay you for sales, but they also pay you to get other affiliates to sign up under you. This creates a "downline" of other affiliates, so you'll make money when they make money.
    
    
• Promote your affiliate programs with original content.
  • An affiliate ad on any old page doesn't mean much, but an ad on the same page as an article about that general industry or topic carries a whole lot more weight. This is the same principle as having relevant ads on your content pages, only you're doing it in reverse. Pick your favorite affiliate program, then write a nice, informative article for the page where you're ad will appear. Don't just write a commercial. If the affiliate is Weight Watchers, post some hints or recipes. If the affiliate is Home Depot, post some DIY ideas. HINT: If you aren't a writer, you can still deliver original content by visiting topic-related message boards, researching questions, using your expertise to post helpful answers to those questions, then posting those FAQ on your web page (after removing all personal info, of course).
    
    
  If you have a product of your own to sell online, you might want to start a referral program of your own. Please read
  Starting Your Own Affiliate Program.

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