work at home
80k a year from Affiliate Programs?
By Jim Daniels -
Work at home
site.com
A few years ago when affiliate programs began to make their
way onto the Net, I was already "living" online. So naturally,
I was one of the very first marketers to take a look at this
"new" online marketing idea.
And frankly, after a close look inside the numbers, what I
saw was not overly exciting. But thanks to a little patience
and a few strategies I developed, I've been able to generate
affiliate income that most experts predicted impossible. (And
continue to predict impossible to this day!)
If you're looking to do the same, read on...
The very first affiliate program I reviewed, paid an average
of ten percent commissions on each product sale my site
generated. The products (mostly books) averaged around $15 so
my share would be about a buck and a half per sale. I figured
if I could get one sale out of every 35 visitors I sent to
the site, that would be a decent conversion rate (better than
average, actually). After doing a little math, I concluded
that I would earn about $45 for every 1000 visitors I sent
to the site.
But getting 1000 visitors to any given affiliate site meant
I'd have to get about 10,000 visitors to my own site. If I
could do that every week, I'd be doing OK for a small
business site with a marketing budget close to zero. But I
was already learning that it takes time and money to get
10,000 visitors a week. And let's see... for all my traffic
generating efforts I would pull in a cool $180 a month? It
didn't take a genius to figure out that it might not be
worth the effort. I passed.
But I did NOT pass on the affiliate game altogether. I knew
there was potential for excellent long-term income in the
right affiliate programs so I bided my time and grew my
website traffic and my ezine subscriber numbers. Meanwhile,
I kept a close eye on the affiliate horizon.
Then during 1998 and 1999 I joined my first few serious
affiliate programs. And to make a long story short, these few
affiliate programs were responsible for over $80,000 in income
at my website last year alone. Who says you can't make a decent
income with affiliate programs?
While I've sampled a few other programs along the way, I
continue to promote only a select few programs on a regular
basis. As far as affiliate program marketing goes, you won't
find too many marketers who are as picky as I am. But picky
works. Had I joined that very first affiliate program I looked
at, I would have been lucky to make $5,000 last year in
affiliate income. Not bad, but a far cry from 80K.
So what programs pulled in 80k last year for me?
I'm not going to tell you!
That's right, if you've been a subscriber to my BizWeb
eGazette for any length of time you probably already know
anyway. If you're new to this newsletter, you'll have to poke
around at my website and find out.
I did not write today's tip to round up more second-tier
affiliates. I wrote it to show you the TRUE potential in
affiliate program marketing and to explain exactly how you
can grow affiliate income like I have.
So let's get to that next, right after today's important
sponsor message...
So what are the secrets to generating measurable affiliate
income? Here they are in a nice five-step program...
1. Choose the right affiliate programs!
As my example above shows, this important step can mean a
difference of 75K a year, easily. The right programs for YOU
are ...
-
programs that tie in with your site well (Ex: don't
promote a dating service if your site focuses on business)
-
programs that you can get behind 100% and recommend
personally to your website visitors, subscribers and all
else who come in contact with your business
-
programs that pay serious commissions of 25% or more on sales -- and if you
can earn residual or recurring income that is even better
-
- Ex: services like web hosting require
customers to pay monthly, so you as an affiliate can earn
monthly too!)
-
2. Promote your best programs with personal recommendations at your website and in
your email messages.
While most affiliate programs offer marketing assistance to
their affiliates, your best bet is to form your own
marketing plan and promotion material. This sets your
affiliate site apart from thousands of others.
And don't forget, in order to truly make personal
recommendations, you'll need to be a CUSTOMER as well. I see
far too many affiliates making personal recommendations
without even making the investment in the product or service
they are promoting. Not only will you lose credibility when
you do this, you'll be limiting your marketing potential by
not knowing the product like you should.
3. Don't go affiliate crazy and promote too many programs.
A handful is fine, but a dozen or more cheapens the
experience for your users. If you absolutely MUST promote
lots of products and services, PERSONALLY RECOMMEND only a
small number of them. Take your very best ONE or TWO
affiliate programs and stick to recommending them as your
staple. A premium service with a slightly higher than normal
price tag and generous commission is ideal for this
strategy. But be sure it is worth the price!
4. Don't expect to grow serious affiliate income without having a website of your
own.
Too many newbies make this mistake. They think they can
avoid ALL online business start-up time and expenses by
joining an affiliate program and using the free site they
get as their main site. It's a mistake. The best affiliates
in EVERY program have their own website where they bring ALL
their traffic first. From a "home base" like this you are
free to make personal recommendations, promote a variety of
programs and earn income other ways such as advertising or
selling your own products and services. Growing your own
site is a major key to growing serious long-term affiliate
income.
5. Get help!
Don't go it alone. Ask successful affiliates how they've
grown their incomes - most are happy to share the details.
Read their books, take their courses and get on their
subscriber lists. There's no point in trying to reinvent
the wheel. Simply follow the path that other successful
affiliates have taken before you and you can achieve
success too. It really is that simple.
And if you want some more hype-free advice on generating real, long-term,
"wow!" income online, come to my new
work-at-home-site.com that reveals exactly how I did it and how
YOU can do it too...
* This work at home tip by
Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing Co., helping online businesses since 1996. Whether
you own a medium sized company or you work from home, Jim can help you.
Yes, I want
to work from home. Tell me more...
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