Affiliate Marketing - Does it really pay?

Affiliate marketing's been a staple of the internet marketing scene for many years now. It's highly touted as a money maker for newbies and experienced marketers alike. But does it really pay to be an affiliate marketer?
 
Let's take a look to learn more... Basically affiliate marketing's an agreement between a web site owner and a merchant. The web site owner's actually an advertiser for the merchant or product creator. The agreement is a contract between the two parties that stipulates that the site owner can use various methods including the space on his site to promote the merchants goods. The merchant meanwhile agrees to pay a percentage of each sale generated through the affiliates personalized link. This benefits both sides because the product creator spends nothing to advertise their goods and the affiliate pays nothing to research and develop new products.
 
This creates a win-win situation. The product creator wins by saving money on advertising, which is one of the most costly aspects of doing business, by passing this cost on to affiliates. Basically it's a pay-per-performance deal because the merchant doesn't accrue any costs until the sale's made and the merchant pays the specified commission. The affiliate marketer wins by being able to sell an already developed product, thus saving the time and money on the front end by not having to deal with R&D and product creation. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do as an affiliate is find as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and yourself.
 
Another benefit to the affiliate is that most programs are free to join and have pre-made sales material so your marketing experience doesn't have to be that of an expert. Probably the biggest benefit to being an affiliate marketer on the internet's the internet itself. Because of the global reach of the internet it's very easy to reach tens of thousands of prospects for almost any type of product line. It's also very easy to intensify your efforts as an affiliate marketer to exploit new and productive strategies such as viral marketing, e-books, special reports and autoresponders.
 
Lastly, as an affiliate marketer you get to pick and choose between many different products to promote. You're not married to a specific product or even a specific product type. Your risks are minimal because there are no long term binding contracts so if one product doesn't bring in a profit you can quickly and easily replace it with another.
 
All in all affiliate marketing's still an excellent way to earn income from the internet. Perform your due diligence, find a hungry market, find a good product and go for it!
 
Kevin Hansen
http://www.ezymoneyathome.com
 
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Why Using Forums Boost's Your Online Business
 
There are many ways to boost your business online - writing articles, search engine optimization, acquiring incoming links - the list goes on; but one of the best ways which is often overlooked is to find forums relating to your line of business and join in with them. Being a frequent participant on forums can increase links back to your website, increase your chances of being seen as an expert, increase your mailing list, sell more of your product, get new affiliates to sign up, make you new friends - in fact there's not a lot to be said against joining a few forums.
 
However, there are some things to think about before you get started:

DO:

1. Research each forum before you join. Make sure it's relevant to your business and see if the participants are in your target market. Look at how much traffic the forum gets. How busy is it? - there's no point in joining a dead forum with very few posts.

2. Check the forum rules before you post. Some forums will allow you to post adverts for your business while others will object. Check if you are allowed to add a signature at the end of your posts - adding a small biography with a web link to your business is a great way to increase incoming links to your site and to get more traffic.

3. Be polite and treat everyone the way you would like to be treated. Even though you don't meet people face to face you will build up some great relationships if you take the time to give good answers to questions, to be helpful and to respect other people's opinions. And every post you answer adds to your reputation. Use your posts to give genuine, useful advice, not just to plug your business and you'll soon be looked on as an expert.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for advice - no-one knows everything and sometimes you will need help.

5. To make the most of your time on the forums, allow yourself only a certain amount of time each day. Read only the posts that are relevant and that interest you and post answers quickly before moving on. It's very easy to spend the whole day on forums and not get anything else done.

DON'T:
 
1. Never, ever use a post to blatantly advertise your business, particularly if the forum rules don't allow it. Nothing will damage your reputation faster than spamming a forum.

2. Don't go through the list of forum members, collect email addresses and send them unsolicited mail. At best you'll be banned from the forum and at worst the owners might report you to your ISP.

3. Don't ever get involved in a flame war (this is when a heated conversation on a forum boils over and degenerates into nothing but an exchange of personal insults). It might be really satisfying to say what you think about someone, especially if they've been getting on your nerves, but just imagine what other people will think of you if you do.

In conclusion, treat people online like you treat people in real life. Think of it as a networking event that's taking place on your computer and don't forget that other posts on the forums are made by real people with real feelings. You already know how to make friends and new contacts face to face. Apply what you already know to online networking and you could be enjoying great success with a global audience.

Kevin Hansen http://www.ezymoneyathome.com

You May use this article at anytime for content for your website. You will have to add this box to your website. You must leave all information as is as all the content is copyrighted. All authors signature and urls must stay intact. http://www.ezymoneyathome.com