Only two things are necessary to earn substantial income as an affiliate. You need to drive visitors to your website, preferably visitors belonging to an easily definable group (students, young mothers, retirees, football fans, newlyweds, fishermen, etc.). And, you need to select one or more affiliate programs which offer products or services likely to appeal to them.
Remember, your website visitors constitute your market, so the more you know about them, the greater the revenue streams they can provide for you, initially and subsequently. Try to determine their age, gender, interests, consumer habits, and other relevant characteristics.
Most of all, be sure you understand why people come to your website. What do they think it is going to offer them? What are they hoping to find?
The more you know about your visitors and why they take the time to visit your site, the better your chances of determining what they may want to learn more about and/or purchase. You can get thousands of visitors an hour to your website, but all you'll get out of it is an ego boost if you don't figure out how you can earn money meeting their needs (or perceived needs). Don't worry if you are not immediately successful...try as many products as necessary until you find "winners". You need not hit a home run on the first pitch.
Remember, you don't necessarily have to sell a product. Some programs offer up to $70 per lead generated. That's why you see so many schools and colleges advertised on the internet.
In fact, some webmasters earn significant income giving away coupons for a wide variety of products because to obtain those products, consumers must put themselves on a mailing list.
Obviously, you want to consider programs which pay high commissions, but your own sales and/or sales leads do not have to be your only source of revenue. Try to find programs which will pay you for attracting other affiliates, particularly two and three tier programs. One program to which I belong pays me 10% of the earnings of everyone I sign up.
Don't succomb to the hype. My advice is that you choose only programs that:
1. provide you with accurate tracking information. You need to know about what is working well for you, and what is not.
2. provide you with tested, successful advertising copy and/or banners.
3. offer you a quick and complete response when you have a question or a problem.
4. offer a valuable, reasonably priced product or service which your website visitors are likely to want.
If you offer your visitors a free newsletter, a "how to" guide, or anything else of value, they will willingly provide you with their email addresses...email addresses you can use to contact them after adding information to your website; email addresses you can use to send them product offerings, and email addresses you can use to maintain contact with them for years. But, you email them only when you have an update, new product, or information they are likely to find worthwhile. Otherwise, they ask to be removed from your mailing list or stop opening your emails. Remember, if cultivated properly, one website visitor may buy many products from you over the course of a few years.
Finally, follow the great advice I once got from an extremely successful businessperson. Track and analyze everything that moves.
About the Author:
Daniel Z. Kane is a college dean who has created websites on college scholarships, financial aid, online schools, online colleges, and online degrees.
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