Affiliation
Become An Affiliate
Overview
You promote other companies websites/products and get paid commission based on sales or leads you generate.
What Is An Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program allows companies to advertise on websites and places which aren't their own. The company promoting is called the 'Merchant', as the promoter you are called the 'Affiliate'. The affiliate program is simply the system which brings the two together.
How it Works
1) You join an affiliate company (some listed below)
2) They list companies which are available for you to promote
3) You choose which companies you want to promote
4) They provide banners/text links which you insert on your own website or promote via other methods IE Pay-per-click, forums etc
5) You then get paid commissions depending on the advertisers terms (E.G 10% of every sale made through your banners)
How Much You Can Earn
Successful affiliates make a lot of money, there is a skill to making good sales, it isn't as simple as just putting a banner on your website and letting the commissions roll in! The websites/products you promote should be highly targetted to your audience and you should do a positive pre-sell (EG feature a company telling your users the benefits of buying from the company).
If you were to try and make sales by building up a portfolio of quality websites which have thousands of visitors each you could generate a very nice full time income from affiliation!
Affiliate Programs to Join
Here is a selection of websites that you can join to become an affiliate. They are all free to join.
AffiliateFuture - UK only, over 300 different websites to promote. Pays via direct bank deposit.
MoreNiche - Based in Nottingham, UK. Promote individual products, high paying commissions. They pay you in dollars (UK banks do allow you to pay in foreign cheques). Excellent support to help you make sales.
Commission Junction - One of the largest affiliate services, pay commissions via direct bank deposit. One of the largest providers, merchants include Yahoo, eBay.
Common Questions About Affiliation
Q: When and How Do I Get Paid?
A: The particular affiliate program you join decide both of these. Most pay via direct bank transfer or paypal.
Q: How Do They Know When Someone Buys Something By Clicking on My Banner or Link?
A: When you join you get a unique affiliate number, this is inserted as the URL for any banners or text links that you place. This way everyone who clicks on your banner is tracked and so they know when they make a sale thanks to you.
Q: Can I Promote Websites Which Aren't Based In My Country?
A: Yes, as long as the affiliate program makes payments via a method you can accept (EG paypal) you can promote websites in other countries who make sales to customers in other countries.
Got Another Question? Not Sure About Something
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