Begin Your Own Affiliate Business

There has been many people that have made a lot of money with affiliate programs. You can too, by reading, and following their example. Be sure to use you common sense, since each person that has written "how they made it to the top" articles and books, all have various different methods that worked for them. Try them, tweak them to your abilities and you can "make it to the top" too.

What is an affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is allowing other businesses to advertise on your website - for a commission. There are three methods to earn that commission: (1) Pay per click - or every time some one clicks on a banner or link. (2 )a percentage of the sale that is made that originates from your site. (3) Pay per subscription or lead - when someone goes from your site to a form and fills it out. Many of the companies pay monthly or quarterly and most wait until you have earned $25-$50 before sending you a check.

Where Can I find Affiliates?
Affiliate Brokers are companies that both merchants and advertisers use. The merchants that want others to advertise for them list with the Affiliate brokers, and the Advertisers (you) can look at the companies, their programs and choose what ones you want to work with. Start with Commission Junction and Linkshare, they have been in business along time and have tweaked their training and reporting.

How can I present my affiliates?
I have 3 suggestions for you. You need to find the one that works the best for you.

1- Create a "Mall" of all your affiliates on your own site and organized by categories. Most often it is best if you specialize in something, it will be easier to market and to add the extras that make the customer more comfortable.

2- A free website you can use to create your own site, add affiliates and target a more specific market. This one is a good place to start if you have a more refined target market in mind, or if you have your own services and/or products you want to market in addition to affiliates. It is easy to set up and requires no HTML training. If you purchase your domain name through Hosting.com they offer you a free site,

3. Your very own website, designed and hosted for your domain.

How can I promote my Affiliates?
There are several ways of promoting your business. Check out the marketing site on Chickadee Business Network.

Commission Junction University - once you join commission junction, you have free reign to all their great information.

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