Saturday, August 26, 2006
What are affiliate programs?
An affiliate program,also known as a Reseller program or an Associate program,is simply a program in which an individual signs up as an affilite for a company,known as a merchant,to promote it's products and services.When a person signs up to be an affilite for a merchant,he/she is usually given an affilite website which is actually a copy of the merchants website but with some tracking device to make it unique to that particular affiliate.
When a person buys a product through that affiliate link,through the affiliate's id,the affiliate management software will know the affiliate through which the sale was made and credit the person.Let me explain this better.
For each product that you sell or promote,you are paid a certain percentage as commission.Most affiliate programs pay upwards of 50%.Some even pay as much as 75%.So essentially,you are paid by the merchant when you make a sale for them.This is called pay for performance.
What this means is that if you make no sale,you are not paid at all.
There are many companies that will pay you as their affiliate.Some of them include:
1.Internet Marketing Center:This is owned by Corey Rudl.They have a range of products and it is a 2-tier affiliate program.
2.Strong Future International:This is also a good affiliate program but you must advance to an Executive Affiliate at the end of each month.It is not for those that are new to affiliate programs and do not know how to drive targeted traffic to their website.
3.Site Build It:Their affiliate program is called "5 Pillar Affiliate Program".You are provided with tons of free ebooks and resources that will enable you to start making money.
4.Cafepress:They allow you to "shop,sell or create what's on your mind".They have over 35 million products.
5.Surefire Marketing Group:This is owned by Yanik Silver who is a well known copywriter.It has a wide range of products that you can promote.
These are just some of the many affiliate programs that are available online.You can go to any search engine and type in "Affiliate programs" to get some more.
SOME TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1.Affiliate:This is the person that signs up with a company to promote their products.
2.Merchant:This is the company that an affiliate signs up with to promote their products
3.CommissionThis is the amount you are paid for the sale of products from your affiliate website.
4.Affiliate ID:Your affiliate ID is always embedded in your affiliate Url.For example,consider the URL(universal resource locator,otherwise called the website address) given below:
www.someaffiliateprogramname.com/563428
"someaffiliateprogramname" is the name of the affilite program while "563428" is the affiliate ID.It is assigned to every person that signs up as an affiliate and it is used to track the affiliate website through which a sale was made.This enables the merchant to know the affiliate that made the sale and pay him his commission accordinly.Some affiliate ID's are actually much longer than this such as:
www.someaffiliateprogramname.com/cgi-bin/?=563428
Whichever way,you understand what I am saying.
5.Sub affiliate:These are your own affiliates.They are people that join the program by signing up through your affiliate link.You are paid a certain percentage as commission on sales that they make.
6.2-tier affiliate programs:These are affiliate programs that pay you for sales that you make as well as for sales that are made by your affiliates.
7.Multi-tier affiliate programs:These are affiliate programs that pay you for sales that you make,sales made by your affiliates,sales made by your affiliates affiliates(known as your sub affiliates) and it goes on to some specific point.
There are still some other terms that you need to know but we will get to them later.
When a person buys a product through that affiliate link,through the affiliate's id,the affiliate management software will know the affiliate through which the sale was made and credit the person.Let me explain this better.
For each product that you sell or promote,you are paid a certain percentage as commission.Most affiliate programs pay upwards of 50%.Some even pay as much as 75%.So essentially,you are paid by the merchant when you make a sale for them.This is called pay for performance.
What this means is that if you make no sale,you are not paid at all.
There are many companies that will pay you as their affiliate.Some of them include:
1.Internet Marketing Center:This is owned by Corey Rudl.They have a range of products and it is a 2-tier affiliate program.
2.Strong Future International:This is also a good affiliate program but you must advance to an Executive Affiliate at the end of each month.It is not for those that are new to affiliate programs and do not know how to drive targeted traffic to their website.
3.Site Build It:Their affiliate program is called "5 Pillar Affiliate Program".You are provided with tons of free ebooks and resources that will enable you to start making money.
4.Cafepress:They allow you to "shop,sell or create what's on your mind".They have over 35 million products.
5.Surefire Marketing Group:This is owned by Yanik Silver who is a well known copywriter.It has a wide range of products that you can promote.
These are just some of the many affiliate programs that are available online.You can go to any search engine and type in "Affiliate programs" to get some more.
SOME TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1.Affiliate:This is the person that signs up with a company to promote their products.
2.Merchant:This is the company that an affiliate signs up with to promote their products
3.CommissionThis is the amount you are paid for the sale of products from your affiliate website.
4.Affiliate ID:Your affiliate ID is always embedded in your affiliate Url.For example,consider the URL(universal resource locator,otherwise called the website address) given below:
www.someaffiliateprogramname.com/563428
"someaffiliateprogramname" is the name of the affilite program while "563428" is the affiliate ID.It is assigned to every person that signs up as an affiliate and it is used to track the affiliate website through which a sale was made.This enables the merchant to know the affiliate that made the sale and pay him his commission accordinly.Some affiliate ID's are actually much longer than this such as:
www.someaffiliateprogramname.com/cgi-bin/?=563428
Whichever way,you understand what I am saying.
5.Sub affiliate:These are your own affiliates.They are people that join the program by signing up through your affiliate link.You are paid a certain percentage as commission on sales that they make.
6.2-tier affiliate programs:These are affiliate programs that pay you for sales that you make as well as for sales that are made by your affiliates.
7.Multi-tier affiliate programs:These are affiliate programs that pay you for sales that you make,sales made by your affiliates,sales made by your affiliates affiliates(known as your sub affiliates) and it goes on to some specific point.
There are still some other terms that you need to know but we will get to them later.
