Affiliate Marketing

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Do NOT confuse Affiliate Marketing with Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). There is no similarity whatsoever. Some people who don't understand the nature of Affiliate Marketing and what Affiliates do, sometimes compare the two. In MLM (for example the likes of Amway, Avon and Tupperware etc) members actually BUY product from the person who is above them in their 'line' of the organization and either sell it again to someone in their 'downline' or directly to their customer. This method often involves a number of people making their 'little' profit before the product reaches the user.

Affiliates simply 'refer' prospective clients to a merchant. ALL members of the Affiliate Program refer ONLY to the merchant themselves, so the user always buys from the merchant. No money changes hands between clients and Affiliates or between Affiliates and those they sponsor into a program (downline). The merchant is the only person who collects money FROM THE USER. Affiliates, because of their ability to expose the merchants goods etc to prospective clients by way of their website traffic, Opt-In lists, Safelists etc, are simply paid a 'commission' for their part in attracting the sale for the merchant. As I said, Affiliate programs DO have 'downlines', where members of a particular program 'bring' others in, and they can earn 'residual' commissions (a small portion of the commission earned by the one they 'sponsored'), but this ALSO is paid by the merchant and it doesn't affect the price paid by the user. In effect, Affiliates are simply AGENTS who are paid a fee (possibly comparable to a 'spotters' fee).

So you see, even though their is a 'downline' which is sometimes compared to the 'MLM downline', the two methods of marketing are totally different, in that there is only one person doing any selling (the Merchant) and only one person doing any buying (the End User). So, there are no extra mark-ups or built in costs to make up for the amount of profit which needs to be shared among the many people involved down the line in maybe only one MLM sale.

Virtually anything is sold through Affiliates on the Internet nowadays. Sometimes a merchant will run their own Affiliate Program. Often, merchants will pay an Affiliate Network to run their Affiliate Program for them. The larger, more popular Affiliate Networks are Commission Junction, Clickbank and ClixGalore etc. The advantage of the 'Networks' is that once you are sign up as an Affiliate, you have access to ALL the merchants and products that they manage.

There are literally thousands of affiliate programs available on the Internet and it depends solely on you to determine the type of product and the type of website, that is, the method, atmosphere, style in which you're going to promote the products you decide to sell.

There are no restrictions or 'rules' with regard to what sort of website works or what subject matter attracts more or less visitors, other than a couple, which are simply a matter of common sense. The things you need to keep in mind are:

1. You will have to attract people to your website (or whatever venue you are going to promote through, be it a Newsletter, ebook, Directory etc).
2. You will need to fill your website (or venue) with interesting and worthwhile content and information to attract AND KEEP visitors, so that interest will develop in the products you choose to promote. You will also. more than likely, need to rely on the Search Engines (the likes of Google, Yahoo. Alta Vista, MSN, Teoma etc) to supply at least some, if not most of your 'targeted traffic' (targeted traffic is traffic which is looking for a specific product, service or information and is directed to it by way of a search result, listing or advertisement). Too many affiliates rely on the Merchant to supply the interesting content, news, information, facts etc on their website but visitors have to click on the product link before they get to the merchant's website. What is going to draw visitors to your website, other than listings in the the SE results, which are completely useless unless you have, at least, reasonable rankings for the types of keywords and phrases people will use to search for your subject matter or info), is good informative and interesting content. Think of your venue as the 'program' they read before seeing the show, or the 'TV add'. The initial point of interest for the user.
3. You will need to have products, which fit well with the subject matter of your website, whether your website is specifically designed for attracting buyers of advertised products or some other purpose and you want to have the website pay for itself a little by selling some products of interest to visitors whom you target for other purposes, you will need to display/promote products and services that the kind of people you envisage visiting are going to be likely to need or want. There is absolutely no point promoting Viagra on a website about Teen Pregnancy, now is there! (it may sound like a ridiculous example, but believe me, you would be surprised!). This is one of the 'common sense' rules I mentioned above.
4. If people visit once, well and good, if they come back, that's much better. Many Affiliates rely on return business to keep their commissions coming in (of course this applies more so to those whose website's main purpose is attracting buyers). There are some products which people are bound, through necessity, to continue to buy such as; food items, medications, clothing, consumables for household and office equipment and appliances etc. But they can be bought from many places, what are you going to place on your website in order to keep people coming back, rather than go elsewhere and also, have them come back for perhaps other items or more of the same if there is no specific necessity for them to continue buying. 
5. Simply having the 'best' price is not always enough, especially on the Internet. Trust plays a very large role in where people buy and what they buy online. You have to do everything to instill a degree of trust in people that you expect to buy from you. After all, they don't know you from a bar of soap. They can't meet you and they have only an address and (maybe) a phone number, if something goes wrong. Of course, as an Affiliate, you are simply referring them to a Merchant but still and all, it's your recommendation that they are trusting when they click a link, even out of curiosity. My advice is, only sell good quality, fairly priced and 'returnable' goods. This way you will develop a reputation with you visitors as an honest and trustworthy website, and they may well direct others your way.

Listed below are the major 'Affiliate Networks' through which you can gain access to a myriad of different merchants and their varying products and services.

For individual Affiliate Programs dealing with specific products or services, see our 'Home Biz Opportunities' page in which there are listed a number of sound programs from which many have been able to make their mark in Affiliate Marketing, as well as other areas of Home Based Business.

Affiliate Networks

These are the major Affiliate Networks that I would suggest joining to a new Affiliate who may wish to sell or promote multiple products or a selection of brands and types of the same product (You can just click on the logos to go to their website to check them out or sign up). They are all FREE to join and you won't receive any 'junk email' other than an occasional merchant or product update.