Being an Affiliate Marketer And The Benefits

Summary:

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to is find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate.

This article from The Online Master is about: affiliate marketing,make money online

Being an Affiliate Marketer And The Benefits

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner. The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant’s products by linking to the merchant’s website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant’s side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.

Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits. Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant’s website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate’s site, is redirected to the merchant’s website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to is find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort. You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping. These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

Being an Affiliate Marketer And The Benefits

Aztec Chamber of Commerce panel discusses social media and marketing

Mayor Sally Burbridge says advertising and promotion led to record gross receipts taxes in December

Aztec Mayor Sally Burbridge speaks about business marketing and social media during an Aztec Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Aztec Municipal School District administration offices. (Jon Austria — The Daily Times)

At center, Roberta Rogers, marketing manager for the San Juan Regional Medical Center, talks about marketing on Thursday during an Aztec Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Aztec Municipal School District administration offices. (Jon Austria — The Daily Times)

AZTEC — Mayor Sally Burbridge arrived at Thursday’s Aztec Chamber of Commerce meeting and began her speech on business marketing and social media with a confession.

“I broke two of the first basic rules of marketing today — I forgot to bring business cards,” Burbridge said. “I know. Use me as an example. Here’s what not to do. Always bring business cards and hand-out material. I didn’t bring either one today.”

Despite the oversight, Burbridge was less bashful about sharing news of the city’s record-breaking $492,347 in gross receipts taxes in December. She attributed the financial boon in part to promotion of the city’s new holiday shopping event, Aztec Sparkles, which took place that month.

“That was December business sales — the highest numbers we’ve had in five years,” Burbridge said. “This was the city partnering with the chamber partnering with a lot of independent businesses in the community … to help spread the word about coming and shopping in Aztec.”

Burbridge said the event, which could have been a wash-out when cold winter weather blew through town, was a success because of collaborative advertising and promotion of the event online and in print.

“Snow, rain, sleet — it all happened that day,” Burbridge said. “But, I think, the extra promotional effort that went into (Aztec Sparkles) is paying off.”

Also participating in the panel discussion on business marketing and advertising were Roberta Rodgers, marketing manager at San Juan Regional Medical Center, and J.R. Sykes, the publisher of The Talon, the city’s bimonthly newspaper.

Sykes emphasized fine-tuning business advertising and then repeating it to reach as many people as possible.

“Repetition — and I can’t say that enough, and that’s a terrible pun,” Sykes said. “Repetition is the law in advertising and marketing. Repetition is the immutable physical law of the universe.”

When she’s not fulfilling her official duties as Aztec’s mayor or running her own business-consulting service, Growth Potential, Burbridge said she often finds herself online. She said she manages clients’ social media sites, including Facebook pages for herself, the Aztec Chamber of Commerce, Aztec Trails and Open Space, Aztec Four Corners Paddle Trail group and Aztec Highland Games.

Burbridge added that a business’ personality should shine through in every online post and message.

“It’s the ones that actually have a little different information in different ways that stand out,” Burbridge said. “Let your sense of humor show through, if it’s business-appropriate. Crash Music here in town is constantly posting stuff that’s just off the wall and nutty, and yet it totally fits with their business personality. And it catches people’s attention.”

James Fenton covers Aztec and Bloomfield for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4621 and @fentondt on Twitter.

Aztec Chamber of Commerce panel discusses social media and marketing

How small business owners can get started with online marketing

Digital engagement can be more cost-effective than romantic engagement.

Research by Deloitte Access Economics suggests highly digitally engaged businesses earn $350,000 more per year than their counterparts.

Since we are talking about small businesses, this is a significant increase in sales. Small businesses making full use of the internet enjoy 20 per cent higher annual revenues.

The research also shows that only 16 per cent of Australian small and medium-sized enterprises are making the most of it. This means the remaining 84 per cent – a staggering 1.7 million businesses – are missing out on sales.

So why are most businesses failing to become more digitally engaged? What’s stopping them from making better use of the internet?

From my experience with NetStripes, there are several reasons for this.

1. The family trap

Entrepreneurs are often unaware of what needs to be done and lack the time or skills to focus on effective online marketing. They often use family members or friends to help out but, unless the friend or family member is an expert in the field, generally this is a bad idea.

Take Roz Davis as an example. Davis runs a small but successful legal practice, Absolute Legal Services, from the Central Coast of NSW. She used a family member to design her website, but the site was busy and distracting to the user and didn’t meet the professional image she wanted to portray. Although Davis was lucky to get a functional website, the strategy to position herself and her services in the marketplace needed a lot more focus. Davis has subsequently produced a truly professional site with a firm focused on small-business owners being digitally engaged.

2. The money myth

Business owners often believe they have insufficient funds or that online marketing activities are too expensive to have a significant effect on sales. The research by Deloitte suggests the type of return on investment you can expect.

Gordon Burke, the owner of serviced apartments provider Executive Oasis, says working with a good Australian search engine optimisation (SEO) provider helped his firm to be listed on the first page of Google for the most desired set of keywords in a very short period of time. He couldn’t believe his eyes when, in just three to four months, his apartments took out the No. 1 rank, beating big players such as Wotif.com, TripAdvisor and even Tourism Armidale.

3. Cowboy operators

Many small businesses have been burnt by cowboy operators who have done poor quality work for the promise of a low price. It usually happens with small offshore companies which are incredibly tough to handle.

A senior partner at accountancy practice SM Rosen & Co says he had such a bad experience that he finally had to move to another firm and start from scratch, losing a lot of time, money and sleep on a new venture, Party Affairs, that he was helping his daughter with.

4. Burnt by the big guys

Other small businesses have been burnt by larger digital agencies which have cost them an arm and a leg while delivering only mediocre results. These agencies focus on large corporations, so small businesses with much lower budgets are often overlooked.

How to get from zero to digital hero

If you run a small business, you will have a tight schedule and you might even be too busy to tell people how busy you are. Fair enough. However, the truth is that digital engagement doesn’t require all of your time and it is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your products or services.

The trick is to find the right service provider who has a track record of delivering results and understands both the small-business owner’s psyche as well as the tough demands placed on them.

But to take a full advantage of the internet, first you have to understand what makes companies highly digitally engaged. It’s definitely not enough just to have a website or to use a business email address.

I’d describe high digital engagement as using online strategies and techniques to market your business and engage customers in achieving set goals. So what are the major elements behind that description? Let’s break it down.

1. Search engine optimisation

Commonly known as SEO, this is the process of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid or “organic” search results. The higher ranked on the search engine results page your website is, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. It’s vital to get to the first page on Google as it garners more than 90 per cent of all traffic from the average search.

2. Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a wider discipline that incorporates SEO. It involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages through optimisation and paid advertising.

SEM may use SEO or pay-per-click listings, and is widely considered one of the most effective customer acquisition tactics. More than 3.5 billion daily searches on Google offer a few clues as to why.

3. Perfectly engineered, mobile-ready websites

Online means competing on a global stage, so your website must provide a world-class customer experience. Users are impatient and will not persevere if the experience of navigating your site is not pleasant.

For example, 40 per cent of people will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. In addition, more than 50 per cent of all searches are now done via mobile phones, so if your site is not mobile-enabled you can lose a half of your potential customers.

4. Strong social media engagement

Social media is word-of-mouth marketing in its purest form. Almost 1.3 billion Facebook users, more than 600 million Twitter users and 200 million LinkedIn users make it an excellent channel for business exposure.

I don’t have to tell you how important it is to retain clients, and social media sites are the perfect channel to keep them engaged. Almost three out of four social media users read online reviews before making a purchase, so a strategic and customer-oriented approach is vital to win more business.

5. Strategic email marketing

Email is still the king. Regular daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly content-rich newsletters will engage your customers like nothing else. Plus, they are easily forwarded. Like social media, email marketing means you can track the results and get a great insight into your customers. Finally, being able to tailor your emails and designs to suit your target groups is a big advantage when promoting your business.

Dinesh De Silva is CEO of NetStripes, an Australian tech start-up working with small-business owners aiming to increase their sales using smart digital solutions.

How small business owners can get started with online marketing