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An Action Plan For Marketing Your Web Site (Part 2)
ADD YOUR URL TO YOUR MARKETING MATERIALS A couple of months ago, I met with a client who launched their Web site in 1999. They were discouraged because their site was generating poor traffic. When I asked them if they had added their URL to their...

Local Search by Internet Search Engines is as Essential to Your Business Survival as your Telephone
Copyright 2005 Off the Page Your Enterprise Won’t Survive Unless People Find It Whether you’re a one-man shop or a mid-size operation, you need to make it easy for people find you. Most enterprises serve the people who live in the same town (80%...

More Recommended Ways To Promote Your Website
"Submit your site to search engines!" "Bid at pay-per-click search engines!" "Publish a newsletter!" These are the common website promotion cries. Indeed, my own website promotion site states just that. There are other ways to promote your site,...

Site Statistics - What they should be telling you and probably aren't
Site statistics are the underlying visitor details of your site. They can tell you things like: where a visitor came from, what key phrases people are using to find your site on search engines, how many visitors have come to your site, what pages...

Why is SEO so expensive?
Why is SEO so expensive? By Chris Genge One of the questions our firm often gets asked is, "Why is search engine optimization (SEO) so expensive?" The simple answer -it isn't. SEO is the most cost effective form of advertising with a low...

 
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing

What is Affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is also synonymous with the following terms: associate marketing, associate programs, bounty programs, revenue-sharing, referral and partnership programs.

Originating in the USA several years ago with Amazon.com, affiliate marketing has quickly gained acceptance in North America as a viable and effective method of obtaining online screened and targeted site traffic, ongoing revenue generation and building consumer credibility.

This explosive growth and acceptance of affiliate marketing is also rapidly expanding into the European and Asian business community, including being translated into numerous languages.

Associate marketing or associate programs are simply revenue sharing arrangements established by sponsor companies selling a variety of online products and services. Web site owners are financially rewarded for sending referrals or customers to the business in numerous ways.

Financial compensation results to the website owner when a referral goes directly to the sponsors site and completes the sponsors terms of acceptance.

Terms of acceptance could include that the referral do any of the following: visiting a site, completing an application or obtaining a quote, registering for a free newsletter, downloading and installing software or making a consumer purchase.

The subsequent payment for the lead or referral are defined by the sponsor, and can range from a simple one time click through payment or a fixed commission rate, to a multi-tiered payment scheme resembling a MLM matrix that includes potential revenue from future lifetime purchases made by referrals of referrals.

Regardless of the payment method chosen, an equitable affiliate program results is a Win Win Win financial situation for all parties involved. The Sponsor receives additional site traffic and potential revenue from a new member; the Webmaster(s) receives revenue for providing a qualified lead; and the site visitor finds what they were looking for, at an acceptable


price.

There are currently hundreds of thousands of Affiliate programs available, ranging from corporate sites such as Wal-mart to individual entrepreneurs promoting a single publication, and new competition is arriving daily. To help find complimentary Affiliate programs for your website or general information purposes, several free directories such as Associate Programs at http://www.associateprograms.com and Refer-it at http://www.refer-it.com maintain ongoing catalogues of new, existing and deleted affiliate programs.

These directory sites also contain a wealth of affiliate information, proven marketing tips and techniques, consumer ratings of programs and links to supportive software. The Associate Programs directory has links to thousands of archived and informative articles and includes a popular bi-monthly newsletter that includes the latest affiliate news and global success stories.

The Refer-it site ranks thousands of listed affiliate programs with a four star rating, that is extremely accurate concerning the reliability and integrity of each affiliate program offered.

RECOMMENDED Reading: If you are serious about pursuing the power of affiliate programs, Register for a free 5 day email course by Ken Evoy on becoming an internet superstar.

His Affiliate Masters course shows you how to dramatically boost your income from affiliate programs by following simple, easy to follow instructions.

All the information is free, and the expert advice can be applied to any affiliate program.

To take the course, send a blank e-mail to tams@sitesell.net.


About the Author

Maurice Bandcroft is a small business marketing and promotion specialist. Subscribe to his 123 Site Promotion Newsletter at http://123sitepromotion.com/newsletter.html and discover how to increase your monthly site traffic and revenue utilizing free resources, reciprocal linking, barter and other financial leverage alternatives. Discover thinking out of the box revenue generating methods that any webmaster can use.