Affiliate Programs Made Easy

Mar 4, 2008 - Headlines

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:25:00 +0000

Today's Headlines

Running with the bulls – OfferForge launches eToro Forex Trading ...Bizcommunity.com - Cape Town, South Africa.
OfferForge is the exclusive affiliate marketer and is offering $100 per trader that signs up for the program. If you'd like to promote this offer on your ...
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NetIQ shifts focus for revamped program eChannelLine - North York, Ontario, Canada.
The program has been split into two different partner levels -- Affiliate Technology Partner and Certified Technology Partner. The Affiliate level was ...
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Free Prize Contest .com Launches A Super Affiliate Marketing ... Oxford, UK.
Free Prize Contest .com launches to establish affiliate program sponsors to provide free prizes for online contests to boost affiliate sales. ...
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Free Enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Wired has a great article on free, tracing the development of the 'modern' model of giving away your product and making money on the services or accessories. Actually they trace this model from King Gillette's attempt to sell disposable razors in 1903. So modern is a relative term. (Actually, I'd love it if someone could date it further back - perhaps some Roman offered free crop transport if you paid for the slave labour.)

The reason I bring it up is that the article does a good job of explaining some of the new business dynamics that are prevalent on the Internet, and increasingly impacting our lives away from the computer. The example of free energy is a little simplistic (in terms of global warming if nothing else) but it does point to the widespread impact that a drastic change in valuation can cause.

Read the whole article here.

The $97 tease

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:54:00 +0000

Summary:

Affiliate Programs offer you a full course for the bargain price of $97

Pro:

Take their free advice (with a grain of salt)

Con:

$97 is just the beginning
The rest of the course is $997

It won't take you much time on the internet to realize that there are a number of 'stars' out there. These people have 'made millions' with little effort or skill and are dying to let you in on their secrets to success. And for a limited time, they are dragging themselves away from the pool or golf course to help you out. Despite their various claims, it always seems to cost $97 for those secrets.

I don't know why they all have the same price but I'm guessing a little bit of research was applied. What can people spend without thinking too much? Has to be less than one hundred dollars because that extra digit makes people think. Must not charge $99.99 because people will think they can buy it at Wal-mart.

All of these programs offer repeated testimonials (and repeated reasons to order), usually in a one-page website that scrolls and scrolls for hundreds of lines. Some might offer a free sample of the material. Take that, why not. Just read the material with a skeptic's eye. It will be a further piece to sell their system. Pick through it and see if it offers anything you can actually use. If it does great, if not no harm was done.

The real trouble with these courses is that the $97 'just scrathes the surface' of all the techniques they have learned and (for a limited time) you can get the whole thing for the deep discount of $997. All the $97 does is buy you a chance to spend more money. It's just a technique to soften you up for the bigger sell.

Here's my advice: take the free material and (if you find any useful tips or techniques) apply them. When you think they have earned you a $100, and you are still interested in the course, use that money to buy it. Repeat for the $997 part. And then email me if you get this far!

Examples: Profit Lance, viral minisites, Reverse Funnel System, etc.

1and1 - The Saga Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:06:00 +0000

So, to continue this story, here is the latest email from 1and1. My comments at the end.

Dear Alan,
Thank you for contacting us.

Our records are indicating that your domain is still registered with
1and1 Internet. If you would transfer your domain to the current holder
you may either change the credit card on file for this domain or change
ownership over.

Sincerely
Josh Taylor

Billing Department
1&1 Internet Inc.

Now, I don't own the domain. I haven't owned it for at least a month. What's more, I had to get their help in transferring ownership, so they must know I don't own it. Just shows how poor their service is.

Amazon Associates - More than just Books

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Summary:

Affiliate Program Tool for Amazon

Pro:

Not just books
complete help system
Very customizable - sell 1 item or create a store

Con:

You may soon be competing against Amazon

Amazon's Associate program is, of course, one of the most well known affiliate systems. And you can see that it is a mature system with many options and well thought out features. The basic referral fee is 4% and can increase based on volume and promotions

Amazon broke in as an internet book vendor but these days the range of products has grown to just about anything.

You can build text links, widgets or an astore. Over 15 widgets are currently available and you can choose between search boxes, banners, rotating deals, tag clouds and more.

TIP: One of the easiest widgets for bloggers is the Quick Linker widget that allows you to type a special code (type='amzn') in a link and create a link to their site. So Harry Potter, Affiliate Programs and Gift Certificate should all go to an appropriate page without any work on my part.

With an Astore, you can build a sophisticated store, organized into topics and subtopics. You can select individual items or just select by search terms. The look and feel is customizable and you can integrate it into your site. This store shows business magazines and audiobooks - it took less than five miutes to create.

Reporting is strong and you can view results based on tracking IDs. This allows you to create multiple programs and compare the effectiveness of different widgets or astore options.

Other resources include a thorough help section with glossary, blog and discussion boards.

One potential drawback is that you soon may be competing against Amazon itself. As detailed here, Amazon.com may soon start linking to external sites with similar wares in exchange for a referral fee. So when an associate pointed that customer to Amazon, it's unclear how, or even if, they will be compensated.

To sign up or find more information, go to Amazon.com Associates Central.

1and1 - that's 1 more star than I'm giving them

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:07:00 +0000

Summary:

Affiliate Program for Domain Registration and Website hosting

Pro:

inexpensive

Con:

You get what you pay for
Wait times to talk to a live body
Excessive delays

1and1.com has led me to introduce a new policy for my site. My "1 Star" (aka 1and1) policy is that even though I have an affiliate account, I'm not linking to them.

They are inexpensive but the frustration of trying to do anything is just not worth it.

Now I don't want to go off on a rant here but...

Want to talk to someone? Set aside 30 minutes.

Want to get a $6 refund? Wait 30 minutes, explain nicely, get put on hold for 5 more minutes and then you are told to write 'senior management'.

Want to transfer a domain you own and have paid for? Wait 2 months.

Below is the latest saga. I'm closing the account and not going back.

Please forward to management - I'm requesting a refund that billing cannot authorize

Today (Feb 15th) I was billed for -------------.com, a domain I no longer own.

From late November/early December through to mid January, I was trying to transfer this domain to another package as I was told this was the only way to reactivate it. It took 2 months(!) and about 20 emails and calls to do this. As soon as I finally got control of it, I was finally able to sell it. Now I'm being billed for a year's renewal (it was set to renew Jan 15th). Why? Because I had to wait 2 months for someone to press a button? Please stop or reverse the charge.

I'll be glad to add your response to my blog entry.

Amazon.com to become an Affiliate?

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:02:00 +0000

As posted in the New York Times:

Amazon.com Inc. is testing a new paid advertising program that will drive shoppers away from products on its own Web site.

On some Amazon product detail pages, competing or complementary items and their prices now appear in a list of text-link ads under headings such as ''Available at these other websites.''

When shoppers click, the advertiser's site opens in a new window.

And Amazon makes money for sending the user along -- sometimes more than if it had held onto the shopper.

This is OK for Amazon.com but what happens to your affiliate credit? Hopefully they will address this because it will certainly have a big negative reaction from their affiliate community.

Glossary of Terms

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:43:00 +0000

2-Tier - This means that you also get rewarded for money earned by sub-affiliates - affiliates who signed up directly through you.
Adsense - Google's free service to earn money by hosting ads on your site.
Adwords - Google's pay to use service advertise your product or service.
Associate - Amazon's term for an affiliate
Affiliate Program - a program that rewards to affiliate for their ability to have others buy or use a service or product.
Click Fraud - Having a person or program generate false clicks on online advertising to boost pay per action (PPA) revenue.
CPA - Cost per action (click-through, form submission, purchase, etc.). See also PPA
CPI - Cost per impression (view).
CPM - Cost per thousand impressions.
CPC - Cost per click through.
CTR - Click through rate - usually expressed as a percentage.
Landing Page - The page that users see when clicking on an ad or search result.
PPA - Pay per action. See CPA.
SEO - Search Engine Optimization. Tools or methods for boosting a website's profile within search engines.

Adsense - Google's Big Seller

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Summary:

Free to Use
Host ads on your websites or blogs
Paid Monthly

Pro:

Reliable - Google's the biggest name in the industry
Easy to set up
Google takes care of matching ads to your site

Con:

The market is saturated
Need high traffic or a niche

Adsense is a free service for hosting Google's text ads on your website or blog. After signing up, you only need insert a small piece of code on your page and Google will serve up content that matches your site. Generally, the more identifiable and unique your site, the better. You can adjust the size, shape and color of the ads, allowing for subtle integration (or not).

TIP: You can add a custom search box to your site. Ads are presented in the results.

You are paid based on the number of times your visitors click on an ad at your site or, in some cases, just the number of people seeing the ad. Once you've signed up, you can use the same account for more than one site, allowing you to combine revenue.

You are paid monthly but there is a minimum, so combining low traffic sites will help you get paid more consistently. Reports are available to track your progress, allowing you focus on what is working.

It's hard to avoid Google's ads as they seem to appear on almost every site you visit - but that does speak to their ease of use.

See Also: Google Adwords

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Alan F) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:46:00 +0000

The reason for this blog is simple: we want to make money. You do, I do, the guy pretending not to read over your shoulder does; in short, we all do. But there are a huge number of programs out there, everything from genuine attempts to create win-win relationships to, let's face it, utter scams.

I will attempt to demystify some of the one's I come across and give you an objective opinion on each. I will leave the comments open for now - as long as we don't get too much abuse.

Also, a glossary of terms used on the site will be maintained and updated over time.

Disclaimer: I will likely belong to any program that seems sound. I'll make a point to state such in the review, but even if I don't explicitly state it, you're best to assume I do.