5 Must Have Traits of Affiliate Marketers - Are You Suited For an Affiliate Marketing Business?

Ask yourself these questions first before making the decision to go into affiliate marketing.

1) Do you enjoy the feeling of being self-employed?
You may have to work at home, all by yourself, with no co-workers to chat or socialise with throughout the day. If you think you are not the type to deal with this kind of loneliness, perhaps you should think twice about it.

2) Are you the type who is disciplined and focused enough?
When you work from home, there are all sorts of distractions around you, be it your bed, your TV and when you are working on the computer, the temptation to surf the net or chat online is always there. Are you able to switch off these distractions and concentrate on the real work you have to do (without having someone to watch over you)?

3) Are you patient and persistent in whatever you do? Do you have a strong belief in affiliate marketing?
If you know yourself very well that you are not the type who persists in everything you do, but gets disinterested in things easily, probably you are not suitable for affiliate marketing. This is worse if you only have a "no harm trying" attitude towards it because if you don't see any results fast, you will give up in a short time. Then why start in the first place?

4) Do you enjoy self-learning? Do you think it is important for continual learning?
Affiliate marketing can be carried out in many methods and everyone has their own success story. To start off, you would have to digest the fundamental concepts and find the method that is most suitable for your own affiliate marketing business. Along the way it is also important that you learn from peers and mentors who have gone through the same path. You also have to evaluate yourself consistently and seek to fine-tune and improve always. Never stay put once you have some success but look forward to learning something new everyday.

5) Are you aware that affiliate marketing is a real business which takes time to grow and perfect?
You might not find success early, but if you stay focused and continue to believe in your goals of building a real business out of affiliate marketing, it will be achievable some day. If you are hoping to get rich overnight with affiliate marketing, bear in mind that this could happen to a few lucky people, but not everyone. If you don't have the patience, probably you should just forget about it.

These five traits are just the tip of the iceberg of what you should expect of yourself if you are considering whether to go into affiliate marketing. So what do you think about it now? Are you still keen on it after answering these five questions about yourself?

Well to be honest, I would suggest you forget about affiliate marketing if the thought of what you have to do above disinterests you. But if you sailed through these questions and are still very passionate about affiliate marketing, you are probably really ready to take the plunge!!

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How to Create Email Marketing Messages With an Impact

When visitors drop by your affiliate website, they are most likely to browse around and do not usually commit to any purchase the first time. It's a pity if you get visitors that come and go without knowing who they are, and without having the chance to speak to them and create a relationship personally.

Conversion rates are often better when visitors are exposed to the product repeatedly for at least a few times. Even if you do not promote the product in your emails, just communicating with them will also make them feel that you are like an old friend and they will be more likely to buy from you if they ever need the product.

That's how useful email marketing can be when used appropriately with an opt-in list. But how do you write email messages that are able to create an impact on your visitors?

Here are 5 tricks you can use in crafting your email marketing messages that will certainly leave an impression on your customers!

1) Emails come in text and HTML formats. Of course a HTML formal email looks more attractive than a plain text one, but if you include too many images, your reader may lose focus and do not see the very important link that you are trying to bring across. Plain text emails on the other hand may look more boring, but if there are links in the message, they look pretty obvious. If you are trying to promote an important link that must capture your reader's attention, a plain text email seems a better choice.

2) Your email subject should be eye-catching enough. Work along guidelines to intrigue and entice your reader to open your email in the first place! Do not send emails with subject lines that just sound really "spam". It will most likely be trashed before it even gets opened.

3) Usually, most people read emails, especially long ones, by skimming through it first. Make a very powerful introduction to capture your reader's attention to encourage them to read the whole email thoroughly. Your point about sending the email should be explained early in the email. Also, do not write emails that are exceptionally long, as your reader may lose focus. Keep it short and sweet, but to the point.

4) Insert the links that you hope the reader will click at appropriate parts of the email message. At least two links should be put in an email message to encourage the reader to click it. This is because you need to make it easy enough for the reader to take action, rather than let them find the link themselves. Creating an urgency or suspense in your message content before referring to the link usually achieves a high click-through rate.

5) Add a dash of humor and personal touch to your email messages. Write all the email messages in the campaign yourself, so that as your reader receives your emails, they will find your own voice and style more and more familiar, like talking to someone they have known. If you also offer them great tips, they will tend to trust your recommendations better over time.

Email marketing is proven to have a direct influence on increasing online sales, so if you have not started, why not give it a try instead of sending all your potential visitors straight to your affiliate merchant's website. Creating your own email marketing list takes time, but this list eventually gives you the contacts whom you can "talk" to again and again even if you move on to promote other affiliate products.

To create an email opt-in list of subscribers with ease, just use an auto responder service, set it up and see it grow! Currently, I am using the services of GetResponse (you can check out the link on my right sidebar) and it has been a breeze to be able to send emails to all my subscribers with one click. Setting up a campaign is also very easy, as you can choose to send your emails out at intervals that you can preset with the autoresponder service. It is a huge time-saver that I appreciate and a must-have tool for every successful affiliate marketer.

Authored By:
Angela Tay

What Is Your Approach Towards Affiliate Marketing?

Just taking a poll if you are already an affiliate marketer.

Are you mainly a PPC (pay-per-click) warrior?

Or are you building your business by free methods like article marketing?

Well, I am currently focusing on the latter. I do have a few Adwords campaigns going on, and they bring me visitors at times, but I have not really fine-tuned them to their potential.

Many affiliate marketers love the thrill of PPC. It's quick, it's straightforward and you don't have to spend the time to write articles again and again. But to be successful in PPC, you need to know the right keywords to bid for. Otherwise you may end up spending more money than you earn from the campaigns!

For me, I think it is even more satisfying if I can make my affiliate sales with free marketing methods. It can get quite draining when I have to remind myself to write articles one after another, but I insist on doing it for the long term benefits. The initial build up of articles is the worst I think. I aim to have 100 articles written by December this year and now I am only at the 82nd. I also went through a trial and error phase where I have to test my landing page and work around article topics that will attract search engine traffic.

I can get a few sales from one article alone, but also get no sales from 10 articles of another niche. So the returns I am getting is still not very consistent. A lot also depends on the niche that you choose. You have to weigh whether it is "hungry" enough, yet not overly competitive in order to get some success.

I guess I will still put my energy on free marketing methods as for now. I have just set up a new landing page for a niche and written two articles to submit at Ezinearticles. Not sure how things will work out, but I hope I am at least on the right track.

Cheers To A Revamp Of This Blog!

Hi,

It's been a while since I started this blog in May and I think it is time for a revamp! For those who have been here before, don't be alarmed if it looks really different as I have switched the theme templates and done some arrangement of the layout.

So how do you like it? I hope it looks more organized now and the colors are more pleasant to look at.

I have also decided on changing the direction for this blog from now on after some in-depth reflection.

Although I have been adding useful links and articles along the way for the past months, but I realised that it is all about information. I was too caught up with churning posts that I hope can benefit my readers (and that is you!) in a tutorial way, so I am going to lighten things up a bit from now.

Besides the articles that I write myself, I will also be sharing guest posts at times. And there will be more posts about my own experiences, success and pitfalls of my own affiliate marketing experience which started from here.

I have not been purchasing any affiliate marketing products recently, but right now I have my eye on one or two. I will also review them and share it here when I finally get my hands on them.

The biggest reason of me picking up my affiliate business again? I have been distracted lately by my other blog, that I have sort of neglected this one. But it's time I get myself focused again. After some serious thinking, I still feel that affiliate marketing is my answer to long-term work at home income, so isn't it wiser to spend even MORE time on it?

If you want to follow me on my journey, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds (see that orange RSS button on the top right corner?) for the latest updates. Catch ya soon!

Kind Regards,
Angela

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How You Can Get Better Conversion Rates In Affiliate Marketing

Do you know why some affiliate marketers can achieve higher conversion rates with their landing pages or websites as compared to the rest?

It is the quality traffic they generate, together with great content!! The secret behind high conversion rates is how you bring in the traffic to your website and keep them loyal and coming back. It's exasperating when you find yourself generating lots of traffic, but still not making any sale right?

A good affiliate marketer is one that can give their visitors real and meaningful solutions to their problems. When a visitor directed by your advertising efforts arrive at your website and find it full of advertisements with nothing else that interest them any further, do you think they will stay for long? These are the few ways you can get your visitors to stay longer or even get them to return, thus enhancing your conversion rates!

1) Great articles on your website

First-time visitors visiting your website will most likely stay longer and read other articles as well if you have informative content that interest them. Regular posting of articles that your visitors find useful will also encourage them to return to your website to check out new content. Your visitors would also be more likely to probe into your links that will send them to your affiliate merchants' sites. Well-written articles would also help in search engine traffic too.

2) Write reviews of products

Writing reviews of products is also a very good way of achieving better conversion rates. You may find a few products of your selected niche, and do comparisons review side by side. Tell your customers what you think of the products in an honest, but neutral way. Listing the pros and cons of the product will give your visitor a more rounded comparison and will often increase their trust in you. If you can, the best and most persuasive way to talk about the product is to get one yourself. This way, you can study the features of the products and it is much easier to write a good review. Always tell your visitors how the product can address their concerns and would probably be a solution to their problems.

3) Start a newsletter/ e-course

If you do have an opt-in list already, it is beneficial to provide a regular newsletter or e-course to keep your subscribers in the loop. These visitors are in search of information, and if you can provide them good content in the articles they receive, they would actually look forward to receiving your emails. Each message could be designed to introduce them to your affiliate sites with products that may interest them, or to bring them back to your website.

These methods above would generate a sense of following in your visitors and remind your visitors to come back for more. Affiliate marketing is not rocket science, but rather its success is often built on a form of relationship you have with your visitors. It's something worthwhile to learn in your affiliate marketing journey!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How to Increase Your Earnings With Your Choice of Affiliate Programs

There are many affiliate products to promote in the market. For new affiliate marketers, the easiest way to start is to join affiliate networks such as Clickbank or Commission Junction. Besides noting the commission percentage cut you can get out of each sale, keep your eyes open for these three aspects of each affiliate program as well.

1) How long is the duration of the cookie?

It is not easy to get your visitors to convert to customers immediately at their first exposure to your affiliate merchant site. An average visitor requires at least a few visits before he may feel comfortable enough to commit to the purchase.

Cookies are coded to expire after a certain amount of time. Some merchants set it at 30 days, while others at 60 days. The longer the cookie sits in the visitor's computer, the more it works in the favor of the affiliate. As long as the visitor returns to buy something from the same website before the cookie expires, the affiliate will be credited for the sale, so a longer cookie buys the affiliate more time and a higher chance of making a sale.

2) Are the commissions recurring?

Certain affiliate products, such as membership sites, offer recurring commissions. Every time the customer you refer renews the membership subscription, you will be credited with commissions. Can you imagine how long this can go on to? You could be receiving commissions for months and years as long as the customer stays! Sounds cool right!

3) Is the program two-tier?

When we talk about two-tier affiliate programs, it is somewhat similar to the concept of MLM. There are two sources of income for the affiliate. One is to promote the affiliate product, while the other is to recruit new affiliates under their wing. The second income could be a one-time commission for every new headcount under your second-tier or a cut of the second-tier affiliates earnings. If you actively promote the product as well as recruit new affiliates, you could possibly earn much more than a normal pay-per-sale program.

These three factors have the potential to optimize your affiliate earnings to a higher level than the usual affiliate program. But never rush into every affiliate program that is offering these terms. Always check if they are reputable companies and dependable in their payments to their affiliates as well.

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How to Search Engine Optimise the Meta Keywords For Your Website

There are many ways in driving traffic to a website, for e.g., pay-per-click advertising, etc. But these cost a lot in the long run, especially if you have a niche affiliate website that is highly competitive. Do you know a simple tweak of your website's meta "keywords" tag can help you optimize the chances of visitors finding your website by search engines instead? And the best part of it is, there is absolutely no cost if you do it yourself!

But how do you know what keywords are good enough to capture the traffic? The right keywords will draw targeted visitors who are looking for information in your niche to your website and not any Tom, Dick or Harry. Targeted visitors are important as they probably have set their mind in purchasing the product and are just searching on the internet for more information.

There are three basic steps to finding the best meta "keywords" for your website.

1) Brainstorm a draft list of phrases and words that are closely related to your website content

Write down as many words and phrases you can think of, in different permutations, according to how you think your targeted visitors will do the search. You can also use singular and plural forms of the words if necessary.

2) Research on these keywords

With these keywords, you can conduct a search to find out how often they are searched by "real" traffic with search term suggestion tools, like Word Tracker (freekeywords.wordtracker.com). These are free to use and are really useful in other aspects of affiliate marketing as well. Highlight those keywords that are highly sought for, and discard those that result in few or even no searches. In the process of your research, you may also see some keywords that are not in your brainstorm list, but are actively searched. Pick up these keywords as well.

3) Check out the competition for your keywords

Now that you have a list of short listed keywords that you can probably use for your meta "keywords" tag, one by one, check out your competition with Google search engine. Find out the Google Page Rank for the last website on the first page of the search results for a particular keyword. If the last website has an average Page Rank of 3 or 4, keep the keyword. Repeat the process for all keywords. Keywords that show results with websites of high Page Rank even at the last position are deemed to be too competitive, you may consider discarding them. This is because even if you optimise your website with this keyword, it's quite unlikely you will be on the first page of the Google search results. Unless you reach a higher Page Rank than them!

After finding the appropriate keywords that could possibly get you ranked high in Google, select no more than 30 of them to put at your meta "keywords" tag. Also do not get the idea that repeating the same keywords (unless they differ as singular and plural) will give you better search results. You will get penalised by Google instead.

You may wish to customise these meta "keywords" for different pages of your website as well. Although this may seem very time consuming, but it should show some improvements in your search engine traffic after some time.

Want a shortcut? This could help!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Choosing Between a Free Web Host Or Paid Web Host For Your Affiliate Website

A web host is a company that stores your website on their servers and makes it accessible for others to access via the internet. So should you opt for free web hosting or paid web hosting for your website?

My advice is, if you are new to the internet and would like to explore the functionalities of having a website with no business links, feel free to try out the free ones. But if you are intending to set up a business related website, for e.g., for your affiliate business, do think twice about it!

If you have an affiliate business website on a free host, you may risk your website being down for no reasons. As you are not paying anything to warrant their customer support, do you think they will bother much? They might not even attend to your complaints and your website will be down for an unlimited time beyond your control! This will deeply affect your business in this downtime period as visitors who try to click on your page gets an error page instead. Do you think they will come back again? They will just think your website does not exist. You will face loss of traffic and potential earnings for that whole time.

Free hosts can also shut down your website anytime. If you have directed all your promotion links to the web address of this website, it's going to be a big blow to suffer! Imagine if you have written tons of articles with this link and submitted them to many directories, it's a nightmare to even think about modifying all the articles with this old link.

The reason why these companies can offer free hosting is because of the advertising revenue they get from your website. Notice all the annoying pop-ups or banners that are not part of your website? You have absolutely no control on the appearance of these advertising widgets if you are using their free hosting service. If these irritate you already, it would most likely affect your visitors as well. They might feel that your website do not look professional and credible enough for them to click and buy the product you are recommending.

On the other hand, by investing just a couple of dollars a month for a paid web host, you can have a greater peace of mind! Your website will also be more protected against any unnecessary downtime or shut down problems as legitimate web host companies rely a lot on customer feedback and reviews to build their business. A satisfied customer will introduce another customer, so on and so forth, so if they have a reputation of being reliable, it is the best form of advertising they can get.

It is also important to check if the paid web host company has excellent customer support as well. In the event that you have problems with your website, all you want is to get it up again as soon as possible. The best scenario is when you are able to reach their customer service in a very short time, and have someone help you fix the problem immediately. Time is very important in an online business. At the time your website is inaccessible, your potential customers are turned away, not by their choice. You may be losing their business in those precious minutes! It is not worth paying for an unresponsive web host who can't give you the appropriate support when needed.

In general, I always recommend paid web hosting, especially if you are building the website for business in the long haul. If you do not wish to spend the money first, you can consider building your site on free blogging platforms and eventually upgrade it to one that is hosted with a web host when you are more ready.

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How ClickBank Statistics Help You Decide the Right Product to Promote

The ClickBank Marketplace is where you can select the products you want to promote as an affiliate. When you refer customers to any of these products and generate a sale, you will earn a percentage of that purchase.

Every product listed in the ClickBank Marketplace is associated with a sales commission rate. Most percentage ranges of popular products are from 50% to 75%. When you search for products, besides searching by category, do you know you can sort them by popularity, gravity, amount earned per sale, % earned per sale, future sale amount, total amount per sale and % referred too? These statistics could possibly foretell the profitability of the product and the niche, so before you start, get a good understanding of what these terms mean.

1) Amount Earned Per Sale ($/sale)

This is the average net amount each affiliate earns per referred sale. This amount can be affected by subsequent refunds, charge backs and sales taxes. My guideline is to choose a product that pays at least $15 to $20 per sale as too low a commission is not viable if I were to use paid advertising methods.

2) Future Sale (Future $)

This is the average total rebill revenue an affiliate earns due to sales. If there are multiple rebills, this is taken as the average sum. Products with rebills will earn you recurring income after you have made the sale.

3) Total Amount Per Sale (Total $/sale)

This is the sum of all initial sales and rebills divided by the number of initial sales. It is the average total amount per sale, including all rebills that may come from the sale.

4) % Earned Per Sale (%/sale)

This is the average percentage commission earned per affiliate per referred sale. This number should be consistent unless the merchant changes their payout percentage with time. I would target a product with at least 50% commission earned per sale.

5) % Referred (%refd)

This is the percentage of the merchant's total sales that are referred by affiliates. A healthy range would be around 70% to 85%. This suggests that there are enough affiliates promoting, but not too many such that the market gets too crowded.

6) Gravity (grav)

This measures the number of distinct affiliates who have successfully converted their customers into buying the product. This number is not the actual number of affiliates, but is reflected as a weighted sum, with more current referrals carrying more weight. I would go for a product with gravity of 40 to 100 as it also shows that the conversion is good enough for affiliates to carry on promoting the product. If the gravity goes really high like 200 onwards, there may be too many affiliates competing and advertising may get overly competitive.

When I first started out in promoting ClickBank products, I was clueless about these information. I simply chose popular products from the niche I was interested in. Some had good conversion rates, while others did not make a single sale. I got smarter in my product choices after I realised that the information does help affiliates recognise the potential of the product. And the best thing is, it is always up to date according to recent sales activity!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How to Choose Clickbank Products That Are Hot and Profitable

Are you confused by the array of products from Clickbank, not knowing which to choose and how to begin with?

These are a couple of factors that I will take into consideration when I am selecting a new ClickBank product for affiliate marketing.

1) Is the sales page (the one you see when you click "view pitch page") professional enough?

Always visit the pitch page of the product that you are considering. Imagine yourself as the visitor. Is the copywriting convincing? Is the page easy to read? Does the flow of the sales pitch motivate you to finish reading the whole page, or even entice you to buy the product in any way? A powerful sales page is very important as it is like your "spokesperson" after you successfully drive your targeted traffic to it. Whether the visitor is sold on the product or not depends a lot on what they are reading.

2) How is the commission percentage and amount per sale? (refer to the statistics below each product)

Well, I would recommend commission percentages of 50% to 70% at least. The commission earned per sale I would prefer is $15 and above. Of course, I do promote others that give lesser commissions, if I think it is a good product.

3) What is the gravity of the product? (refer to the statistics below each product)

I will go for any product that has a gravity of 40 to 100. Depending on the niche, I may promote products with gravity 20 to 30 as well. Too high a gravity means that there are many affiliates in the market promoting the product, but it also means the product is selling well. I would probably stay away from products with gravity higher than 200.

4) What is the percentage referred? (refer to the statistics below each product)

This reflects the percentage of the publisher's sales that are referred to by affiliates. If there are enough affiliates promoting, it usually ranges above 70%. This shows that the product converts quite well and is profitable such that there are people who recognise the effort to promote it. However, do also take note that anywhere above 90% also shows that it is getting more and more competitive. If you have paid advertising campaigns, it would probably cost you a lot more.

5) Do a search of the product keyword at Google

Does it return a large number of results and many sponsored listings (AdSense)? If there are at least some sponsored listings, it means that the product is considered profitable enough to be promoted by affiliates who think it is worthwhile to advertise it. But if there are 10 pages or more of sponsored listings, I would think it has become too competitive and would rather look for some other niche to promote.

Well, as you see, it's not too difficult to select a ClickBank product you can promote. If you can, I would also recommend getting a copy of the product you wish to promote first. It's an advantage to be able to examine the ins and outs of the product and provide an unbiased, honest review of it. You will be able to tell your potential customers what you really think about it. Conversion rates from reviews are often known to be much higher than other methods of promotion, so it's a worthwhile deal if you can get the money back with just two or three sales.

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How and Where You Can Get Content For Your Niche Website

A great website often comes with captivating content for its visitors. When a visitor drops by your website and find useful articles that are worth the read, they would most probably stay longer or even like it enough to bookmark it for future visits. If your articles can even solve their problems or give them a valuable tip, it is one of the best ways of building a relationship with your visitor. They would also be most likely to convert into your customers too.

Here are a few options you can use to develop content in your niche website:

1) Pay for content written by ghostwriters

A very easy way of getting content for your website is by hiring ghostwriters to write for you. If you can't imagine the thought of writing or are simply too lazy to, you can engage others online at sites like elance.com. An article can go as low as $3, but you usually get what you pay for and the quality of the article may not be professional as what you expect. To get high quality articles, be prepared to fork out a bit more. Get to know your ghostwriter, and probably request for their portfolio. You should also spell out what you require in the topics you would like them to write about. It is also important to make sure the articles they write are meant for actual human reading and not just full of keywords just for bots and spiders to pick up.

2) Public domain works

These are actually articles or books for which the copyright has expired. Anyone can copy, modify and re-use this information for their own benefit. You can even remove the original author's name and sell the article as your own.

3) Write your own articles

Well, if you don't have the extra money to spare and you have a penchant for writing, why not develop the content yourself? The greatest advantage of writing your own articles is the personal style you are able to inject in your website. To your visitors, they would also find your content more consistent when you are the only author. If you have several ghostwriters writing for you instead, each might have their own personality and writing style and your articles might not sync so well. If you write yourself though, remember to be as natural as possible. You can also be funny at times, no worries, because that's your website! Readers usually appreciate a dash of humor and they find rapport with you through your articles. Building a customer relationship is one of the best pre-sell advantages one can get, so don't belittle its importance in your affiliate marketing business.

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Top 7 Differences Between Affiliate Marketing And MLM

Are you confused between affiliate marketing and multilevel marketing? How does each work? These ways of making money are actually different from each other, so do not get them mixed up!

Affiliate Marketing

1) People who join affiliate programs and sell products or leads for these companies are known as affiliates.

2) Affiliates do not need to buy products first before they can promote them, so its basically zero cost to start.

3) If the products affiliates promote results in any sales, they will earn a certain percentage of the selling price.

4) Some affiliate companies have a downline scheme for their affiliates, but not all do. This means they can promote their products, as well as recruit new affiliates to work for them. But even if they do, it is usually limited to the second tier only.

5) Affiliates have it easy in terms of order fulfilment as their main job is to bring the potential customer to the affiliate company's website. If this results in sale, the company handles the backend details, like processing the order, shipping the product, and customer service. The affiliate pockets the commissions once the customer makes the payment for the product. As easy as 1-2-3!

6) Because of their unique position as the middlemen, sometimes affiliates do not know their customers personally. The customer could be someone who has found the affiliate's webpage or recommendation through search engines. But with current tracking services and promotions through their own email marketing list, it has now become easier for affiliates to know who their customer is. This is important as the affiliate can follow up and promote other related products to the same customer for repeated sales.

7) Affiliate merchants often set their products at the same price. Every affiliate, whether newbie or super affiliate, has to sell them at the same price. They cannot undercut the price themselves as the payment processor is generic for all. However, they can provide bonus products or services of their own to attract more sales.

Multilevel Marketing (MLM)

1) People who join MLM programs are known as resellers or multilevel marketers.

2) Resellers usually have to buy a minimal quantity of the products they market to qualify for their earnings, according to their tier in the MLM company.

3) If resellers manage to sell their product, they can keep the full proceeds of the sales.

4) Usually all MLM companies have a membership structure where an existing reseller can recruit new marketers under their wing and earn a percentage of commissions out of their second-tier sales. The longer they build their downline, the more they will benefit.

5) Multilevel marketers often have to handle the order process themselves as they sell and deal directly with their customers. They might need a car to visit their customers, and deliver their products, and if necessary, address the concerns of the customer personally.

6) As MLM resellers know who their customers is, they have a personal relationship with them, which can be an advantage as they can provide more customer support and follow up. If the customer is happy and comfortable with them, they might buy their MLM products repeatedly.

7) MLM resellers can set their own prices about the products if necessary to attract sales. Competition often leads to lower prices though, and undercutting is not a long term solution. Win your competitor by providing a personalised customer relationship instead!

I hope after reading this article, it would have cleared most of your doubts with regards to affiliate marketing and MLM. Decide where you interest lies and find a suitable program to start with. I chose the affiliate marketing route, how about you? To find out how you can make money online with affiliate marketing, remember to download this free ebook for tips on how to get started!


Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - Top Mistakes To Avoid In Your Website Design

These are the general guidelines one should take note of for a basic website. Whether for affiliate marketing purposes or not, these tips are worth following. If you have a website already, review it again and see whether you are making any of the mistakes!

1) Fonts

Your choice of fonts for writing should be one that most people are familiar with. Think: Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana. These standard fonts are most likely installed in most computers, so when your visitor visits your website, your text will appear as intended and not look like gibberish stuff. If you really want to use unusual fonts, do keep them to the minimum. And do not use multiple fonts in a single page. It can get quite irritating to see more than two or three fonts appearing on the same article too.

The font size should also be large enough for most visitors. Imagine grannies who might have to squint to see what you are writing? Don't forget that every visitor is a potential customer, so avoid this kind of unnecessary mistake.

2) Color Scheme

Depending on your niche product, you might wish to select a color scheme that is suitable for it. A gardening niche might suit earthy colors like green or brown, while a baby product niche might suit pastel colors. Also think the reverse way. If you have a mortgage niche website in red, would it scare your visitors away instead?

Remember to complement your background color scheme with your font color as well. If they are close shades of each color, it may be difficult to read the text. If you have a black background with a bright font, the reader may also find it tiring after some time. The safest bet is to choose a light background with black or dark color text for most niches.

3) Pictures and audio add-ons

Pages with pictures or videos usually use up more bandwidth and take longer to download. Avoid those that take really long to load up as visitors usually have short attention spans and they would click away before your page appears! In some parts of the world, people also do not have cable or broadband, so imagine the frustration at having to wait to see your website. They would most likely give up instead.

4) Links and pop-ups

In affiliate marketing, links are usually incorporated into the content of the website. It's important to distinguish your links from the usual text. Usually, links which have not been clicked appear in blue and when you hover on them, they appear red. Clicked links appear in purple. Always use the standard colors to avoid confusing your visitors. You can customize link fonts and colors at the CSS (cascading style sheets) section of your website.

Sometimes, affiliate websites use pop-ups to capture the visitor's attention once the page loads. It is a must click to clear the pop-up away before you can see the rest of the page, so sometimes visitors might find it a pain whenever they reload the page. Personally, I dislike seeing pop-ups as I find it a hassle to click it away and I think most readers feel the same too.

5) Page layout and display

Always design your website to appear in the most standard display sizes. Most screen resolutions are 1024 by 768 pixels, but some people might still be using 800 x 600 resolution. Design for this category of people at the minimum so that most visitors to your website can see your information displayed correctly.

When designing your website, take note of the white space that surrounds the text and pictures on a single page. Is there adequate open space between your design elements? It would look visually more appealing to readers when the page is not cluttered to the extent that there are too many words to read or too many ads in a block.

Are you making any of the mistakes above? If you have just started the website building process, it may be easier for you to review your mistakes now and make changes fast. Getting most of it right early is important so that when your website grows, you can avoid having to rework the changes again and again. Time can be better spent promoting your affiliate products instead!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How to Choose the Best Domain Name For Your Affiliate Website

Coming up with a domain name is not a difficult task, but have you considered whether it is appropriate enough for your affiliate business in the long run? Your domain name is the web address you conduct your business at and where your potential customers will find you on the internet. It is like your brand name, so it is very important to get your domain name right from the beginning. You wouldn't want to change your domain name halfway and risk losing the reputation and branding advantage you have established over time right?

A domain name is the part that comes after the "www" of a web address. For example, an address with http://www.abc.com has "abc" as its domain name and .com as its extension. A domain name can be a combination of letters and numbers you create, as long as it is not registered under someone else's name already. No spaces are allowed in a domain name, but hyphens (-) are acceptable. Some people have their websites as http://www.a-b-c-d.com. Usually domain names will end with extensions like .com, .net, .biz, .org.

Put these 5 great tips to good use when choosing a domain name for your affiliate website!

1) Think of a domain name relevant to your business

You may be marketing a skin care niche. Think of the possible keywords that are associated with the niche you are promoting and come up with phrases that are straightforward and can reflect your affiliate product. For example, domain names with words like "wrinkles-no-more" or "skin-solutions" would be quite relevant and appropriate for the niche you are promoting. Choosing a very good keyword rich domain will also help your website rank better with search engines.

2) Keep your domain name short, but memorable

I always like domain names that I can remember off-hand easily. It goes to show that it is short enough, but yet able to leave an impression on the visitor without even the need to bookmark it. If your domain name is less than 20 characters, most people will find it easier to remember and the chances of misspelling your website is much lower if they want to return to your website another day.

3) Keep the spelling of your domain name grammatically correct when possible

It is not advisable to have fancy spelling for domain names. What I mean is using something like our mobile sms message jargon. Your visitors may find it difficult to pronounce and spell and it is not easy to remember. For example, visitors may find http://www.3littlepigzzz.com more confusing than http://www.threelittlepigs.com.

4) Try to avoid letters or numbers that may be interpreted wrongly

Letters such I and number 1 sometimes look so similar that people might read them as the reverse. Letters O and number 0 gives the same problem as well. Try not to put these confusing letters in your domain name, unless it is very relevant to your website and has some meaning of its own. Otherwise your visitors may go to the wrong website to see an error page and be mistaken that the link does not exist at all.

5) Choose the more commonly used domain extensions

I would recommend .com if you are not sure what to get. Most people will associate a website with .com more than anything else! However, many .com domains are usually taken up, especially the more popular ones, but if you can work around with a domain name that is close enough, a .com will look more credible than a .biz or .info.

You can check the availability of your preferred domain names before you even take it up. Create a list of domain names that are modelled after these 5 tips and I'm sure you can find a winner that nobody else has thought of and registered yet!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Tips - How to Chose Your First Affiliate Marketing Niche

Very often, being newbie affiliate marketers, we chase every opportunity we get in the hope of seeing results fast. But is that the right way? Maybe as you look around, you see a huge, lucrative market in financial products and your first instinct is to join in the crowd. You would most probably be telling yourself "since everyone is there, there must be something attractive about it" right?

You are not wrong in a way though, but if there is a crowd, there is competition as well! There might be already thousands of affiliates working in this niche category. If you were to use advertising as your main method of driving traffic, you could be paying a lot than what you would pay in a less competitive niche. I would not recommend starting with something that you know nothing about just for the sake of the huge affiliate commissions you could rake in. Of course, if you are already a finance guru knowledgeable in this area, it might be worth the try as you probably have an upper edge as compared to others who know nuts about financial products. Your expertise could have a "pre-sell" advantage as your visitors would feel that what you write on your site makes sense and they would trust you more in helping them find solutions to their financial problems.

The most important factor I would recommend for new affiliate marketers is to consider your own level of passion and expertise in the niche you choose. You have to be at least interested in the niche you want to start with. Otherwise if you employ article marketing methods, you will find it really difficult to write about a topic you have no knowledge and no interest about! After your first few articles, you might just run out of ideas. There is no motivation to keep you going in marketing your niche as you probably dread the thought of brainstorming topics for it. If you can't imagine yourself writing about the topic in a few months from now, do not even start in the first place and waste your time.

There are many niches in affiliate marketing and there will be something that catches your eye. You may be a travel fanatic. Why not share information about your travel stories or reviews of booking websites, hotels, etc, with others? It is not only useful to others, but you will also find it a joy talking about your niche. It will take time and effort to create a content rich site that has popularity and credibility, but as you grow your site, you can find more related affiliate products to include, like travel books, luggage and travel clothing. The affiliate opportunities are plenty. It is just how you incorporate all these nicely into a place which can add value to your visitors.

If you still do not have any ideas at all, probably you can look around and think about the problems many people face and how you can help to solve them by recommending the right products. A very popular problem solving niche is the health niche. Imagine recommending weight loss products, hair loss products, etc. They are all there to help people solve their problems right! Work around these ideas and shortlist one that you would like to start with. When you have gotten through your first affiliate marketing niche, the experience you have gathered would make it easier for you to develop your next niche. And you are on your way to making money online!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

5 Top Reasons Stopping You From Making Money Online

In this internet dependent world, there are still many reasons that are holding back people of different backgrounds from making money online. I will share on five top reasons, are they the same ones that are close to your heart as well?

#1 I DO NOT BELIEVE IN MAKING MONEY ONLINE!!

Alright, this is a very strong statement to make and the most difficult to convince. It will probably take some time for a staunch unbeliever to convert to one that will even try to make their first attempt in making money online. If you have a mindset that online opportunities are all scams and online riches are impossible, probably you had a bad experience with some sort of business before. I fully understand how it feels to be once bitten, twice shy. But who says one failure condemns all businesses? Give others another chance, but learn from your past mistakes and be careful about the programs you join. Do not commit too much money into it from the start, do your research and learn from those in the same business.

#2 I DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO START AN ONLINE BUSINESS!!

Most online businesses, especially in affiliate marketing, do not require you to have much start-up capital. You can make use of free resources like blogging platforms to start your online business or blogshop. Even if you decide to get your own domain name later, hosting it has become so affordable that it makes up just a small part of your overheads only. In fact, if you compare starting a brick and mortar business and an online business from scratch, an online business is unbelievably cheap! Almost anyone has the resource to do it, even an entrepreneur college kid!

#3 I DO NOT HAVE THE EXTRA TIME!!

Most employees get tired and stressed so much by their day job that all they want to do when they reach home is to relax and sleep. But precisely for the same reasons, do you wish to see yourself in the same scenario for another 20 years? If the answer is no, its time to start to think of another income alternative besides your 9 to 5 job! I know besides work, you may also have other commitments like your girlfriend, wife, family and friends to take care of. The key is, to manage your time well. Sacrifice some TV time or some clubbing time to put into your other income goal. Even if you can only spare a few hours a weekend, a start is better than none!

#4 I HAVE NOTHING TO SELL!!

If you think you can only make money online when you have something physical to sell, think again! If you are an accounting or IT professional, you may be able to offer your services online and charge a consultation fee. You make money based on your skills! You can also promote products for others, and earn commission from them in the form of affiliate marketing. The beauty of it is, there is absolutely no need for you to hold any of the product itself or worry about shipping and payment at all! For a more detailed guide on affiliate marketing, just download my instructions below and read it!

#5 I AM NOT IT SAVVY ENOUGH TO START ANYTHING ONLINE!!

You do not need to be an IT expert to venture online. Most of the related tasks you will be performing is mostly what you do everyday, reading and sending emails and surfing the internet. Nobody is born an expert. Most of us learn along the way. In any business, it is important to know how to be flexible and to adjust according to the market trends. The world wide web also has plenty of free tutorials for your learning needs. If you wish to pick up some HTML or Photoshop skills, you can get these information easily anytime just by a quick Google!

Have you read the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" before? Are you inspired enough to take control of your own employment? If you have always been looking forward to jumping out of the rat race, its time to stop all the procrastinating! If you do not take action yourself, nobody can help you. My only regret now about making money online is, I should have started way earlier! I had nobody to kick me in the butt previously, otherwise I may have gotten a much earlier headstart. I hope you do not regret over lost time like me too.

Wishing you all the best!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

10 Reasons Why I Love To Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing

I love affiliate marketing as it is the most ingenious business model created ever. It works especially well in this world of internet, where millions of digital products exchange hands every single moment! If you are just starting out to earn some income online, affiliate marketing is something you should not miss as it is one of the easiest and best ways of making money online!

These are the top 10 reasons why I love affiliate marketing and will continue to make my fortune through it!

1) I do not need to create a product to sell

The product is created by the affiliate program you will be joining. You do not need to start creating anything from scratch, saving you a lot of time doing research on whether your product will be popular or whether it can even sell. Find a reputable affiliate program that has a proven track record to show. You have met a winner if the product already pre-sells itself that all you need is a little push to convince the customer to buy!

2) I do not need a website to sell the product

Many affiliate programs have a sales page for their affiliates to market. You do not need to worry about the technical bits of creating a website, thus saving you a lot of time when you are just starting out in this internet business. You can spend more time marketing the product instead!

3) I do not need to be responsible for any product upgrades

Any future product upgrades are taken care of by the affiliate program owner. You are only the marketer and once the customer purchases the product, your job is done! You do not have to worry about any future updates or issues as the product company will handle it direct.

4) I do not need to stock inventory

I appreciate this most as I do not have the space to stock inventory! In a traditional brick and mortar business or even an Ebay business, you may need to buy some goods and stock it before you start selling it. You bear the risk of not being able to sell your products and end up stocking more and more of others. But the beauty of affiliate marketing allows you to sell other's products without any worry where to stock them!

5) I do not need to handle payment or refunds

Payment is taken care of by payment processors set up by the affiliate program. It is usually instant by credit card or Paypal. If refunds are requested, this is also the responsibility of the affiliate program owner, not me!

6) I do not need to handle customer service issues

Customer service is very important to a customer and can be quite sticky to handle sometimes. But I do not need to busy myself at all with this as customer support is provided backend by the affiliate program owner.

7) I do not need to handle shipping, regardless local or international

Most affiliate programs sell digital products, so this is available instantly by download once the customer makes the payment. Even if the program is selling a physical product, all shipping of inventory is taken care of by the company. I do not need to spend time packaging the product and specially making a trip by the postal office to mail it!

8) I can join all kinds of affiliate programs, and expand my business in so many ways

I am free to select the niche that I enjoy promoting. If I am hardworking enough, I can multi-task and promote many affiliate programs at the same time! It is all up to me! The opportunities are endless.

9) Payment of commission is usually easy and hassle-free

Affiliate commission is usually deposited directly into your account by payment processors like Paypal or sent as a physical check.

10) Affiliate programs are plenty and you will never be jostled out of business

Everyday, there are new affiliate programs created. Everyday, there are millions of potential customers searching for information they need. Everyday there are people starting out as affiliate marketers, but there are also many who give up halfway. There is always a place for you in the market!

Do you look forward to being self-employed? Do you worry about your job being outsourced or your boss giving you the boot some day? Working from home is your best bet, and affiliate marketing is the easiest way to start earning some decent online income!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Is Making Money Online Just A Myth?

Although the number of internet users are increasing everyday, not many people believe that it is possible to make real money online. Probably you are one of them, as you may have heard many stories about online opportunities being just scams to rip people off their money.

Yes, there are really scams around where they cheat people of their money and disappear without a trace. These are just the “black sheep” of the internet world, and bad stories like these often put people off real online money making opportunities. Like a Chinese saying ”bad news travel fast”, online opportunities are often stereotyped as something everyone should alway be wary and skeptical about.

What is important if you are a first-timer looking to make money online is to do your research. Be wise not to fall for something that sounds too good to be true. Making money online is definitely not a myth, it is definitely legitimate but always usually requires some work and effort on your part.

If you are looking for a program that will drop money from the sky without lifting a finger to do anything, you are better off buying lottery. Chances like that most likely do not happen or if they do, it is worth your investigation before you commit any money or time to it.

The safest way of starting out is to follow what others have done. For example, your friend may have joined a paid to read email scheme, and have since received payment from them for her efforts. Then this program should be quite reliable to join. I have also sold things and made money on ebay, so I can safely tell you that it is also a great way of making money online.

In real life, there are already many people making a living just from their online income and they are not only making enough to get by, but they have done so well to become internet millionaires. It is never too late to ride on this wave, there are always opportunities out there and there are always places for you as long as you have the passion and belief to succeed!

Authored By:
Angela Tay

Affiliate Marketing Explained For The Layman

Are you new to internet marketing?

Have you been hearing so much about Affiliate Marketing, but are totally clueless what it is all about? Read this below!

WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING?

Affiliate Marketing basically involves a merchant with a product and someone (the affiliate) who acts like a virtual salesperson for the product. The merchant will provide a unique affiliate link and the affiliate will promote this link on the Internet. Every time someone clicks on this link and proceeds to make a purchase of the product, the affiliate who directed the buyer will get a commission out of it.

WHY IS AFFILIATE MARKETING SO POPULAR?

Affiliate marketing programs flourish because of the ingenious win-win relationship between the merchant and the affiliate! Both parties benefit from the program in their own way.

As a merchant, affiliate marketing is a form of advertising that will give the product or service maximum exposure. The more affiliates recruited, the higher the chances of the product being seen by potential customers on the Internet. The merchant also pays the "fees" of advertising only when the affiliate sends customers to the product which thereafter converted to a sale. Compared to traditional avenues, affiliate programs often stretch their advertising dollars more!

As an affiliate, all you need to do is to promote the unique link for the particular program you join. Your job is to simply find as many prospects as possible and to convince them to purchase the product! There is no need for you to develop your own product and system as there are thousands of affiliate programs to join. If you are very new to internet marketing, this is the easiest way of embarking on your journey of earning money online, agree? You do not have to worry about where to store your products, how to stock your inventory, how to deal with suppliers and how to set up a payment and shipping system at all! Everything is already included in the affiliate program. There is practically no start-up costs, all you have to do is promote and promote!

ARE YOU SUITED TO BE AN AFFILIATE MARKETER?

Do you like to work from home? Or do you prefer the environment of having colleagues at your workplace to talk to?
Are you the type who is disciplined enough to work when there are so many distractions at home? Will you end up watching TV, surfing the internet and playing video games for hours instead?

If you think you are suited to work at home, then answer these too.

Are you passionate about Affiliate Marketing in the first place? Do you believe in the system and why it is one of the best ways to make money online?
Do you have the patience and persistence to build up your Affiliate Marketing business? Profits may not come immediately for everyone, and just like any business, you may have to mould it as you learn along the way.

Anyone can be a successful affiliate marketer if you have the right learning attitude! As long as you have the determination to pick up the skills and a strong passion for it to work, affiliate marketing will definitely help you realize your dream of working from home. It is proven the most effective way of making money online!

Authored By:
Angela Tay