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

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