Internet Marketing

Beginning Online Affiliate Earnings – Your Short and Long Term Advantage

>>WARNING:
Making money online as an affiliate marketer will seem too easy and may cause suspicion among those who’ve never done it before. 

>>WARNING #2:
There are many reasons people sign up as affiliates, intending to market other people's products and then NEVER doing anything. Never send out an email, make no effort to even mention it on their blogs, never put up a simple website with their affiliate links embedded - even when they know how to do all those things.

Yes, there are many reasons, but few, if any good ones. So, it’s time now, even as a true beginner, to step up and get out there so you can succeed in affiliate sales. We’re going to show you how and why it can be profitable for you.

The Main Reason
The main reason someone represents another person's product(s) as an affiliate is that they either use and like the product or, they know the producer/provider so well that his/her reputation is enough. So, when you request an affiliate status with a product producer, you’ve usually already attained a level of trust.

If you haven’t used the product yourself, you've probably seen the testimonials of those who have and trust these third party endorsements.
For example, if the product is a beginner’s Internet marketing course and you see powerfully positive testimonials that have come from students all around the globe who testify to the results they’ve achieved – and especially if they describe themselves as raw beginners who’ve gained a solid Internet marketing foundation from the course --- you're likely to be attracted to promoting the course.

Why You Can Earn Faster and Easier

When you send a visitor to a product producer’s site, with your affiliate link embedded in your referral email, your reader or prospect usually has the opportunity to download some offer at no cost --- a report, an audio file, a free lesson. To do so the prospect must opt-in. By opting-in he/she gives permission to the product producer to market to them later. But that’s not all.

Often opting-in leads to an OTO – a one-time offer. The one-time offer is powerful because it usually offers a considerable discount, as much as 50% off the regular price. But only if your prospect acts NOW! Because once the prospect leaves the OTO page, he/she will never be given the 50% discount offer again.

This makes the OTO highly motivating factor and leads to many more sales.

Digital vs Hard Products

We’d be amiss if we did not take a moment to delineate between digital and hard products.

Digital products are downloadable and hard products are delivered via the U.S. mail, UPS and the like.

Regarding shipping costs and delivery, as an affiliate that’s not your concern. It's taken care of by the manufacturer and the buyer. On the other hand, a digital product has the benefit of  immediate delivery and, generally a larger commission percentage for you. Why? Because a hard product costs more to produce so your commission percentage is likely to be smaller. But in either case, delivery — otherwise called fulfillment — is the job of the product producer.

Also, as an affiliate you can work directly for a product producer, based on the terms set forth by that producer - or as specifically agreed upon between the two of you.

You can also go through a middle-man company like Clickbank or PayDotCom.com whose business it is to provide products from many producers to those who are looking for affiliate opportunities. At these types of sites you get to choose among various products according to which one or ones you want to represent and promote - again for an affiliate commission based on the sales that your promotions generate. 

Compared with selling your own products, as an affiliate your overhead costs are much smaller and the details you’re responsible for are far less.

Earning in the Long Run

As an affiliate, once your referral opts-in to the producer’s site, he/she is an ongoing candidate to earn you a commission. If he/she orders the product you promoted or even another product that's offered by the producer six-months down the line, you will earn a commission off the order price. That commission can range anywhere from 20 to 50% -- sometimes even higher. Some producers even offer a 100% commission because their interest is in developing leads and marketing other, more expensive products to those leads. These are called back-end products.
So becoming an affiliate has both short- and long-term profit possibilities with only the effort, on your part, of making the referral.

To be sure, generating referrals requires your effort, but you don’t have to produce products, which is often the most demanding and most expensive aspect of any business.

Marketing and promotion online can be very profitable when done right. You can discover what that means in our free special report "The Future of Internet Marketing" at http://www.firststepinternetmarketing.com   

Why Should You Market Online?

No matter what you do for a living, you can better your career, your job or become a more successful entrepreneur by creating an online presence.

Even if you work 9-5 and seemingly have no reason to promote yourself or the business you work for, you’ll soon see the advantages of establishing yourself online.

To market is to sell something and to promote is to create awareness. The Internet offers a vast array of both possibilities. The many tools available can create a sense of overwhelm. But the basics are simple.

If you’re hungry and you go to the supermarket to buy food, you don’t stop at the front door, overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Why not? Because you know what most of the potential choices are and what works for you.

As you step through the portals of understanding the Internet, you’ll eventually find the same to be true. But first, you need to get to the “front door.” You need to look around and better understand what’s available and how to make the most effective choices.

The technology of the Internet is new and evolving almost exponentially. The learning curve is shorter today because the systems are becoming simpler and more user friendly. This opens up extraordinary possibilities for all of us.

However, there is a great misuse and misunderstanding of the power of the Internet. Let’s say a business has a website. It looks great and they spent a lot of money on it. Once client told me once that he considered his website a “billboard.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t bringing much, if any, business to him.

The reason became apparent. He had no system to attract people to see his “billboard.” At least if you buy a real sign you can place it where traffic is already established. Many people get a website “billboard” and it becomes about as effective as if it were in the desert on a back road. No traffic and no reason for traffic.

Here’s why you should be looking to profit directly or indirectly from active participation online:

The Entrepreneur - It’s understandable why many don’t take advantage of all that they can do to promote their businesses. From a psychotherapist to a local furniture store, there is so much promotion available, free publicity and advertising, to make it almost unbelievable in scope. But, it is quite believable. The challenge is where to begin. What are the first steps?

Your blog can literally be used in place of a website. You can find more than enough information to answer your questions at the two most popular providers; www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com . Both have sufficient packages at no cost to you.

The Employee - Regardless of where you are in your company from management to entry level, you are hopefully seeking to advance. Even if it’s not with the company you’re currently with, you can make yourself known to your industry online. You can promote yourself up while others are talking at the coffee machine and trying to figure out a way to avoid their boss.

For example, you could create a positive blog about your work. This can be specific to your company or you may choose to mention only your work and not name your employer.

Let’s say you work for a pest control company. I just ran a Google search for “Forum Pest Control” without the quotes. Google shows 554,000 entries.

Your participation in these forums could be not only be a learning experience, but could position you as an authority. You can answer questions posed, or otherwise participate. Find experts and ask to interview them and put the interview on your blog.

Regardless of your industry, you can do this, even if you are at an entry level position in your company or a sole proprietor.

The mistake many make in the world of online marketing is that they try to go directly to “step 6” instead of starting at the beginning, the first step. marketing and promoting online is progressive and easy-to-begin and use, if you start at the beginning.

Marketing and promotion online can be very profitable when done right. You can discover what that means in our free special report "The Future of Internet Marketing" at:
http://www.FirstStepInternetMarketing.com