Entries from November 2007 ↓

In my last few posts I have urged you stay away from certain products and instead focus on building your own website. However, I know not everybody want to build a website for their online business. So for your weekend reading, I have a free blog profits blueprint for you from Yaro Starak.

In it he outline everything you need to know about setting up a money making blog. Better yet, many of his techniques will also work for making money from a website. So, I urge you to go download your Blog Profits Blueprint for free. You will need to register for free to get it, but trust me it is well worth the read.

Happy reading.

Update July 28^th, 2008: You can read the latest on Yaro Starak, Blog Profits Blueprints and the reopened Blog Mastermind Program here.

Well it seems this months most hyped Internet marketing product is going to be Affiliate Elite. Last month I told you about Nitty Gritty Marketing, another over hyped product launch. Affiliate Elite, like Nitty Gritty Marketing is probably a fine product but I am still not buying either.

Now I am sure I could have made far more money by just saying how great these products are and leaving it at that. But that’s not me. I want to help you grow your business in the long term and not just make a quick buck off you. So, let me explain why I’m not buying and then you can make up your own mind.

First of all, I think the cost does not provide as good value as other types of services available to aspiring Internet entrepreneurs. The cost is $176 upfront and then $39 a month. This means that the total annual cost is over $600. I think Site Build It, at half the price, offers a far better value.

Second, the sales copy for Affiliate Elite reads almost like a get-rich-quick scheme. I am fairly familiar with most of the techniques being taught in Affiliate Elite. They do work but they do take a fair bit of effort. Moreover, they are not nearly as easy as they are being made out to be.

Finally, the main reason I decided not buy, is because it advocates stealing other people’s Adwords campaigns. The program will allow you to spy on your competitors and then copy their ads if you choose. Personally, I find this ethically wrong. I don’t advocate any kind of stealing, and that is what this program could and is being promoted to do.

So the choice is up to you, Affiliate Elite does do some wonderfully useful things (and some not so wonderful), but is it worth it? I personally didn’t think so, but I am not you. If you are interested you can read more on the Affiliate Elite website. For my money though I would rather spend it on another copy of Site Build It at half the price.

Today’s post is a bit more of a personal rant than Internet business information. So, please feel free to skip it if you aren’t interested, you won’t really miss much.

One of the marketing methods I use to promote websites is pay per click advertising. Google dominates this market, with something around 60-70% market share. This has always somewhat puzzled me, since I often find I have better ROI (Return on Investment) from other pay per click programs.

However, today I think I fully understand why Google is the 800 lbs gorilla of pay per click. This morning, I was updating some ads in my Microsoft Adcenter account. What would have taken me about 5 minutes to do in Google ended up taking me almost an hour to do in Microsoft. This was mainly due to their incredibly slow and awkward interface, which is far less user friendly than its rival at Google.

Now it is no secret that Microsoft has invested billions trying to catch up to Google in the pay per click advertising arena. Nevertheless, I think they have a very long way to go. The only reason I continually put up up with it, is because I know that for most of my listings, Microsoft is extremely profitable. On the other hand, if I was just starting out with pay per click advertising I don’t think I would bother. It just takes too long!

Microsoft, please make your Adcenter easier and faster to use. I can’t keep wasting hours updating my ads.

On a completely unrelated note I came across a great site called Internet Marketing Sucks. It is a great satire of the hype surrounding Internet marketing products. I hope you enjoy.

Next time we’ll return to our regular format.

In some of my previous posts I have written about how you can use affiliate programs to generate money from your website. However, I never elaborated on what things you should be looking for before you join an affiliate program. So today I give you ‘What to Look For In a Good Affiliate Program.’

An affiliate programs can take may shapes and forms. At their most basic level they simply offer a percentage of the purchase price of a certain product. For example, Amazon.com currently runs one of the largest and oldest affiliate programs on the Internet. They simply pay you a small percentage (10% or less) for every book, movie, computer game, etc. that someone buys as a result of coming through your link.

Other affiliate programs will pay you just for a lead, which means you don’t have to sell anything at all to make money. This can include programs for loan applications, newsletter subscriptions or anything else where a sale is not made right away. Finally, some affiliate programs will even pay per click (similar to Google AdSesne) but this has become quite rare due to click-fraud.

Now that you have a basic idea of the different commission types available, lets look at what features a good affiliate program should have. Most affiliate programs will not have all of these things but you can judge how good an affiliate program is by how many of them it does have.

1. Fits With Your Site

The first thing you need to look for in an affiliate program is one that is appropriate for your site. For example if I have a site on the topic of traveling to Japan, I might want to include affiliate programs for hotels, airlines and Japanese language products. Other products like web hosting, Internet marking or financial services probably won’t work.

So, pick programs that fit your sites theme.

2. High Commissions

The next thing you want to look for are programs that pay you a high percentage of the sale price or a large amount per sale or lead. Remember these should fit with the theme of your site, but if you have multiple programs to choose from, it is usually better to pick the one that pays you more (kinda of a no-brainer there).

Some examples of these types of programs include ClickBank and PayDotCom products, some Commission Junction programs, Site Build It, Joe Bucks Health Supplements, Forex Affiliate and many dating sites.

Making sales can be difficult so you want to make sure that each one brings you a maximum amount of revenue.

3. Merchant Site Converts Well

This is just as important as a high commission rate. There is no point sending your visitors to a merchant’s affiliate site if you can’t make any sales. Overall, you want to find affiliate programs that have high commissions and convert well. Your sites theme will determine how well a given affiliate program works for you.

Generally, I only choose programs from merchants whose affiliate sites are ones I would personally buy from.

4. Lifetime Commissions

This is something I love to find in an affiliate program. With these types of programs all you have to do is sell once, and then you keep earning in the future. When you send someone to the merchant’s affiliate site they become your customer for life. So, if they come back in 10 years and buy something you would still be credited.

Life commission programs work best with programs that have monthly or yearly recurring commissions. These are some that I personally have had had some success with: Site Build It, DealDotCom, Joe Bucks, Forex Affiliate, Dating Sites, PayDotCom and ClickBank.

Selling once and getting paid over and over again makes earning a living online that much easier.

5. 2-Tier or Multi-tier

Many programs offer to give you a small amount of the earning of other affiliates you refer. When it is simply off people you refer directly, it is called a 2-tier program and when you earn money of people your affiliates refer, it is called multi-tier. To me this is far less important that the other factors I listed above, but is still a nice bonus.

I have found that many of the affiliates who join these types of programs focus more on signing up other affiliates rather than selling the product. If the product/service does not fit your site then there is no point signing up for it. That being said, if an affiliate program does fit your site, it is nice to earn a little bit extra off other people who may join. Some good affiliate programs that are also two tier are: Site Build It, DealDotCom, Joe Bucks, Dating Sites and Forex Affiliate.

Remember, 2-Tier only makes sense if the actual product being sold fits with your site.

6. Support

This is something else that can very important to people new to affiliate programs. Ideally you want an affiliate program that offers you ongoing support to help you make sales. This varies greatly from program to program and most times I find you have to join the program (almost always free) before you know for sure. Overall, I have found that affiliate program mangers are realizing that it is in their best interest to offer ongoing support.

Probably the affiliate program with the best affiliate support I have found so far is Site Build It. Many smaller run programs also offer good support, because their affiliate relationships are so important to their business.

However, one affiliate network that I strongly advise you to stay away from is rocket profit. A few months ago they banned my account without warning and refused to reopen it. This is despite the fact that it was a tiny infraction, which could have been solved very easily on my end. I got paid in the end but this is a perfect example of the wrong kind of support.

If you have questions make sure you ask. If they are not answered promptly you should ask yourself, if this is a company I want to do business with.

7. Payment

Finally, you want to join affiliate programs that pay you on time, every time. Occasionally, you will find yourself in a situation where a merchant fails to pay but this is exceedingly rare. I would guess that over 99% of merchants pay when they are supposed to. If you are worried about this, then I urge you to join a big affiliate network like ClickBank or Commission Junction because they handle all payment issues. Every affiliate program I have mentioned today has also paid me on time.

Keep these things in mind when you look at affiliate programs and you will make more money with less hassle than most new website owners. To find affiliate programs specifically for your niche I recommend the following resources:

AssociatePrograms.com – The biggest directory of affiliate programs on the internet.
LifeTimeCommissions.com – The largest directory of affiliate programs that pay you for life.

Since I know all of you like to get free stuff I thought I would give you something more. Today, I have an exclusive free $25 Yahoo Search Marketing credit.

Basically, Yahoo Search Marking is Yahoo’s version of Google’s AdWords program. Like AdWords it is based on a pay per click model (PPC), with prices on the whole lower than Google. Plus, I have found that their ROI (Return on Investment) is usually better.

Now, this special promotion is not for everyone. First, off you need to have an existing website based Internet business. If you haven’t build one yet then you really should do that first (I recommend Site Build It for that). Second, if you are already a member of Yahoo Search Marketing you will also be out of luck since this special offer is for new members only.

However, if you have your own website business and haven’t signed up for Yahoo Search Marketing in the past you can use the following link to claim your free $25 Yahoo Search Marketing credit. Enjoy!