Quick Guide to Money on the Internet

Quick Guide to Money on the Internet By Nathan Price

With so many ways to make money on the internet, it can be very difficult to figure out where exactly to begin. Which methods are legit? Which methods are just hype? Which are just scams? It can get very confusing for sure. One method I have become really excited about recently is Affiliate Marketing. So I would like to take a moment to talk about it a bit, and offer a quick guide on how one can get started almost immediately. What is Affiliate Marketing exactly? Affiliate Marketing is a very simple concept where an affiliate earns commissions for sending buying customers to a merchant. An affiliate basicly acts as a sort of free-lance advertiser, sending potential customers to a specific web merchant in hopes that they will buy something from the merchant. The Affiliate Marketing concept has been around for quite some time, but really took off with the advent of the internet. In July of 1996, Amazon.com introduced their Associates Program, which was one of the first really successful affiliate programs. Since then, as the internet has grown exponentially, tons and tons of great affiliate opportunities can be found. Benefits of Affiliate Marketing Affiliate Marketing is highly benefitial to both the affiliate, and the merchant providing the program. Because of the sheer size of the internet, it can be extremely difficult, if not impossible for small businesses to effectively advertise their products to a large enough group of people. The costs of running large scale ad campaigns can be very risky to those businesses, especially if they do not perform well. But having an "army" of affiliates to advertise for them keeps the costs down since the affiliates themselves pay for their own ads. The costs are also very efficient because the merchant only pays for those ads that successfully produce a sale. The affiliate sees much benefit as well. Because it is the merchant that is doing all the selling, the affiliate does not need to concern themselves with any shipping or inventory expenditures, customer service, return policies, or any actual selling. Affiliates are also not bound in any way to a particular merchant, and can promote any number of merchants at any time. As long as their commissions generate more than their costs in ads, the affilate can make some "easy" profits. How does it work? And how can I get started? Affiliates send customers to their promoted products through links in their ads. These links send the customer to the merchant site while embedding an "affiliate ID" in the link. This ID tells the merchant site which affiliate is responsible for sending that particular customer to their site, and thus, who to pay commission to if a sale takes place. Getting started in Affiliate Marketing is actually very easy. Most all online merchants have some sort of affiliate program, which is always free to sign up for (Note: never pay to sign up for one of these, you should never have to pay a merchant anything to sell their own producs). Once signed up, you simply have to find ways to send people to the affilate URL the merchant provides you (contains your affiliate tracking ID). So basicly, you just have to find a merchant or product to promote, sign up to their free program, and begin promoting. Quick Guide 1.) Many merchants use a third party company to handle their affiliate programs. One such company is Clickbank.com. Be sure to visit their site and sign up for free. You will then have access to thousands of products to promote. (Clickbank handles all sales and commissions for products on their site, and send checks every 2 weeks). 2.) Find a product which interests you, and you feel may interest others. Check out its commission rate, and cash earned per sale. Also try to ascertain its popularity and potential competition if you can. 3.) Get your "hoplink" to the sales page of the product through Clickbank. It is imperitive to make sure this link is correct with your ID in it so you can make sure you get credit for commissions. 4.) Get your link out there. Find ways to promote your product of choice. Pay-Per-Click advertising is extremely popular for this and requires no website of your own. Many seach engines provide PPC, with Google Adwords being one of the most popular. 5.) Test, Test, and Test. Always do your best to track all results and always try to find new information on marketing strategies. The more you know, the easier making money online can be.