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4 Steps to eBay Affiliate Success
Copyright 2005 Anthony Samuel Getting started with the eBay affiliate program is as simple as 4 easy steps. eBay knows you have a business to run, so they have created a step-by-step guide to see you down the road of success. With the eBay...
5 Steps to Become a High-earning Affiliate Champion
There are basicly only 5 steps involved to become successful and
rich as an online affiliate. These 5 steps include:
1. Choose the right affiliate programs.
Today there are tons of products that offer opportunities of
making money...
How To Boost Affiliate Profits Using Secret Domain Tricks
Want to increase your affiliate link click-through rates and profits?
Then you'll need to learn how to master your domain.
One of my favorite episodes of Seinfeld was the "master of your domain" show where the gang bet each other as...
How To Increase Affiliate Click-Through Rate
When you join an affiliate programs, what is it that you want to achieve? Of course, we want to gain commission from the merchant. How can we do that? Commissions are gain when visitors that we refer purchase products or services on the merchant's...
The Red Flags of Affiliate Marketing Scams
Thanks to the legitimate business model of online affiliate marketing; many people are earning a good living working from home. Unfortunately there exists a series of affiliate program scams masquerading as genuine Internet marketing opportunities....
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The Problem with the Affiliate System
I've recently been reminded that product reviews and recommendations from "affiliates" are completely unreliable and untrustworthy.
Anybody who has dabbled in web marketing knows that a prime source of revenue for web marketers is selling "affiliate" products. If you don't have your own product — and many of us do not — then all you have to do is get your web visitors to click thru to "gurus" like Jim Daniels, Cory Rudl, or Ken Evoy, and they will gladly give you anywhere from 25% to 60% of the retail price just for the click thru.
Everybody in the business seems to think this is a wonderful system. What could be better? You build traffic to your site and gradually gain credibility as a reliable source of marketing information. And you leave the product development to the guys who really know what they're doing.
You send them the prospects. They send you the checks. Cha-ching.
Just another "marketing expert"
Unfortunately the only products worth selling are "info-products" that pay large commissions. Companies that sell "real" products like golf balls, computers, and books pay such a small commission it is hardly worth your while sticking their link on your site.
So this means that in order to make money as an affiliate, you have to become another of the thousands of Mini Marketing Gurus out there. And because there are so many of us, your chances of actually making any money are pretty slim.
Mini Gurus are just lemmings
Even worse, while you build your business and (maybe) develop your own products and services, you must prostitute yourself to the gurus who already have the products.
Because as far as I can tell the "affiliate" relationship turns us into lemmings.
It encourages newly created Mini Gurus to latch onto affiliate products in an absolutely uncritical way. Many of these products are nothing more than glorified "how to" manuals, but intense hype by experienced marketers turns them into "super products". And a bevy of willing affiliates cannot offer objective information about them because they think their livelihood depends on selling them.
For instance, Ken Evoy has thousands and thousands of affiliates for his SiteSell products -- including his flagship product called Site Build It. Do you think the fact that someone stands to make money by selling a product affects his or her objectivity about
it?
Is there any question? The truth is, I have never read a critical review of Site Build It from someone who sells it. Why would you be objective about a product if you stand to make money every time it is sold?
In fact, this is an unwritten rule about web marketing products. No criticism. Ever. I'm sure just the fact that I dare mention "critical review" and a product name in the same sentence will draw gasps of disbelief. But, the truth is I think Site Build It is a really good program. Not perfect (gasp!). But a lot better than than almost anything else I've seen.
As a result of the Mini Guru's utter dependence on sales of products like this, it is virtually impossible to get objective third party information about them.
Do you see what a beautiful system this is for enterprising marketers? Create a product. Make it available to affiliates. Offer a handsome commission. And no one (except the poor suckers who buy it) will ever say a negative word about your product again.
Do affiliates mislead their own customers?
In fact, it gets worse. Not only are affiliates uncritical about products, but they can be downright misleading in their praise of them.
For instance, I was recently searching for an autoresponder program, and because I was an affiliate for Cory Rudl's products, I thought I would try his much-hyped program called "My Email Manager". One of the reviews I read about the product praised it up and down and gave it a glowing "five star" rating.
After struggling with My Email Manager for a week or so I concluded it was a turkey. It just didn't do the things it claimed it could do. The product promotion was clearly misleading, and the review I had read bore no resemblance to my experience. I doubt very much whether this person had actually tried the program.
But that's how the affiliate system works.
About the Author
Rick Hendershot is based in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He has spent many years as an advertising consultant, and small business owner. He currently publishes several small business websites and ezines, and provides web design and online marketing services to small business owners wanting to jump start their online marketing efforts. He can be reached at rh@small-business-online.com.
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Affiliate Programs - Your guide to the best web affiliate programs. |
Your guide to the best web affiliate programs, associate programs and profit sharing. Our affiliate directory is ideal for both webmasters and merchants ... |
www.affiliateguide.com |
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Affiliate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
An affiliate is not the same as an owned and operated station, ... Affiliate marketing typically refers to this Electronic commerce version of the ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Affiliate marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
As per market statistics [citation needed], affiliate marketing in terms of ... By linking Geffen Records to CDNow, the affiliate marketing format was born. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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CafePress.com : Affiliate Program : Affiliate Overview |
Enables individuals and companies to sell a wide variety of products online with zero upfront costs. |
www.cafepress.com |
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Amazon.com Associates: The web's most popular and successful ... |
Launched in 1996, Associates is Amazon.com's affiliate marketing program. ... As one of the first online affiliate marketing programs, Associates has a ... |
affiliate-program.amazon.com |
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Casino Affiliate Program - InterCasino.com |
The world's first and largest online casino. Voted Best Online Casino 2003 by Gambling Online Magazine. |
www.intercasino.com |
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AffiliateFuture.com |
AffiliateFuture are performance-based marketing specialists, providing sales solutions and marketing services to advertisers, publishers and agencies. ... |
www.affiliatefuture.com |
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affiliate registration |
Programr.php3: () is not a programmer id nor a Form! |
https: |
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BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click affiliate program. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
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Apple - iTunes - Affiliate Program |
Now you can be part of the excitement by joining the iTunes Affiliate Program.* ... Apply to the Apple Store Affiliate Program, with a wide selection of ... |
www.apple.com |
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Affiliate Programs Directory |
Affiliate Scout is your source for affiliate programs. Our affiliate directory is composed of high quality advertisers that are looking for affiliates to ... |
www.affiliatescout.com |
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eBay Affiliate Program: Welcome to the eBay Affiliate Program |
The affiliate program on eBay pays web designers, internet publishers and affiliates to drive users and leads to eBay and for bids and buy-it-nows; ... |
affiliates.ebay.com |
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AffiliateFuture |
There are no set-up fees for becoming an affiliate with AffiliateFuture. ... Affiliates please login below. If you are a merchant click here. ... |
www.affiliatefuture.co.uk |
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Affiliate Network - Affiliate Window |
Affiliate network offering tracking and management solutions for maintaining an affiliate program. |
www.affiliatewindow.com |
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webmasters affiliate programs |
Webmasters earn money with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
www.clicksor.com |
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UK Affiliate Marketing Forum - a4uforum.co.uk |
UK Affiliate marketing industry forum from affiliates4u featuring news, discussion, and affiliate program resources. |
www.a4uforum.co.uk |
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Affiliate programs directory - Associate Programs.com |
A searchable directory of rated affiliate programs. |
www.associateprograms.com |
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Affiliate Summit 2007 West - Affiliate Marketing in Las Vegas ... |
Affiliate Summit 2007 West at Bally's Las Vegas, January 21-23, 2007. Keynote Speaker will be Michael Sanchez, CEO and Co-founder of ClubMom.com. |
www.affiliatesummit.com |
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Affiliate Programs Marketing Training |
Most recent up-to-date developments in the affiliate marketing industry. ... The Affiliate Classroom is a step by step training program to help you easily ... |
www.affiliateclassroom.com |
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Affiliate Programs Directory - Affiliate Match.com |
Affiliate programs directory with searchable, categorized listings. |
www.affiliatematch.com |
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