An affiliate program is, at the bottom line, a commissioned sales job. Like the Fuller Brush salesman of old, you are an independent representative of a company, offering their products or services to potential customers. When one of them buys, you get a percentage of the sale. But, in the high-tech version, you have a few very powerful advantages over the classic door-to-door sales rep.

To start, you can represent multiple products from more than one company at a time, on as many web sites as you own, in as many markets as you choose. You don’t have to travel anywhere, yet the web puts you in front of a worldwide market. This gives you an incredible diversity of products, markets, and “neighborhoods” to sell in, all from right in front of your computer screen. You could possibly make multiple sales at one time, yet you never have to deal with door-slammed-in-your-face rejection. On the Internet, you don’t always even have to make a sale to earn a commission. Some affiliate programs will pay you if someone just clicks on a link at your site, fills out an application, or even asks for more information. And here’s the best part - your web sites work for you around the clock, every day.

Commission rates vary by type of product. Physical goods (that have to be shipped) tend to pay lower rates than products like software or ebooks that can be digitally delivered. However, 5% of a $2000 TV is more than 50% of a $50 ebook, so you have to remember to look at the big picture when deciding what affiliate products to offer. For best affiliate sales results, you’ll want to offer products and services designed to appeal to the target audience of your web site. For example, it makes no sense to place affiliate links to mechanic’s tools on a cooking site, while it makes perfect sense to place them on a site about restoring cars.

There are several ways to join affiliate programs. Some companies operate their own program, and you will apply through the company web site. But many merchants choose to operate through an affiliate network. These third-party companies offer sign-up, tracking, payment, and overall affiliate program management services to merchants and affiliate marketers. A few top names are Commission Junction, LinkShare, and Clickbank. Just search for “affiliate program” or “affiliate network” and you’re bound to find more.

Your sales and clicks are tracked by software. It’s your responsibility to make sure your links follow the guidelines stated by your merchant or affiliate network. Some browsers, ad-blocking software, link cloakers, and coding techniques (such as frames) can prevent the tracking links on your site from working properly, and you may not get credit if one of your clicks leads to a sale. Most all affiliate marketers sooner or later run into this, and when it happens, it’s not intentional, so don’t feel victimized. Technology is very good, but it’s not perfect.

For almost every Internet marketer, affiliate marketing offers a fast and inexpensive way to get started in an online business. These programs can help you generate income while you learn the ropes and work towards developing your own product or service, if that’s your goal. And yes, you can even become an affiliate for the Fuller Brush Company!

John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net. Subscribe Today and get real information YOU can use to help build your online business today! http://www.TheEzine.Net
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I was therefore thrilled when one of my friendly affiliate competitors got in touch to tell me that he’d started his own Internet dating service and affiliate program.

Having launched a community membership site myself last year, I could fully appreciate the huge amount of time and money my friend had invested to develop this new site. He was justifiably proud of his accomplishment and I was excited by the prospect of having a product to promote that would benefit everyone - my customers, my friend and myself.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way.

The first stumbling block was the low commission he offered. His top rate was 30%, with no commissions on recurring sales.

This puzzled me. As an affiliate marketer of dating programs, he should have been aware that new sites offer at least 50% on new and recurring sales to entice good affiliates to sign up. If commissions on recurring sales are not offered, then the rates on new sales should be increased to between 70 and 100 percent.

In most cases, his affiliate program would have struck out for me at that point. However, as this was my friend’s site, it occurred to me that perhaps his product was so unique that the potential for high volume sales might offset the lower commission. Hoping for the best, I continued my review.

When I got to the site, the first thing I noticed was ‘6 registered members’ prominently displayed at the top of the homepage. That normally wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that my customers are looking for friends and soul mates. If I send them to a site where there are only six people to meet, they’ll likely be disappointed. Worse, by wasting their time, they lose trust in my judgement and then I will lose them as customers.

That’s not good. My customers are literally my bread and butter. Giving them what they want and expect is how I stay in business. Paying for traffic that I send to a merchant site where there is nothing to buy, will put me out of business.

(This is how a membership site should be structured. When starting a dating service, the merchant pays for advertising to bring people to their site. To entice visitors to sign up as members, he will initially offer his services for fr*ee. When the database is large enough to attract paying customers, the affiliate program manager then invites potential affiliates to join their program.)

Although my friend’s program had already struck out for my customers and me, I was still curious, so I kept on looking.

Next I clicked on a link labeled ‘Dating Resources’. Expecting to find Internet dating tips and advice, I found links and banners pointing to Lavalife, FriendFinder and other affiliated dating sites instead. When I asked him about placing affiliate programs on his site, my friend said he simply wanted to supplement his income until the dating service got *rolling*. I can understand his motivation. However, what he doesn’t understand is the concept of customer ‘hijacking’.

As an affiliate, you pay good money to get visitors to your site. You presell your merchants’ products and expect the merchant to honor their end of the bargain by making the sale and sending your commission check. You don’t pay for the merchant to send YOUR customers to THEIR affiliated merchants.

I didn’t need to look any further. I told my friend that I would hold off on signing up and why. Fortunately, he understood and has already alleviated some of the problems I mentioned.

Knowing when NOT to sign up for an affiliate program can sometimes be a tough call. However, you can simplify the process considerably. Put yourself inside your customer’s head. If the product won’t work for them, the program strikes out. Simple as that.

Copyright 2003 (c) Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

1. The affiliate program has a great payment structure. For me, a high commission that is also a high percentage of the purchase price is essential. Nothing under 25% commission.
2. Make sure the affiliate program you are joining has a good looking site. You do not want to be sending visitors to a site that you do not like yourself.
3. Make sure they offer a comprehensive affiliate statistics page that lists the number of click throughs, number of sales and amount earned. This should be broken down per month.
4. Also make sure that the affiliate statistics are updated automatically and immediately. You do not want to find out today about a sale you made a week ago.
5. Ensure they give a wide variety of text links, banners and graphics to put on your web page. Although I prefer text links, certain types of banners and graphics still work well.
6. Know how often you are going to be paid. If you are tossing up between 2 programs and one pays monthly and the other pays quarterly, the one that pays monthly is better. You do not want to wait months before getting paid for your hard work!
7. See if the affiliate program gives examples of how the top affiliates are doing. This can be a great pointer to whether it is good or not. If some affiliates are earning many thousands per month, it is a good affiliate program.
8. Along these lines, also see if they give examples of what marketing methods these successful affiliates are using to get the best results.
9. An affiliate program that offers a special monthly newsletter just for the affiliates is great. Here you can get extra tips and techniques that are working well.
10. See if they offer email notification when you make a sale or get an affiliate signed up under you (if it is a 2-tier program). It is good to see “You have made another sale” in your inbox.
11. Ensure top level support is given. If they cannot answer your query straight away make sure they can respond within 48 hours.

There is tremendous demand for affiliate programs and choosing the right one is no easy task. Make sure you do plenty of research before joining one.

David McKenzie of http://www.brisney.com. For great ideas on promoting your web site or marketing your affiliate programs subscribe to our Free twice monthly
newsletter by sending a blank email to mailto:brisney@brisney.com

With a single tier program you earn a commission on any sales you make and that is it. If you are running your own affiliate program, you pay your affiliates a commission for any sales they refer and that is all.

However, with a two-tier program, affiliates are allowed to recruit sub-affiliates and are paid a small percentage of the sales these sub-affiliates generate. For example, the affiliates may earn a 30% commission for selling product X himself; and when one of the sub-affiliates makes a sale, the affiliate may get a 10% commission as well. This is very profitable for the affiliate as he can recruit an army of sub-affiliates, all earning commissions for him without any effort on his part except for the initial recruiting process.

If you are starting an affiliate program of your own should it be two-tier or single tier? Some might shy away from the seeming expense of a two-tier program. But is it really that expensive? Many affiliate program managers make the wrong decision on this.

Let’s look at an example. You have an affiliate program up and running and an average affiliate joins your program. Mr. Average has a web site that receives average traffic. He also has an ezine with thousands of subscribers published monthly. Mr. Average posts your affiliate links to his web site and promotes your product to his ezine list.

Initially, he generates good sales. However, a point comes when he saturates his market with your product and his sales begin to drop. He begins to lose interest in your program and your sales remain small. What happens if you set up a two-tier program? Rather than trying to keep your commission pay outs small, you motivate your existing affiliates to recruit other people to your program. This will exponentially increase your affiliate sales. Would it not be worth paying the referring affiliate a percentage of their sub-affiliates’ sales? Now when Mr. Average joins your affiliate program this is what would happen. When he has saturated his market with your product, he would now promote your affiliate program to his customers and ezine subscribers. Many of Mr. Average’s customers and subscribers decide to join the affiliate program. This in turn will motivate Mr. Average to continue promoting your products and recruiting affiliates.

Now what is the situation?

1. Your income increases because of increased sales.
2. You have a much larger customer base to which you can sell ‘backend’ products.
3. An increase in your income because of the life time loyalty of the customers referred by your affiliate.
4. An army of sub-affiliates who will sell your products, and in turn promote your affiliate program to their customers and subscribers.

The little extra in affiliate sales commission pay outs will be more than compensated for by the exponential sales increase. This is why the two-tier affiliate program is a guaranteed winner and should be the automatic choice for potential affiliates and affiliate program managers.

Written by John Lynch - For details of two-tier Affiliate Programs go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/affiliate_programs.html

1. E-Mail Marketing

If “surfing the net” is something you can’t get enough of, then maybe you should get paid for it. e-mail marketing is an exciting new business opportunity. The objective is to compile e-mail address lists to support a client’s mailing and then broadcast your client’s e-mail to that list. A secondary market is to sell you lists to businesses or individuals who market their goods and services by e-mail. Internet experts will be able to search for and collect lists at a moment’s notice. You most likely have all the computer equipment you’ll need, although upgrades may be necessary.

2. Raising Pets For Money

Do you like dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, or fish? Would you enjoy raising them? Why not turn it into a business? Find out what your local pet stores need or what the general market is looking for, such as rabbits and chickens for Easter, or dalmatians to capitalize on the Disney movie. Not only is this business opportunity fun for animal lovers, it’s a great first business for kids. Guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, and mice multiply rapidly and make good pets or science projects. Be sure to evaluate your demand first, or you’ll be sharing your home with permanent pets. Expanding your business to care for other people’s animals is also a possibility. Make sure that zoning laws and other regulations related to raising animals do not affect you.

3. Artist

One of the most difficult endeavors is earning money through art. The best way to do this is to go commercial. Look at the type of art you excel at: painting, computer art, or line drawings, and decide how it could benefit businesses. For instance, marketing companies hire artists to do artwork for advertising. You can also develop and draw ads and flyers for small shops that need publicity. Approach the shops and offer to develop material that they can buy upon approval. As your sales increase, create a portfolio to show to other businesses. Local rock bands and dance clubs like the more radical stuff. Over time, your art and contacts will enable you to expand into more traditional outlets.

4. Photo Albums

People just don’t have the time to develop photo albums, or they do it haphazardly with no idea about how creative a photo album can be. This is a service that gets you out of the house to meet people. You will build a reputation and can do the work on your kitchen table. You interview clients, go through their pictures, and suggest ways their photo albums can be arranged or improved. Books on the subject are available to help you improve your skills. Use your family or friends as your initial customers and bring their albums to potential customers to show what you can do. It is rewarding to see how grateful people are with the results.

5. Agent

The best thing that could possibly happen to a home-business owner is to have so much business that you can’t do it all yourself. When this happens, you can become an agent for your type of business by sub-contracting excess work out to others and taking a percentage of the fee. In this capacity, you do the billing and maintain the clients. When business is slow, you assume the workload and maintain service to your customers.

6. Errand Service

People who run everything from home businesses to Fortune 500 companies often lack the time to get everything done. That’s why there’s such a large demand for errand services. If you have a small truck or van, are punctual and trustworthy, and don’t mind an occasionally hectic schedule, you can profit from delivering packages, picking up supplies, and handling similar details for harried home business owners and executives alike. To locate clients, check with businesses in your area, or have your friends and family ask their employers if they could use your services.

7. Family History

Most of us are curious about our an cestors. That’s why written accounts of family history or family trees, known as genealogy, make popular gifts. Why not make this your business? Al though the task of digging deeply into someone’s past may seem daunting, there is a variety of software packages and books available that will make this task much easier. Visit large software and book stores to see what’s available. To reach your customers, arrange with local card and gift shop owners to let you display your advertising and samples in their stores. Placing advertisements in local newspapers is a relatively inexpensive way to reach a large audience.

8. Fix-It Shop

Any appliance, tool, or toy you buy eventually breaks – that’s a fact of life. Although America is said to be a disposable society, most of us would rather hold on to what we have rather than incur the cost of buying something new. Having a knack for fixing household items means you can earn up to $100 an hour, and you never have to leave your own garage! There are many low-cost ways to advertise your services – flyers, classified ads, and the Yellow Pages are just a few. There are also many ways to expand your business; for example, you could offer pick-up and delivery, stock replacement parts, or refurbish toys and appliances and sell them for less than what they’d cost new.

9. Fund Raiser

Do you enjoy working with the public, and helping those less fortunate? If so, you can put your people skills to work by offering yourself to local community, hospital, school, and civic groups as a fund raiser. You help the group raise money for its cause, and take a percentage of the amount for your fee. Your organizational skills, pleasant phone manner, and ability to develop effective direct mail pieces mean success in this career. Keep in mind that those who act as fund raisers for charities are often expected to do so on a volunteer basis, but this is a great way to gain experience, make valuable contacts, and build your reputation.

10. Handyman Service

Leaky faucets, clogged drains, doors that stick – the list of minor home repair needs is almost endless. Most of us just don’t have the time or the know-how to tackle these problems ourselves. If you’re good with your hands and have a general knowledge of home repair, then start a handyman service. Charge your clients less than the professionals. Your customers’ savings is your gain! You’ll need a good set of tools and a truck. It’s also a good idea to check with your city to see what licensing is required. Begin your business with your friends and family, then expand into your neighborhood.

11. Herb Garden

Cooking with home-grown herbs holds a special appeal these days. If you have a green thumb, you can capitalize on this culinary trend by growing herbs to sell to small restaurants, specialty shops, health-food stores, or even your friends and neighbors. Use your computer to create attractive, eye-catching labels for your packages. Cultivating an herb garden can require very little space - in fact, you can grow a fair assortment in flower pots on your window sill! Put your gardening expertise to work in another way by becoming a “gardening consultant,” – assisting your clients in setting up their own herb gardens.

12. Mail Services

Companies of all types and sizes use direct mail to advertise goods and services. However, many of these companies may not have the personnel to undertake a mass mailing, especially if it involves a large base of potential clients. That’s where you come in. Contracting with these businesses to handle their mass mailings could result in ample financial rewards. You’ll need a computer, special software to create labels and process lists, and most importantly, clients. Check with local businesses, especially those involved with publishing, computer accessories, or special events. Friends, relatives, and business associates can also provide leads. Expand your business by writing the promotional material, obtaining the target lists, and maintaining the client lists.

13. Sewing Service

Do you have a talent for sewing? Starting a sewing service in your home is a profitable and enjoyable business. You al ready have the equipment and skill, and the demand is great. Busy professionals need to keep their clothes in shape. Local dry cleaning and clothing stores are good sources for leads. Also, try advertising in the classified section of your local newspaper, or posting flyers in your neighborhood. Put your creativity to work by creating curtains and other home decorations, or sewing costumes for holidays and stage productions. To expand, consider the large demand for upholsterers.

14. BBQ Catering Service

If you like to barbecue, get compliments as a chef, and like to meet people, why don’t you set up a barbecue catering service? You need a truck, portable barbecue pits, and a little marketing. Send out flyers, post them at grocery stores, or advertise in your local newspaper or weekly ad magazine. People will love having outdoor parties with you showing up, setting up, cooking, and cleaning up afterwards. You can offer various options on meat and expand out to more and more food options and drinks. You thought outdoor cooking was fun; well, it’s profitable also.

15. Professional Organizer

If you notice the messes in other people’s homes and businesses, then maybe you should be an organizer. There are many books on organizing and a multitude of products that help conserve space or provide filing or stacking capability. Gather material on the subject. To start your business, practice on people you know for a small fee, then use this experience to sell yourself to others. You can purchase and mark up ready-made products, or call in carpenters to put in closet organizers, shelves, and furniture. What people save in time and money will more than make up the difference.

16. Apartment Renewal

Apartments must be cleaned, painted, and repaired after renters vacate. Since this is a frequent event, this event provides an opportunity for you to make money. Apartment unit sizes, damage, and cleaning needs vary widely. So develop estimates after a walk-through or charge by the hour. Cleaning equipment and a small truck will get you started and college students can provide help. Your target market is defined, so visit and send mailers to apartment complexes, rental management companies, condo complexes, and also offer your services to real estate brokers who need property prepared for sale.

17. Baby Furnishing

Baby furniture is constantly being cycled in and out of homes and sold at garage sales. Acquiring baby furniture can be expensive for new parents, so a service that will satisfy them and give you a good income is to stock their homes with what they need. You can get beds, chairs, tables, potty seats, and the like at garage sales. Clean and paint them, and turn them around for sale. Market at pediatrician offices, Lamaze training classes, and prenatal care services. You can provide single furniture items to full set-ups, and get the parents to resell them to you after they no longer need them, ready for you to make money on them again.

18. Tax Assistance

You can be the answer to the April 15th blues. Use your accounting background and your computer to process tax returns from your home. This business is seasonal and starts out slowly, building over time as you get returning clientele the next years. There are a number of great tax preparation software packages available that makes this task easier. Start by doing returns for your family and friends, then use them to help get business referrals. Be sure to keep up the with latest tax rules and join accounting organizations to work on accreditations.

19. Used Computer Sales

Are you a tinkerer who likes to take computers apart and put them together? Used computers that are gathering dust can make money for you. Although technology advances rapidly, much of what people need computers for can be handled by the simplest of machines. Make yourself available to buy the obsolete machines at fire sale prices. Many of the parts are interchangeable; you can cannibalize and rebuild computers that are fine for normal use, and add new parts as necessary. Then, sell the computers with your own warrantee. This is a business your high-school children may love to assist with, or even run. Repair books and training are readily available.

20. Flea Market Sales

Flea markets are like the ultimate garage sale. If you like garage sales maybe you should become a participant in flea markets. There are a number of products that you can sell: Your own crafts, collectibles from your own hobby collections (trains, coins, comics, etc), and products for resale (polishes, toys, tools, garage sale items you purchased). Some markets are opportunities to sell your skills or services such as furniture refinishing, car detailing, sewing and handyman services. Find out what flea markets are local to your area and which apply to your products or skills. Contact the organizers to find the cost of booths, qualifications, tax laws and other necessary information.

When you open a business, in a sense, you are causing a new birth to begin. This new birth was created from an idea alone by you or your associates. It will have its own bank account, it’s own federal identification number, it’s own credit accounts, it’s own income and it’s own bills. On paper, it is another individual! Just as if you were choosing a name for your own unborn child, you need to spend considerable time in deciding upon your business name.

There are several reasons why a good business name is vitally important to your business. The first obvious reason is because it is the initial identification to your customers. No one would want to do business with someone if they didn’t have a company name yet. This makes you look like an amateur who is very unreliable. Even if you call your company “Kevin’s Lawn Service,” a company name has been established and you are indeed a company. People will therefore feel more comfortable dealing with you.

Secondly, a business name normally is an indication as to the product or service you offer. “Mary’s Typing Service,” “Karate Club for Men,” “Jim-Dandy Jack-of-all-Trades,” “Laurie and Steve’s Laundry,” “Misty’s Gift Boutique,” and “Star 1 Publishers” are all examples of simple business names that immediately tell the customer what product you offer.

However, most people will choose the simple approach when naming their business. They use their name, their spouse’s name, their children’s names or a combination of these names when naming a business. The national hamburger-restaurant chain “Wendy’s” was named after the owner’s daughter. However, research has proven that these “cutesy” names are not the best names to use for a business. Many experts claim that it makes the business look too “mom-and-pop-sie.” However, this depends on the business. If you are selling something that demands this mood or theme to appeal to your market, it’s best to use this approach.

Personally, I am inclined to name my businesses with catchy names that stick in people’s heads after we have initially made contact. Names like, “Sensible Solutions,” “Direct Defenders,” “Moonlighters Ink,” “Printer’s Friend,” “Strictly Class,” “Collections and Treasures,” and “Starlight on Twilight” are all good examples of catchy names. These types of names relate to your product or service but serve as a type of slogan for your business. This is a big help when marketing.

A friend I know owns a business called “Mint and Pepper.” He grows and sells his own line of raw seasonings to people in the local area. At a get-together for small businesses, he passed out his business card. The card had a peppermint candy glued on the back and the slogan read: “Your business is worth a mint to us.” This marketing concept not only got my friend noticed and remembered, but brought in several large orders for the business.

When you name a child, you may not decide upon a definite name until after they are born. You do this because a name is sometimes associated with a type of personality. When you name a business you may need to wait until you have a product or service to sell and then decide upon a business name before going into the business itself because your business name should give some clue as to what product or service you are selling. A business named “Joe’s Collections” normally wouldn’t sell car parts and a business named “Charlie Horse” would not sell knitting supplies.

To generate ideas - begin looking at business signs everywhere you go. Notice which ones catch your eye and stick in your mind. Try and figure out “why” they stuck in your mind. Naturally, the business “Dominos Pizza” sticks in your mind because it is nationally known. These don’t count! Look around and notice the smaller businesses. Take your time. Within a few days you should be able to come up with a few potential business names.

Then, when you finally find a few names you really like - try reciting them to other people and get their opinion. It won’t be long until your business will have the proper name that will carry it through it’s life!

Mail Order Hint:
Try to avoid very long names so they will fit into small display ads. “Amalgamated International Enterprises” can be easily presented as “AIE” - which is easier and shorter to spell.

The perfect online business is one in which you are selling a product whereby you DO NOT HAVE ANY STOCK and you DO NOT PHYSICALLY HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE PRODUCT and all you do is COLLECT THE MONEY AND PASS THE CUSTOMERS DETAILS ON.

Sounds to good to be true! - well it definitely is TRUE.

THIS IS DROP SHIPPING AND ANYONE CAN DO IT!

Read the following example:

You decide that you want to sell Mobile Phones, you then realise that to do this the traditional way you would have to hold a large amount of stock so that you have the range and product available for your customers. Without a massive amount of working capital you have no chance, also by the time you get your business noticed the lines you are carrying are out of date and not worth what you paid for them.

However, now consider this:

You sign up to a Mobile Phone drop shipper, they give you a list of products that they can supply. You now go away and advertise this list on your online store. You take an order from your website for a Motorola phone, you have this advertised at $200. You then collect the customers details via your website, all good shopping cart software provide this feature, and then contact your drop shipper and buy the same phone for $150 and pass them your customers details. That is the end of the sales process for you, what happens next is:

The drop shipper SENDS THE PRODUCT TO YOUR CUSTOMER and usually it goes under plain packaging or some drop shippers can also put YOUR COMPANY DETAILS on the packaging when they send it to your customer.

Thats $50 PROFIT for VERY LITTLE WORK!

Just 10 orders a week will give you $500 profit.

Drop shipping is fast becoming the easiest way of starting your own online business because it offers a very simple formula for success:

The drop shipper sets the price that you pay, you then set the price that your customers pay and the difference between the two is your profit!

SIMPLE ISN’T IT.

Because it is that simple a lot of people are jumping on the drop shipping band wagon and it is not unusual to see lots of different websites using the same pictures and sales copy to sell the same product, usually because they just simply publish the promotional materials that the drop shippers provide for them.

It is important at this stage to remember that the internet was based upon the ability to share information and content. It is this simple word, CONTENT, that will help you to distinguish yourself from the rest and will also ensure that your search engine rankings are developed to increase the traffic (i.e. customers) to your website.

This is simply using information and content to ADD VALUE to your website, customers want to be able to learn about the product before they purchase and having content specific to your area will allow this distinction in the mind of the customer. In order to make a success of your online business you have to make your customers want to come back. Think of your favourite websites, why do you keep revisiting them? Simple, because they provide you with something that is of VALUE to you.

Drop shipping allows you to develop your business in this manner because instead of worrying about stock levels and shipping you get to focus on listening to the market and discovering the products your visitors want - and then being able to rapidly add them to your site.

Its CONTENT SPECIFIC TO A WANT.

Drop Shipping is EASY - Have I said that?

BUT, don’t get carried away. When you see the products that the drop shippers offer you simply think I can sell that, that, that and that and before long your list of things that you want to sell is massive and this is counter productive. In order to make drop shipping successful for you I would suggest to

FOCUS ON ONE PRODUCT AT A TIME

Build this up, when this is established then it gives you the ability to go into other areas a lot easier and your current customer base will give you a good source of potential new customers straight away.

A great way is to focus onto a product that you like, know a lot about or use personally in a hobby etc. This gives you the opportunity to develop your website as an authority on the subject and as such ADD VALUE.

Like any business venture there are some points that should be raised before you build your online empire the easy drop shipping way:

Don’t just use the first drop shipper you come across as they may not give you the best deal on this particular product. Like all things shop around a number of drop shippers to find the one most suitable to your needs.

Some drop shippers operate a handling fee over and above shipping costs, this is usually quite a reasonable fee and needs to be factored into your pricing structure.

Some drop shippers try to charge you a monthly ‘members’ fee as another means to make money from you, in my opinion these should be avoided as the only time you should have to pay a drop shipper is in connection with a specific order. You will find that the majority that charge a members fee are the ones that offer no true value to your business anyway.

As with any developing business the question of credibility is key, unfortunately there are a number of con artists out there that are aiming to take your money for nothing in return. A key phrase to remember is :

IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE - IT IS!

Research is key, for example:

How long have the drop shippers been in business?

Do they respond to your information requests quickly and professionally?

Do they offer buying accounts?

What payments do they accept? (if just Western Union run a mile)

This list is endless, that is why I only recommend two sources of drop shippers information. Both these lists are maintained by professionals that constantly update their lists and only recommend the best, most reliable and trustworthy drop shippers. These sources can be found from the link in my signature box at the bottom of the article.

As you can imagine the idea of drop shipping fits in with online auctions, in particular eBay, perfectly as eBay will provide you with the traffic and all you have to do is make that ad stand out from the rest (my FREE resources on my site will help you) and all the rest of the work is done for you.

You just concentrate on developing your business and using eBay’s traffic to make money and you cannot lose.

When you are searching for products to promote at Commission Junction (CJ) check the EPC in your account manager. EPC = earnings per hundred clicks. If a product has a $50 EPC on average an affiliate earns $50 dollars per every hundred visitors they send to the product or merchant’s website. CJ will give you a weekly and a 3 month average EPC. The higher the EPC the more money affiliates are earning.

When searching for a product at ClickBank look at the product’s gravity. This is done in score form and the criteria is how many affiliates are selling the product and how well the product is selling. This does not give you an average of how much the product is earning per hundred visitors but if the product has a high gravity score than it is selling well.

One thing to keep in mind is that just because a product has a high EPC or Gravity score doesn’t mean everything. I have had success with products that have had high and low EPC’s and Gravity. These metrics should only be used as a guide. A Niche product might not have a lot of affiliates promoting it so the gravity could be low, but it could still be very profitable. A product could have a low EPC but maybe it’s not being advertised effectively.

One disadvantage of high gravity is the higher the gravity the higher the number of affiliates promoting the product. That means more competition. EPC doesn’t quite work the same way, you can have 1 person promoting a product and you will still see the EPC whether it is high or low. With CJ there is a “Network Earnings” indicator bar that goes from one to five to show how many affiliates are promoting a merchant’s website. One being not many affiliates and five being a lot of affiliates.

You have to be a little more careful when promoting an in-house affiliate product. The reasons for this is there are no 3rd parties involved to make sure that everything is kept honest. Try to find out a companies reputation before promoting their products. You can search for the company name, product name, search affiliate forums and search engines to find out if affiliates have horror or success stories about the company. No matter how good a product is or sells there will always be some complaints. Nobody has a 100% success or customer satisfaction rate.

Before promoting any product visit the website and ask yourself the following:

Is the website easy to navigate?

Does the website look professional?

If I was looking to buy this product, would this website convince me to do so?

If there are a few competing affiliate products in the same market that interest you, try promoting them all. Test which one is the best seller and promote that one the most. If you have 2 that are profitable keep promoting both. I have promoted many products and constantly weed out the losers. Sometimes you will try 3 products and they will all lose money, sometimes they will all make money, sometimes 1 out of 3 will make money. The important thing is weeding out the losers and finding winners.

Robert Walter has been marketing online successfully for over 5 years. Learn how you can master Adwords and make a lot of money with your affiliate products at http://hot-product-reviews.com. Visit Rob’s Blog to learn free Adwords tips at http://pay-per-click-marketing.blogspot.com

We’re going to discuss how you can make money from these freebie seekers by not selling them any products.

You’re going to send these people to companies which will pay you for each lead you send them.

These pay per lead companies will pay you each time you send them a visitor who does one of a few things:

1. Fills out a form to request a free sample.
2. Downloads a free software program.
3. Signs up for a newsletter.

What’s important to know is that these people will not be handing over any money to the company. Yet, you can still generate an income by sending visitors to these companies.

That’s because these companies know that they will make back the money they invest in paying for the leads.

Here is a reputable company which will bring you quality pay per lead offers: http://www.azoogleads.com.

There are many others in various niches. You can find them through Google.

You’ve found the lead companies. Now you need to find the freebie seekers and do some match making. Have a look at any of the various keyword research tools on the market. You’ll find tons of people searching free stuff.

These freebie seekers don’t stop at just one freebie. When they’re on a roll, they’ll practically run over anybody that gets in their way to find more free offers.

There’s another similar market that you could even tackle. That’s the coupon market. People who are searching for all sorts of coupons and rebates for products online.

There are enough companies using Adwords to advertise their sites that you could set up a content site and make money by placing Adsense ads on your sites.

I used to wonder how these sites were making money when their focus was on free stuff. Now using pay per lead programs and Adsense, I can see how much money there is flowing in this niche.