McArthur developed multiple sites in the top 3,000 Websites on the Internet and produced jvAlert.com which ranked 362 out of all of the Websites on the Internet by the traffic ranking Website Alexa.com

In 2013, the brainchild of Seth Godin, Change This, selected McArthur's manifesto, The Impact Manifesto: You Make A Difference Whether You Want To Or Not, for publication which places it in the company of manifesto's from Seth Godin, Hugh MacLeod, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Anderson, Jay Conrad Levinson, Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell, and Robert Scoble.

In 2010, McArthur was featured in the Fast Company Influence Project and listed in the Top-20 Most Influential People Online.

jvAlert

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Just a few of the experts coming to jvAlert Live San Diego Feb. 8th - 10th http://jvAlertLive.com Would love to ...

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Stay up to date on results for jvAlert.

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American author and speaker on business issues. The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear

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The Super Affiliate Handbook:

How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online



By Rosalind Gardner, Super Affiliate
















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Copyright © 2003 Rosalind Gardner, WebVista Inc. Published by Rosalind Gardner, WebVista Inc.

All rights reserved.

All content contained within the "Super Affiliate Handbook" is copyright © 2003 Rosalind Gardner of Webvista Incorporated.

All literary work contained within the "Super Affiliate Handbook" belongs to and is the sole property of its respective authors and is reprinted with permission. Reproduction, copying, or any other form of use of the pieces contained within the ebook is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN without express permission from the author him or herself. If perjury is discovered the offenders will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Note: The owner of this ebook is permitted to print ONE copy for his or her own use.

These rules have been established to protect the rights and ownership of the authors and to ensure that their work is upheld as their own.


National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication


Gardner, Rosalind, 1959- The super affiliate handbook : how I made $436,797 last year selling other people's stuff online / authored by Rosalind Gardner.


ISBN 0-9733287-0-3


1. Internet marketing. I. Title.

HF5438.35.G37 2003 658.8'00285'4678 C2003-904359-2






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Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................... II
INTRODUCTION................................................................................ 1 Thank You & Congratulations....................................................................... 1 Make No Promises, Tell No Lies (Disclaimer) ............................................... 2 Acknowledgements...................................................................................... 3 About the Author.......................................................................................... 4 How to Get the Most from the “HandBook” .................................................. 5
LET'S TALK BUSINESS ...................................................................... 6 Debunking the 6 Biggest Internet Marketing Myths..................................... 6 Profile of an Entrepreneur.......................................................................... 10 Quiz: Are YOU an Entrepreneur? ................................................................ 12 Can You Handle the Lifestyle?.................................................................... 14
AFFILIATE BUSINESS BASICS......................................................... 16 How Do Affiliate Programs Work?.............................................................. 16 15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer.............................................. 18 What is a Super-Affiliate? .......................................................................... 20 A Brief History of Affiliate Marketing.......................................................... 21 Affiliating vs. Reselling............................................................................... 22 How to Become an Affiliate........................................................................ 24 Overview of the Business-Building Process................................................ 25
SETTING UP SHOP .......................................................................... 27 Basic Knowledge........................................................................................ 27 Computer Codes and Macros......................................................................................27 File Management ........................................................................................................28 Basic Hardware & Services......................................................................... 30 Computer.....................................................................................................................30 Internet Connection.....................................................................................................30 Telephone....................................................................................................................31 Printer..........................................................................................................................32 Router..........................................................................................................................32 Basic Software ........................................................................................... 33 AntiVirus Software.....................................................................................................33 Browsers.....................................................................................................................35 Compression/Extraction Utility..................................................................................35
STUFFIT EXPANDER CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE FOLLOWING SITE................................................................................................ 36 Email Software............................................................................................................37 Accounting Software ..................................................................................................38 File Transfer Protocol (FTP).......................................................................................38
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Firewall.......................................................................................................................38 PDF Reader.................................................................................................................39 Spreadsheet Software..................................................................................................40 Text Editor..................................................................................................................40 Business Expenses..................................................................................... 41
RESEARCH PROFITABLE IDEAS....................................................... 42 What's Your Passion?................................................................................. 42 Targeting a Market..................................................................................... 47 Market Research Tools............................................................................... 48 Keyword Research Tools............................................................................................49 Top 200 Searches in 60 Days......................................................................................56 Search Toolbars..........................................................................................................62 Google Search Engine.................................................................................................64 Pay Per Click Search Engines.....................................................................................65 Market Research Begins............................................................................. 66 What are the Trends for this Industry? .......................................................................66 Is there Sufficient Demand?........................................................................................66 How Much Competition Are You Up Against? .........................................................73 How Much Does it Cost to Advertise?.......................................................................77 WHO is Your Competition?.......................................................................................79 Will Your Niche be Profitable?.................................................................... 82
WHERE TO FIND PRODUCTS & SERVICES TO SELL ONLINE............. 86 Affiliate Networks ...................................................................................... 86 Affiliate Fuel...............................................................................................................87 BeFree/Reporting.net..................................................................................................89 Casino Coins Network................................................................................................95 Casino Rewards..........................................................................................................96 ClickBank...................................................................................................................97 ClickxChange..............................................................................................................98 clixGalore....................................................................................................................99 Commission Junction..................................................................................................99 Commission Soup.....................................................................................................102 Dark Blue Affiliate Network ....................................................................................103 FineClicks.com.........................................................................................................104 LeadHound................................................................................................................105 Linkshare...................................................................................................................106 Quinstreet..................................................................................................................108 ReferBack .................................................................................................................109 ShareaSale.................................................................................................................109 WebSponsors............................................................................................................110 Affiliate Networks - Quick List................................................................................112 How To Search the 'Net for Merchant Sites .............................................. 113 Affiliate Program Directories.................................................................... 113 "Ready-Made" Affiliate Marketing Business ............................................. 115 Great Product - No Program - Now What?................................................ 117
HOW TO CHOOSE PRODUCTS & PROGRAMS.................................. 120 5 Ways to Assess a Product or Service..................................................... 120
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How to Choose an Affiliate Program......................................................... 121 Let's Play 20 Questions.............................................................................................121 Is the Company Reputable?......................................................................................122 Is there an Affiliate Agreement?...............................................................................123 What are the Conditions of the Agreement?.............................................................123 May I Terminate the Agreement? How? ..................................................................123 Is My Site Eligible for this Program?.......................................................................124 Is there a Fee to Join the Program?...........................................................................125 Does the Program Require Exclusivity?...................................................................125 What is the Program Type?.......................................................................................126 How Much is the Commission?................................................................................126 Do I Get Credit for Recurring Sales?........................................................................128 Does the Program Pay Lifetime Commissions?.......................................................129 Is the Program 2-Tier?..............................................................................................130 Are Cookies Used to Track Sales?............................................................................130 Are Sales Statistics Reported in Real Time?............................................................131 Are Sales Tools Offered?..........................................................................................132 Is Co-Branding Available? .......................................................................................135 When Do I Get Paid?................................................................................................135 How Do I Get Paid? In Cash? Credit? Food Stamps?..............................................135 Does the Merchant use Third Party Billing?.............................................................136 Is There a Minimum Payout Amount?......................................................................136 Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe … Choosing Between Affiliate Programs ......... 137 Commission Rates....................................................................................................137 Brand Name Products...............................................................................................139 Should You Affiliate with Bookstores?...................................................... 140 Sorry, Your Application was Rejected....................................................... 141 You're Fired! ............................................................................................ 142 A Good Program to Join............................................................................ 144 A Program to Avoid.................................................................................. 147 Programs to Drop..................................................................................... 149 Spammers..................................................................................................................149 Inconsiderate Affiliate Managers..............................................................................149 Customer Complaints................................................................................................151 Slow Payments..........................................................................................................151
DOMAIN ISSUES........................................................................... 153 Free Domains - Worth about that Much.................................................... 153 How to Choose a Domain Name................................................................ 155 Register Your Own Domain Name ............................................................ 157 Web Hosting - How to Choose A Home for Your Domain .......................... 158 Key Hosting Features................................................................................................158 Support......................................................................................................................159 Value.........................................................................................................................159 Recommended Hosting Services..............................................................................160
PLAN YOUR WEB SITE .................................................................. 162 Don't Build a Mall… Build a Theme Park!.................................................. 162 One Topic - Multiple Domains?................................................................. 164 Site Structure - 'Micro' or Content?.......................................................... 165 Develop a Site Plan .................................................................................. 166
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BUILD YOUR SITE......................................................................... 171 4 Site Building Options............................................................................. 171 Do it Yourself ...........................................................................................................171 Use a Template.........................................................................................................171 Get A Web Site Package Deal..................................................................................172 Hire a Designer.........................................................................................................173 Design Software....................................................................................... 175 Graphics Software.....................................................................................................175 HTML Editor............................................................................................................175 HTML/Graphics Combination Software..................................................................175 Web Site Essentials.................................................................................. 177 Logo..........................................................................................................................177 TAG line / Slogan.....................................................................................................177 Privacy Statement.....................................................................................................178 Contact Information..................................................................................................179 'About Us' Page.........................................................................................................180 Ezine/Newsletter Sign-Up on Every Page................................................................180 Design Rules-of-Thumb............................................................................ 181 Font Face, Color & Size............................................................................................181 Links Should Look Like Links.................................................................................182 Color Scheme............................................................................................................182 White Space..............................................................................................................182 Page Width................................................................................................................183 Page Backgrounds.....................................................................................................183 Consistent Navigation...............................................................................................183 Bandwidth Hogs........................................................................................................184 Use of Pop-Ups.........................................................................................................184 Music/Noise..............................................................................................................185 Frames.......................................................................................................................186 Keep it Fresh.............................................................................................................187 Web Site Building Primers & Help..........................................................................187 9 Ways to Make Your Pages Search Engine Friendly................................. 188 Keyword-Rich Page Names......................................................................................188 Site Map....................................................................................................................189 Relevant Content.......................................................................................................189 Eliminate Clutter.......................................................................................................189 Meta Tags..................................................................................................................189 Dynamic Pages..........................................................................................................190 Avoid Tricks and Deception......................................................................................191
TURN CLICKS INTO CUSTOMERS................................................... 192 How to Write Compelling Product Endorsements ..................................... 193 Learn the Art of Copywriting.................................................................... 194 Credibility Pays ........................................................................................ 196
29 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR AFFILIATE BUSINESS..................... 198 9 Ways to Get Traffic Fast........................................................................ 199 Google AdWords......................................................................................................199 Pay Per Click Search Engines...................................................................................200 Pay for a Yahoo! Listing...........................................................................................202
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Google’s Premium Sponsorships..............................................................................203 Ezine Advertising......................................................................................................203 Build an Opt-In Subscriber List................................................................................204 Publish an Ezine, eCourse or Both...........................................................................205 How to Use Auctions to Sell Affiliate Products.......................................................206 Site Submission Services & Software.......................................................................209 9 Ways To Get Traffic To Your Site For Free ............................................. 210 Joint Ventures...........................................................................................................210 Write Ezine Articles..................................................................................................211 Free Directory Listings.............................................................................................212 Search Engine & Crawler Listings...........................................................................213 Group and Forum Postings.......................................................................................213 Link Trading, FFA's & Banner Exchanges...............................................................215 Use an Email Signature.............................................................................................219 Start or HomePage Traffic Networks .......................................................................220 Refer-a-Friend Scripts...............................................................................................221 11 Ways to Market Your Site Offline......................................................... 222 Car decals..................................................................................................................222 Business cards...........................................................................................................222 Personalized Stationery.............................................................................................222 Speaking Engagements.............................................................................................222 Classified Ads...........................................................................................................222 Press Releases...........................................................................................................223 Trade Publications....................................................................................................223 Wear Your URL........................................................................................................224 Promotional items.....................................................................................................224 Tell Your Friends and Family...................................................................................224 Happy Customers......................................................................................................224
MANAGE YOUR AFFILIATE BUSINESS........................................... 226 How to Get & Stay Organized................................................................... 226 Regular Tasks........................................................................................... 229 Daily Tasks...............................................................................................................229 Weekly Tasks............................................................................................................230 Monthly Tasks..........................................................................................................231 Quarterly Tasks.........................................................................................................231 Evaluate Your Site's Performance ............................................................ 232 Stats to Track & Numbers to Crunch........................................................................232 Collecting Data.........................................................................................................235 Recording Data.........................................................................................................238 How to Prevent Commission Theft ........................................................... 244 25 Avoidable Mistakes.............................................................................. 247
GROW YOUR BUSINESS................................................................ 250 How Much is Your Effort Worth? .............................................................. 250 Forums: Participate & Learn..................................................................... 253
RESOURCES.................................................................................. 255 Glossary of Terms .................................................................................... 255 Rosalind's Directory of Goodies................................................................ 266
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A Few of My Favorite Affiliate Programs................................................... 267 Recommended Reading............................................................................ 269
AFTERWORD................................................................................. 270

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Super Affiliate Handbook


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Introduction
Thank You & Congratulations
Thank you for buying the "Super Affiliate Handbook", and Congratulations! for taking a positive step towards your future as an affiliate marketer.



Before reading any further, please be sure to sign up to receive the 'Net Profits Coach' newsletter. Reading it regularly will keep you up to date on Internet and Affiliate marketing changes and developments.

Get it at: http://rosalindgardner.com/



Back to the Handbook… I know you'll find it a valuable resource that you return to again and again as you build your affiliate marketing business.

Affiliate marketing has been very good to me. My Internet business success has allowed me to quit my job, and pursue a lifestyle I could only dream about just a few years ago.

I attribute my good fortune to a combination of hard work, perseverance and large doses of luck.

As someone once said, 'the harder I work, the luckier I get'. So true, and yet I still feel incredibly lucky to be where I am.

Now I'm going to share my 'lucky secret' with you.

Affiliate marketing on the Internet is here to stay, and merchants want YOU!

I urge you to take advantage of this incredible opportunity as soon as possible. Part of what makes this so special is that you can start an Internet business part-time while you enjoy the security of your full-time job.

Happy reading! I wish you health, happiness and much prosperity!




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Make No Promises, Tell No Lies (Disclaimer)
As much as I'd love to think that everyone who follows the advice in the "Super Affiliate Handbook" (SAH) will become fabulously wealthy by result, the truth is that I can't promise that will happen for you.

I can't guarantee that you will actually read the book, follow my suggestions to the letter and write copy that will entice your site visitors to buy vast amounts of your merchant partners' products.

I wish I could, but I can't.

So here's the nitty gritty legal statement.

Legal Notices and Disclaimer

THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY: While all attempts have been made to verify information provided, neither myself, nor any ancillary party, assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contradictory interpretation of the subject matter herein.

Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable laws, in no event shall SAH, agents or suppliers be liable for damages of any kind or character, including without limitation any compensatory, incidental, direct, indirect, special, punitive, or consequential damages, loss of use, loss of data, loss of income or profit, loss of or damage to property, claims of third parties, or other losses of any kind or character, even if SAH has been advised of the possibility of such damages or losses, arising out of or in connection with the use of the SAH or any web site with which it is linked.

NOTE: Many of the links in this ebook are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a commission if you choose to buy a product after visiting the merchant's site through that link. This is an example of affiliate marketing in action - and the subject of this ebook.



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Acknowledgements
First of all, I'd like to thank Corey Rudl of the Internet Marketing Center. By profiling my affiliate business on his “Secrets to Their Success” site, Corey proved to me that successful affiliate marketing is a subject of interest to thousands of aspiring netpreneurs.

I also wish to thank Allan Gardyne of AssociatePrograms.com. In publishing information about my 'Secrets to Their Success' interview in his newsletter, my site received many more visitors who were interested in affiliate marketing.

Both gentlemen helped me realize that I had valuable information to share with others.

Next, I have to thank everyone who ever asked me a question about doing business online. Every question asked was another great reason to write “The Super Affiliate Handbook”.

Last, but not least, I am grateful to you, Dear Reader, for making time to read this ebook. I hope it proves enormously beneficial to you in all of your online moneymaking ventures!

With Best Wishes for YOUR Success,

Rosalind


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About the Author
Rosalind Gardner's success with affiliate marketing on the Internet is positive proof that ANYONE can succeed in an Internet business.

She'd been working as an air traffic controller for almost twenty years, and the crazy schedules had started to seriously affect her health. She knew she had to leave the job before it killed her.

In 1997 after seeing a banner ad for the One and Only dating service offering webmasters a chance to make money with their web sites, she KNEW she had to give it a try.

The rest, as they say, is history. In 2000, well supported by her various online businesses, she left her job.

With nothing other than an intense desire to leave her job, she proved that business or web design experience weren't necessary to succeed on the 'Net.

Her interviews appear in Corey Rudl's 'Secrets to Their Success', Jason Alexander's 'Achieve Net Profits' as well as in glossy magazines such as Six Figure Income Magazine and Small Business Opportunities. Many of her Internet marketing colleagues have written about her success, as has Allan Gardyne of 'AssociatePrograms.com'.

This is an excerpt from Allan's article:

"A perfect example is Rosalind Gardner, who earns $30,000 to $50,000 a month in affiliate commissions, with a very nice 40% to 50% profit margin. ...and... She explains how she attracts more than 4,500 unique visitors a day and has sales conversions that are 3 to 5 times higher than those of the average affiliate. ...and... This isn't vague theory or book learning, it's real-life, down-to-earth advice from real people like Rosalind."

Since learning how relatively simple it is to make money online, Rosalind has been writing and consulting in the field of affiliate and Internet marketing to encourage friends, colleagues and anyone who is interested, to join her on the path to Internet riches.

Her articles appear all over the 'Net, and are available to subscribers of the Net Profits Coach newsletter as free content for their sites.

You too can enjoy financial freedom with an online business. Whether you are just starting out or want to improve an existing site, Rosalind can help you achieve your dream.

Six Figure Income Magazine http://www.quickinfo247.com/1289465

Secrets to Their Success http://secretstotheirsuccess.com
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How to Get the Most from the “HandBook”

You are reading this because you want to learn how to make money with affiliate programs. And you want to do it without having to read an encyclopedia, AND without spending a lot of money.

So, I've kept things simple. In ‘The Super Affiliate Handbook”, you'll learn how to start your own affiliate marketing business quickly, easily and inexpensively.

Simple as that.

By the time you’ve finished this ebook, you will have all the information you need to start your own profitable affiliate marketing eBusiness.

In order to get the most out of the Handbook, please read and follow the advice provided in the next section. Read the whole ebook before launching into a project. I know that the prospect of starting your own business is really exciting. But before you open an HTML editor or sign up for a bunch of affiliate programs, read "The Super Affiliate Handbook" in its entirety first.

By doing so, you will avoid the possibility of missing essential information and wasting both your time and money.

I've done my best to make the Handbook straightforward and direct, keeping the words to a minimum so reading it through won't take that much time.

Stay connected to the Internet while reading “The Super Affiliate Handbook”. There are many links to useful resources in the Handbook. To take advantage of them, you'll have to be connected to the Internet when you read the book.

If you'd rather read “The Super Affiliate Handbook” while relaxing on your couch, that's OK too! Simply make note of links in the book that you want to visit later.

Make a commitment and take action. A goal without a deadline is nothing more than a wish. If you truly desire success, you must set highly specific goals with target completion dates, develop a plan to meet those goals and then put the plan into action. Read the Handbook completely, then start acting on your plan! By approaching your work in bite-sized chunks as described in the manual, you'll find that your project becomes easily manageable.

Continue your education. Change is happening faster and faster all the time. This is especially true where technology and the Internet are concerned. Successful Internet marketing entrepreneurs realize that they need to stay abreast of the industry, or get left in the dust. This entails reading relevant newsletters, keeping an eye on your competitors and making regular investments in educational materials.

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Let's Talk Business
Debunking the 6 Biggest Internet Marketing Myths

In every myth there is an element of truth. Read the sections below to discover the grain of truth in all of these Internet marketing myths.


Myth : Internet Marketing is EASY

Nothing worth doing in life or in business is ever 'easy'. Internet marketing takes time and effort, and anyone who suggests otherwise is selling fluff.

Having said that, relative to building a brick and mortar business, starting an Internet marketing business IS comparatively 'easy'. With an affiliate marketing business there's no inventory to carry, no shipping of goods and virtually no overhead. Affiliate marketing eliminates the cost of production, construction and employees.

So, while there is work involved in building and marketing an Internet business, doing business just doesn't get much easier than doing it online.


Myth : ANYONE Can Make Money Online

Nope. Simply not true.

Someone who never gets off the couch to learn anything about Internet marketing will not make money on the Web. Nor will the individual who reads the entire Internet marketing encyclopedia but never puts a viable plan into action.

This myth becomes reality if you add the word 'almost' to the front of that statement.

For example, I never would have started a business had it not been for the 'Net. Because I could see that starting an online business would be relatively simple and inexpensive, I decided to give it a try. Many thousands of others have done the same for the same reasons. As such, many people who otherwise would NOT be in business at all, ARE doing business on the 'Net.



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Myth : You Can "GET RICH QUICK" On the Net!

Other than by lottery or inheritance, there is no such thing as 'get rich quick'.

Once again however, relative to a typical offline business, you can be making good money online in surprisingly little time. It just won't happen overnight as some unscrupulous marketers promise.

By the way, chasing 'get rich quick' schemes is almost always a waste of time and money.

Concentrate instead on building a business that gives your customers what they want and need. By focusing on customer satisfaction, you will build a solid reputation and an enduring, successful business that allows you to pursue the lifestyle of your dreams.


Myth : It's FREE to Do Business Online

How I wish that were true!

If we changed the statement to read, "It doesn't cost MUCH to do business online', it would be completely accurate.

Compared with building a warehouse or leasing office space in downtown New York, Internet business start-up and maintenance costs are incredibly low. Once setup is complete, the only ongoing costs you'll have are your Internet connection, continuing education, and advertising costs.


Myth : It's TOO LATE to Start an Internet Business

I often hear the following questions from skeptics, 'Isn’t it too late to start an Internet business?' and 'Hasn't it already been done'?

The less-than-patient part of me wants to answer, "Yup, it's too late. Anyone and everyone with thoughts of starting an Internet business should just pack up, go home and forget it. Come back again after all the current netpreneurs have retired."

You won't hear me complain about having less competition!

The truth however is that it's rarely, if ever, too late to start anything.

Think about it. Has every song been sung? Have all the books been written? There are millions of restaurants, clothing stores and gift shops in the world. Is it too late to open another?

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What you need to figure out is whether there is a market for your product. And where markets are concerned, there is no place like the Internet.

Take a look at some of the results from a research report by eTForecasts:


• The number of Internet users surpassed 530 million in 2001 and will continue to grow strongly in the next five years.

• By the end of 2005 the number of worldwide Internet users will double to 1.12 BILLION people. That is one HUGE marketplace and it's getting bigger every day!

• Online sales amounted to twenty billion dollars in each of the first two quarters of 2002.

• In 2002, online sales grew 52% over 2001 to $78 billion.

• The Online Publishers Associate reported consumer spending on online content in the US totaled USD1.3 billion in 2002, marking an increase of 95 percent compared with 2001. The Personals/Dating category surpassed both Business/Investments and Entertainment/Lifestyles to become the largest paid content category in 2002 with USD302 million in revenues, up from USD72 million in 2001.

• eCommerce sales in Q1 2003 reached $24 billion, a 20% jump over Q1 2002 sales of $20 billion - despite the shaky retail climate.

• Forrester research predicts 2003 sales to grow by at least 25% over 2002.


Although 'most' people are still hesitant to give their credit card numbers online, as Internet shopping becomes commonplace, more and more people will be clicking 'Buy it Now!' buttons.

Forrester research predicts online sales to stay strong in 2003 because 6.8 million US households will shop online for the first time this year and free shipping offers percentage-off deals will keep motivating consumers to buy from online merchants.

The reality is that anyone with a product that is marketable online should start an Internet business...today!

Myth : The BIG Money Talk is JUST HYPE

Hype? Sure, there’s plenty of hype out there!

I look at it this way, though. Wherever there’s hype, there’s an element of truth. You just need to uncover the truth behind the incredible claims, and get to work digging it up.

'Big money' is entirely possible. These are a few of my deposit amounts to just ONE of my US dollar business accounts.

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2001 - December $34,414.79 2002 - January $56,719.56 2002 - February $35,045.09 2002 - March $34,924.18 2002 - April $29,527.96



If you are willing to take the necessary action to make 'big money' happen for you - it will.

Or you can criticize and be skeptical and sure that 'big money' can't happen for you - and it won't.


To summarize, while the 'Net is rife with many mythical tales of fame and fortune, the truth of the matter is that the stories aren't that far-fetched. Inject just a little common sense into the equation and you might see an opportunity to find your pot of gold.


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Profile of an Entrepreneur
Just a few short years ago I worked as an air traffic controller. Although I loved the job, I hated 'the establishment'. I was perpetually unhappy with the way everything from remuneration, scheduling and the operation itself was managed.

My disgruntlement continued for 20 years.

Had I stopped to consider the true source of my disgruntlement, I might have recognized that my personality isn't suited to working in an organizational setting.

It wasn't until after my Internet business became successful and I'd already quit my job, that I realized that I had always been an entrepreneur at heart.

More importantly, I only became truly happy when I honored my spirit and followed my path.

If you've been thinking about starting your own home-based Internet business, but aren't sure that you have the right qualifications to become an entrepreneur, read on.

In recent years business professionals have learned a lot about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. Although there is no 'perfect' combination, most successful entrepreneurs share very similar characteristics.

In the sections that follow, those characteristics are detailed for you to consider and compared with your own personal profile.

You may discover that the profile fits you like a glove. On the other hand, you may find that you prefer instead to work for those who blaze the entrepreneurial trail. In either case, you owe it to yourself to discover your true path.


Entrepreneurs are:


1. Healthy and Energetic - Starting a business takes an enormous amount of time and energy. Working long hours is easier to do when you are healthy and fit for the task. It's no surprise therefore that entrepreneurs pursue healthy sporting activities in their spare time rather than lounging on the couch in front of the TV.

2. Self-Aware - Entrepreneurs who become successful know who they are, what they are good at and what they like to do. They choose businesses that are based on their fields of expertise or in areas that they particularly enjoy.

3. Knowledgeable - Knowledge is power. To succeed in a particular business you must know all aspects of that business, including your competition and trends for growth or decline. Smart entrepreneurs get smarter by regularly investing time and money in advanced
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education.

4. Goal-Oriented and Ambitious - Entrepreneurs love to set highly specific, challenging goals for themselves and then take action to achieve them. They feel at 'loose ends' when they don't have a project to work on.

5. Excellent Planners - Entrepreneurs create and follow plans to reach their goals. They know that 'failing to plan is planning to fail'.

6. Highly Focused and Self-Motivated - No one needs to tell an entrepreneur what the task is, or that they need to get going on a job.

7. Independent and Self-Confident - Entrepreneurial spirits are discontent when working in large organizations, especially where their authority and control over production is minimal. They generally believe that they can achieve a better result if they are personally in control of the production process.

8. Realistic and Positive - Entrepreneurs accept that life isn't perfect. When life gives an entrepreneur lemons, he or she makes lemonade. They feel challenged rather than discouraged by setbacks and failures.

9. Willing to take Moderate Risks - A common myth about entrepreneurs is their tendency to engage in risky behavior. Nothing is further from the truth. Successful entrepreneurs carefully evaluate risk in terms of the potential rewards and the realistic odds of realizing those rewards.

10. Perseverance - Small business success is 90% due to perseverance. Desire and determination fuels an entrepreneur's ability to tough out the early days when large investments of time, money and energy bring minimal return. Perseverance is the characteristic that ensures survival during bad times and keeps entrepreneurs focused on the road to success.

Although this is not an extensive profile of the successful entrepreneur, it does provide some insight into the traits and characteristics that these individuals have in common.

So… are you an entrepreneur?
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Quiz: Are YOU an Entrepreneur?

This is a quiz to determine whether or not you might become a successful entrepreneur.

True home-based entrepreneurs would put a check mark beside most of the statements below. Determine whether each statement describing a successful home business owner also describes YOU:


• I have a strong desire to be successful in my own home-based business. • I set realistic goals. • I enjoy planning for my future, and working to make it happen. • I am well organized. • I pay attention to detail. • I regularly review my priorities. • I continue to work toward long-term goals despite setbacks. • I take responsibility for my actions and fix mistakes easily and quickly. • I have specific expertise in the business I want to start. • I ask questions to learn what I need to know to succeed • I keep legible notes. • I can obtain the money I need without getting into cash flow problems. • I have sound financial knowledge of how a business operates. • I know the difference between gross and net profits. • I read the financial and business sections of the newspaper on a regular basis • I keep up with current affairs. • I know how to find my niche in the market and how to identify my customers. • I have faith in my ability to choose an excellent product and/or service to promote. • I know how to present information in a convincing manner • I am imaginative and use innovative techniques to achieve my goals. • I am self-motivated. • I am willing to handle tasks I don't particularly enjoy. • I relate well to people on all levels. • My assessments of people and situations are almost always accurate. • I easily develop associations for professional support. • I can converse easily with most people. • I express myself well in writing. • I can express myself in a way that others are interested in what I have to say. • I can ask a direct question in an uncomfortable situation. • I start each day in a positive way. • I like myself and who I am. • I handle stressful situations with a positive and realistic attitude. • I embrace the unknown and enjoy new challenges. • I am not afraid of hard work and can handle complex tasks.
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• I am not easily sidetracked. • I maintain a sense of humor when plans fall through. • I express ideas and feelings logically, both orally and in writing. • I tackle work with enthusiasm and a high energy level. • I enjoy working hard and the resulting fruits of my labor. • I have six months savings as a cushion to support my business startup. • My family and friends support my decision to start a home business. • I am in good physical health and able to endure long hours. • I work to maintain and enhance my health and fitness. • I can take initiative and work without direction. • I can work alone for long periods of time. • I am willing to hire household / childcare help so I can focus on my home business. • Rejection or criticism doesn't depress me. • I am willing to work long, hard hours. • I am prepared to wait a few months before making a profit.



How did you do? Did you answer 'yes' to all or most of the questions above?

If so, GREAT! You have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur!

If you couldn't agree with many of the questions, don’t despair. Perhaps you might consider finding a complementary partner for your business that can support your goals and assume the responsibilities for which you are not suited.

As they say, where there's a will, there's a way.


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Can You Handle the Lifestyle?
Affiliate marketers' lifestyles differ vastly from those who spend their lives working for wages. Take a look at the following two scenarios and decide which you prefer. The difference could prove just the impetus you need to jump-start your new business.
Working for 'the Company'

Does any part of the following scenario describe your average workday?

You are frightened awake at some time between 4 and 8 am. (There's a reason they're called 'alarm' clocks.)

On gaining consciousness, you feel disappointed when you realize that this is another workday. Somewhat grudgingly, you get out of bed, perform your daily ablutions, and try to swallow a piece of burnt toast. You then kiss the family goodbye and head out the door.

You struggle against horrendous vehicular traffic on the highway, or humans on public transit, and feel totally frazzled long before you arrive at your place of work.

You toil between 35 and 70 hours a week. Your boss seems to think that a pat on the back is for pets. You are paid less than your work is worth. Paltry remuneration in hand, you share the highway on your way home with likewise disgruntled motorists.

Over dinner, you and your spouse share similar tales of working woe. Most of the time you are too tired after work to do anything but watch TV. Fun is reserved for weekends.

After too few hours of relaxation in the evening, it is time to prepare for the following day's work. You make a lunch, lay out your clothes, and head for bed.

You hope to beat the odds of company downsizing and rapidly advancing technology, so that you can repeat this working day scenario for decades to come.

After thirty-five years, someone will thank you for your contribution, shake your hand, then show you the door.

To reward your lifetime of effort, you'll continue to receive regular income. However, if your income was small, your retirement check will be even more meager. You now have more time on your hands, more hobbies to pursue and less money to pursue them with.

It's also unlikely that your retirement income will cover even basic necessities in ten or twenty years unless it has been indexed for inflation.

Put like that, working for 'the company' seems like a sad prospect, doesn't it?

It doesn't have to be that way. Your day could look more like the following scenario.

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When You're the Boss

You awake to the sensation of the warm morning sun on your face. Smiling at the prospect of a new day, you open your eyes and share a happy morning greeting with your spouse.

You don exercise gear. After savoring a glass of juice and stretching your muscles to warm them up, you head out the door for your regular morning run. You soak in the beautiful vistas and fresh air.

After a run and a shower, you sit down to a healthy breakfast with your partner. You're both happy with the prospect of a productive day ahead.

After breakfast, you eagerly head to your home office. The commute takes 20 seconds, two minutes if you stop for coffee.

You take between 5 and 30 minutes to check and reply to your email. After that you check your overnight income statistics, and see that you made about a thousand dollars while getting your beauty sleep.

Depending on your plan and desire for the day, you might at this point decide to work on a project, or call it a day.

Choosing the former, you spend an hour writing an endorsement for a product that you know will add between fifty and a few hundred dollars per day to your income.

Around mid-day a friend calls to invite you to join her for lunch. After a two-hour friendly gab session, you return home and decide to work for an hour or two on your latest ebook.

You spend the evening dining at a new restaurant that has received rave reviews, and attending a play with similar media coverage.

Granted, as an entrepreneur, there won't be anyone to shake your hand and show you the door in thirty-five years.

However, based on the incomes of successful Internet marketing entrepreneurs, you probably won't have to work for thirty-five years. With careful planning, I'd be surprised if it took more than five or ten years for you to build a VERY comfortable retirement fund. Chances are however, that you'll be having too much fun too stop working even after you've achieved that goal.

All in all, you think this has been a banner day. Generally speaking, whether challenging or funfilled, you feel very good about how most of your days go.

Lifestyle and freedom of choice, not money, is what being self-employed is really all about. I hope I've done justice to the average affiliate marketer's lifestyle portrait. From my perspective, it is 99% accurate. My commute is just a little shorter.

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Affiliate Business Basics
If you want to earn revenue on the Web, but don't have a product of your own to sell, affiliate programs are just the solution.

I started my Internet business with affiliate programs, and they still represent the bulk of my income.

I highly recommend them as a quick and relatively easy way to start your own online business. Done right, you can generate an extraordinary income using affiliate programs alone.
How Do Affiliate Programs Work?
An affiliate program is a partnership with an online merchant - that is, a Web site that sells goods and/or services. Also known as associate, referral and bounty programs; these programs pay their affiliates for referring customers to their business. Most affiliate programs are free and easy to join.

From the merchants’ perspective, by partnering with affiliates they are able to increase sales, drive traffic, generate qualified leads and extend brand reach through a low cost marketing strategy.

Affiliating is a win-win situation for both merchants and affiliates.

There are essentially three types of affiliate programs.



1. The first are Pay-Per-Sale programs, which are also known as Partnership and Percentage Partners programs. These programs pay either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of sales generated by your links.

2. In Pay-Per-Lead programs, you earn a set amount whenever your customer fills out a survey or requests a quote or information.

3. Pay-Per-Click affiliate programs are similar to Pay-Per-Lead. Essentially you are paid each time one of your visitors clicks on the link through to that programs site.


As an affiliate, you join merchants' programs, and place their advertising on your Web site.

When someone clicks on one of those ads and fills out a form or buys a product, you get a commission for that referral or sale, depending on that advertiser's payout structure.

In a nutshell, it's as easy as 1 - 2 - 3:
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1. You join the affiliate program and place links on your site, or in your newsletter. 2. Your visitor clicks that link and buys a product, service or fills out a form. 3. You receive a commission for the sale.



How does the Merchant know that the visitor came from MY site?

Excellent question!

Affiliates are assigned a special link, or URL, that is coded with an ID that is unique to that affiliate. Software on the merchant’s site tracks visitors that arrive via that unique affiliate link. All sales generated by those visitors are also tracked. For example, Amazon's homepage URL is:

http://www.amazon.com.

However, as an Amazon.com affiliate, my affiliate ID is 'byebye925-20'. My link to the Amazon.com homepage therefore looks like this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/byebye925-20

By attaching your affiliate link to a banner ad, small graphic or a text link you earn a referral fee from sale generated through that link.

These links come in the form of banners, text links, and a number of other more sophisticated types of links. If the links require special coding, the online merchant usually supplies the code.




















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15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer
There are HUGE benefits to promoting affiliate programs with your own home-based Internet business...

1. No Production Costs 2. Low Cost Set-up 3. No Fees to Join or Licenses to Buy 4. Wide Variety of Products and Services 5. No Sales Experience Required 6. No Employees 7. No Merchant Account Needed 8. No Inventory to Carry 9. No Order Processing 10. No Product Shipping 11. No Customer Service Concerns 12. 24/7 Business – Make Money While You Sleep 13. The World at Your Doorstep 14. Minimal Risk 15. Huge Income Potential


Let's look at each point separately.


1. No Production Costs - The cost to develop and produce a new product is prohibitive for almost anyone who wants to start a home-based business. With affiliate programs, production costs aren't an issue. The product has been developed and proven - all on the merchant's nickel.

2. Low Cost Set-up - Compared with building a brick and mortar store, starting a homebased Internet business is relatively cheap. You probably already have a desk, Internetconnected computer and word-processing software, which is all the equipment you may need.

3. No Fees for Joining or Licenses to Buy - I often compare doing business as an affiliate, with distributing a line of products in the real world. The biggest difference is that the distributor must often pay for a license to distribute products within a limited geographic region. Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to join, and geographic market reach is limited only by the affiliate's ability to promote his web site. 4. Choose From Thousands of Products and Services - What isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one describing all that IS sold online. There are thousands and thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under the sun. That makes it easy to find products related to your current or planned web site.

5. No Sales Experience Needed - When I started my affiliate business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That wasn’t a problem, however. The companies I affiliated with
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provided excellent marketing material. Using their sales copy, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less than a day.

6. No Employees - The largest expense of most businesses is employee salaries. Although there might be times when you need or want someone to work for you as an affiliate, it's doubtful you'll ever have to worry about hiring full or part-time employees. When you have a project you want to hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-related field who can work for you from the comfort of THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and deductions.

7. No Expensive Merchant Accounts Needed - Setting up a merchant account for any business is a time-consuming and costly business. It's even more tedious for Internet businesses. However, merchant accounts aren’t a concern when you're an affiliate. The merchant bears that cost and handles all processing of payments. You never have to lose sleep over potential chargebacks, fraud or losing your merchant account when you’re an affiliate.

8. No Inventory to Carry - Even if you live in a small one-bedroom apartment, as an affiliate you can sell large items without storage concerns.

9. No Order-Processing - Forget the problems associated with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit card numbers, etc. The merchant does all that!

10. No Product Shipping - The cost and hassle to prepare and ship products to customers worldwide could be staggering. Affiliates never have to worry about packaging supplies or postal rates.

11. No Customer Service Concerns - Do you hate the prospect of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.

12. Make Money While You Sleep - What other business allows you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep making money even when you take breaks or after you go home for the night?

13. The World at Your Doorstep - The Internet is the world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to your online store in a day, than many small-town merchants sees in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.

14. Minimal Risk - The product you chose isn't making money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another! It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding you to products that don't sell.

15. High Income Potential - If you have a job, your salary or hourly wage is probably predetermined. Maybe there's not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to increase your income. With your own affiliate business on the Internet your income potential is limited only by your desire, effort and imagination.



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What is a Super-Affiliate?
It has been reported many times that 2% of all affiliates are responsible for generating 90% of all affiliate program sales.

Why is that?

Well, here are the predominant factors that set Super Affiliates apart from their less productive counterparts.


1. Super Affiliates treat their affiliate marketing businesses like BUSINESSES. They don't just slap up a site with a couple of banner ads. They invest in their businesses with time, money and effort. They are determined and persistent.

2. Super Affiliates don't try to be all things to all people. They find a niche with a huge market. They research, understand and sell to that market.

3. Super Affiliates are Super Communicators. They know and understand their merchants' products, and know how to endorse the benefits of those products to their visitors.

4. Super Affiliates grow their businesses. After building one successful affiliate site, they look for opportunities to build new streams of income with affiliate programs.

5. Super Affiliates are constantly learning. They stay current with industry trends to stay on top of what they need to know about how to do business successfully. In other words, they educate themselves, just as you are doing now… you, the aspiring Super Affiliate!


Those are the basics of what it takes to be a Super Affiliate. Throughout the rest of the manual, you'll learn how a Super Affiliate approaches each aspect of affiliate marketing.












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A Brief History of Affiliate Marketing
According to Amazon.com, theirs was the original affiliate program. The following statement is taken directly from Amazon's Associate Programs FAQ page. “Our Associates Program, the first on the Web, started in July 1996.”

That statement is generally accepted as gospel truth.

However, if you thumb through Daniel Gray’s Top 100 Directory in his “The Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs”, you’ll learn that there were a number of sites that operated affiliate programs years before Amazon.com entered the fray.

Among the first were PC Flowers & Gifts launched in 1994, AutoWeb.com in 1995, and KB Toys in early 1996. IOwn.com and ArtToday.com were both established in 1996.

How are those early players doing today?

Well, PC Flowers & Gifts no longer exists as an online business. KB Toys and AutoWeb.com, which used to manage their own affiliate programs in-house, now have Commission Junction administer the program. My browser times-out searching for IOwn.com. It seems that of the originators, only ArtToday and Amazon are left standing with their own in-house affiliate programs.

So, Amazon.com’s program may not have been the original, but it is one of the most successful in terms of affiliate numbers and duration.

Then again, does it really matter who launched the first affiliate program?

I think not.

What DOES matter is that some very smart person contrived of a scenario that allows the ‘little’ people (us) to share in big profits, without having to buy shares in the merchant’s company.

As Martha Stewart would say, ‘It’s a GOOD thing’.













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Affiliating vs. Reselling
Many new Internet marketers mistakenly use the terms 'affiliate' and 'reseller' interchangeably.

The table below compares and contrasts the two different ways of doing business on the 'Net.



Affiliating

Reselling
Affiliate programs are FREE to join.

As a reseller, you must BUY the product before you can sell it.

Earn a percentage of the sale price.

Keep 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the product.

The merchant handles product fulfillment.
Resellers do all product fulfillment - carry inventory, order processing and shipping.

Each affiliate sells the product for the same price.

Resellers can often offer products for the price of their choosing. Competitors can undermine efforts by offering the same product for a lower price.

Although affiliates can collect names and email addresses from visitors to their sites, the affiliate rarely knows exactly who buys their affiliated merchants' products.

As resellers handle product fulfillment themselves, they collect names and email addresses from those who buy their products, in addition to those who sign up for their opt-in lists on their sites. This benefits the reseller in that they can do follow-up or 'back-end' sales to existing customers.



As you can see from the table above, there are advantages and disadvantages to both types of Internet marketing. I personally know that both methods are worth the effort and can yield decent profits.

If you would like further information about reselling or buying reprint rights, visit the sites listed below. I joined eBookWholesalers, as I think that Tom Hua, the owner, offers quality products at reasonable prices.


EbookWholesaler
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http://superaffiliatehandbook.com/ebw.html
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How to Become an Affiliate
Becoming an affiliate is simple.

You can go to an individual merchant's site, or an affiliate program network, like Commission Junction, and fill out an online application.

The application will ask for some personal information about you, including your name, address, and preferred payment method. You will also be asked for information about your site, such as its URL, name, and a description of the type of content you offer. You will also probably be asked to confirm your acceptances with the terms of agreement posted on the site.

Approval into a program may or may not be immediate. Some affiliate program managers will want to review your site prior to accepting you into their program.

Once your application is approved, you are ready to start marketing as an affiliate. Many merchants will supply you with all you need in terms of marketing material, such as text and graphic links.


Commission Junction http://cj.com


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Overview of the Business-Building Process
It’s always easier to tackle a big project, when you break it down into manageable chunks.

Here are the 10 ‘chunks’ involved in building an affiliate business. Each chunk is comprised of several smaller steps.

Chunk by chunk and step-by-step, you’ll soon find that you’re making money on the Web!

Let’s look at a brief description of each ‘chunk’ in the process of building an affiliate business.

1. Choose a Topic or Two 2. Assess Topic Profitability 3. Find Related Products and Services with Affiliate Programs 4. Choose Domain and Web Host 5. Create Site Outline 6. Write Product Endorsements 7. Create Site 8. Sign up for Affiliate Programs 9. Promote Site 10. Repeat the Process with a New Topic… or Ten


1. Choose a Topic or Two - What will your site be about? The best way to choose a topic is to pick something that interests you. Spending hours and hours everyday working on a topic you have no interest in or that bores you is hard to do. Choose something that excites you and the work will be fun. Write down a list of potential topics in a notebook or MSWord.

2. Assess Demand, Supply & Profitability - The basic rule for determining profitability is to see whether your chosen topic has an audience and how crowded the market is. This is a 2step process. The first step is to see how many people search on the keywords applicable to your topic. The second step is to visit Google or AltaVista and determine how many sites relating to that topic are already online. With this knowledge, and a formula given later in the Handbook, we will determine the potential for profit in your chosen market.

3. Find Related Products and Services with Affiliate Programs – Once you know that your idea is potentially profitable, you need to find out whether there are merchants offering products and services of interest to your customers through affiliate programs. We research the programs we locate to determine product quality.

4. Choose Your Domain Name and Web Host - Now that we know your topic idea is potentially profitable and supported by affiliate programs, it's time to register a domain name and web hosting for your site.

5. Create Site Outline – This is an essential step that many people forget. An outline gives you a plan to work from and makes the project proceed quickly and easily.

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6. Write Product Endorsements - Using word-processing software like Microsoft Word, write product endorsements for two or three of the products and services you plan to sell. Although it may seem strange to write a product endorsement before you've joined the corresponding affiliate program, this is one thing that sets super affiliates apart from other affiliates. Affiliate managers will see the work you've done and are more likely to accept your program application.

7. Build and Upload Web Site to the Hosting Service - Either design a site yourself, or input the sales copy into a purchased template, then place it on the web for all to see and enjoy.

8. Sign up for Affiliate Programs - Only now do we apply to join affiliate programs.

9. Promote Site – Get the word out and draw huge numbers of surfers to your site. Have them sign up for your newsletter and build a huge opt-in list. Watch your visitors buy copious amounts of your affiliate products and services. Deposit numerous checks in large amounts into your checking account. Contact newsletter subscribers with new offers and deposit more checks into your bank account.

10. Repeat Steps 1 through 9 - In Step 1 above we talked about coming up with multiple ideas for site topics. After your first site is online and making money, you will repeat the process all over again with Topic Number 2. That's it in a nutshell. Ten steps to building your own prosperous affiliate business. Let’s get started!

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Setting Up Shop
Basic Knowledge
Are you feeling a little overwhelmed by all that you need to learn?

Fear not!

Affiliate marketing on the Internet isn’t rocket science. You don’t need an MBA or other degree to succeed in an online business.

If you know how to access the Web, as well as send and receive email, you've already mastered the two activities you'll perform most frequently.

It’s also helpful if you have fundamental computer skills including a grasp of basic macros and file management.

Don't worry about knowing HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - the code to write web page) at this, or any other point in the process. Although I strongly recommend that you learn a little HTML later, it's not absolutely necessary for success.

At this point we are only dealing with the things that will help you maneuver around your computer more easily. Building a web site will come later.
Computer Codes and Macros

A macro is a way to automate a task that you perform repeatedly or on a regular basis.

It is a series of commands and actions that can be stored and run whenever you need to perform the task. Tasks performed by macros are typically repetitive in nature allowing significant savings in time by executing the macro instead of manually repeating the commands.

The following macros or computer codes are common across most Windows platforms and are worth memorizing for the time they can save during your daily tasks.









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Ctrl-A Select All Ctrl-B Bold Ctrl-C Copy Ctrl-D Fill Down Ctrl-E Center Ctrl-F Find Ctrl-G Goto Ctrl-H Replace Ctrl-I Italicize Ctrl-J Full Justify Ctrl-K Hyperlink Ctrl-M Increase Indent Ctrl-N New Document Ctrl-O Open Document Ctrl-P Print Ctrl-R Right Justify Ctrl-S Save Ctrl-T Tab Ctrl-U Underline Ctrl-V Paste Ctrl-W Close Document Ctrl-X Cut Ctrl-Y Redo/Repeat Last Action Ctrl-Z Undo


Learning the simple shortcuts above will save you thousands and thousands of keystrokes in the long run.
File Management

Staying organized is a great way to save time and keep your sanity.

I know a webmaster who indiscriminately bookmarks every 'great' site he ever comes across, without organizing those bookmarks into categorized folders.

I've waited 5 - 10 minutes for him to find just one of those sites amongst the hundreds of others he has stored in his list of 'greats'.

None of the sites we waited to see were so great as to be worth the wait. The frustration caused by several of these delays may have colored my perception somewhat however.

My friend wastes valuable time (time = life) every day looking for bookmarks, files and other records essential to his web business.

Do you want to spend you time (life) like that? Wouldn't you rather spend it making money? Or playing with your kids?

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If so, learn to establish categories within your email program and file folders containing all documents relevant to your web business.

Some examples of categories are; Accounting, Merchant Partners, Correspondence, JV's and Newsletter.

Top-level categories are then broken down into more specific categories. I personally store all my web pages in folders named for their domains, i.e. Sage-Hearts.com, SuperAffiliateHandbook.com and RosalindGardner.com. All files belonging to those domains are stored in their appropriate folder.

In summary, the small effort you make to learn basic codes and organize your files will pay off handsomely in saved time and increased profits.
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Basic Hardware & Services
To start a part or full-time business on the Internet you'll need some very basic equipment, or ‘hardware’, as well as services that allow you to connect to the 'Net.

Computer

It's unlikely that your local library will permit you to spend several hours a day building your Internet business on their computers. Having ready access to a computer is absolutely essential for this endeavor.

Unless you back up everything all of your work to CD all of the time, I highly recommend that access to your business computer be strictly limited. It's amazing what damage kids and even some adults can unintentionally inflict on files.

If that point causes you to rethink the 'family' computer and invest in one of your own, I highly recommend Dell. I have two of them and have been absolutely delighted with their products since 1998.

Compared with my experiences with some other computer manufacturers, Dell's online shopping and customer service is free of frustration. I especially liked selecting all my own components, clicking the 'Buy Now' button and seeing the computer arrive on my doorstep 3 to 4 days later.

If you're in the market for a new computer, visit the sites below to compare prices online.

Dell http://dell.com

PCMall http://pcmall.com

MacMall http://macmall.com
Internet Connection

To do business on the Web, you need to be connected to the Web.

Your Internet connection options may include telephone or cable modem, or DSL. The latter two are faster and therefore preferable to the first. Cut costs elsewhere if you must, but get the very fastest connection service that you can afford.

Why?
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The slower your connection, the slower your work progresses. It takes longer to download your email, and longer to upload pages to your site, and time IS money.

Here's an example of how much a poor connection could cost you.

For years I've watched my friend toil on his Web business with a slow-as-molasses 36.6K modem. He works about 8 hours per day, six days a week, and uses that connection for about 50% of his work, or for 24 hours per week.

By contrast, I estimate that my cable connection is at least 5 times faster than his telephone connection. That means that I can accomplish in 12 minutes what it takes my friend an hour to do. To do exactly the same amount of work using our Internet connections, I will work 4.8 hours to his twenty-four, or 19.2 hours LESS.

In financial terms, it takes my friend 5 hours to earn what I earn in an hour, relative to our use of the Internet for uploading, downloading and research.

This calculation is a striking example of what it means to be 'Penny Wise and Pound Foolish'.

Get the fastest Internet connection available in your area, and don't let $20 or $40 per month limit your earnings potential.

In fact, I recommend that you get TWO Internet connections - one cable or ADSL connection as well as a dial-up service backup connection. That way, if your fast connection ever fails for an hour … or a week… you won't have to go to the local Internet café to check your email.


Earthlink http://earthlink.net

Juno Platinum http://my.juno.com

NetZero Platinum http://my.netzero.net

Telephone

In rare cases, cable and/or DSL Internet connections won't be available in your area. You will then have to connect to the Internet through a telephone modem.

Telephone service is also necessary when you want to call all your friends and tell them that you've received your first affiliate check for five whole bucks.

Think I'm kidding? Just wait until you find out how good that feels! ☺

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Printer

Nice to have, but not absolutely necessary, a printer is very handy for printing out proofs of purchase, drafts of your articles and other work.

Router

Only necessary if you are using a broadband connection like a cable modem or DSL, a router protects your PC(s) from outside intruders. A router is much like a firewall, which is discussed in the 'Software' section below. Although I've indicated the router as being optional, I highly recommend that you install either a router or a firewall if your connection is broadband.

Etronics http://etronics.com

PCMall http://pcmall.com

MacMall http://macmall.com


Once you are set up with an Internet connected computer, it's time to find out what software you will need to run your eBusiness.

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Basic Software
In this section you will learn about software that allows you to surf the web and do research, programs that help you with communication and accounting, and utilities to protect your computer from viruses and hackers. The good news is that most of it is FREE!

While some of the software I've listed below is optional, most of it is basic to operating an Internet business.

Don't worry about breaking your budget to buy all this software. You probably already have much of it installed on your computer, and if not, many of the programs can be downloaded free of charge.
AntiVirus Software
Whether or not you intend to run an Internet business, if you are connected to the net, and are downloading email or software programs to your computer, you really should have antivirus software installed.

Here are a couple of experiences that I had with computer viruses, which should convince you to start using antivirus software if you don't already.

Although I had installed McAfee's antivirus program on my machine, I didn't do the required updates or scan for viruses, until … you guessed it ... it was too late.

My system picked up an insidious virus that killed all my software programs over a period of two weeks. At the end of that time, the computer simply failed to start.

I was LUCKY, however! The local geeks were able to remove the virus and all my programs and files remained fully functional. (Note: it's OK, I call the local technicians 'geeks' to their faces, so they won't be offended by seeing it here. ☺)

During the second instance, again I had antivirus software on my machine that was set to update automatically.

Unfortunately, my email program, Eudora, was also set to download immediately on opening.

It would appear that the email program was faster to download than the antivirus program was to update itself, and the computer picked up a couple of deadly worms. Although it took some time for them to do their damage, the damage was significant.

For weeks my computer operated in strange ways. Certain programs that were previously flawless would hang (crash - not work), while others would simply close without warning. The status bar on my Explorer windows would disappear. I had to input passwords that were automatically filled in before the problems began.

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Start up and shut down got to be a grind - truly. The processor would take 5 minutes, grinding away, during the start up and shut down phases.

At that point, I took my computer to the local technicians, and crossed my fingers that all would be well.

Once again, I was fortunate. My favorite local geeks were able isolate the problem and back up all of my data. However, due to the nature of the worm infestation, we opted to reformat my hard drive.

If you've never been through this process - it's NOT fun! Every program needs to be re-installed, and all your personal options will need to be reset.

For this reason alone, it's a great idea to keep and print a copy of all your product registration codes. I had misplaced (lost) a couple of codes, and without them the programs wouldn't function. So, in addition to the computer repair expenses, I also ended up buying a few new programs.

Live and learn. Set your email program to download only at times of your choosing, and not automatically on start-up.

I know many other webmasters who have not been so lucky and have lost all the data on their computers to viruses.

Losing data, time and money due to computer viruses is a total waste. It is also completely unnecessary.

I currently use Norton AntiVirus, although McAfee is also a good choice.

I also like to use Trend Micro's and McAfee's free online virus scanning from time to time. More virus scanning is better than less.

So, take your pick of software, but do protect your investment by installing an antivirus program.


McAfee http://us.mcafee.com/

Norton AntiVirus http://symantec.com

Trend Micro http://de.trendmicro-europe.com



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Browsers
A web browser is a software program that lets you view web pages and navigate the Internet.

The most popular browser is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Recent reports show that 90 to 95% of web surfers access the Internet with IE (Internet Explorer).

Netscape Communicator/Navigator is the other major browser currently being used on the World-Wide-Web, made by Netscape Communications.

To see which browser you are using, look at the upper right-hand portion of the title bar of your current browser window. Internet Explorer will have the 4-color Microsoft ‘flag’, and Netscape’s logo is an ‘N’.

You should have both browsers installed on your computer, so you can make sure that your web pages can be read in both. While fewer than 10% of surfers use Netscape to surf the Net, 10% of a hundred, thousand or ten thousand dollar advertising budget is a lot of money to throw out the window if folks can’t see your page.

To download the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape, visit the links below.

Microsoft Internet Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp

Netscape Communications - Navigator http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp

Compression/Extraction Utility
If you've ever downloaded software or a large ebook, you've probably downloaded a 'zip' file. These are files that are compressed to take up less space and bandwidth. To extract zipped files, you need an extraction utility.
WinZip - One of the most popular extraction utilities is WinZip. WinZip compresses and decompresses files using the zip format. This is the most common format used on the Internet for compressing Windows files. Files compressed in this way are identified with the extension .zip.

Once you install WinZip, it will start automatically when you click a .zip file in your browser window or on your hard drive. It will show you the contents of the .zip file, and by clicking the Extract button, you can decompress and save the final product.

Be sure to note which folder you save files to, so that you can find them again, either to run the program, or to delete it if you do not want to keep it.

WinZip can be downloaded FREE from any of the following Web sites.

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Tucows http://www.tucows.com

Shareware.com http://www.shareware.com

Download.com http://www.download.com

Stuffit Expander - Like WinZip, Stuffit Expander is a utility that will decode and extract Macintosh files downloaded from the Internet.

Unlike Windows downloads, which must be decompressed, Macintosh downloads must be decompressed and decoded before they can be used. Fortunately, Stuffit Expander combines both these steps.

Macintosh downloadable files are encoded using either the BinHex or Macbinary formats. BinHex files have the extension .hqx, and Macbinary files have the extension .bin. Stuffit Expander can decode both kinds of files.

When you download a .hqx or .bin file, follow these steps.


11. After the file is downloaded, Stuffit Expander will automatically start and will first decode the file, creating a compressed file with the extension .sit. Stuffit Expander will then decompress the .sit file; usually creating a folder that holds the final product. 12. 13. Make a note of the folder so that you can find it again, either to run the program, or to delete it if you do not want to keep it. 14. 15. Open the new folder, print or read the Read Me file, and follow the instructions. 16. 17. You can then delete the .sit file and the .hqx or .bin file.


Stuffit Expander can be downloaded from the following site.

Stuffit Expander http://www.stuffit.com/expander/index.html






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Email Software

Internet business is about communicating. To do the job done right, you need an email client capable of filtering, redirecting and handling a huge load of messages. I believe that Eudora does this better than any other email client.

Years ago I switched from Outlook to Eudora to handle all my email. I prefer it to MSware for email for a number of safety and data management reasons. Outlook's AutoPreview only lets you see the first three lines of any message, leaving your computer susceptible to malicious code in HTML email messages. Although there are 'fixes' for this problem in Outlook, I prefer to use Eudora because the problem doesn't exist in its software.

Eudora makes it easy to organize messages and manage email accounts with with thousands of filter action combinations. For example, with an email from one of my merchant partners selected, I can quickly and easily make a filter that sends all future email from that merchant to a specified folder within the program, by using Eudora's 'Make Filter' command.

Do you have more than one domain? Eudora makes it easy to create, edit and delete email accounts or personalities and to check mail for one or more personalities. When composing messages, the account from which you want to send can be selected right in the 'From' field of the message.

Almost every day I need to try and find a specific email, amongst the thousands I have saved. No problem! Eudora's search feature permits you to specify multiple search criteria and specific folders and mailboxes to be searched, and searches thousands of messages in seconds. Results are displayed in a single window where selected messages can be reviewed, sorted, transferred or deleted.


Also, using Eudora's filters will help you keep spam to a minimum without having to buy spamstopping software. Simply set your filters to catch specific words, phrases or email addresses and have spam sent directly to the trash - where it belongs.

Those are just a few of the many excellent features that Eudora offers. Best of all, they offer a free 'Light' version of the product.

Give it a try. I know you'll like Eudora's features.

Eudora http://www.eudora.com


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Accounting Software
Running any business requires good bookkeeping. Although accounting software is entirely optional, if you dislike bookkeeping as much as I do, Quicken might be just the right answer for you.

Unlike some other accounting programs, Quicken is very easy to learn. Making entries is like using a checkbook. Even better, you can save time and energy by downloading information from your business bank account directly into the program.

Save money on bookkeeping. Buy Quicken or any other good accounting program to keep track of your business.

Quicken Accounting Software http://superaffiliatehandbook.com/quicken.html

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
FTP, or 'file transfer protocol' software is necessary for transferring your web pages, files and folders to and from your web site's server or host.

Some HTML editors have FTP features built right into their software.

If yours does not, you can download FTP software for free at Tucows.

My personal choice for FTP software is WS-FTP PRO from Ipswitch. It has millions of users worldwide, and is available in six languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

WS-FTP PRO offers a high level of security, protecting data with the highest commercially available data encryption level.


Tucows http://tucows.com

WS-FTP http://www.ipswitch.com

Firewall
Anyone who has surfed the 'Net from work, has probably found that there are sites that they cannot get into. This is usually because there is a firewall preventing access to that particular site.

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Firewalls are available for your home network as well. That's because home systems have security issues similar to those of the large corporate networks. If you connect to the Internet from home using a fast DSL or cable modem connection, that is especially true.

Firewalls are used to protect computer systems from offensive Web sites and potential hackers. The firewall filters the information coming through the Internet connection into your computer system. If the filters flag an incoming packet of information, it is not allowed through.

I learned about firewalls only after friends of mine had their computer hacked through their cable connection. They lost all of their Quicken data... and I do mean ALL.

Don't let that happen to you! Protect your valuable and private data. Install a firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, Norton or Black Ice installed on the 'gateway' computer in your home. That's the one with the Internet connection.

Tucows http://tucows.com

PDF Reader
A Portable Document Format (PDF) file is a self-contained cross-platform document. In other words, it is a file that will look the same on the screen and in print, regardless of what kind of computer or printer someone is using and regardless of what software package was originally used to create it.

Although they contain the complete formatting of the original document, including fonts and images, PDF files are highly compressed, allowing complex information to be downloaded efficiently.

Virtually anyone - including Windows, DOS, Macintosh and UNIX system users - can view and print a PDF file using the free Acrobat Reader, which can be installed and configured to work seamlessly within your Internet browser.

The Adobe Acrobat Reader is free software for viewing and printing Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files on all major hardware and operating system platforms. You can even take your Adobe PDF files with you and view them on the go with Acrobat Reader for mobile devices.

To download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, go to:

Adobe http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html





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Spreadsheet Software
A spreadsheet is basically a computerized ledger, and the best way I know of to keep track of many aspects of your Internet business.

Instead of buying expensive software to keep track of your affiliate programs, you can use spreadsheet software to keep track of the affiliate programs you join. List names, broker and affiliate links, as well as amounts of money that they owe you each month.

Use a spreadsheet to create lists of keywords for submission to your pay per click search engine campaigns. As a matter of fact, most of the PPC's give you a spreadsheet to download if you plan to make a large submission of keyword listings.

You can even do complex calculations on your sales conversion rates and returns on your advertising investments with simple formulae and the push of an 'enter' key.

My personal choice is Microsoft Excel, simply because my Dell computer arrived with Microsoft Office installed, and Excel is bundled in the Office software package. If you don't have Excel installed on your computer, you might want to look into EasyOffice 5.1 which is available as freeware through Tucows. I haven't tried the software myself, but Tucows gives it a '5 Cow' rating. Visit the site and do a search for 'spreadsheet'.

Tucows http://tucows.com

Text Editor
NotePad is a nice simple text editor, and is probably installed on your computer if you are running Windows.

Text editors don't have all the features of more robust word-processing software, but they are extremely handy for making quick notes. I used NotePad to create my web pages when I first started designing pages. It was an excellent way to learn HTML.

Text editors eliminate many of the 'formatting characters' that are embedded by more sophisticated word-processing programs. These 'formatting characters' can sometimes cause havoc with the appearance of email messages, so using a simple text editor eliminates the worry about sending messages that look like a bunch of gobbledy-gook.

Keep a Notepad or other text editor shortcut on your desktop for easy access. Think of it as a computer sticky note.

Summary of Software Requirements

Equipped with most or all of the basic software tools discussed above, you will be ready to do business on the web.
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Business Expenses
Contrary to what so many unscrupulous Internet marketers will tell you, starting a business online is not free.

HOWEVER, compared with starting a business offline, an Internet business IS incredibly inexpensive to start.

Here are two lists of some the recurring and fixed expenses you'll have as an affiliate marketer. I haven't listed specific costs, as prices do change.

Fixed Costs

• Computer • Computer Peripherals • Directory Listings • Educational Materials, Seminars & Conferences • Incorporation Costs & Business Licenses • Domain Name Registration • Office Furniture • Software

Recurring Expenses

• Advertising • Autoresponder Service • Web Hosting • Domain Name Renewals • Internet Connection(s) • Office Supplies • Telephone Service • Yahoo! Listing Fees


Not all the expenses listed above are set in stone. You may not want to pay $299 per year to list your commercial site at Yahoo! - and you don't have to.

On the other hand, you may opt to hire an accountant, web designer or expert copywriter to help you with your site, each of whom needs to be paid for his or her services.

So, your business can be 'no frills', or as full of bells and whistles as you can afford and choose to make it.

It's just nice to know that you have the option.
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Research Profitable Ideas
What's Your Passion?
The questions I hear almost as often as ‘How do I start an online business?’ are, ‘WHAT should I sell online and WHERE do I find products to sell?’

In response, I always recommend that before you start looking for products, you need to determine your niche. Your niche is a topic about which you are, or can be, passionate.

If you don’t love what you do, it’s almost a sure bet that you won’t prosper as much as when you follow your heart and do what you love to do.

A typical mistake made by new webmasters it to try and market a product they know nothing about to a group of people they also know nothing about.

For example, too many starry-eyed webmasters try to sell educational programs about Internet marketing on the first web site they build - because they’ve heard that these products ‘sell well’.

They’re right. Educational material about doing business on the Internet DOES sell well – when sold by experienced and SUCCESSFUL Internet marketers. Successful Internet marketers were once in their customer’s shoes, and they bought all the products along their own road to success. They KNOW what works, what does NOT work, and why. They know and understand the information their customers need and want.

Those lacking in experience cannot make honest recommendations, and it shows in low sales and poor conversion rates.

There is an old saying – ‘Do what you love and the money will follow’, which seems to hold true on the Net.

Whenever I’ve spoken with very successful people about their careers, they always mention how much they love the work they do. Making good money was a bonus that added to the enjoyment they got from doing what they did for a living.

To me, that means they made more than just a living, they made a life for themselves.

So it’s important to build your site around a product or a service that you can get excited about. Choose a product or subject that you understand well, or are willing to learn about, so that you may serve your customers honestly and with integrity. Your efforts will be justly rewarded. Your excitement will shine through in your endorsements, and will help skyrocket your sales.



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Brainstorming Topics

If you don’t already have some very specific ideas about what you would like to sell, consider the following questions and suggestions carefully. It will soon become clear that you are more inclined towards some avenues than others.

• Do you feel especially passionate about any subject in particular? • Are you an expert in anything? • Do you have hobbies or interests that you pursue regularly? • Are you active in a sport? • Ask your friends and family what they think you might be especially good at doing. • What have you learned from your jobs, hobbies and general life experience? Do a skills and knowledge assessment. • What problems have you solved in the past?


Brainstorm as many ideas as you can. Look at the following list. Are you knowledgeable in one or more of the following subjects?

• Accounting • Arts and Crafts • Auto Buying • Auto Mechanics • Canning • Carpentry • Catering • Child • Development • Computers • Coaching • Cooking • Dating • Decorating • Divorce • Dog Training • Ebooks • Ezines • Fitness • Gardening • Health and Fitness • Home Business • Home Buying • Home Finances
• Home Maintenance • Home Remodeling • Internet Business • Makeup Application • Marketing • Pet Care • Pet Grooming • Pet Shows • Plumbing • Program Scripting • Recipes • Relationships • Romance • Self Improvement • Sewing Tips • Single Parenting • Skin Care • Small Appliance Repair • Software Design • Teenagers • Travelling • Web Design • Weight Loss



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Did that list spark any ideas?

Here’s another list. It’s Commission Junction's Advertiser, or merchant category list. There are products and services in each of the categories that can be sold by affiliates.



Accessories Cosmetics/Fragrance - Handbags - Jewelry - Shoes
Art/Photo/Music Art - Music - Photo
Automotive Cars & Trucks - Motorcycles - Parts & Accessories - Rentals - Tools and Supplies
Books/Media Audio Books - Books - Magazines - News - Television - Videos/Movies
Business Business-To-Business - Marketing - Office - Productivity Tools - Travel
Careers Employment - Military
Clothing/Apparel Children's - Malls - Men's - Women's
Commerce Auction - Classifieds - E-commerce solutions/providers - New/Used Goods - Telephone services - Utilities
Computer & Electronics Computer HW - Computer Support - Computer SW - Consumer Electronics - Peripherals
Education Children - College - Languages - Professional
Entertainment Memorabilia
Family Babies - Children - Entertainment - Teens - Weddings
Financial services Banking/Trading - Credit Cards - Investment - Loans - Real Estate Services
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Food & Drinks Gourmet - Groceries - Restaurants - Tobacco - Wine & Spirits
Games & Toys Electronic Toys - Games - Toys
Gifts & Flowers Care Packages - Collectibles - Flowers - Gifts - Greeting Cards
Health & Beauty Bath & Body - Cosmetics - Health Food - Nutritional Supplements - Pharmaceuticals - Self Help - Vision Care - Wellness
Home & Garden Bed & Bath - Construction - Furniture - Garden - Home Appliances - Kitchen - Pets - Real Estate - Utilities
Insurance Commercial - Personal Insurance
Legal Services
Marketing Business to business - Network Marketing
Medical Equipment
Phonecard Services Online/Wireless
Recreation & Leisure Astrology - Betting/Gaming - Communities - Events - Matchmaking - New Age - Outdoors - Party Goods
Shops/Malls Virtual Malls
Sports & Fitness Exercise & Health - Professional Sports Organizations - Sports - WaterSports
Travel Accessories - Air - Car - Hotel - Luggage - Vacation
Web Services Advice - Banner ads - Domain Registrations - Email Marketing - Internet Service Providers - Intranets - Search Engine - Web Design - Web Hosting/Servers - Web Tools
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If you are serious about going into business - any business - even an affiliate marketing business, you will spend many, many hours to develop, nurture and maintain it. It's therefore a good idea to choose a subject that you are keen to pursue if you want to succeed.

Make a list of all the topics or products that make you smile or cause your heart to beat quicker when you think about them.

Don't worry at this point whether or not there’s a market for your topic, just make your list.

For example, your list of 'possibilities' may look like this:

• Wine and wine making • Investing • Web site design • Making money on the Internet • Running • Gambling & online casinos • Cooking • Travel • Cats • Aging parents • Retirement • etc.


In the following sections, we’ll find out how many people are looking for information online about the topics you chose above, and whether any or all of your ideas might be profitable.






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Targeting a Market

Now that you have an idea of the topics you'd like to pursue, it's time to find out whether there’s a market for your idea.

In this section, we'll look at tools and techniques to help you assess demand, supply (competition), and the profit potential of your site.

A serious miscalculation many entrepreneurs make is to assume that because they and their family think their idea is fabulous, that other consumers will feel likewise. Unfortunately, it rarely works that way. As an entrepreneur exploring the potential of a new venture you must answer the following question:

"Can my new venture make money?"

A market assessment will help you answer this question as well as assist you in transforming your idea into a successful business. Assessing the market potential of your business idea is a critical step in planning any new business. Through market research, you will gather information about:

• Customers • Market Size • Industry Trends • Competition • Potential Profitability


Yes, even when marketing affiliate programs, it pays to do your homework. Avoid this step and your venture could cost you time and money. Spending money for nothing is not a desirable outcome when the objective is to MAKE money!


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Market Research Tools

Before you start to research your potential market and competitors, it’s helpful to know what tools are available to make the job easier.

I use the following tools and sites to save time and effort during my own research:


• Spreadsheet • WordTracker • Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool • Google Search Engine • Google Toolbar • Alexa Toolbar • Pay Per Click Search Engines


As soon as I begin research into a topic to determine its potential for profit, I open up MS-Excel, my spreadsheet software.

I open a new file, give it a name like 'Wine_Research' and save it to the folder on my computer where I keep all my other research files.

I then label columns as follows:


Keywords Demand Supply S/D Ratio Overture Cost
Findwhat Cost
Remarks


I use the spreadsheet to make an extensive list of all, and I do mean ALL the keywords and phrases that I find that are related to my topic of interest. In another column I list the number of searches each keyword and phrase receives per month (Demand) as indicated by results I find while using Overture's keyword suggestion tool.

I also enter current bid prices for those keywords from various pay per click search engines, along with URL's from some of the competing sites. In addition, I make note of possible products and merchant partners with appropriate potential affiliate programs.

By the time my research is complete, my spreadsheet is a well-organized, comprehensive source of information that will tell me at a glance all I need to know about my topic and its market.

You can accomplish the same task by using tables in word-processing software, but the job will not be as easy as when you use a spreadsheet.

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Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research serves two purposes.

The first is to develop a list of keywords and phrases relevant to your topic. These keywords are used to compose the meta tags and text within your pages, and will therefore act as 'magnets' to attract the search engines.

Another benefit of thorough keyword research, is the ability to assess demand for products and services on the Net. Certain tools allow us to see exactly how many times surfers enter a particular phrase or keyword over a period of time. Using those numbers we may judge them sufficient to build a site around that topic.

Below are the tools I use to do keyword research for my affiliate sites.

WordTracker

Wordtracker.com is perhaps the best tool available to search for keywords and phrases relevant to your topic, as well as related keywords and phrases.

Wordtracker's free weekly Keyword Reports are also a great way to keep an eye on keyword search trends that indicate new and emerging topics of public interest.

Wordtracker is an online keyword generator that builds lists of similar search terms from keywords entered by Internet users. The database is updated on a continuous basis for new search expressions and it contains more than 340 million search queries. As such, Wordtracker can be a valuable tool to gain insight into the public's most commonly used search phrases.

With permission from the nice folks at Wordtracker, I've included two samples of Wordtracker keyword reports below - the Top 300 Surge Report and the Top 200 Long Term Keyword Report, 500 keywords in all. The Top 300 includes the top 300 queries from the 24 hours prior to the report’s issuance, and the Top 200 includes the top 200 complete queries from the largest Metacrawlers on the web (Metacrawler/Dogpile etc...) for the last 60 days (2 months).

You can scan through both lists to discover what's on surfers' minds.

Do any of the words and phrases strike a chord with you? Are any of the search terms also on your list of potential site topics?

List those phrases and terms that you are particularly interested in. You will later compare this new list against the list of potential topics that you made earlier.




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Top 300 Searches Over 24 Hours

WordTracker's Top 300 Surge Report - These are the top 300 queries from the 24 hours prior to the report’s issuance, and taken from 5,587,112 queries, which represents the complete queries from the largest Metacrawlers on the web (Metacrawler /Dogpile etc.) for the last 24 hours.



Legend
Nos.: Position according to popularity Count: Number of sightings of keyword in database. Keyword : The keyword itself Nos. Count Keyword 1 4838 travel 2 4448 autos 3 2397 hotels 4 1764 ebay 5 1738 health 6 1727 google 7 1691 jokes 8 1474 yahoo 9 1442 mortgages 10 1221 lyrics 11 1170 joe millionaire 12 1161 insurance quotes 13 1156 dictionary 14 1150 books 15 1068 cars 16 1055 hotmail 17 1002 news 18 938 jobs 19 927 yahoo.com 20 895 song lyrics 21 884 People Finder 22 852 hotmail.com 23 843 maps 24 841 mapquest 25 840 prom dresses 26 837 Used Cars 27 818 search engines 28 755 games 29 752 palm 30 734 ricin 31 682 parent 32 673 Addresses 33 662 baby names
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34 659 milf 35 656 atkins diet 36 652 white pages 37 648 science fair projects 38 638 detroit auto show 39 634 kazaa 40 623 weather 41 620 ask jeeves 42 617 dogs 43 610 recipes 44 595 southwest airlines 45 579 www.yahoo.com 46 568 lord of the rings 47 565 yellow pages 48 548 april fools 49 546 music 50 542 airline tickets 51 525 amazon.com 52 514 free clip art 53 507 author 54 504 wallpaper 55 499 ebay.com 56 498 kelly blue book 57 492 quotes 58 485 google.com 59 473 www.hotmail.com 60 472 Used Car Prices 61 468 clip art 62 460 job search 63 459 hairstyles 64 459 orlando bloom 65 453 poems 66 452 zip codes 67 451 ps2 cheats 68 448 free clipart 69 421 People Locator 70 419 winzip 71 418 home depot 72 418 pregnancy 73 414 Free Download Music 74 414 literotica.com 75 413 furniture 76 411 mortgage calculator 77 408 used cars 78 407 cnn 79 404 american airlines 80 403 Free People Finder 81 400 poetry 82 393 area codes 83 393 movies 84 391 free music downloads 85 391 house plans
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86 387 clipart 87 385 united airlines 88 384 online dictionary 89 379 free ringtones 90 376 msn 91 373 Yahoo Mail 92 368 amazon 93 365 aol.com 94 364 las vegas 95 358 Yahoo. Com 96 352 Telephone Directory 97 352 free games 98 351 hair styles 99 349 pictures 100 348 New Car 101 348 warez 102 346 dodge tomahawk 103 341 Peoplesearch 104 340 mp3 105 337 www.google.com 106 332 cloning 107 327 freeones 108 326 harry potter 109 323 marijuana 110 323 sears 111 322 Free Clip Art 112 322 White 113 322 eminem 114 322 kazaa lite 115 320 msn.com 116 318 holiday inn 117 317 tattoos 118 316 buddy icons 119 315 airlines 120 314 Free Clipart 121 314 People Search 122 313 consumer reports 123 312 driving directions 124 312 online games 125 311 birthdays 126 310 sublime directory 127 307 People 128 307 guitar tabs 129 307 horoscopes 130 303 monster.com 131 302 aol 132 302 free screensavers 133 296 Joe Millionaire 134 296 free greeting cards 135 296 richards realm 136 296 textbooks 137 294 Person Finder
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138 294 sublimedirectory.com 139 291 Locating People 140 291 walmart 141 289 Online Dictionary 142 288 currency converter 143 285 cheat codes 144 285 www.ebay.com 145 281 Free Mp3 Downloads 146 281 free fonts 147 280 Song Lyrics 148 279 Free Greeting Cards 149 279 irs 150 278 Free Diet Plans 151 278 auto 152 278 science projects 153 275 diabetes 154 274 avril lavigne 155 272 free wallpaper 156 272 snes roms 157 268 Finding People 158 267 flowers 159 267 yahoo mail 160 264 Orlando Bloom 161 263 anna nicole smith 162 262 best buy 163 258 kids 164 258 weight watchers 165 256 Plane Ticket 166 256 employment 167 256 free screen savers 168 255 refinancing equity loans 169 254 Free Desktop Wallpaper 170 254 Free Mp3 Music Download 171 254 travelocity 172 253 Ebay .com 173 253 Job Search 174 252 cheap airline tickets 175 252 wedding invitations 176 252 world map 177 251 e-cards 178 250 famous quotes 179 250 map quest 180 247 ecards 181 247 lowes 182 246 cheap flights 183 245 DeCSS 184 245 The Atkins Diet 185 245 dogpile 186 244 paintball 187 240 digital cameras 188 240 expedia 189 239 scholarships
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190 238 education 191 237 cheats 192 237 love poems 193 237 tires 194 234 abortion 195 234 amtrak 196 233 free music 197 233 music downloads 198 233 music lyrics 199 233 thongs 200 232 ups 201 231 barnes and noble 202 230 Job Listings 203 230 free ring tones 204 230 posters 205 230 quotations 206 230 xbox cheats 207 229 screensavers 208 228 Science Fair Projects 209 228 anime 210 227 Cheap Airline Tickets 211 227 mexico 212 226 calendar 213 226 fafsa 214 225 auctions 215 224 cnn.com 216 224 mortgage rates 217 223 Martin Luther King Jr. 218 223 apartments 219 223 bangbus 220 223 greeting cards 221 222 circuit city 222 222 desktop themes 223 222 resume 224 221 screen savers 225 220 Free E Cards 226 220 computers 227 220 nissan 228 219 wifelovers 229 218 Goggle Search Engine 230 217 Science Fair Ideas 231 217 Science Fair Project Ideas 232 217 mp3 midi 233 217 periodic table 234 217 playstation 2 cheats 235 215 social security 236 215 wedding dresses 237 214 blue book 238 214 free e-cards 239 213 Free Email Greeting Cards 240 213 game cheats 241 213 nanotechnology
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242 213 reverse lookup 243 211 funny pictures 244 211 human genetics 245 210 cheap airfare 246 210 dell 247 209 Funny Jokes 248 209 checks 249 208 airfares 250 207 cd covers 251 207 time zones 252 206 cartoons 253 204 free email 254 203 desktop wallpaper 255 203 expedia.com 256 203 solar system 257 202 the huns yellow pages 258 200 Hotels Search 259 200 health insurance 260 200 used books 261 199 Free Ecards 262 199 love quotes 263 198 sublimedirectory 264 198 verizon 265 197 depression 266 196 Southwest Airlines 267 196 calorie counter 268 196 credit report 269 192 Detroit Auto Show 270 192 auto parts 271 192 cruises 272 192 delta airlines 273 192 freeware 274 191 calendars 275 190 Tatoo Pictures 276 190 e cards 277 190 free online games 278 190 real estate 279 189 encyclopedia 280 189 used textbooks 281 188 Free Online Greeting Cards 282 188 free downloads 283 188 orbitz 284 187 body mass index 285 187 radio shack 286 186 Person Search 287 186 kazza 288 186 mapquest.com 289 185 chat 290 185 continental airlines 291 185 free credit report 292 185 jennifer lopez 293 185 ticketmaster
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294 185 weight loss 295 184 car rental 296 184 holocaust 297 184 thong 298 183 lesson plans 299 183 www.aol.com 300 182 free nokia ringtones

Top 200 Searches in 60 Days
The Top 200 Long-Term Keyword Report

Wordtracker's current database size is 335,789,918 search terms which represents the complete queries from the largest Metacrawlers on the web (Metacrawler/Dogpile etc..) for the last 60 days (2 months).

1 154156 people search 2 141388 google 3 133130 yahoo 4 124905 travel 5 117132 ebay 6 114093 jokes 7 99715 autos 8 98918 hotels 9 98153 red cardinal 10 95624 health 11 89116 yahoo.com 12 85763 lyrics 13 83807 hotmail 14 79080 games 15 77025 hotmail.com 16 70126 dictionary 17 69365 blank 18 66926 maps 19 63001 mapquest 20 60552 www.yahoo.com 21 60327 song lyrics 22 58026 Pictures 23 57017 weather 24 56595 www.hotmail.com 25 54524 Weight Loss 26 54351 music 27 54023 recipes 28 53386 search engines 29 51428 kazaa 30 49072 cars 31 45983 jobs
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32 42954 books 33 42834 news 34 42353 white pages 35 41841 ask jeeves 36 40790 parent 37 40706 clip art 38 40139 wallpaper 39 39792 Yahoo Mail 40 39253 mortgages 41 38952 - 42 38694 snes roms 43 38278 quotes 44 38124 april fools 45 36851 free clip art 46 36522 google.com 47 36141 mp3 48 35832 baby names 49 35749 movies 50 35697 msn 51 35453 halloween costumes 52 34987 People Finder 53 34710 free games 54 34517 yellow pages 55 33828 ebay.com 56 32550 www.google.com 57 32221 clipart 58 31888 amazon.com 59 31696 free clipart 60 31637 dogs 61 31515 Free Clip Art 62 31423 Used Cars 63 31368 Free Download Music 64 30892 free music downloads 65 30584 zip codes 66 30491 kelly blue book 67 30295 home depot 68 30116 aol.com 69 29781 free ringtones 70 29472 msn.com 71 29183 used cars 72 28883 airline tickets 73 28632 chat 74 28530 winzip 75 28458 birthdays 76 28428 greeting cards 77 28135 southwest airlines 78 26833 walmart 79 26792 author 80 26639 palm 81 26524 pictures 82 26253 insurance quotes 83 26171 e-cards
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84 26094 warez 85 26074 driving directions 86 25566 poems 87 25138 hair styles 88 25118 Free Greeting Cards 89 25055 sublime directory 90 25034 Online Dictionary 91 24945 sears 92 24745 free greeting cards 93 24450 halloween 94 24447 pregnancy 95 24354 Song Lyrics 96 24345 eminem 97 24051 aol 98 23995 lord of the rings 99 23863 kids 100 23846 screensavers 101 23835 ecards 102 23704 Ebay .com 103 23703 hairstyles 104 23492 milf 105 23445 Yahoo 106 23230 online games 107 23057 literotica.com 108 23041 Free Clipart 109 22779 harry potter 110 22711 Free Mp3 Downloads 111 22520 People 112 22391 guitar tabs 113 22344 best buy 114 22265 buddy icons 115 22146 free e-cards 116 22092 consumer reports 117 21942 sublimedirectory.com 118 21860 car 119 21815 horoscopes 120 21753 music downloads 121 21528 online dictionary 122 21441 cnn 123 21416 desktop themes 124 21381 W3schools 125 21140 free music 126 21032 mortgage calculator 127 20980 area codes 128 20926 Free Desktop Wallpaper 129 20692 online casino 130 20504 cheats 131 20401 tattoos 132 20337 digital cameras 133 20306 education 134 20267 job search 135 20183 free fonts
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136 20017 flowers 137 19934 screen savers 138 19915 anime 139 19613 furniture 140 19597 www.ebay.com 141 19482 richards realm 142 19399 Job Search 143 19296 yahoo mail 144 18911 amazon 145 18711 free screensavers 146 18702 ps2 cheats 147 18652 house plans 148 18527 chat rooms 149 18514 funny pictures 150 18511 Maps 151 18501 www.aol.com 152 18478 map quest 153 18425 famous quotes 154 18421 pogo.com 155 18096 cheat codes 156 18017 Yahoo. Com 157 17867 People Locator 158 17865 freeones 159 17862 poetry 160 17860 britney spears 161 17843 christmas 162 17655 free ecards 163 17578 Hotmail 164 17479 american airlines 165 17472 circuit city 166 17369 Hainan Island 167 17101 dogpile 168 17067 love poems 169 16961 Telephone Directory 170 16917 airlines 171 16788 marijuana 172 16758 Lyrics 173 16733 White Pages 174 16494 posters 175 16475 monster.com 176 16470 backgrounds 177 16423 holiday inn 178 16399 free online games 179 16381 freeware 180 16254 Online Games 181 16208 west nile virus 182 16091 thongs 183 15970 Free 184 15815 game cheats 185 15776 lesson plans 186 15765 tires 187 15741 Addresses
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188 15624 cd covers 189 15595 toys r us 190 15576 free email 191 15569 american idol 192 15496 Free Music 193 15472 cat 194 15386 kazaa lite 195 15332 e cards 196 15311 powerball 197 15296 lowes 198 15262 morpheus 199 15240 cnn.com 200 15239 free ring tones


Surprised? Get any ideas? It would be almost impossible NOT to get ideas from those incredible lists.

Unfortunately, by the time you read the 'Super Affiliate Handbook', the 24-hour and 60-day Reports above will no longer be completely accurate.

It's therefore a good plan for you to sign up for the Wordtracker free trial so you can get updated keyword reports on a regular basis.

Wordtracker will send you both reports, including the top 500 frequently searched words on the Internet, free of charge every week. The Wordtracker Keyword Report is published each Saturday and distributed to over 100,000 webmasters.

The WordTracker keyword reports are an invaluable tool in my affiliate marketing business.

I use them to:

• Identify market size • Define a specific target/niche market • Spot trends and surges of interest • Improve search engine positions through enhanced meta tags


Sign up for WordTracker’s free trial at the link below:

WordTracker http://wordtracker.com


Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool

To assist its over 80,000 advertisers choose keywords and phrases relevant to their sites and businesses, Overture provides a 'Search Term Suggestion Tool'.

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You simply enter a term related to your site and the tool returns related searches that include the term you placed in the search box. The results also include the number of times that term was searched for during the previous month.

I've noticed that it usually takes until the middle of the following month for the previous month's results to start appearing in the suggestion tool results. If it's really important to you which month the results are from, be sure to check near the top of the box for the phrase “Searches done in 'month' 2003”.

As a pay per click search engine, Overture.com claims to reach more than 80% of active U.S. Internet users through its own engine and those of its partners; CNN.com, Altavista, Yahoo! Msn, Lycos, InfoSpace, ESPN and Netscape.

This makes it an especially valuable resource for information about what your potential customers may want to buy!

Overture's Search Suggestion Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/


WordTracker vs. Overture Search Tool

You may be wondering why I recommend WordTracker, which although it has a free trial, is a paid service, when Overture's keyword suggestion tool is free to use.

Well, actually, Overture's tool is supposed to only be available to paying advertisers. Considering it costs a minimum of $20 per month to maintain an Overture account, that means Overture's tool isn't really free either.

However, because I know the URL, and Overture does nothing to password protect it, I can offer it here. They may wise up in time and make it impossible to use without an account, but in the meantime, enjoy it.

That said, back to my point about recommending Wordtracker in addition to Overture's free service.

Unlike Overture, which lumps pluralised, hyphenated, misspellings and other terms together to give one result for the number of searches in a month, Wordtracker shows numbers for all the variables.

For example, although thousands of people will morph the term 'wine making', into 'winemaking', 'winemaking' or even 'wine making', Overture will return results only for 'wine making'. Wordtracker on the other hand, will give you numbers for all of the variations.

This is especially beneficial when submitting terms and listings to pay per click search engines like FindWhat.com, which requires that advertisers provide the exact term that a surfer enters in the search box to get listed in its search results.

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Granted, Overture's method is much simpler for advertisers who need not research all the various permutations and derivations, but in order to cover all your bases, you'll want the widest selection of keyword search terms used, and that's what Wordtracker will give you.

Search Toolbars

I’ve included a lot of information below about what makes each of these tools valuable. If you’re in a big hurry and simply want to get the tools so that you can start, I suggest that you download both the Google and Alexa toolbars at the links below.


Google Toolbar http://toolbar.google.com/

Alexa Toolbar http://download.alexa.com/


Google Toolbar



I mention the Google Toolbar first because it will save you time. It allows you to search the web from any website location, without returning to the Google home page to start another search.

This Toolbar is free of charge, takes only a few seconds to install on your computer, and is available in a variety of languages, including ‘Elmer Fudd’ and ‘Pig Latin’. Once installed, the Google Toolbar appears along with the Internet Explorer toolbar.

These features are included with the Google Toolbar:

• Google Search: Search Google from any web page. • Search Site: Search only the pages of the site you're visiting. • PageRank: Google’s ranking of the current page. • Page Info: Access to similar pages, linking pages, and cached snapshots. • Highlight: Highlight your search terms on a page - each word in its own color. • Word Find: Find your search terms wherever they appear on the page.


Google Toolbar http://toolbar.google.com/


Alexa Toolbar

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Next, I suggest you install the Alexa Toolbar to get detailed site statistics and information with a click of the mouse. The Alexa Toolbar gives you access to site owners’ contact information, site stats and user reviews of web sites.

For example, when visiting the Amazon.com homepage, the Alexa toolbar shows Amazon’s rank at ‘16’. That’s the 16th most-visited site on the web. When I click the number 16 on the Alexa Toolbar, I am taken to a page on the Alexa site that provides much more detail about Amazon.com.

For example, here’s is a small sample of the information that can be learned about Amazon.com by using the Alexa toolbar.

People who visit this page also visit: • American Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund (paypal) • E-bay www.ebay.com • Cdnow www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/redirect/leaf= • Powell's Books www.powells.com • Borders www.borders.com • Barnes And Noble www.barnesandnoble.com • Alibris alibris.com • Cd Now www.cdnow.com • 800.com www.800.com • Wooden Horse Books www.woodenhorsebooks.com


Site Stats for amazon.com: • Traffic Rank for amazon.com: 16 • Other sites that link to this site: 135,818 • Online Since: 01-Nov-94

Contact Info for amazon.com: Amazon.com Stock: AMZN P.O. Box 81226 Seattle, WA 98108 US Tel: unlisted Email: info@amazon.com

There are 67 reviews submitted by Alexa visitors, and you are invited to submit your own review. The review process is simple and doesn’t require registration with the site.

Lower down the page, there is a list of ‘Other Sites that Link to Amazon’, along with a link to ‘See all 135,818 sites that link to Amazon.com…’. You can find out the URL of each and every site that links to the site you are interested in… 10 links at a time.

By clicking on ‘See Traffic Detail’, you get the ‘Daily Traffic Rank Trend’ for 3 months, 6 months and 1 year, in graph form. Rank is based on 3 months of traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and is a combined measure of page views and users.
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Further down the traffic page, you can compare the site currently being researched, with any other site. Simply input the URL of the second site, and the traffic graph is redrawn showing the original site with a blue line, and the second one in red.

All in all, the Alexa toolbar is a very powerful tool for getting lots of good information FAST!

If you don’t run Windows, or Internet Explorer, both of which are required to install the Alexa (and the Google) Toolbar, you can still get Alexa’s information by visiting Alexa.com, and searching directly from that site. Alexa Homepage http://www.alexa.com

Alexa Toolbar Download http://download.alexa.com/
Google Search Engine
Consistently relevant search results were hard to find … UNTIL Google came along.

Both the Alexa and Google Toolbars use Google search technology. If you don’t or can’t install either, I recommend using the Google search engine to do research on the Internet.

Google’s search is an easy and objective way to find high-quality Web sites with information relevant to your search.

Google’s ‘PageRank’ technology, credits a site based on the number of sites that ‘link in’ to that site. It also analyzes the importance of the sites ‘linking in’. If the second site is rated to be of high importance, the site it links to also increases in ‘importance’, and it’s PageRank increases. Furthermore, unlike many other search engines that can be ‘fooled’ into displaying irrelevant results, Google's technology makes human tampering with their search results extremely difficult.

In addition to providing highly relevant search results, Google is also useful if you want to find out how many potential competitors you have. Near the top right-hand corner of the results page, on a blue colored bar, Google shows the number of results returned with your query.

For example, if I search on the word ‘golf’, I see that there are 29+ million results returned, whereas ‘golf instruction’ only (ONLY?) returned 547,000 results.

This feature and the information it provides will come in very handy when you begin to research the profit potential of your ideas.

Google.com http://google.com

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Pay Per Click Search Engines

Pay per click search engines are another indispensable tool for doing market research on the Internet.

Pay per click search engines, such as Overture.com, allow you to generate instant traffic to your Web site by paying a small amount for each visitor click.

By researching the cost per click that advertisers pay per keyword or keyword phrase, you can get a very quick and accurate picture of the value of a particular topic.

When I want to be very thorough, I use all four of following pay per click search engines to do my research. When I'm in a hurry or feeling somewhat lazy, I just use the top two that are listed.

• Overture • FindWhat • 7Search • Kanoodle

Let's take a sneak peek at how it works.

At the time of writing, the top bids for the popular keyword 'casino' in USD$ are:


Overture $18.02 FindWhat $ 1.12 7Search $0.70 Kanoodle $0.32


Yikes! Eighteen dollars PER CLICK! That's rich. You can see that doing research at the PPC's may help you quickly eliminate certain topics if you plan to market your site using pay per click search engines in a big way.

By the way, if you plan to try this out before reading the following sections, you should know that Overture masks its advertisers' bids. It's easy enough to find out what they are however. Simply click on the link labeled 'View Advertisers Max Bids' near the top right hand corner of the search results page. That action pops a new window in which you'll be asked to enter the code you see next to the input box. Do that, and you're in!

Don't worry though. You won't have to enter the 'magic code' each and every time. Once you're there, you can use the search within the new window to do further maximum bid research.

Note too that those are the advertisers' maximum bids and not necessarily the price they are paying per click.

Now that you are familiar with the tools you will use to research your topic, let's begin the research.
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Market Research Begins
What are the Trends for this Industry?
To properly assess the market potential of your new venture, you must identify the trends that may affect your market in the future. By doing this you will have a sense of your project’s longterm viability, strategic opportunities the market presents, and how you must respond to the changing behaviors of the customers.

Don’t get caught trying to sell what became obsolete or out-of-style yesterday. Keep current by subscribing to relevant online newsletters, magazines and reading the newspaper. Stay informed and abreast of this rapidly changing world, and you’ll stay in business.
Is there Sufficient Demand?
This is when you put Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool and a spreadsheet to work, and build a list of keywords and phrases relevant to your proposed topic.

Building an extensive keyword list is crucial to your site's success. More than 'extensive', your list should also be 'exhaustive'. Leave no stone unturned in your search for phrases that surfers might use to find your site.

By way of example, when I created my dating site back in 1998, and started advertising with pay per click search engines, I built a spreadsheet consisting of a couple of thousand search terms related to my site.

Five years later I'm still the only advertiser listed under many of those keywords and phrases. Those terms are currently grandfathered at 5 cents per click at Overture.com, and some of them receive literally thousands of searches and clickthroughs to my site each month.

It therefore pays, and sometimes pays BIG, to spend time and effort to do this part of your research in a very thorough manner.

Taking your list of 'Passion Topics' above, I did a search on the term 'wine' using Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool and included the results below.

Because of my personal success with dating sites, I often gauge a topic's potential by comparing its primary keyword against the keyword 'dating'. 'Dating' usually receives around three hundred thousand searches per month at Overture and its partners. Checking the results below, there were over 221 thousand searches for the term 'wine' and related phrases in just one month.

If I were a wine enthusiast or winemaking expert, I would feel very positive about the potential for my topic at this point.

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Let's look at the keywords and phrases that were returned by the Overture search for 'wine'.


221500 wine 49940 german wine 48098 italian wine 36554 oregon wine 32852 wine rack 26780 french wine 17769 wine making 17704 california wine 14904 washington wine 14789 wine spectator 12791 wine cellar 11874 food and wine 10665 wine country 10381 wine australia 10024 wine cooler 9868 wine france 9829 white wine 9718 wine glasses 8321 wine label 7788 wine accessory 7640 wine bag 7467 wine glass 7464 wine charm 7297 wine bottle 6874 red wine 6306 wine tasting 6306 wine gift 6249 wine club 6202 wine online 5937 wine recipe 5910 california red wine 5828 wine enthusiast 5260 wine tour 5244 california white wine 5228 wine retailer 5139 wine rating 5002 wine storage 4880 wine review 4470 wine gift basket 4419 wine country california 4333 wine refrigerator 4084 wine storage rack 4023 wine distributor 4015 april wine 4003 wine making supply 3947 wine country tour 3873 australian wine 3822 cheese and wine 3778 strawberry wine 3772 wine cabinet 3753 food and wine magazine
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3711 california wine tour 3506 wine glass rack 3463 napa wine tour 3214 wine basket 3199 sonoma wine tasting 3178 fine wine 3139 charles shaw wine 2997 wine tasting tour 2962 master of wine 2908 napa valley wine tasting 2895 wine grape 2889 wine of the month club 2851 bay area wine tour 2846 sonoma wine tour 2839 wine glass charm 2828 wine tasting tour and sonoma county 2803 napa valley wine tasting tour 2795 sonoma valley wine tour 2787 wine analysis 2781 wine store 2776 california wine tasting tour 2722 limousine wine tour 2720 make wine 2700 wine stopper 2700 avanti wine cooler 2689 linux wine 2648 buy wine 2425 wine sale 2398 wine list 2345 home wine making 2323 southern wine and spirits 2315 ice wine 2304 wine guide 2286 port wine 2246 napa valley wine train 2207 wine price 2185 red red wine 2181 wine making kit 2180 napa valley wine tour 2175 wine shop 2174 buy wine online 2156 wine box 2123 pairing wine and food 2122 type of wine 2094 wooden wine rack 2059 wine opener 2043 wine auction 1984 personalized wine bottle 1937 wall mounted wine rack


Many webmasters don't realize that you can click on any of the keywords that are returned by the suggestion tool, and get a list of all the phrases that include the words you selected.

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For example, after looking at the results for the search on 'wine' above, I clicked on the term 'wine making' and got the following list. Again, you could then click on the term 'wine making supply' and all the searches that included the words 'wine' 'making' and 'supply' would be returned.

And so on and so forth.


17769 wine making 4003 wine making supply 2345 home wine making 2181 wine making kit 1035 wine making equipment 797 wine making recipe 527 wine making canada 488 canadian wine making 439 making rack wine 423 wine making process 315 home wine making supply 283 making region wine 202 history of wine making 163 wine making label 157 making homemade wine 143 beer and wine making supply 124 chiller making wine 119 wine making accessory 119 fruit wine making 116 beer wine making 114 making vinegar wine 111 wine making grape 110 making making wine wine 110 wine making tip 99 home wine making recipe 92 home wine making kit 90 making red wine 86 chemistry of wine making 82 industry making wine 81 wine making instructions 77 making manufacturing wine 70 advanced making technique wine 70 making port wine 69 making wine concentrate 66 making store wine 61 home made wine making 60 the technology of wine making 58 making wine charm 57 wine making book 55 making steps wine 52 making wine yeast 52 wine making direction 52 making red vinegar wine 50 commercial equipment making wine 49 wine making juice 49 equipment making used wine
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49 making school wine 48 beer equipment making wine 48 making white wine 47 french making wine 47 wine making supplys 45 making picture wine 45 home wine making equipment 43 making rice wine 42 consultant hands making northwest wine 42 amateur wine making 40 wine making bottle 39 wine making information 39 home brewing and wine making 39 cellar making wine 39 ancient making wine 37 making dandelion wine 37 italian making wine 37 making store supply wine 37 fermentation in making wine 37 magazine making wine 37 fruit making recipe wine 37 atlanta making supply wine 36 easy making wine 36 france in making wine 35 cheap home making wine 35 chablis making wine 34 class making wine 34 making uk wine 33 making own wine 33 making science wine 33 apple making wine 32 canada kit making wine 32 wine making technique 32 wine making catalog 31 wine making product 31 home wine and beer making supply 31 factory grape in making wine 30 wine making course 30 made making wine wine 30 wine making ingredient 30 commercial making wine 29 biotechnologies making wine 28 making supply vine wine wine 28 making strawberry wine 27 grape juice making wine 27 live making wine 27 forum making wine 25 fermentation making wine 25 making problem wine 25 cost making wine

Although Overture doesn't permit advertisers to place listings for keywords and phrases that receive fewer than 100 searches per month, I left those terms in the above list for their research value.
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Recognize too that the number of searches will fluctuate from month to month, especially with seasonal topics, so it's best not to hastily exclude any possibilities during the research process. Certain keywords may not be accepted for pay per click listings this month or next, but perhaps they will be accepted three or four months from now.

It's better to add to your research base, than to subtract from it.

The beauty of doing this type of research is that it should help you formulate a richer plan of action for your Web site.

For example, after looking at the search results above, your 'how-to-make-wine' site plan might begin to 'flesh out' somewhat to include the following sections:

• Wine making techniques • Types of wine • Recommended wine-related books & magazines • Online wine forums • Wine making supplies & accessories

As you start to fine-tune your ideas about what you will offer at your Web site, you can also start to fine-tune your keywords.

After sorting through all the keywords revealed during your research, and deleting those pertaining to specific wine regions, retailers, music groups (e.g. April Wine) and other terms that are irrelevant to your topic, your spreadsheet might look something like this:


Keywords Demand Supply S/D Ratio OV Cost FW Cost Remarks wine 221500 wine rack 32852 french wine 26780 wine making 17769 wine cooler 10024 white wine 9829 wine glasses 9718 wine label 8321 wine accessory 7788 wine bag 7640 wine glass 7467 wine charm 7464 wine bottle 7297 red wine 6874 wine tasting 6306 wine gift 6306 wine online 6202 wine recipe 5937 wine enthusiast 5828 wine storage 5002
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wine gift basket 4470 wine refrigerator 4333 wine storage rack 4084 wine making supply 4003 strawberry wine 3778 wine cabinet 3772 food and wine magazine 3753 california wine tour 3711 wine glass rack 3506 wine basket 3214 wine grape 2895 wine glass charm 2839 wine analysis 2787 wine store 2781 make wine 2720 wine stopper 2700 home wine making 2345 port wine 2286 wine making kit 2181 buy wine online 2174 wine box 2156 pairing wine and food 2123 type of wine 2122 wooden wine rack 2094 wine opener 2059 personalized wine bottle 1984 wall mounted wine rack 1937 wine making equipment 1035 wine making recipe 797 making rack wine 439 wine making process 423 home wine making supply 315 wine making label 163 making homemade wine 157 wine making accessory 119 fruit wine making 119 making vinegar wine 114 wine making grape 111 wine making tip 110



Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion


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How Much Competition Are You Up Against?
Finding Basic Demand and Supply To research the existing competition or current 'supply' requires using a search engine such as Google or AltaVista.

Google http://google.com

AltaVista http://altavista.com

Staying with the topics of 'wine' and 'wine making', a search at Google returns "Results 1 - 10 of about 15,600,000" for ‘wine’, while 800,000 results are returned for ‘wine making’.

You can see these results near the upper right hand corner of the results page. (Note: if you do a search right now for the keywords 'wine' and 'wine making', the results will undoubtedly have changed as new sites are added and others dropped from the Google search engine.)

The same searches at AltaVista display "AltaVista found 4,694,069 results" for ‘wine’, and then 767,434 for the term 'wine making'. To see these figures at AltaVista, you have to look further down the page, past the first four 'Sponsored Matches'.

I generally elect to use one or the other of these search engines (usually Google), but not both. I do this to make sure that my research is consistent.

You may however prefer to use AltaVista, as their returns also show a number of related keywords and phrases on the results page.

For example, in a later search for 'wine making' at AltaVista, the following phrases are returned at the top of the page linked to their respective pages:


• Home Wine • Making Wine • Wine Kits • Wine Making Supplies • Grapes • Vineyards • Wineries


Now, before you go to all the trouble of researching and noting the number of competing sites on your spreadsheet for each of your keywords, please read the following.

Competition can be a GOOD thing.

Generally speaking, the more competition there is, the larger the existing market.
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Some researchers go crazy analyzing the supply/demand ratio, or 'demand satisfaction ratio', for each and every keyword, but it really isn't necessary.

While it is interesting to note how many sites already have a topic similar to your intended site, it's really only the first 10 to 40 sites, or the first page or two of search engine listing results that will be your competition.

Why is that?

Because your primary method of promotion will be through the pay per click search engines which will normally allow you to place your link(s) near the top of each SE results page.

So in effect, placing your links on the first page of search results makes the other 1,387,988 sites irrelevant, as surfers rarely look beyond the first page or two of results.

The main reason for making note of the total number of competitors is to see if you can come up with a true niche topic.

For example, if you find a keyword that has 2,000 searches per month and fewer than ten competitors, the supply/demand ratio equals .005, or 1/500th of a percent. There is a pretty good chance that your site will be easily found when you're playing with those odds, regardless of whether you pay to advertise.

Here is a short sample of how your market/keyword research spreadsheet might look at this point.


Keywords Demand Supply S/D Ratio OV Cost
FW Cost
Remarks
wine 221500 15,600,000 70.429 wine rack 32852 392,000 11.932 wine making 17769 1,800,000 101.300 white wine 9829 2,320,000 236.036 wine glasses 9718 641,000 65.960 wine label 8321 527,000 63.334 wine accessory 7788 114,000 14.638 wine bag 7640 305,000 39.921 wine glass 7467 1,660,000 222.312 wine charm 7464 371,000 49.705


The lower the supply/demand ratio - the better your chances of finding a profitable market.

For example, with a supply to demand ratio of just 11.932, it looks like it might be a good idea to find a merchant partner who sells wine racks and has an affiliate program.

With an S/D ratio of 14.638, ‘wine accessory’ also looks like a good topic to go after.
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However, if you think about it, anyone searching for a wine accessory, is more likely to type 'wine accessories' into the search box. When we search on that term at Google, we see that there are about 1,230,000 results. The supply/demand ratio has now just risen to 157.935. So, that one may not be such a good idea after all.

But don't discount 'wine accessories' too quickly. As mentioned above, the supply/demand ratio (or current demand satisfaction) is just a guide. Furthermore, wine accessory is a very broad term. You need to research your topic much more thoroughly before making a decision as to its potential for profit. You may discover that the wine accessories section on your site is the site's most profitable area, when you target each of the specific product possibilities within that term.

Niche Finder Software

I recently discovered a very neat piece of software that makes this whole process much, MUCH simpler.

The software is called 'Niche Finder'. I plugged in the term 'wine making' and in less than five minutes the software had generated a big list of related key phrases, which were found on the most relevant pages on the Internet. A list typically consists of over 200 new key phrases, and each of them may give you a valuable business idea, a possible product name, target market, or at least a good keyword for your web page. And a good business idea can make a fortune for you!

Here is an image of a portion of the results from Niche Finder that includes a graphic representation of the relevance, i.e. the green bar on the right.



Next is the full list of detailed statistics, sorted by relevance to the original 'wine making' keyword query.




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No. Key Phrase Supply Demand Relevance Potentia l
Demand -toSupply
raw nice raw nice 1 wine making 111000 50 15338 42 100 347 83 2 wine making equipment 5650 38 755 29 74 221 77 3 wine making process 4370 36 403 26 72 186 72 4 home wine making 3690 36 2022 33 71 306 93 5 wine making supply 1520 32 3143 35 63 384 110 6 wine making kit 1110 30 1655 32 60 340 106 7 history of wine making 945 30 157 22 59 162 74 8 beer wine making 617 28 75 19 55 126 67 9 wine making accessory 424 26 44 16 52 103 63 10 wine making grape 290 25 98 20 49 161 81 11 beer and wine making supply 191 23 61 18 45 140 78 12 wine making recipe 154 22 745 29 43 377 131 13 home wine making kit 113 21 85 19 41 181 94 14 making homemade wine 304 25 109 20 40 167 82 15 home wine making supply 98 20 207 23 39 269 116 16 fruit wine making 93 20 64 18 39 166 92 17 making red wine 310 25 75 19 36 141 75 18 wine making instructions 63 18 86 19 36 208 108 19 home wine making recipe 62 18 77 19 36 199 105 20 chemistry of wine making 61 18 55 17 35 170 97 21 wine making canada 50 17 41 16 34 153 95 22 home made wine making 29 15 82 19 29 250 131 23 wine making juice 22 13 38 16 27 186 118 24 wine making label 20 13 107 20 26 317 156 25 wine making product 20 13 41 16 26 200 124 26 making dandelion wine 78 19 100 20 22 211 106 27 wine making tip 12 11 71 19 21 318 172 28 wine making bottle 10 10 37 16 20 246 157 29 making port wine 30 15 105 20 14 277 137 30 making vinegar wine 13 11 71 19 14 308 166 31 making store wine 7 8 68 18 14 397 217 32 making uk wine 5 7 50 17 9 413 243 33 making rack wine 5 7 37 16 9 352 224 34 italian making wine 4 6 52 17 6 489 285 35 making wine yeast 3 5 41 16 6 545 338 36 in involved making 0 0 180 23 0 226 2255 37 making permit wine 0 0 91 20 0 196 1959 38 making picture wine 0 0 66 18 0 182 1820 39 making wholesale wine 0 0 55 17 0 174 1740 40 making school wine 1 0 51 17 0 171 1708 41 carrot making wine 0 0 47 17 0 167 1672 42 making strawberry wine 5 7 47 17 0 400 239 43 commercial making wine 0 0 43 16 0 163 1633 44 country making wholesale wine 0 0 43 16 0 163 1633 45 making video wine 1 0 43 16 0 163 1633 46 making red vinegar wine 0 0 40 16 0 160 1602 47 equipment making sale wine 0 0 39 16 0 159 1591 48 making wine charm 13 11 38 16 0 224 142
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Using this software was simply amazing. Doing all that research by hand would normally take a few hours at least, and yet in just under five minutes, the software calculated the real potential of my business idea.

The Niche Finder software can generate the following 10 charts:

• Relevance Chart • Detailed Statistics sorted by Relevance • Potential Chart • Detailed Statistics sorted by Potential • Demand-to-Supply Chart • Detailed Statistics sorted by Demand-to-Supply • Supply Chart • Detailed Statistics sorted by Supply • Demand Chart • Detailed Statistics sorted by Demand

I highly recommend that you take a closer look at the Niche Finder software. As I'm apt to say, "Time is Money" and this little gem is going to save you a ton of time in research.


Niche Finder http://nichemarketresearch.com



Let's now take a look at your competition's most telling activity, advertising, and the specific amounts they are willing to pay to bring visitors to their sites.
How Much Does it Cost to Advertise?
Before you go scooting past this section because you don't plan to advertise, STOP!

Research into how much other sites pay for advertising will tell you a LOT about your competition and the market for your product.

Merchants and affiliates that pay to advertise are serious about their business, so they are the perfect competitors from whom to learn.

I do this part of my research at Overture.com and Findwhat.com, my favorite pay per click search engines, because they deliver the most traffic. It doesn't hurt to also use others like Kanoodle.com and 7Search.com. However you'll usually find that the bids at those services are lower, which is a reflection of their lower traffic volumes.

Just because I don't do research at the lower volume PPC's, does not mean that I don't use them to promote my sites!

I most assuredly do use them.
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However, they aren't that necessary for market research purposes. Overture and Findwhat do the trick very nicely for that.


OK, just in case I haven't made my case strongly enough, this part of the research is quite often what I do before anything else.

If, by checking Overture for the word 'casino', I see a top bid of $18.02 per click, I know that chances are pretty good that I'll pass on that topic. Regardless, I will scroll to the bottom of the page to see if I can place a listing there for 10 cents. Sometimes you'll be surprised at how sharply the prices drop from the top bid to the one at the bottom of the page. In such extreme bid variance cases, it would appear that you've got a high demand keyword - one that might be worth a lower bid with a lower listing placement.

Or you’ve got a mentally deranged high bidder!

So, let's look at what it would cost to advertise the keywords related to 'wine' and 'wine making' at Overture and Findwhat.

When doing this research, I like to shrink both my browser and spreadsheet windows to halfsize, so that I may see them together, side-by-side. This makes the cut and paste process go much more quickly.


Keywords Demand OV Cost
FW Demand
FW Cost
Remarks
wine 221500 0.69 193898 0.29 p56 p40 = .14 wine rack 32852 0.56 23978 0.56 p32 wine making 17769 1.20 3626 0.14 p11 white wine 9829 0.50 1781 0.14 p15 wine label 8321 0.31 2377 0.08 p10 wine accessory 7788 0.97 9864 0.29 p33 wine bag 7640 0.40 120 0.06 p10 wine glass 7467 0.33 3023 0.26 p27 wine charm 7464 0.70 947 0.15 p18 wine recipe 5937 0.25 562 0.03 p5 wine enthusiast 5828 0.59 1098 0.43 p9 wine making supply 4003 1.21 342 0.10 p9 home wine making 2345 0.85 149 0.10 p7 wine making kit 2181 1.31 117 0.10 p6 wine making equipment 1035 0.65 44 0.12 p6 wine making recipe 797 0.10 15 0.05 p2 making rack wine 439 0.10 2 0.01 p2 wine making process 423 0.10 10 0.01 p1 home wine making supply 315 0.10 0 0.01 p1 wine making label 163 0.10 6 0.01 p2 making homemade wine 157 0.10 1 0.09 p3 wine making accessory 119 0.10 3 0.01 p1 fruit wine making 119 0.10 2 0.01 p1 wine making grape 111 0.10 0 0.01 p1
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At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, "WOW! 69 cents for the keyword 'wine' and $1.20 for 'wine making'. That's way TOO expensive."

Well, just wait a second. You might be pleasantly surprised if you follow through to conclusion with the research process.

That's the point of doing the research. You could learn something that may save you time, effort and money in the long run. So, don't give up too soon.

In the 'Remarks' column, you'll have noticed numbers preceded by the letter 'p'. I use these to indicate what position/rank you would be in if you bid at Overture's current minimum bid of 10 cents. Assuming 40 listings per page, 'wine' was the only keyword that would put you on the second page of results at 10 cents, so I included the cost (14 cents) to get onto the first page.

My initial findings on the topic of 'wine making' were that bid amounts are usually relatively steep in the top three positions, but then drop off quite rapidly.

That's OK. Barring the opportunity to place your ad in the top three listings, a rapid drop in maximum bids is definitely to your advantage.

Although all the pay per click search engines will tell you that you need to be in the top three positions to get the most traffic, you can still get plenty of traffic from the lower listings.

Those lower listings often deliver more qualified traffic as well. That’s because the surfer who spends more time reading listings will click through to your lower-ranked site because they like what you had to say and want to learn more, and not simply because yours was the first listing on the page.

WHO is Your Competition?

While I am at Overture researching how much advertisers within my category are willing to pay for keywords, I also take the time to visit the top ten, twenty and sometimes all forty sites that come up on that first page of search results.

I also search at Google and some of the other major search engines.

Note: Google's advertisers are found at the top and along the right side of the results page. All sponsored listings are placed inside colored boxes and are marked as 'sponsored link'.

When I do this type of thorough investigation, I learn WHO is willing to pay to play.

By visiting the sites that advertise, you'll discover that there are two (2) different types of sites that pay for keyword advertising in your category. They are:

• Irrelevant Sites • Competing Merchant and Affiliate Sites
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Irrelevant Sites

You may discount the irrelevant, non-competing sites entirely, and be glad that they don't pose a possible threat.


However, if you discover through research that a site is completely irrelevant to the search term that it showed up under, it is well worth your while to drop the editors at Overture or Google a note about your findings. Sites that pay to advertise under irrelevant terms push everyone else's prices up.

Say for example that the site that has the first listing under the keyword 'wine bag' is bidding 25 cents to hold that spot. If you plan to sell wine bags and compete with this fellow on Overture, you'd have to pay 26 cents to claim the top listing.

You shouldn't have to compete with an advertiser that doesn't deliver what they falsely promise. Overture's listing guidelines are very stringent about relevancy, and you'll have no problem getting this fellow de-listed from that keyword. Not only will you save money by writing that note to Overture, but you will also save Overture's users time when they don't have to visit useless sites.
Competing Affiliate & Merchant Sites

The other sites that you visit will be either merchant or affiliate sites.

Consider the following questions as you review each site, and make notes in the remarks section of your spreadsheet.


• What is the site's name and URL? • Is this a merchant or an affiliate site? • What products do they offer? • Do they sell quality products that I'd like to offer on my site? • What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the site? • What kind of quality and service do they provide? • What can I do differently so customers purchase through my affiliate store rather than at my competitors?


You can probably see from the questions above, that the primary value in reviewing these sites is to find merchants with great products and affiliate programs, as well as good ideas for your site.

To determine whether the site is an affiliate or merchant site, 'cursor over' the links and check your browser's status bar to see if the links are affiliate product links.

Most of the links through the affiliate networks are readily identifiable as such.

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For example, Commission Junctions links all begin with "http://www.qksrv.net/click-" and Linkshare's start out with "http://click.linksynergy.com". Clickbank links are generally configured as "http://hop.clickbank.net/?affiliateID/sellerID" and BeFree/Reporting.net's links start with "http://service.bfast.com". However, many affiliates now use affiliate-cloaking software or 'mouseover' scripts to hide and protect their affiliate links from commission theft, but you can easily determine whether or not they are affiliates. Simply click through on the product links. If clicking takes you to a new site or domain, then the site is likely an affiliate site.

On the other hand, if you click on a link and the resulting page comes up on the original domain, then it is probably a merchant site. I say 'probably', because the cloaking software that I use makes it look like the resulting page comes up on the domain you started out on.

For example, if my product link for "33 Days to Online Profits" is http://rosalinds.com/33days.html and someone clicks on that link, the new page that is displayed in the browser's address bar using my cloaking software would still be http://rosalinds.com/33days.html.

So, to anyone judging product ownership based solely on domain or URL displayed, it certainly looks like '33 Days to Online Profits' is my own, because it seems to reside at "rosalinds.com" because of the cloaking software.

Of course, you have to look farther than just the address bar. Look for product or manufacturer's names, and 'buy now' links. Keep searching until you discover the truth.

When you arrive at a merchant site with great products, start looking for links to their affiliate program. If an affiliate network like Commission Junction or Linkshare administers the program, don't sign up for the program through the merchant's site.

If you sign up at the merchant's site directly, you could end up opening a new Commission Junction or Linkshare account that you don't need. Pay a visit to the applicable affiliate network, and search for the merchant's name from within your account.

If the merchant has excellent products that you'd like to offer, but doesn't have an affiliate program, that's OK. There are ways to encourage merchants to offer their products through affiliate programs. These are covered later in the Super Affiliate Handbook.

I have been delighted on occasion to discover that sites paying the most to advertise were poorly designed or didn't offer a very wide range of products within the topic I was researching.

In those cases, if I build a well-designed Web site that gives the surfer exactly what they want, I should be able to achieve a fairly good degree of success, even if I don't list my site in a top spot on the pay per click search engines.

Don't overlook this step in your affiliate business-building process. You'll be surprised what researching the competition will tell you. In many cases you too will be delighted to see how little competition there is, and how much room the market holds - just for you.
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Will Your Niche be Profitable?
After all of the variables including keywords, demand, supply, and pay per click costs have been collected and copied into your spreadsheet, you can finally put some formulae to work and make some educated assumptions about how profitable your chosen topic might be.

The assumptions made below about sales and conversion rates are based on industry averages. Your own results may be much higher. Let's hope so, because I think assuming a one percent conversion from clickthrough to sales is very low, based on my own experience.

Here are explanations of how the calculations in the following table were made.

• Keywords - Self-explanatory

• Demand - Equals the number of searches at both Overture and Findwhat for the month, for that term.

• Clicks - Based on an average 1.5% clickthrough rate from pay per click listing. I believe this number might be low, based on the relatively low number of advertisers for many of the keywords below. My own clickthrough rates vary from a low of .01% for keywords positioned very low in the listings to a high of 30% for a keyword that isn't even in the top three listings. Time and tweaking of your own campaigns should produce a better than 1.5 percent average. Formula: - Demand x .015 = Clickthroughs

• Sales - I'm assuming an average 1-percent conversion rate from clickthroughs to sales. Again, I feel that this number is lower than it should be, however, it is a fairly typical conversion rate for affiliates. Super affiliates do MUCH better than one percent however. I'll discuss how to improve your conversions to sales in a later section. Formula: - Clickthroughs x .010 = Number of Sales

• Commission - The number of sales x $20.00 per sale. I am basing this on my own average commission per sales figures. At this point in our research, that number is still hypothetical. We'll find out later when we do research into affiliate programs and products how much average commission amounts are likely to be. Formula: - Number of Sales x $20.00 = Commission

• PPC Cost - The number of clickthroughs multiplied by 6 cents. This average cost per click is an arbitrary number based on my own experience with PPC's, and is a cost per click averaged across multiple pay per click search engine advertising campaigns. Formula: - Clickthroughs x $0.06 = PPC Cost

• Net Profit - The amount you can take to the bank. Formula: Commission - PPC Cost = Net Profit


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Keywords Demand Clicks Sales Commissio n
PPC Cost Net Profit
wine 415398 6231 62.31 $1,246.19 373.86 $872.34 wine rack 56830 852 8.52 $170.49 51.15 $119.34 wine making 21395 321 3.21 $64.19 19.26 $44.93 white wine 11610 174 1.74 $34.83 10.45 $24.38 wine label 10698 160 1.60 $32.09 9.63 $22.47 wine accessory 17652 265 2.65 $52.96 15.89 $37.07 wine bag 7760 116 1.16 $23.28 6.98 $16.30 wine glass 10490 157 1.57 $31.47 9.44 $22.03 wine charm 8411 126 1.26 $25.23 7.57 $17.66 wine recipe 6499 97 0.97 $19.50 5.85 $13.65 wine enthusiast 6926 104 1.04 $20.78 6.23 $14.54 wine making supply 4345 65 0.65 $13.04 3.91 $9.12 home wine making 2494 37 0.37 $7.48 2.24 $5.24 wine making kit 2298 34 0.34 $6.89 2.07 $4.83 wine making equipment 1079 16 0.16 $3.11 0.93 $2.17 wine making recipe 812 12 0.12 $2.39 0.72 $1.67 making rack wine 441 7 0.07 $1.32 0.40 $0.92 wine making process 433 6 0.06 $1.27 0.38 $0.89 home wine making supply 315 5 0.05 $0.95 0.28 $0.66 wine making label 169 2 0.02 $0.49 0.15 $0.34 making homemade wine 158 2 0.02 $0.47 0.14 $0.33 wine making accessory 122 2 0.02 $0.36 0.11 $0.25 fruit wine making 121 2 0.02 $0.36 0.11 $0.25 wine making grape 111 2 0.02 $0.33 0.10 $0.23 Total 586567 8437 84 $1,687.43 506.23 $1,181.20


Based on a very narrow selection of keyword and keyword phrases, our hypothetical net profit for the month amounts to $1,181.20. That's not bad at all, for one little site about wine making. Imagine repeating the process with nine more topics and having more than ten thousand dollars to play with every month.

As mentioned above, I felt that both the PPC clickthrough and conversion to sales rates were low. What happens if we increase these numbers?

Assuming a PPC clickthrough rate of 3%, we would come up with the following results:

Keywords Demand Clickthroughs Sales Commission PPC Cost Net Profit Total 586567 17597 175 $3,519.40 1,055.82 $2,463.58


Staying with our PPC clickthrough rate of 3%, let's see what happens if we work really hard to improve our conversion rate to 3%.

Keywords Demand Clickthroughs Sales Commission PPC Cost Net Profit Total 586567 17597 527 $10,558.21 1,055.82 $9,502.39



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Even if we reduce our expectation of traffic delivery from the pay per click search engines back down to 1.5%, the net profit results are still astonishing.

Keywords Demand Clicks Sales Commission PPC Cost Net Profit Total 586567 8799 263 $5,279.10 527.91 $4,751.19

Pretty respectable, all in all.

Please remember that the example above does NOT include all the keyword possibilities I would use for this site. Nor does it take into account the traffic you will get from free sources which would skew those final dollar amounts upwards, provided the sales conversion rates remain the same.

Also remember that at this point, we are considering only profit POTENTIAL. There are no guarantees that our actual results will be as successful. They may in fact be MORE successful.

Only real-world testing of all we know and learn will tell us if our hypothesis was realistic.

You can also get some help from the following software…

Adwords Analyzer

Just as I was about to do substantial keyword research for some new sites this recently, I was introduced to Adwords Analyzer software that made my work SO much easier and less timeconsuming.

Normally I use Wordtracker and Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool to ferret out as many related keywords and phrases as I can... and I did that still.

Then I transfer all that data into an Excel spreadsheet and write titles and descriptions for my pay-per-click advertising campaigns.

Well, Adwords Analyzer showed me exactly on which keywords I should focus my time and attention.

In addition to displaying the number of searches conducted at Overture during the previous month for all permutations of the keyword entered, Adwords Analyzer also shows the number of web sites returned for each keyword and the 'results to search' ratio.

The interface ALSO displays the number of campaigns currently being run at both Overture and Google for each keyword and keyword phrase.

Hallelujah.

That shows me both where I need not waste my time, and more importantly, which phrases currently have few or no advertisers.

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That's the perfect scenario in the online world. A keyword or phrase for which there are tons of searches, no competitors and the bid price is cheap. The info is priceless and the software is very inexpensive.

http://www.adwordanalyzer.com/

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Where to Find Products & Services to Sell Online
Now that you know the market niche that you want to target, you'll have to find merchants who sell related products and services through their affiliate programs.

Fortunately, a small industry has sprung up to assist and promote these merchants to their potential affiliates. You'll be able to find products and services to sell through affiliate networks, merchant Web sites and affiliate program directories.

Let's look at each of these methods separately.

Affiliate Networks

As online advertising gets more competitive and expensive, web merchants are increasingly promoting their products through affiliate networks.

An affiliate network company is one that acts as a third-party “honest broker” and functions as a middleman between merchants and affiliates. It’s a centralized service where merchants can list their products and the details of their affiliate programs, and affiliates can peruse the various programs available and then sign-up for the ones they choose. The affiliate network company looks after all of the sales tracking statistics, provision of marketing tools, and the issue of commission checks to affiliates.

For merchants, joining an affiliate network places thousands of eager affiliates right on their doorsteps. The marketing value and the simplicity of having another company administer their affiliate program is worth the (sometimes) hefty prices levied by the networks.

Joining an affiliate network as an affiliate is equally beneficial. Joining is free, and the whole process of finding and selecting programs is simplified through categorical search facilities. Because merchants pay top-dollar for a good network's management services, affiliate networks in general tend to offer higher-quality programs.

At most of the networks, you enter all your contact and payment details (name, address, phone number, etc.) just once. After being accepted into the network, you then apply to each merchant's program separately. In some instances, approval is immediate, and in others you may have to wait a day (or seven) for the merchant to get back to you.

Once accepted, marketing material for each merchant is readily available, and HMTL code for banners and text links is usually generated with a single mouse click. You simply cut and paste the code into your Web site pages. The banners are hosted on the affiliate network servers, which will save you bandwidth charges.
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As an affiliate member of a network, you will receive notification when new merchants join the network. Some networks will send only notices of merchants that are relevant to your site, which saves time when sorting through your email.

Some networks even let you know which merchant programs are low on funds and therefore may not be a good idea to promote at a given time.


Most, but not all networks consolidate your earnings from each of your affiliated merchants into a single monthly paycheck. That, along with being able to access your statistics in a centralized interface instead of visiting each merchant's site separately are perhaps the best aspects of joining a network.

Each affiliate network is set-up and operates differently. So in the section below I give you an overview of the application and payment processes, affiliate interface, marketing tools and more at the 'Net's top affiliate networks.

For each network I've included a list of the type of merchant offerings available. The codes are as follows:

• CPA (cost-per-action/lead generation) • CPC (cost-per-click) • CPS (cost per sale) • CPM (cost per impression)


I have concentrated on listing those networks that offer CPA, CPC and CPS. I have left the primarily CPM networks out of the equation because I don't personally promote such offers. CPM campaigns are usually low-paying sweepstakes or other 'freebie' types of offers that simply want to collect email addresses so that they can send out more promotional material, that you won't get paid for.

I highly recommend that you visit each and every one of the following affiliate networks.
Affiliate Fuel

Signup Restrictions - Site must receive 2000 unique visitors per day minimum, and only Canadian and U.S. are accepted. Consideration will be given to Western European and Australian sites with a 90% Canadian/U.S. audience. Your site must be a top-level '.com' domain. Programs - CPC, CPA Minimum Payout - $25 Payments - Officially, they pay NET 60 days. However, they say that in practice they've always paid out NET 35 days. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - 2-tier 5% commission, as well as a flat bounty of $2.00/referral.

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The one page signup process is fairly easy with all the standard questions. I'm always grateful to see that they want to know where to send my checks! ☺ It was nice to see that they include a 'comments' section with a 'How can we help you?' request.

It was a little disappointing however to finish the application process and receive a message telling me to expect a reply to my application within 3 to 10 days. Three days I can understand. As my first encounter with a company, if I had to wait ten days for my application to be approved, I'd be reluctant to do business with them. As it turned out, it took 4 full business days for my application to be approved, which is marginal. Delays during the application process don't build my trust in their ability to respond quickly to questions that I may have down the road.

On further examination however, in the 'Attendant' section I discover that 'Affiliate Fuel is available to help you with offer placement or any other issues M-F from 8AM-5PM PST' and that 'Affiliate Fuel replies to all questions promptly and efficiently'. That's excellent, but they could be losing good potential partners, as that information is not stated clearly front and center.

On a very positive note, Affiliate Fuel is the ONLY affiliate network that ever sent me a 'We Appreciate Your Business' card. Very nice touch, indeed!

Affiliate Fuel has a really attractive user interface, based on a “service station” theme. However, you have to get past the 'cutesy' navigation labels. Without the flyout explanations, terms such as 'Drive In', 'Fill Up', 'Under the Hood', 'Tune Up' or 'Checkout' can be confusing.

Affiliate Fuel is one of the few networks that posts whether an advertiser’s account is properly funded. In keeping with the fifties scheme service station scheme, this is depicted through graphic 'gauges'. The gauge displays the amount of money left in the account. If the account is more than 1/2 full, all advertising creatives (banners, etc.) are available and all affiliates can run an offer. If your account is low, you are limited to running the offer only through banners and not through emails or newsletters. If the account gauge displays as empty, the offer is being 'refueled' and isn't available until the advertiser has made a deposit to their account.

I really like their fair anti-spam policy. Too many companies have an 'ask no questions, fire the affiliate' approach to spam complaints. Affiliate Fuel on the other hand appears to have a more democratic approach, as follows:

"Should a spam complaint arise from a user against an affiliate, we require that the affiliate be able to furnish the date and IP address in which the user subscribed to their list. We also require that the user be removed from the affiliate's database prior to any further promotion of our offers."

At the time of writing, Affiliate Fuel had 71 merchant offers. DO take the time to visit the site despite the low number of offers. Based on information posted on the site, as well as testimonials, it looks like these guys are in the business for the long haul, and will become a much bigger player among the affiliate networks.




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A few of Affiliate Fuel's merchant client's include:

• Time Magazine • Entertainment Weekly • Fast Company • Barron's • Wall Street Journal • Reader’s Digest • National Enquirer • Columbia House • TV Guide


Affiliate Fuel http://affiliatefuel.com/

BeFree/Reporting.net
Programs - CPC, CPA, CPS Minimum Payout - Varies according to merchant. Payments - Payments are made by the individual merchants. Timeframes also vary. Real-time Tracking - No Multi-Tier - No Email Marketing Permitted – Depending on individual merchant specifications.

One of the BIG 3 affiliate networks, (i.e. BeFree, Linkshare and Commission Junction), BeFree's information page for new affiliates advises that BeFree merchants have paid out more than 220 million dollars in affiliate commission. My guess is that this comment was made quite some time ago, and that the amount is now substantially larger.

Their application process has two (2) tracks. You can either select a number of merchants whose programs you wish to join and then fill out the application form, or go straight to the one-page form. Either way, it's a fairly easy process.

There is one significant drawback to the BeFree program. While Commission Junction (CJ) will cut you a check as long as you generate $25 in total commissions across all the affiliate programs you've joined through their network, each BeFree merchant sets their own minimums and payout protocols. That means you need to read each and every affiliate agreement in detail to make sure that you think that their payment terms and conditions are acceptable before you join their program. For example, I joined a BeFree merchant program and later realized that the minimum payout was $300.

I've seen comments on the forums that indicate that BeFree is looking into the possibility of consolidating payments. IMHO, (in my humble opinion), as far as I am concerned, that can't happen soon enough.

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BeFree does have one nice search option that should be implemented on the other networks as well. It allows you to exclude specific merchants from the search if that merchant is dominating the results.

For example, a 'general' category advertiser might show up in all your searches. After seeing their listing two, three or four times, you don't need to be reminded that they are in fact a BeFree advertiser, so you can exclude them from future search results.

BeFree is one of the few affiliate networks that does not pay for affiliate or merchant referrals. While I appreciate that they get enough word-of-mouth advertising not to need to pay for affiliate referrals, I think they are losing out on not paying a commission for merchant referrals. Oh well, the next time you get asked about starting an affiliate program through a network, you can send the requestor to an affiliate network that will pay for your referral.

BeFree's homepage for the affiliate interface, called the Partner Gateway has a number of design and display problems. It is mis-aligned, forcing users to scroll a page width to the right to access the logon portion of the screen. There is also a section with black text on a purple background that is impossible to read. Within the interface itself, the left navigation covers text that rightfully belongs in the middle of the page. Considering BeFree's huge revenues, and the amount they save on not paying for referrals, they might want to pay a designer to fix those long-standing problems.

Other than those few issues, I quite like BeFree's overall interface, and find it easier than some others to use. It's particularly nice to have fast and easy one-click access to a full list of your own merchant partners. Some of the other networks put that list a click or two further away.

In September 2001, BeFree launched its Acclaim Program to reward those merchant programs that provide their affiliate partners with a truly exemplary experience. The Acclaim Program identifies programs that meet partner-friendly criteria such as monthly payment cycles and timely payment within each cycle. Acclaimed merchants are reviewed once each quarter.

Acclaim Program - Required Criteria: • Provide monthly payments to partners. • Send payments to partners within 35 days of the payment period end date. • Provide partners with 14 days advance notice of compensation changes. • Provide BeFree with timely and accurate transactions information. • Post an e-mail address for support inquiries on Reporting.net and respond to inquiries within five business days. • Be in good standing with BeFree. We can only hope that this sets an example for other networks and even independent merchants to eventually accept these guidelines as standard and fair industry practices.

BeFree also has a feature that they call 'FlexTrack'. It's is a feature that allows you to track sales and earnings to the sub-affiliate level, so that payments can be credited back to the endcustomer, designated charities, and other third parties.

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To benefit from FlexTrack, affiliates must either: qualify as 'master affiliates', be partners that have a large number of sub-affiliate partners, or work with charity sites and/or loyalty programs that offer points or cash-back rewards to customers.

The BeFree network is a MUST to join. Just take a look at the list of clients below. Forgive me, but I just had to include the FULL client list because the number of brand name merchants is so impressive. It includes:

• Accor Hotels - US • Adidas America • Advanta • AllergyBuyersClub.com • Ancestry.com Affiliate Program • Answer Financial • Aquarelle - FR • Ashford.com • AutoTitleGuard.com • BabyCenter, L.L.C. • BabyUniverse • barnesandnoble.com • Bass Pro Shops • BestBuy.com • BestRate.com • Bird Dog Associates • Blue Nile • Bluefly.com • BMG Direct • BoatersWorld • Booksonline.com • Boscov's Department Stores • Bowman International Sportsbook and Casino • Brookstone • Callwave • CameraWorld (A Ritz Interactive Company) • Cashcade - BarbaryOnline.com • Casino On Net • Checks Unlimited • Circuit City • CitiFinancial • CitiFinancial Canada • Codecasino.com • Collectibles Today • Commit/Nicorette/NicoDerm CQ • ComputerGeeks.com • ConsumerInfo.Com • Crane Paper Company • Cross.com
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• Crossings • Datapipe • DealTime • Dell Business • DellHost • Diamond.com • Dick's Sporting Goods • Discovery Channel Store • DVDPlanet • eBags • ebates.com • eBay • Eddie Bauer • eFastAdvance • eHealth PPS • eHealthinsurance.com • EMusic.com • Entertainment Publications, Inc. • Entertainment Weekly • Equifax Consumer Services • Expedia.com • Experian Automotive • Experian CreditExpert • ExpressGoldCard.com • ez2buy • Figleaves • Figleaves US • Finish Line, Inc. • Fleurop-Interflora • Fleurop-Interflora - DE • Fogdog Sports • FreeColorPrinters.com • gamestop.com • gap.com • Gateway • Giardinelli Music • GiftCertificates.com • GiveAnything.com Gift Certificates • GoodGuys.com • GoToMyPC • Government Liquidation • Hammacher Schlemmer • Hammocks.com/Backyard-Mall.com • Home Shopping Network • HomeBets.com • HomeGain • Homestead Technologies
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• Hotelguide.com AG • iDine • InkJetUSA • InkSell • John Wiley & Sons, Inc. • Joi Internet - Hawk Communications • Lastminute.com • Lensmart • Lids • Liquidation.com • LoanWeb.com / 4Insurance.com • LoveAccess.com • LuxRes.com • M&M's® Colorworks® • Maidenform • Matchmaker • MBCash.com • Micro Warehouse,Inc. • MobileShop • Monster • MortgageSelect.com • MotherNature.com • MoveDirect.net • Musician's Friend • MusicSpace.com • Nascar • Neckermann • NetFlix • NewWayRx.com - Medical Web Service • NoMonthlyFees.com • NothingButSoftware.com • oldnavy.com • One Step Ahead / Leaps and Bounds • OneTravel • Onlineshoes.com • Orvis UK • Pacific Poker • Pagoo • Payless ShoeSource • Personal Names • PETsMART.com • PhotoAlley • priceline.com • PrintPal • Proflowers.com • RadioShack • Rand McNally
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• Reflect.com • ReturnBuy • Ritz Camera • Rosetta Stone • SBC Communications • Scholastic At Home • Shari's Berries • Shoebuy.com • ShoeLine • ShopNBC • Silver Vision • SimpleTech Inc. • SmartBargains • SMARTpages.com • SOCCER.COM & LACROSSE.COM • Sony ImageStation • Sony Style Stores • Sporting News • SportingbetUSA.com • Sportsinteraction.com • Stamps.com • Staples.com • Superbook • T-Mobile • Tan Thru Suits by Lifestyles Direct • TechnoScout.com • Terra Lycos • The Tire Rack • TheHartford.com • TigerDirect.com • TimeLife - Germany • TimeLife.com • Totaljobs.com • Travelocity Canada • Travelocity.com • Travelselect.com - UK • TrueCredit.com & FreeCreditProfile.com • TXU Energy Services • United Online • uSubscribe.com • VANS, Inc. • Verandafleurs.com • Verizon/SuperPages.com • VerizonWireless.com • Vermont Country Store • VistaPrint.com • Warrantybynet
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• WearGuard • Wolf Camera • WorldCom Conferencing • WorldofWatches.com • Yankee Candle

BeFree http://reporting.net

Casino Coins Network
Programs - CPS Minimum Payout - $200. Payments - Checks are mailed around the 10th of each month. Real-time Tracking - Clicks and Game downloads are updated approximately once every two seconds, while your balance is updated approximately once daily. Multi-Tier - Yes. You get paid a 5% commission bonus for the “Real Players” that your webmaster referrals bring in to the casinos. "Real Players" are those who make real-money purchases at the casino. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

Applications to Casino Coins are generally reviewed and approved within 24 hours.

Commission structures are the same across the board for each of the sponsored casinos, so I can report them here. When you generate Real Players, you can earn up to 35% commission. For every five (5) additional Real Players you bring in, you will receive $25. Casino Coins reports that webmaster earnings range anywhere from $100 to $12,000 per month, and on average, they make approximately $1,000 per month.

Their interface is functional and easy to use. The marketing materials include banners, ad copy, pop ups, exit windows, HTML promo, promo calendars, scrollers, progressive tickers, splash pages and affiliate banners.

A word of caution about promoting online casinos and Internet gambling. If your client wins the jackpot, your account will show a negative balance until you've generated enough revenue from other players to bring yourself back out of the hole. Don't worry, you won't have to pay anything, but it is a possibility you should consider. Note: 'Casino Rewards' casino network 'zero balances' affiliate accounts that are in the hole at the end of every month.

Casino Coins' sponsor casinos include:

• English Harbour Casino • Caribbean Gold Casino • Silver Dollar Casino • SuperSlots Casino • Millionaire Casino • All Poker Casino
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• Aposte Casino • Casino Bleu Blanc Rouge • Gambling Inc.

Casino Coins http://casinocoins.com

Casino Rewards
Programs - Primarily CPA, CPC, CPS Minimum Payout - $200. Payments - Check or wire, sent by the 7th of each month. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Yes, 5% of the paycheck of every webmaster you refer. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

The Casino Rewards program has a quick signup process, with few restrictions other than that you agree not to spam. They claim that their top-earning affiliates are raking in over $50,000 per month!

The interface is clean and easy to use, and they offer a plethora of marketing materials including games and raffles that you can place on your site for your visitors' enjoyment.

One thing that Casino Rewards does differently from other casino affiliate programs is that all negative balances are zeroed out each month, plus a negative balance in one casino will not take away from the positive balance in another. This is a HUGE benefit to the affiliate who would otherwise need to generate enough new business to crawl their way out of the hole if one of their referred visitors won big money.

Casino Rewards partners include:

• BlackJack Ballroom • Strike It Lucky • Golden Tiger Casino • Virtual City Casino • Zodiac Lucky • Golden Tiger Poker • Virtual City Poker

Casino Rewards http://affiliate.casinorewards.com/




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ClickBank
Programs - Primarily CPS Minimum Payout - $10, adjustable upwards. A $2.50 accounting fee is deducted from each check issued, so you may want to adjust your minimum payment upwards if your two-week earnings are low. Payments - Checks are mailed within 15 days after the end of each pay period, and pay periods end at 12:00:01am on the 1st and 16th of each month. Checks over $5,000 are sent at Clickbank's expense by US Priority Mail (US) or Global Priority Mail (Europe, Canada, Australia, etc) wherever possible. Payment is by check only. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Yes Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

ClickBank distributes over 10,000 digital products and services through a network of over 100,000 affiliates. I use Clickbank's services both as an affiliate and as a merchant, and I can attest to the fact that the checks arrive like clockwork.

Their one-page application process is the shortest I've seen yet and the only restriction of note was the one against spam.

The Clickbank Marketplace lists all of their merchants' products ranked in order of product popularity. There is no waiting for acceptance from individual merchants. Simply browse the marketplace, get and post your link, and start making money.

Creating links is super-easy. Simply click on the commission percentage link located next to the product's title, up pops a little window into which you enter your Clickbank ID and your link is automatically generated. Their links are super short and therefore easy to promote within email campaigns.

ClickBank withholds back 10% from each check to cover their risk of future returns. The holdbacks are credited back to your account after about 90 days.

Any account with a positive balance that remains dormant for 90 days will be assessed a charge of $1 per pay period, and if the account remains dormant for 365 days, the charge is raised to $10.

ClickBank's clients and products include:

• Spyware Detection & Removal Software • Yanik Silver and Jeff Ball's 'Get Fit While You Sit' • The Negative Calorie Diet™ • Smart Page Generator • Learn How Buy Real Estate with No Credit • How to Write Your Own eBook in 7 Days • Double the Speed of Your PC • Auction Sources Exposed • Turn Words into Traffic • $1.10 Printer Cartridge Wholesale Guide
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Discover what Clickbank has to offer both merchants and affiliates through the links below.

ClickBank SignUp http://clickbank.com ClickBank MarketPlace http://clickbank.com/marketplace/


ClickxChange
Programs - CPA, CPC, CPM, CPS Minimum Payout - Payments less than $50 are subject to a $2 handling fee. Payments - Assessed on the 15th of the month, checks are mailed 14 days later. Payments can also be made by PayPal. Wire transfers are not currently available. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Earn 50% access fee for advertiser referrals and 5% earnings on affiliate referrals for life! Plus as an added bonus, ClickXChange will pay you an additional $5. for every affiliate that you refer that earns at least $5. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

ClickxChange's interface is very similar to Commission Junction's interface, making it easy and a pleasure to use. (see Commission Junction below).

ClickxChange also publishes the number of affiliates in each program. However, before you reject a program based on its low affiliate numbers, be sure to check how long the program has been online. It might be brand new and quite good. You don't want to walk away from a good potential revenue stream.

There are 227 advertisers listed in the ClickxChange directory.

Among the more popular merchants are:

• eFax.com • GotoMyPC.com • x10.com

ClickxChange http://clickxchange.com




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clixGalore
Programs - CPA, CPC, CPS Minimum Payout - $50US, AUD$100, UK£35 or €60 Payments - Monthly by check. Real-time Tracking - Multi-Tier - Yes Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

clixGalore has over 1400 merchants and tens of thousands of affiliates across its three networks in the USA, UK and Australia.

I can't say that I'm thrilled with the clixGalore interface. When doing a search by category for merchants, the results come up in search engine format with 5 'featured' merchant banners at the top of each page. It's seems obvious that these merchants have paid for advertising within the network. The listings below those featured are one to three-line descriptions of the program and product, with the commission amount offer and a link to join the program.

The only search function that produced good comparative results was from a link on the homepage labeled 'Search Top Performing Programs'. That returned a table with columns listing product titles, commission rates, numbers of banners, and approved, pending and declined application requests. Each row includes a join link.

Some notable clixGalore clients are:

• Big Fish Games • Foot.com • NeoSearch.com

clixGalore http://clixgalore.com

Commission Junction
Programs - CPA, CPC, CPS Minimum Payout - $25/up to $75 Payments - Payments are made on the 20th of the month to Canadian and American publishers (i.e. CJ’s name for affiliates), and on the last day of the month to publishers outside those countries. Advertiser payments are available in 16 different currencies and are consolidated into one monthly check. Direct bank deposits are available. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Yes, with restrictions. They allow only U.S. and U.K. publishers to earn commissions from introducing new publishers to their service. What's up with THAT? I've contacted them regarding this seeming discriminatory practice, however I've received no acceptable (IMHO) explanation for the policy. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

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When you first arrive at CJ it will be confusing if you don’t remember that the CJ term for affiliates is 'publishers'.

Their application is one page long and very straightforward. There are no signup restrictions other than the usual non-acceptance of sites that contain or link to sites that are libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, violent, bigoted, hate-oriented, illegal, cracking, hacking or warez, or offers any illegal goods or services. Turnaround time on the application is very quick.

Here are 12 reasons why Commission Junction is my favorite affiliate network…despite the fact that they discriminate against Canadians in their referral program.


1. Commission Junction claims that 64% of top 50 Web properties are CJ clients. I believe this. While CJ wasn't the first affiliate network, it certainly took the lead to become the best in terms of both quality and quantity.

Thousands of BIG name-brand companies use Commission Junction to administer their affiliate programs. Dell, eBay and Sprinks are just 3 of hundreds of brand name merchants affiliated with Commission Junction. Buying online still presents a problem for many folks, but if they can buy from a brand name company that they trust, they’re much more likely to part with their money.

2. The CJ interface is intuitive and easy-on-the-eyes. Unlike some other affiliate network interfaces, CJ's designers did a great job of making the interface easy to navigate and free of eyestrain.

3. Finding programs at CJ is much easier and faster. In most cases you do a simple search for an advertiser, link, or product, by entering a keyword into a search blank. All relevant merchants are then returned. At too many of the smaller networks, merchants are allowed to place themselves in irrelevant categories which makes finding appropriate advertisers that much more difficult.

4. Selecting PROVEN programs is easy at CJ.

Statistics showing how well each merchant converts site visitors into sales are given for a 3month period. You can also see the average commissions paid to affiliates for every 100 clicks for the previous seven days. Using CJ’s ‘dollar sign’ rating system, you can see the volume of commissions paid by a particular advertiser, relative to the rest of CJ’s network.

The dollar sign rankings are as follows:

• $$$$$=95th percentile and above • $$$$=80-94th percentile • $$$=60-79th percentile • $$=40-59th percentile • $=39th percentile and below • Blank=No commissions earned

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5. At CJ, you never have to search for commission rates. Commission percentage or dollar value per sale/lead, are prominently displayed alongside each Advertiser’s listing.

6. More information is always available at CJ. Clicking on the Advertiser’s name takes you to a page giving a written description of the company, their product and the affiliate program. Below the description is a ‘more information’ link, and below that, a contact link.

7. CJ and its merchants won't spam you with thousands of offers daily. You can choose not to receive email from merchants whose programs you have joined. That email is then delivered to your mailbox on CJ’s system.

8. Contacting CJ merchants is super easy. Within the CJ mail system there is a drop-down box listing all the companies you are currently affiliated with. Simply choose the appropriate one, write your message in the accompanying box and send it. Certainly beats fishing through your own email program and trying to dig up an address that will actually get to the affiliate program manager.

9. Getting linking codes and graphics at CJ is SO easy! Simply click the ‘get links’ link, choose from the wide assortment of text and graphic links returned, and then copy and paste the code that pops up. No saving images to your computer. All the graphics are stored on, and called from, Commission Junction’s servers. I like saving bandwidth!

You can also create your own ‘SmartZones’, which are collections of rotating links that may contain links from the same, or many different advertisers. Each link within the SmartZone is assigned a "weight" that determines how often it will display in relation to the other links within the SmartZone. You get one small snippet of javascipt to place on your page, and then when you want to add or remove banners, you do so through the CJ interface. Nice and easy!

10. Excellent capability for researching your statistics at CJ. You can access more than 100 customizable reports with real-time data through the CJ Account Manager. Publishers can generate reports on their individual links, transactions, and their individual merchants, or "advertiser partners".

11. Ask for help at CJ and you shall receive it. The help system can be searched by index, glossary, contents, or a simple search. If you still can’t find the answer you are looking for, simply send the CJ rep an email. My experience is that they always respond within the same day.

12. CJ commissions are consolidated into one payment. That makes filling out your deposit slips much faster! If you don't want to bother with deposit slips, direct deposit is an available option.

If you join no other affiliate networks, be sure to join Commission Junction. Their client list is equally, if not more, impressive than BeFree's list.






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A few of Commission Junction's merchant clients include:

• Coffee Cup Software • eBay • Etronics • Frederick's of Hollywood • NetZero Platinum • Overture • Yahoo! Personals


Commission Junction http://cj.com

Commission Soup
Programs - CPA, CPS Minimum Payout - $35 Payments - Monthly consolidated check. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Yes Email Marketing Permitted - Yes, with restrictions.

Commission Soup and Credit Soup are part of the same affiliate network that specializes in offering financial related products.

One of the beefs I have with some stand-alone programs, as well as with some affiliate networks, is their requirement that affiliates be U.S. citizens or operate sites that promote products only to other U.S. citizens. I've always wondered why it matters where a site is based if I can direct U.S. citizens to their site.

Fortunately, companies like Commission Soup understand that Internet marketing is a worldwide activity. Commission Soup is a network that sells credit card offers exclusively to U.S. citizens, but it doesn't discriminate against non-US webmasters who want to promote its products as affiliates as do some other networks. In fact, Commission Soup accepts affiliates from all over the world, with the stipulation that, "All of our programs (U.S. credit card offers) are only available to U.S. citizens, so you will need to have a site that markets to the U.S." Hurray! A site where sanity prevails.

Commission Soup has very strict guidelines when it comes to email marketing. So strict in fact, I wouldn't bother going the email route with them unless I had a lot of time to spare.

Here's the blurb from their site:



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Guidelines for Approved Opt-In Email Lists Prior to starting any type of email, enewsletter, etc. campaign, you MUST email us at customerservice@Commissionsoup.com with the dates of the drop. Include the number being sent and type of campaign with an attachment of what is being sent (approved text only).

Making contact when necessary is quick and easy with their 1-800 number.

Signup restrictions are minimal, including the rights not to accept sites that are international marketing sites, poorly designed, poor quality sites, adult sites that promote pornography or sexual material of a lewd, lecherous or obscene in nature or intent.

High profile clients include:

• Advanta • Chase • Discover • HouseHold Bank • Orchard Bank

Commission Soup http://commissionsoup.com


Dark Blue Affiliate Network
Programs - CPA, CPS Minimum Payout - $30 Payments - Funds are deposited into the Affiliate's PayPal Account within fourteen (14) days after the end of each calendar month for all commissions earned during the prior month. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - No Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

Dark Blue's application is an easy step-by-step guided process. You are first asked for your email address, and by the time you've finished entering your details, your Dark Blue program key will have arrived in your email. Simply enter the key and get to work promoting their merchants' offers!

The approval process may be automatic, but Dark Blue still has its standards. Your website must not contain or link to material or content that is adult in nature, obscene, hateful or offensive on racial, ethnic, sexual or any other grounds; or is defamatory, libelous, or invades another person's privacy or proprietary rights or is otherwise illegal.

They've also stipulated that you must not place any statements on or near the Dark Blue advertising banners requesting or insisting that visitors to your website "click" on the banner. Phrases that are banned include, "Click here to visit our sponsor", "Please support our sponsor", "To visit our sponsor, click here", and "Please visit our Advertiser".
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Dark Blue has a very attractive and relatively easy to use interface. I'm not totally thrilled with their system for locating advertisers, however. The category navigation that first pops up after clicking on 'Get Advertisement' appears to be ordered according to market popularity. Although travel and health & fitness products may be the most sought after on the Net, I find it much easier to find what I'm looking for in an alphabetical arrangement.

They are also very secretive with their contact information for some reason. I had to scroll halfway down the Help page to find an email address. Granted, their contact information is all spelled out in the welcome email. However why would I want to go back to my email program when I'm already on the site with a question?

After I did find their email address, I dropped them one and was impressed with the very quick response. Basically, I sent the email, went upstairs to make a coffee and by the time I got back to my desk I had my reply.

A sampling of Dark Blue's merchant clients:

• Date.com • ePersonals.com • MagMall.com • Roar.com

Dark Blue Affiliate Network http://darkblue.com


FineClicks.com
Programs - CPA, CPC, CPS, Hybrid Minimum Payout - Payments - FineClicks.com pays on the 20th of each month for the previous month's revenue. Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Receive $5 for each new affiliate referral plus 5% of their earnings for life. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

FineClicks.com is a division of Shareasale.com, Inc., an affiliate network detailed later in this chapter.

Their application form is short, and approval is automatic upon replying to the confirmation email they send.

The interface is FAST and very easy to use. I especially like the 'Revenue Bar' at the top of the page, that give current stats for Own Revenue, Referral Revenue, Carry Over, YTD, and Referral Clicks. Commission Junction has something similar, that is actually more descriptive, but being on the right side of the page, seems slightly less apparent.

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When searching for new offers, one column in the results is called "Funding" and appears as colored bar with variations of blue, red and white. The graduations indicate whether an offer is well funded, or is about to be suspended, and everything in between.

The interface shows average earnings per click and conversion rates, and can be sorted by any of the columns from highest to lowest, or vise versa. All of these features make it much easier to choose the right offer for your site's audience.

Clicking on an offer's link from within the search results opens a new window where you can view more detail about the product and company, and apply to join the program.

I particularly like how easy it is to use their email system. In some affiliate network interfaces, you have to turn off email notifications for each individual merchant that you have an alliance with. With FineClicks.com, 3 clicks and you're done!

All in all, FineClick’s interface is very similar in functionality to that of Commission Junction.

The only real drawback I've seen at FineClicks is their relatively small number of offers and brand name merchants. That will hopefully change in time. At the time of writing, I counted 117 merchant offers.

FineClick's clients include:

• MyFreePhoneCards.com • TopFreebies.com

FineClicks Affiliate SignUp http://fineclicks.com

FineClicks Merchant SignUp http://fineclicks.com


LeadHound
Programs - CPC, CPA, CPS Minimum Payout - $50. Payments - Commission payments are paid in US Dollars, Euro, Japanese Yen, or UK Pounds via PayPal on the 15th of each month for the previous month’s revenue. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Earn a 5% monthly bonus for all new affiliates and merchants you bring to Leadhound.

LeadHound's three-part signup process isn't too painful, although the programmers forgot that Canada has provinces, so Canadians like me are forced to include their province in the 'City' entry box. I consider this to be poor forms design and/or lousy knowledge of geography, at best.
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LeadHound's interface is attractive but not very intuitive. Once logged into the affiliate members area, the main navigation is on the right side of the page. Those links are black and not underlined. After clicking the 'Campaigns' link, you arrive at a page of instructions on how to navigate and use the section. Unfortunately, the titles underlined in black, in this section aren't links. To navigate the section, you have to use the tiny white links on the left side of the page. This could use a redesign.

Because the navigation is split, part of the right side of the page disappears when you open a page consisting of merchant banners. The 468 x 60 banners are wide enough to push the rightside navigation off the page on a 1024 x 768-display size. I can't imagine having to navigate this site from a 600-wide display. It wouldn't be fun.

A feature I do like is that the Campaigns page list includes the average revenue per click for each product listed. Having that information makes it much easier to know how much you can spend on a pay-per-click advertising campaign for a particular product.

Checking statistics at LeadHound is simple and available in real-time. The display is nice and easy to use, and all the functions are self-explanatory.

At the time of writing, LeadHound has 65 merchants with 102 campaign offerings.

LeadHound merchants include:

• BrainFox Media Services • DogFriendly.com, Inc. • goClick.com • Python Media • Webspotting.co.uk • Xuppa.com • Zing Wireless, Inc.

LeadHound Affiliate Signup http://leadhound.com

LeadHound Merchant SignUp http://leadhound.com
Linkshare
Programs - CPA, CPC, CPS Minimum Payout - Variable Payments - Variable Real-time Tracking - Yes Multi-Tier - Yes Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

LinkShare reports over 10 million partnerships in the network and claims to be the most successful pay for performance (affiliate) network of its kind.
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I find their user interface quite intuitive and easy to use. I especially like the 'Create Links' link that takes you immediately to a list of all your current merchant partners in the Linkshare network. This is a step up from Commission Junction's interface where it takes a couple of more clicks to get to the same place.

Within the "Your Account", "Program Controls" section, it's really simple to get all the information you need about an individual merchant and their program, including contact and commission information. It also allows you to quickly see if any of your joined programs have been put on hold or discontinued.

Linkshare's affiliate links are really long and ugly. Here's the link for their referral program.

http://click.linksynergy.com/fsbin/stat?id=PvjioY3I0VU&offerid=7097.10000024&type=1&subid=0

Compare that with the one I have for Commission Junction's affiliate referral program.

http://www.qksrv.net/click-211898-7282777

Short links are much better for use in email campaigns. If a link is too long, it 'breaks' and goes nowhere when your subscriber clicks on the first part of the link. Linkshare's long links almost demand that you utilize link redirects. For this, you could use the Affiliate Link Cloaker software and get shorter links, as well as some protection from commission theft.

Like BeFree, each of Linkshare's merchants has their own minimum payout, payment timeframe, and method of delivery. I hope they plan to change to a consolidated payment plan sometime in the near future. Right now, LinkShare is responsible for mailing your commission payment for only some of the merchants. In other cases, the merchant is responsible for mailing your commission payment.

Similar to BeFree's Acclaim Program, Linkshare established their Premium Partner Program to spotlight merchants that satisfy specific criteria. A Premium Partner is a merchant program that:

• Uses LinkShare's check-cutting service. • Pays affiliates on a monthly basis. • Pays affiliates based on a maximum $25 threshold. • Promptly authorizes affiliate payments so affiliates are paid at the end of the following month. • Allows seven or more return days (does not apply to merchants with pay per click programs). • Has supplied valid and complete contact information in their profile. • Is active and in good standing. • Makes timely payment to its affiliates

Linkshare's statistics reporting is quite nice to use, and the different types of reports that can be generated are impressive.

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Linkshare's clients include:

• Coldwater Creek • Delta Airlines • FTD.com • Hallmark • Hickory Farms • Overstock.com • PitneyBowes • REI • Sharper Image


Linkshare http://linkshare.com


Quinstreet
Programs - CPA, CPS Minimum Payout - $5 Payments - We pay commissions monthly, 30 days after the end of the month. Real-time Tracking - Almost (2 hour delay) Multi-Tier - Yes Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

Quinstreet gets points from me for their lovely design.

The signup form is really short - it doesn't even ask for your address. But don't worry, you get a chance to tell them where to send the check after you've set up your username.

Based on my experience with Quinstreet's system, it would seem that all merchants are set up to automatically approve applications.

It's easy to get information about each merchant's commission structure. You just click the link and the full list of merchants appears. When their list of merchants increases considerably, they'll have to rethink that approach. Although Quinstreet has very few clients, they do have some that are noteworthy. Among them are:

• ADT Security • Red Cross • Save the Children Fund • University of Phoenix

Quinstreet http://members.quinstreet.com

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ReferBack
Programs - CPA, CPS Minimum Payout - $20 for check payments, and $50 for ACH (electronic funds transfer). Payments - Payments are made by check, Infinia and ACH. Real-time Tracking - Visits and downloads are made in real-time. All other aspects are updated every three hours. Multi-Tier - Yes. Earn 2% of your referral's profits. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

ReferBack is an affiliate network for online casinos. Signup is quick and easy.

Their signup does not allow adult or adult-oriented sites. Spam techniques will get you ousted quickly.

I honestly don't think that I've seen another network that goes as far as ReferBack does to help its affiliates succeed. The interface is very easy to use, and marketing tools include an impressive array of banners, rotating banners, Flash banners, progressive tickers, HTML emails, text emails, active scrollers, popup windows, text links, newsletters and site reviews.

In the Resource Center, affiliates at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels can all benefit from instruction in site building and promotion. Free resources include casino/gamblingrelated graphics and web site templates.

Contact is made easy with 800 numbers listed for the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Referback's casino clients include:

• Aces High • Capital • Gaming Club • Home • Jackpot City • Lucky Nugget • RiverBelle • Showdown

ReferBack http://referback.com
ShareaSale
Programs - CPA, CPC, CPS Minimum Payout - $50 Payments - One consolidated monthly check. ShareaSale issues payments via check and PayPal on the 20th of each month for those affiliates who reach the $50 minimum before then end of the previous month. Real-time Tracking - Yes
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Multi-Tier - $1 per signup as an affiliate, and 5% of their future earnings. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

There were no real restrictions in the application process, other than having a valid web site address, and valid email address. They also suggest that affiliates could differentiate themselves by having a top-level-domain name.

It took only a day to have my application approved, and once into the interface, I was informed that my membership level was 'limited', and that I could only apply to pay-per-lead and pay-persale program until I'd generated at least one pay-per-sale transaction or $20 worth of valid CPA transactions. I guess that helps them weed out the very impatient spammers.

Honestly, I find ShareaSale's interface very hard to look at. Yellow links on a white background tend to give me eyestrain followed by headaches. It's definitely not an interface to be mulled over for long periods of time.

The simple search for merchants is a little slow and clunky. Clicking on a category name like 'Business' returns fifteen merchants per page. Some merchants' descriptions are more than onescreen high and that makes for an incredibly long page with lots of big graphics. The paragraph description below each company's logo is way too small and impossible to read. I don't believe surfers should have to change the font size displayed in their browser window to suit designers. It should be the other way round. Consequently, I scroll the page looking only at logos. I'm probably not alone in this method of searching, so merchants choosing to use ShareaSale should make sure that their logos are VERY eye-catching.

Generating banners and text links produces a similarly unwieldy page.

ShareaSale had 545 merchant offerings at the time of writing.

Some Notable clients are:

• Avitan Technologies Corp. • Bonsai Boy of New York

ShareaSale.com http://shareasale.com

WebSponsors
Programs - Primarily CPA Minimum Payout - $15 Payments - Monthly electronic transfer payments (ACH) to your bank account on a Net 30 days payment basis. Real-time Tracking – No. 24-hour delay Multi-Tier - You will earn 10% of whatever revenue the referred site makes each and every month. Email Marketing Permitted - Yes

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Websponsors' application process is short, sweet and pretty much automatic. You simply click the link in the email they send you to confirm your request to join their advertising Network. They have the usual caveat about having read and agreed to their rules as a condition of acceptance, but they go one better and require confirmation that your site has a Privacy Policy in place.

Everything about WebSponsors' interface is easy to use. Their 'Creative Rotation Manager' allows you to add rotating banners to your site that are specific to profiles that you create. This helps with your ad tracking. While other networks offer the same feature, WebSponsors interface is just quicker and easier to use. One very cool feature that WebSponsors offers is their 'co-branding' tool. It allows you to build a subdomain of their Free2Try.com and TrialOffers.com. The tool provides an interface with which you can add a logo and header to your subdomain, as well as choose colors for the text, links and background. Just for fun, I tried out the interface and added my header from finditat.rosalinds.com to co-brand both subdomains. Here are the results:


http://webvista.trialoffers.com/ http://webvista.free2try.com/


Although those aren't the types of sites that I would typically promote, they do give me very quick access to my link codes. As you can see when you cursor over any of the links on either of those sites, my affiliate ID has been embedded into each of the links.

If I want to promote any one of those offers separately on another site, it's really easy for me to right-click on the link I want and add it to the new page that I'm creating. The only downside to using those links is that the subdomains are dynamically generated and the links are changing all the time. If you hard-code a link into another page, you could find out later that the offer has expired and that you've been sending your visitors to a broken link. And that's never good.

The Websponsor folks care enough about their affiliate partners to have built a nice little webmaster resource section that includes a Web site submission engine, scripting tools and webmaster tips.

Here is a sample of some of WebSponsors' past and present clients.

• TV Guide • The New York Times • Time • Sports Illustrated • People • Time • Money • Fortune • eCompany • Entertainment Weekly • Wall Street Journal
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• USA Today • MTV • Sony • Seventeen • Rolling Stone • Forbes Magazine WebSponsors http://websponsors.com


Affiliate Networks - Quick List

To conclude this section, here’s a quick click list of links to each of the services covered.


Affiliate Fuel http://affiliatefuel.com/

BeFree http://reporting.net

Casino Coins http://casinocoins.com

Casino Rewards http://affiliate.casinorewards.com/

ClickBank http://clickbank.com

ClickxChange http://clickxchange.com

clixGalore http://clixgalore.com

Commission Junction http://cj.com

Commission Soup http://commissionsoup.com



DarkBlue http://darkblue.com

FineClicks http://fineclicks.com

LeadHound http://leadhound.com

Linkshare http://linkshare.com Quinstreet http://members.quinstreet.com

ReferBack http://referback.com

ShareaSale.com http://shareasale.com

WebSponsors http://websponsors.com

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How To Search the 'Net for Merchant Sites

Can't find a merchant that sells Barbie doll supplies and accessories through an affiliate program? Looked at the affiliate networks and directories and still no luck?

Here's a search technique that will help you locate exactly what you are looking for.

In this case, go to Google and type "+Barbie +doll +affiliate" into the search box. Don't include the quotes, but do include the plus signs. The plus signs ensure that each word entered appears on the pages returned in the search results.

However, the pages returned aren't guaranteed to have a Barbie doll accessories affiliate program. Some of the sites may be affiliates themselves, but looking around their site should give you clues as to the identity of the merchant.

Other sites that are returned by your search will in fact be merchant sites.

While reviewing individual sites and pages, look for links on the site that say, "Webmasters", "Make Money", "Affiliate (or Associate) Program", "Partners", "Earn $" and other phrases that indicate that the company has an affiliate program.

Affiliate Program Directories
Affiliate Program Directories are Web sites that contain lists of links to affiliate programs that have been compiled and organized by various webmasters. They usually categorize the listed programs by type of products sold (e.g. educational, business, etc.) and include brief summaries of each program with sufficient information to allow directory users to choose which programs they would like to join. Some also provide program ratings as supplied by program users.

Affiliate program directories are best used to find merchants that have stand-alone or 'in house' programs which are therefore not associated with the big affiliate networks.

However, when searching through the directories, you'll discover that many of the merchants listed ARE also affiliated with networks. It therefore saves time to research the networks first, because in all likelihood, you'll be redirected back to them anyway to sign up for many of the programs.

Although there are hundreds of affiliate program directories, here are the two most worth visiting:
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AssociatePrograms.com Approaching 6,000 program listings, AssociatePrograms.com offers the most comprehensive list of affiliate programs anywhere on the Net. The site is easy to use, and listings appear alphabetically in the search results, making it easier to locate programs again later. Listings are kept brief, with only salient points like commission structure and product descriptions. If you have first-hand experience with any of the programs listed, you are invited to share your 2-cents worth and rate the program. The site's owner, Allan Gardyne, writes excellent articles about making the most from referral programs. I highly recommend that you browse his directory and sign up for his newsletter. Allan also owns the affiliate program directory, LifetimeCommissions.com, that lists only affiliate programs offering - you guessed it - lifetime commissions.

AssociatePrograms.com http://www.associateprograms.com/search/index.shtml

Refer-it.com A division of Internet.com, I really like the associate program rating structure and criteria offered by Refer-it.com. The listings are perhaps a little more detailed than at AssociatePrograms.com and include the launch date and number of affiliates. Take the latter number with a huge grain of salt however, as the chances that those numbers get updated at all is akin to a snowball's in Jamaica.

Refer-it.com http://refer-it.com


For a more comprehensive list of affiliate program directories, go to:

http://www.partnerindustry.com/adirectories.htm

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"Ready-Made" Affiliate Marketing Business

Here are two emails that I received just recently...


Dear Rosalind:

Is there any affiliate work you can start without having a web site and just a url, or do you need a web page first? (I received some advice that you could be an affiliate without an actual web page)

Thank you, Vaughn Kauffman


Hello, I enjoy your newsletters and your very helpful website. I am dead set on making it in Internet business but I don't know any HTML code. Is that necessary for setting up an affiliate program?

I appreciate your help!

Best Regards, Steve Neville



Well, like Vaughn and Steve, I'm always on the lookout for new income streams that can generate profits without a lot of work.

Unfortunately, most of the 'ready-made' business sites that I've come across to date haven't impressed me as being particularly user- or visitor-friendly. Most are also much too expensive for what was being offered.

There is one 'pre-fab' affiliate marketing business that I CAN recommend however, and that business is CBMall.

Most programs have only one way you make money. You send them traffic, and they close the sale (hopefully). The best of them will add another stream with some follow-up emails which is much better.

But CBmall actually has 15 different ways to make you money and CBmall does virtually all the work. All you need to do is drive traffic to your URL.

The 'CB' in CBmall stands for ClickBank, and I love Clickbank! It sells nothing but digitally downloadable information products, which are the hottest selling products on the 'Net!
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CBmall offers thousands of the top-selling, most popular products from the ClickBank network. These are the best of the best, and they got there because they convert browsers into buyers.

Clickbank's own Marketplace is quite difficult to sift through if you are looking for good products to sell. The beauty and brilliance of CBMall therfefore, is that CBMAll makes all the best of Clickbank's products easy accesible in one place.


Here are some examples CBmall's ease-of-use, automation and support:

* You don't need a web site * No HTML required * Plenty of marketing ideas and bonuses * Built-in affiliate program * ClickBank handles all the credit card processing * Jeff Mulligan offers TONS of fast and friendly support * Newsletters and eCourses that make YOU money * Automated income streams all over the place


To learn more CBMall, sign up for Jeff's free eCourse called: 15 Powerful Ways CBmall Makes You Money. The course details the power and sophistication behind CBmall. Understand this, and you'll see why CBmall represents a new trend in affiliate programs.


You'll also see some major names in Internet Marketing on the testimonial page at CBmall. Terry Dean called CBmall, "the perfect second stream of income", which is pretty high praise.


As a FIRST stream of Internet income, CBMall could help you make some cash while you learn all about the affiliate marketing business.


http://www.CBmall.com/


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Great Product - No Program - Now What?

I am amazed by the number of Internet merchants who haven't yet heard about, or taken advantage of affiliate programs to market their products.

If you find a great product that doesn’t appear to be supported by an affiliate program, it's time to put your knowledge of affiliate marketing to work.

Either email or phone the merchant, tell them how much you love their product and ask if they have an affiliate program. If they say that they don't, or don't know what affiliate programs are, you'll have to explain the concept and process to them.



Here are some sample emails. Feel free to adjust the wording to your needs.


Dear Merchant Name,

I just visited http://thewinestore.com and am completely impressed with The Wine Store's embroidered wine bags. I would love the opportunity to sell them at my wine supply site, The Wine Supply, at http://thewinesupply.com.

I wasn't able to locate affiliate program information at The Wine Store. Is there one in place?

If not, would you be interested in an affiliate partnership with The Wine Supply? Our site receives 5,000 unique visitors a day; all of them interested in wine-related goods. I know they'd also love The Wine Store's exquisite wine bags.

If you are interested, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how to start an affiliate program for The Wine Store. I have personal experience in with affiliate programs and can probably help save you some time and money in the set-up.

Thanks kindly for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Rosalind ********************************************

Rosalind Gardner The Wine Supply http://thewinesupply.com


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Provided that the good people at The Wine Store don't have an affiliate program, and reply to you that they ARE in fact interested in an affiliate partnership, you might consider sending them another email similar to the one below.


Dear Merchant Name,

I am SO pleased that you're interested in an affiliate alliance with The Wine Supply to promote The Wine Store's products. I know you'll be thrilled with how affiliate marketing will increase your sales.

There are primarily 3 different ways to set up an affiliate program for your site.

1) Join an affiliate network that handles almost all of the work associated with the program, including processing orders and affiliate payments.

2) Sign up with a shopping cart service that includes affiliate-tracking software.

3) Buy and install affiliate program software on your own server.

Each method has its benefits and disadvantages. The affiliate network option is perhaps the most costly, but the least work. Signing up with a large affiliate network will also put The Wine Store in front of thousands of affiliates, eager to sell your product.

The second option is less expensive, and slightly more work in that you'll need to advertise the program to gain more affiliates.

The third option is the least expensive with a one-time purchase of software, but the most time-consuming to administer in terms of keeping track of affiliate sales and payment handling.

I recommend that you take a look at the following options to compare service and prices.

Commission Junction Affiliate Network http://cj.com

1ShoppingCart http://1shoppingcart.com

My Affiliate Program http://MyAffiliateProgram.com

If after reviewing those sites you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

I look forward to doing business with you!

Sincerely,

Rosalind ********************************************
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Rosalind Gardner The Wine Supply http://thewinesupply.com


You would of course enter your own affiliate ID codes into the links for whatever sites you decide to recommend.

Note that I've used 'cloaking links' because this was to be sent as an email. The affiliate links given by 1ShoppingCart and MyAffiliateProgram are so long that they may be broken by the time they get to the recipient.

For example, my 1ShoppingCart affiliate link is:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/default.asp?pr=1&id=40906

Some email programs would break that up and it would arrive looking like:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/def ault.asp?pr=1&id=40906

The recipient clicks on the first part of the link and gets nothing but a 'Page Cannot be Found' error, which diminishes their trust in you immediately. It also loses the sale for you. So invest in link cloaking software to shorten up those long affiliate links. It'll also help protect your commissions. I use, and personally recommend, Affiliate Link Cloaker.

Here’s what that same link looks like using Affiliate Link Cloaker:

http://superaffiliatehandbook.com/cloaker.html
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How to Choose Products & Programs
5 Ways to Assess a Product or Service

This is the most important aspect of the process. There's no point in examining affiliate program details until you find a product that you know your visitors will love.

1. Is the product or service relevant to your site or page? Dating service banners on a cooking site look out of place. I've 'extended' the range of services on my niche sites a number of times, and it has been a mistake each and every time. Those 'added features' serve only to detract from your site’s main focus.

2. Is the company’s site attractive and functional? Would you buy from a site that looked unprofessional, had broken links or was a hassle to navigate? Don’t send your visitors to tacky sites. Your reputation is at stake.

3. Does the program offer great products and/or services at reasonable prices? Would YOU buy the product you plan to sell? To sell effectively, you must believe in the products and services you carry. Listing products you aren’t enthusiastic about shows in what you say about them.

4. Have you bought and tested the product? I’ve purchased most of the products I promote. Having first-hand knowledge about an item gives me an edge over other affiliates selling the same product. If the commission is 50%, you will only need to make 2 sales to get your money back.

5. Does the company provide excellent customer service? This is essential. I occasionally get email from affiliate program customers because the company is not responding to them. Unfortunately, there is usually very little I can do, except use the contact number or email address given only to affiliates, and pass the request along. If you are successful in getting their concerns resolved, Bravo! That reflects well on you.

Once you are confident that you've found an excellent product or service, you need to confirm that the affiliate program is also excellent. You'll learn how to do just that in the next section.


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How to Choose an Affiliate Program

Listed below are the key questions I ask before I join any affiliate program.

As you search for your own programs, try to ferret out answers to each of those questions. If you can’t find an answer on the merchant's site, phone or email them. If contact information isn’t readily apparent on their Web site, don’t waste more of your time on that merchant. Find another program.

If you don’t get a response within a reasonable time frame, say 24 to 48 hours, I suggest that you pass on the program. They may be more responsive to their customers or current affiliates, but how would you know? Finding out that they are LESS responsive when you have a real problem is a bigger problem still.

On the flip side, be sure that the answer to your question is NOT included in the affiliate package before contacting the program manager. They’re busy people, and answering questions that have been covered elsewhere, is a waste of their time. That makes for a lousy first impression.

OK, here are my questions.

Let's Play 20 Questions

1. Is the Company Reputable? 2. Is there an Affiliate Agreement? 3. What are the Conditions of the Agreement? 4. May I Terminate the Agreement? How? 5. Is My Site Eligible for this Program? 6. Is there a Fee to Join the Program? 7. Does the Program Require Exclusivity? 8. What is the Program Type? 9. How Much is the Commission? 10. Do You Get Credit for Recurring Sales? 11. Does the Program Pay Lifetime Commissions? 12. Is the Program 2-Tier? 13. Are Cookies Used to Track Sales? 14. Are Sales Statistics Reported in Real Time? 15. Are Sales Tools Offered? 16. Is Co-Branding Available? 17. How Do I Get Paid? In Cash? Credit? Food Stamps? 18. When Do I Get Paid? 19. Does the Merchant use Third Party Billing? 20. Is There a Minimum Payout Amount?

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Is the Company Reputable?

Most merchants are reputable operators but just because someone has a Web site doesn’t mean that they’re legitimate and/or trustworthy.

Obviously, you don’t have to ask Dell or eBay how long they’ve been in business. The concern here is about promoting an unknown merchant that may turn out to be a fly-by-night or dishonest operator.

A few years ago, I was robbed by just such an operator to the tune of more than $700! Despite many email and telephone messages demanding payment, I heard and received nothing.

That bad experience could have been avoided with just a little research.

Commission Junction posts the date that merchants join their affiliate network. When I see that the company has been associated with Commission Junction for a year or more, I feel confident that they are in business to do business.

Alternatively, you can see if either AssociatePrograms.com or Refer-it.com has reviewed the program. I've noticed that programs I've ended up having problems with turn out NOT to be listed at either site. (Lesson - check Allan's and Joe's directories FIRST!)

Another way to learn about a company that isn’t part of an affiliate network or listed in an affiliate directory, is to determine how many links point to their site. If the company has thousands upon thousands of affiliates promoting its products, you may safely assume that the program is reputable.

To find out how many ‘links in’ a site has, go to AltaVista, http://altavista.com, and type ‘link:’ followed by the merchant’s URL.

For example, type, ‘link:http://friendfinder.com’ into the AltaVista search box. Doing that today I see that ‘AltaVista found 51,112 results’ listed near the top of the page, just before the search results.

It was only after it was obvious that I’d been cheated out of my money in the case above that I used the ‘link:’ method to search for other affiliates promoting that product. I hoped to find other affiliates who HAD been paid or had better luck getting in touch with the owner. What I found instead was that my site was the ONLY one linking to his pages! At that point I knew I could kiss my money goodbye.

Using the link method on that site again today, I see that ‘AltaVista found 172 results’.

Although it’s cold comfort after being ripped off, I’m relieved to see that his affiliate program isn’t exactly thriving. It IS good to see that he’s cleaned up his act and is now using a third-party billing company to process both customer and affiliate payments. At least no more affiliates will get ripped off.
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Is there an Affiliate Agreement?
Most affiliate programs have agreements in place, primarily to cover their butts. However, these agreements should also cover yours. If the program you are considering doesn’t have an agreement published on the site, move on. Without an agreement, it’s much too easy for them to shaft you for money you’ve earned.

What are the Conditions of the Agreement?
Affiliate agreements are usually lengthy and peppered with long-winded legalese. It doesn't matter. You should read them completely and carefully or you could be in for a nasty surprise.

Say for example, you invest several hundred dollars in PPC advertising to promote a particular product. In return, you earn a thousand or two from that program during the first month of promotion. It would then be a very unpleasant surprise to discover that the company only pays quarterly.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to invest several hundreds or thousands of dollars to promote a company that won’t invest five or ten bucks to write me a check every month.

If you end up in a serious dispute with a company, agreements are usually interpreted under the laws of the state, province or country in which the company is located. Likewise, agreements generally stipulate that disputes will be resolved by binding arbitration in the same state, province or country.

Would it be worth travelling from Rhode Island to California to argue over a couple hundred bucks? Probably not.

So, protect yourself against nasty surprises by reading affiliate agreements in full.

May I Terminate the Agreement? How?
Most agreements contain a ‘termination clause’ that outlines the terms under which either you or the company can end the affiliation.

In most cases either the affiliate or the company may choose to cancel an agreement at any time without written notice of cancellation to the other. As an affiliate, you’d simply take down your links and that would be that.

Do make sure that is the case however.

Way back when affiliate programs were new, I was required to sign and return a paper agreement that bound me to a 2-year contract with a merchant. I felt somewhat uncomfortable
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about agreeing to such a stipulation without proof that their product would convert well to sales, or that they would pay on time.

As always, I should have trusted my intuition. The company, based in Tel Aviv, was excruciatingly slow to pay. I got very tired of hearing ‘the check is in the mail’. Furthermore, the checks never jibed with their own onsite statistics reporting.

Frustrated with the situation, I removed all their links from my site. As such I effectively ended the agreement, about one year before it expired. Fortunately, the company did not take me to task on this point, and it all came out in the wash eventually.

After an inexcusable delay, they finally coughed up all that was owed to me.

Learn from that. Don’t sign an agreement that binds you to a company for a specified period of time. Your luck with terminating the contract may not be as good as mine.

Actually, there are plenty of programs that do not require signed agreements. Simply try to avoid those that do.

Is My Site Eligible for this Program?
Pay particular attention to any criteria that have been set for affiliate acceptance into the program.

For example, the following excerpt is from the advertiser detail section at Commission Junction for its own recruiter program:

Publishers will be accepted into the program based on the following criteria:

- Quality and appropriateness of site(s) - Volume of traffic - At least a one-dollar sign ranking in the Commission Junction network - Own domain name - Compliant with the Commission Junction publisher service agreement - Directly related to performance marketing


As my site met all the criteria, I applied, only to have my application rejected. I wrote to question their decision and ask for reconsideration.

In response, I received the following:

In addition, publishers must be based in either the U.S. or U.K. and have at least a onedollar sign CJ ranking, their own domain name, and a Web site that is compliant with the Commission Junction publisher service agreement and directly related to pay-forperformance advertising. Preferred publishers will have at least a one-star or higher Alexa rating.

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My site met all of the other 'additional' criteria, except that I am located in Canada. As I know of many sites promoting the CJ publisher program that aren’t based in the U.S. or the U.K., this geographic restriction made no sense to me. I wrote again to question this point. CJ’s subsequent responses were simply verbatim repeats of the previous paragraph.

So, be forewarned, read and understand ALL the criteria thoroughly. If something doesn’t make sense, ask about it. The response may not be fair or make sense, but at least you’ll have done your homework thoroughly.

Is there a Fee to Join the Program?
Ninety-nine point nine percent (99.9%) of merchants don’t charge a fee to join their affiliate programs. If they do, watch out! It’s not an affiliate program – it’s MLM, or a Multi-Level Marketing scheme.

An example of an MLM network marketing ‘affiliate program’ is:

Six Figure Income – Help and inspirational materials for home-based entrepreneurs. (Yes, it’s true. I was featured as a member of the SFI $100,000 Club in the April 2002 issue of the Six Figure Income magazine. I am also a panel member in their ‘Ask the Experts’ section, and a member of the IAHBE, which stands for the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs. It is an organization that champions the home-business lifestyle and provides its members with a multitude of resources designed to achieve maximum home-business success. )

Six Figure Income http://www.quickinfo247.com/1289465

In order to earn income with the SFI, you must purchase some of the company’s products each and every month to ‘qualify’ for sales earnings that you’ve generated within a month.

That's MLM.

Many people do very well with this sort of earnings scheme. Many do not.

My thoughts on the subject are that MLM (network marketing) programs should refer to themselves as such, and leave the term ‘affiliate program’ for those that are free to join.

Does the Program Require Exclusivity?
An exclusivity clause is one that says you can only sell the products of a particular merchant and cannot partner with merchants selling similar products.

When Barnes and Noble started its affiliate program, it had an exclusivity clause. Now if you want to sign up with them, you’ll notice that is no longer the case. Was that clause detracting from their share of the affiliate market?

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It had to be!

Exclusivity in an affiliate program is exactly what it sounds like. In most cases, it means that if you sign up with one company, you promise not to partner with another provider of a similar service.

Even if that company was the only provider of its type of service on the ‘Net, I wouldn’t promise exclusivity to it or any other program.

You can be sure that the moment you agree to be exclusive, a better product or service will come along, and you’ll be stuck with a bad agreement.

This is your business, not your marriage. Keep your options open.

Fortunately, not many affiliate programs have such clauses nowadays. But do be aware that they exist, and keep your eyes open for them.
What is the Program Type?
There are essentially three types of affiliate programs: pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, and payper-click.


Pay-Per-Sale programs are also known as Partnership and Percentage Partners programs. These programs pay either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of sales generated by your links.

In Pay-Per-Lead programs, you earn a set amount whenever your customer fills out a survey or requests a quote or some information.

Pay-Per-Click affiliate programs are similar to Pay-Per-Lead. Essentially you are paid each time one of your visitors clicks on the link through to that program’s site.

As Pay-Per-Lead and Pay-Per-Click programs require huge volumes of traffic to generate serious revenue, I prefer Pay-Per-Sale programs because they are performance based. I believe that doing business as an affiliate is about adding value, and I see little value in generating tons of traffic to a merchant's site so that they can collect email addresses to spam large groups of people.

On the other hand, if you target a market effectively and give them what they want, you’ll be rewarded handsomely!

How Much is the Commission?
This is a VERY important question! It’s not the MOST important, but it’s close! ☺

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It’s absolutely essential that you understand commission structures and compare the payout rates between the affiliate programs that you plan join. This will affect how and to what extent you promote individual products.

Let’s look at some real examples. Imagine that you want to build a site promoting online credit card applications.

I visited Commission Junction and saw that they currently have 28 advertisers in the ‘Credit Cards’ category.

By selecting ‘Lead’ within the CJ interface, advertisers are sorted according to payout per lead, from highest to lowest amounts. When you click on ‘Sale’, advertisers are sorted according to payout per sale, from highest to lowest.

In the table below, I chose to view the advertisers according to highest payout per lead.

Please note that if you plan to visit Commission Junction and do the same search, that not all advertisers in this category offer credit cards. There were debt consolidation and credit card report services included in the category. I took my time and clicked on each advertiser’s name to learn more about the products they offer, and removed those not applicable from the table below.


Program Sale Lead

U.S. Bank "Banking & Credit Card" Program U. S. Bank will pay you $20.00 USD for every visitor to our site referred through your affiliate link that is approved for a HarleyDavidson Visa Card. Cookie Duration: 90 days


100.00%

$10.00

Morgan Stanley Credit Card $6.50(GBP 4.20) per submitted application for a Morgan Stanley Credit Card. Partner sites need to operate in the UK. Cookie Duration: 45 days


N/A

$6.50

Barclaycard is the UK's favorite credit card, so do not miss out this great opportunity earn GBP 4.00 (USD $6.20) for every COMPLETED APPLICATION generated from a link on your website. Cookie Duration: 14 days


N/A

$ 6.20

Accucard pays affiliates $50 per applicant instantly provisionally accepted, and $5 per applicant requiring further manual checks. Cookie Duration: 365 days


$50.00

$5.00

Capital One UK - Cookie Duration: 45 days

N/A

$4.00
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Bank of Scotland - A Hybrid Program with $4 per application and $30 per approved card - Credit for both on and offline sales. Cookie Duration: 45 days


$30.00

$4.00


marbles.com - Earn money for each person who applies via your website. Cookie Duration: 14 days


$22.50

$3.75

Discover Card $25 per approved Platinum Card Account referred from your site $15 per approved Student Card Account referred from your site. Cookie duration: 1 day


100.00%

N/A


What a variety of commission structures and payout amounts amongst these merchants!

As you can see, it’s very important to investigate each merchant’s program very carefully before applying to join.

It would be a real disappointment to heavily promote the U.S. Bank "Banking & Credit Card" Program above, thinking that you are paid $10.00 per application, when in fact the applicant has to be approved before you are credited with the lead.

As a rough guideline, look first for companies that pay the highest per sale and per lead commissions in your category of interest. Once you’ve established a short list, then you can start weeding out those that don’t make your grade from the top down.

Next we look at another important aspect of affiliate earnings – recurring commissions.

Do I Get Credit for Recurring Sales?
What would happen if you stopped promoting your affiliate links?

In most cases, you'd simply stop earning. Your income would stop.... and the checks would stop coming. Your income is limited by the number of customers you bring to the merchant in a given month.

That means you have to keep marketing your site to bring in new customers. Over, and over, and over again.

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Make a sale, get paid and that’s it. Your customer may buy more of the same product from your merchant partner, but you only get credit for the first sale.

The merchant benefits indefinitely from your introduction of the customer to the product, and you get only one credit?

Does that sound fair?

You bet it’s not!

However, there ARE affiliate programs that pay commissions on all recurring charges, such as monthly newsletter subscriptions and web hosting packages. As long as your customer keeps ordering the product, you get residual commissions that keep coming in month after month, after you made the initial sale.

So, here’s the bottom line. If the affiliate program doesn't pay residual commissions on recurring charges, you're losing money.

Does the Program Pay Lifetime Commissions?
I make a distinction between ‘recurring’ or ‘residual’ commissions, and ‘lifetime’ commissions.

An affiliate program paying residual commissions pays you every time the customer renews their subscription to a specific product, not just for the first purchase.

An affiliate program paying lifetime commissions pays the affiliate a commission for each and every product that the customer buys from that merchant, including residual commissions, if applicable.

For example, let's say that you are earning recurring commissions on Mr. Samson’s web hosting subscription at Best Host Company.

If the company doesn't offer 'lifetime commissions' and Mr. Samson upgrades to his own dedicated server at Best Host Company; you won’t get paid commissions on his monthly server fees because it’s a different product.

If XYZ Company offers ‘lifetime’ commissions however, the customer you refer to them is "yours" for life, regardless of which of Best Host Company’s products they buy. In the scenario above, you would now be paid a monthly commission on the dedicated server fees for as long as Mr. Brown remains a subscriber.

The value of both residual and lifetime commissions increase over time. As the number of your sales grows, your residual commissions will continue to increase.

Joining programs that offer residual or lifetime commissions is an excellent way to build a steadily increasing income. Once you make a referral, the checks keep coming in. So even when
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you take a vacation from your affiliate business, the checks for your residuals, will keep coming in.

How many other businesses pay you to take a vacation?
Is the Program 2-Tier?

Another way to increase your affiliate income is to take advantage of ‘2-tier’ affiliate programs.

A "two-tier" program is one that offers two sources of income, the first for bringing in business, and the second for recommending new affiliates. Some programs pay a fee for each new affiliate that joins the program, while some others pay a percentage of the 2nd tier affiliate's earnings. Other programs pay in both situations.

When the subject of 2-tier programs comes up, the question often arises as to whether two-tier affiliate programs are MLM - multi-level marketing schemes.

Well, let's take a look at a definition of ‘MLM’.

Also known as network marketing, MLM is essentially any business where payouts occur at two or more levels. For example, any company that compensates you for the sales you make, and also pays you a small percentage of the sales made by those you've recruited as sellers, is an MLM company.

According to that definition, 2-tier affiliate programs are MLM programs.

Does it matter? Should it matter?

Don't let the MLM association scare you or put you off. There are many reputable MLM organizations including Avon, Mary Kay Cosmetics and PartyLite Gifts, Inc.

MLM gets its bad reputation from companies that focus only on recruiting new members and downline-building. Essentially the only ‘products’ these companies sell are memberships, which you must purchase in order to be eligible to build your own downline of members.

Your primary concern is whether the company you sign up with is selling real goods and/or services that benefit its customers. Focus first on marketing the product, and secondly on recruiting affiliates. That's why it's called 2-tier.

Are Cookies Used to Track Sales?
A cookie is coded piece of information, stored on a computer that identifies that computer during the current and subsequent visits to a web site.

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You've may have heard that it takes 7 exposures to a product before people feel comfortable to buy that product. So what happens if a visitor from your site clicks through to your affiliated merchant site today but doesn't buy anything until a week later? Will you still get credit for the sale?

Well, that depends on the duration of the 'cookies'.

Cookies are text files that cannot be used in any way to harm you or your computer. Some people worry about viruses and such, while there is no need with cookies!

You can take a look at the cookies stored on your own computer.

For example, if you visit http://iwantu.com from my dating service review site at http://sagehearts.com, and you have a PC, the cookie stored on your computer will be called yourname@dating.iwantu.txt and look something like this:

BIGipServerhttp_pool.20480.0000# 1024