How Affiliate Business Works ?

There are at least four components for affiliate marketing to work:

• Merchant, business actors who provide products for sale;
• Affiliate, people partnered with merchants to market product;
• Customer, someone who buys a product through affiliates;
• Network, liaison between merchants with affiliates. Or you could say third party/platform accommodate affiliate activities.

For the record, sometimes merchants manage their affiliate programs automatically independent. However, they can also cooperate with certain networks. So,The network provides many affiliate programs from merchants.For how the affiliate itself works, it's quite simple:

How to Monetize Your Website with Google Adsense ?

Why AdSense? Google AdSense is a free of charge, simple way for publishers of all sizes to earn money by displaying targeted Google ads on their sites.

How AdSense works ? Google AdSense provides a way for publishers to earn money from their online content. AdSense works by matching ads to your site based on your content and visitors. The ads are created and paid for by advertisers who want to promote their products. Since these advertisers pay different prices for different ads, the amount you earn will vary.

The next step is,  Create and activate your AdSense account.

How to do that ?

1. Create an Adsense account 

2. Activate your Adsense account

3. Get your first ads up and running

Adsense revenue Share

For displaying ads with AdSense for content, publishers receive 68% of the revenue recognized by Google in connection with the service. For AdSense for search, 

publishers receive 51% of the revenue recognized by Google. These percentages are consistent, regardless of a publisher's geographic location, and are not in 

any way averaged between publishers. Google don't disclose the revenue share for other AdSense products; the revenue share varies for other products due to different 

costs of developing and supporting these products.

We believe our revenue share is extremely competitive. However, revenue shares alone can be misleading, so we encourage you to focus on the total revenue generated 

for your site. For example, if Google’s auction of ad inventory on your site generates $100, with our 68% revenue share you'd receive $68 through AdSense. Another

ad network might offer an 80% revenue share, but only collect $50 from advertisers, so you'd receive $40.

With the vast number of advertisers competing to appear on AdSense sites, our system ensures that you're earning the most possible for every ad impression you

receive.

Commission Junction Affiliate

Founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1998, CJ (formerly Commission Junction), continues to lead the industry as the largest, most trusted name in global performance marketing, specializing in affiliate marketing technology and services.

Many IR500 brands choose to work with CJ.com compared to nearest competitor.

An online affiliate marketing company owned by ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction is one of the largest affiliate networks in North America.

Commission Junction matches merchants or service providers who sell products or services on the Internet with affiliate partners who would like to promote them. Much like vendors at ClickBank, the merchants are often publishers, and each product link has an assigned fixed or percentage-based commission.

Internet Retailer's Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites found that more marketers used Commission Junction than they did the next two affiliate marketing providers combined. The report also said performance marketing continued to be one of the most cost-effective channels for driving online revenues. As a result, top retailers continue to use Commission Junction.

Fifty percent of the top 500 retailers run affiliate programs through Commission Junction. Commission Junction powers more of these affiliate programs than any other single network provider and is the preferred provider in the majority of the marketing categories Internet Retailer tracked, including apparel/accessories. Books/CDs/DVDs, computers/electronics, flowers/gifts, hardware/home improvements, health/beauty, office supplies, specialty/nonapparel, sporting goods and toys/hobbies.

Commission Junction solidified its reputation by building a solid base of advertisers who represent a wide range of large retail markets as well as thousands of niche markets.

This variety of offerings has made the company particularly appealing to affiliates who tend to build small but loyal followings, yet want to make a profit.

source: Get Rich Click, Marc Ostrofsky 

10 Steps to Making Money with Affiliate Marketing

“Think differently! Think online! If you are going to survive, thrive and grow in this interconnected world we now live in, you need to read Get Rich Click!”

- Brian Tracy, New York Times best selling author and Management Expert

With Get Rich Click You will learn how people just like you generate more income often starting with little
or no money. If you understand the secret to success in the new “Internet economy” is Learn More, Earn More™ 
and you see the headlines about the latest “Internet Millionaire” being minted – and say to yourself “I could do that, 
I just need a little help.” – then you need to learn from a true Internet expert – one that has started, funded, built,
sold and still owns and operates online businesses.
Marc Ostrofsky
NOW is the time and THIS is the book to change your financial future.  Buy it NOW

Affiliate programs are the fastest-growing area of e-commerce. They're easy to set up and take little or no money to get started. You can use free website Platform to start, such as blogger.com . Or paid domain name from Namecheap and hosting from bluehost for professional way, or  use wordpress for setup the website and hosting. Wordpress have hundreds more plugin that support affiliate marketing business. We will discuss later for wordpress. 

In his book Get Rich Click , Marc Ostrofsky , wrote , there are 10 step before your making money with affiliate marketing 

1. Buy domain name that includes the specific keyword for the product.

2. Set up an affiliate relationship with one or more firms in that field.

3. Create a simple website for the products

4. You can obtain the photos you need from the firm for which you are selling, but be sure to ask permission first.

5. Create new copy, for your website. Don't use the same copy your partner uses; it can hurt your search engine rangkings as well as other firms that have this copy on their sites.

6. Submit your website to the search engines

7. Build links to and from your site with other related sites.

8. Create links to your new site from your Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and other social media. Consider asking your subscriber to list your site on their social media accounts.

9. Write about your products on other sites, blogs, and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to get more traffic.

10. Optimize your site to improve your search engine rankings and increase traffic.

 

What is an Autoresponder ?

 

An auto responder is a software program that automatically sends out emails on a prescheduled basis to all the-opted-in people on your list.

Once you have built a list, the idea is that you send them some freebies or send them a newsletteror an affiliate link etc. You can't possibly do all this manually each time you receive a new opt-in. An auto responder does this automatically for you. Let's say you want to create a five-part email course. You set the intervals for the emails, say once a day. All you need to do is type in the emails once in your auto responder software and your list will get an email once a day. Anyone joining your list will automatically be sent those emails for the next five days.

So the owner of the list uses auto responder software to set up a sequence of emails that go out at regular intervals. You must have an auto responder when you have an opt-in box on your website.

You will have seen these messages at the bottom of your emails:

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:

www.aweber.com

When you click on that link you can unsubscribe.By law you need to put an unsubscribe button at the bottom of each email you send. If people no longer want to receive your emails and click unsubscribe, your auto responder will remove that person automatically from your list and your next pre-scheduled email will no longer be received by the person who has unsubscribed.

Which auto responder is best ?

The best email auto-responder on the market is www.aweber.com, but a good , free alternative is www.mailchimp.com (if using a limited list). Other automated email auto responders include : www.getresponse.com and www.autocontractor.com.

You have to make  sure that you use a professional auto responder service because that way you are more protected from spam complaints. 

source : 463 ways to make money from home by Christine Clayfield

What is ClickBank ?

As ClickBank wrote, "For nearly 25 years operation, ClickBank has been a trusted global partner for product sellers and affiliate marketers looking to build, market, and scale their businesses online."

Empowering Businesses to Grow Online

"Click Bank have paid out more than $5 billion to their customers, without missing a payment, so you can grow with confidence.
More than 300,000 daily purchases, operate almost 200 countries, with 4,000 marketplace products and already paid $5.0 Billion 
to customers"

 

source : clickbank.com

ClickBank mostly sells digital products: eBooks, software, videos. The products range from 'how to stop your dog barking' to 'how to make money on the internet' and everything else in between. Because all products are digital and the delivery cost is zeo, the commission rates are very high : between 50% to 75% and even more.

ClickBank is a database where affiliates can find products to sell or where vendors can find affiliates to sell their products.

ClickBank is the internet marketer's dream come true. The big advantage of ClickBank is that has its own payment processor, so you can sell products and charge peoples 'credit cards -- ClickBank does all this for your automatically. Before ClickBank was online , you would have to get your own merchant account from your bank and as a new business that would be almost impossible. With ClickBank, you can sell stuff online without ever having sold anything before. ClickBank will charge your customer. ClickBank collects the money from the buyer, pays the affiliate the commission and pays the vendor the rest.

Signing Up as an affiliate with ClickBank is free. If you have written an eBook on "piano repair" but you are not very good at selling or building websites, you can become a vendor on ClickBank and put your eBook there for anybody to sell. In return , you give the seller part of the selling price. As an example , you keep 40% and the affiliate gets 60% when an eBook is sold.

On the other hand, if you know nothing about piano repair but you think that there is a gap on the Internet to sell books on piano repairs, you would sign up as an affiliate on ClickBank and find a piano repair book to sell on your website. You would get 60% ( or whatever the commission rate is) of the selling price because you have put in most of the effort in the sale of the eBook.

source : 463 ways to make money from home by Christine Clayfield

How to Become a ClickBank affiliate partner:

1. Sign up at ClickBank.com

2. Search the ClickBank marketplace for products to promote

3. Create your hoplink affiliate code. What is a "hoplink" ? For an affiliate to earn credit for a sale, the customer must first follow a ClickBank hoplink. The Link takes the customer to the vendor's Hoplink Target web address, and automatically credits the affiliate with that referral. ClickBank provides easy-to-follow instructions.

4. Incorporate the hoplink into your marketing campaign.

5. Promote your link and/or product

6. Earn a commission on every sale you generate.

When your market as a ClickBank affiliate from a website, choose ClickBank products that are related to your site's content or to the nature your business.

source: Get Rich Click, Marc Ostrofsky 

What is Affiliate Marketing ?

Do you have any idea  what the single biggest obstacle to making money online is ? It is not bad luck, lack of money or even lack of information. It is information overload. As strange as it may sound at first, it's this very thing that is largely responsible for hindering so many people in their attempt to become succesful online.

Making money online has huge advantages :

• Minimal start up costs
• Decide your own hours
• Open 24/7/365
• Your target market is the whole world
• Automatic order processing
• Automatic Payments
• Product is delivered instantly if you sell eBooks or downloadable digital products such as software
• No rent
• No Staff
• No Stock (unless you sell physical goods)
• No outstanding debts as customer pays online immediately with purchase 
• You can create automated income on autopilot
• You can create passive income
• You can make money while you sleep

If you are from the 'older generation' , remember the days when the man from the insurance company would come and sit in your kitchen and try to sell you insurance ? When he sold you some, his boss -- The insurance company-- would pay the salesman say, 10% commission. That is affiliate marketing the old fashioned way. I guess you could also call it commission marketing because that's what it is; somebody gets paid commission for selling somebody else's product. The insurance company is the affiliate merchant, or vendor, and the salesman is the affiliate as he gets commission from a sale.

Now the same analogy this scenario on the internet: the insurance company has a website that sells insurance. The salesman has a website that tells you the pros and cons of the insurance and here and there on his website he puts a link that, when you click on it, gives you the chance to buy insurance. If you buy via that link, the insurance company will pay the salesman commission.

So in this case you are the salesman who will be selling for other companies, and every time you sell something, the company will pay you commission. You are the affiliate ( the one who receives the commission) and the insurance company that will pay you is called the merchant or the vendor. All you need to do is put the same affiliate links on your website that refer to the insurance company's website , and you get paid when somebody buys via that link.

Everything else is automated. Commission ranges from 1% to 75%. Physical products usually pay between 1% to 25% commission, but some digital products mostly can pay up to 50% commmission or even more such from www.clickbank.com  , www.amazon.com , www.cj.com , etc.

I will explain later for more detail about clickbank, amazon , cj , etc

A merchant is an online retailer with a website where you can buy products or services.

An Affiliate or online publisher is the person who drives visitors to the merchant's website and gets paid commission when customers buy something by clicking on the link that is on the affiliate's website. An affiliate drives buyers to the merchant's sites and gets paid for it. The merchant pays the affiliate commission only when a sale is made. The affiliate will sell your product or services for a commission. Affiliates are other Internet marketers or other website owners.

Affiliate networks are automated websites on which merchants can put their name to say they are looking for affiliates to drive traffic to their websites. You , as an affiliate, go to the affiliate network to grab an affiliate link to put on your website. The affiliate network pays you your commission. All you need to do is stick a link on your site and drive traffic; all the rest is done automatically for you.

Affiliate marketing is the whole automated set up to do with affiliates, merchants and affiliate networks.

One you are into affiliate marketing you will never look at a website the same way again. You will constantly look for links on the top of your browser. You will constantly look for new ideas. A lot of people search for "top 10 digital cameras" or "best flat TV" or "review video software". Years ago I used to believe the reviews on websites. Unfortunately, reality has taught me that some websites don't publish honest, impartial reviews. They will award top prizes to the company with the affiliate link that pays them the most money.

All the "buy" buttons will be an affiliate link. The first "buy" button might take you to the Amazon store; the second "buy" button might take you to a computer store. So if the website owner earns a lot more from the Amazon link, he might put that first even if it doesn't merit the win.

Some review websites do give honest opinions. But be cautious with what you buy and what you believe on the web.

Here's an example's of an affiliate link that you might see in the browser

In the amazon.com affiliate , at the address browser bar, you will see my amazon storeid/tracking id greatdeal05be-20  and linkid 342747.... And if someone buy from my storeid/tracking id , amazon.com will pay me based on my storeid/tracking id. 

Storeid will generate when you sign up as amazon.com affiliate marketer/publisher. Or any other affiliate program.  

So the website owner (in this case the one with the website showing all the buy button ) is the insurance guy, or affiliate , sitting at your table who earns commission. The website that you navigate to (in this example amazon.com) when you click the 'add to cart' and 'buy' button is the merchant who pays the commission to the affiliate.

As an Internet marketer you can become an affiliate and sell other people's products but it is even better to have your own product and let other people sell it for you. All you need to do is become a merchant (by asking people to sell your products).

There is one big problem with affiliate marketing and the clue is in the name : marketing . The affiliate network does not help you with that. Getting a site stacked with affiliate links is easy but getting visitors to your site is a lot more difficult. It's the marketing of your site that is going to be the hardest.

Being affiliate has the following advantages:

- No license fees needed.

- No need to create your own products as you will sell other people's products

- There is no contract to sign with anybody

- You can log onto your work anywhere in the world

- You can make money while you sleep (after you have put in some hard work)

- You can sell in any country, worldwide

- You can sell in any niche

- You never ever ahve to ship orders

- You never ever need to worry about stock taking, over stocking or surplus stock

- You never need a customer service email or telephone number

- You never need large start-up capital to begin trading

- You never need a Payment Processing Gateway ( a  bank that charges your customer's card)

- You don't need employees

- You have no production costs to worry about

- You never have to leave your house

- You can choose your working hours

- You can be your own boss

- Very easy to get started

- You can start up a business that can grow 200% or more each year, which is almost impossible to achieve in a business outside the web

- You never have to go to the bank to pay in cheques ,as it's all is done electronically

- You never have to chase late payments as everything is paid in advance

- There are no cash flow problems (if you manage your money correctly) as you receive your money immediately

- No refund worries , everything is automated

- Easy to scale up

source : 463 ways to make money from home by Christine Clayfield