In our last post you learned about choosing your affiliate offer. Now we will start to set up your “Selling Machine”. To promote affiliate offers, you can set up your first selling machine by using a simple 2 page website with an autoresponder.

I’m about to lay out what you need to make this happen. DON’T freak out! I know it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re first starting online, but after you build a site or two, you should be able to breeze through these steps with no problems!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A hosting account
2. A domain name
3. A text-editor or webpage editor
4. 2 very simple web pages
a. A “Squeeze” or “Opt-in” page
b. A “download page”
5. An autoresponder account
6. FTP software
7. The link to your affiliate offer

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So now you are ready to choose an offer to promote. There are thousand out there, so how do you choose?

Of course, you’ll want to pick an offer that fits your niche and I am a firm believer in trying a product yourself before you recommend it to others, so only promote ethically by trying the product first.

For your first go-around, pick something that is an established product and makes decent money. Once you find something you like do a Google search for the product name and see how others are promoting the same product. Is it being promoted too much? Is the market saturated? Also, keep in mind that even if you see the product offered a lot, other affiliates may not be marketing properly so don’t get discouraged based on volume alone.

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Now that you have found targeted buyers and products to sell them, our Easy Affiliate Marketing Action Plan continues with the steps to becoming an affiliate for certain programs.

How To Become An Affiliate

You can easily sign up for Clickbank as an affiliate, here:

https://www.clickbank.com/affiliateAccountSignup.htm?key=

Once you are an affiliate with Clickbank (and I’ve never heard of them turning anyone down), you can promote any of the offers in their marketplace.  Just go to the link provided in the last section, and look around.  You can click on the “pitch page” to see the sales page, and you can see how much you will make when you sell the product.

Clickbank is not the only place where you can find products to promote as an affiliate.  I previously mentioned eBay and Amazon as companies that have affiliate offers.  Also, there are other affiliate networks like Clickbank, such as PayDotCom and e-junkie.   Some individual and smaller companies have affiliate programs, but you may want to be careful in selecting some of them because they may not have reliable payouts.  You can keep up with various affiliate companies and their reputations at Allan Gardyne’s Associate Programs website here

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In the last post we discussed the basics of becoming an affiliate and how to go about finding targeted buyers. Now let’s discuss where you can locate products to see to these buyers.

WHERE DO WE FIND PRODUCTS?

Well, while eBay and Amazon both have affiliate programs, Clickbank is very, very popular with Internet Marketers. One of the appeals of Clickbank products is that they are digital products – meaning they are great for impulse buys.

Buyers can get immediate satisfaction from their purchase because they can immediately download and start using their product.

But wait! There’s actually another way that we can make money that is similar enough to affiliate marketing that we’ll include it here. And that is the world of CPA, or “cost per action” offers.

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Many – and I mean many – Internet marketers have gotten their start through affiliate marketing.  Consider this – you can start making money without creating a product, without dealing with support nightmares and even without a website. And you can get started immediately.

You get paid by bringing buyers to sellers.  When they buy, you get a “piece of the action” — called a commission.  So, if a prospect buys a $50 product, and the product pays 50% commission – you will make $25.

In other words, you are like a commission-only salesperson.  Except that you don’t have to do all the selling – or, often, much selling at all.  You don’t have to do take any “orders”. You don’t have to meet prospects “face-to-face.”   All you have to do, often, is simply introduce interested people to the product.   And it all happens online.

Considering that you can advertise on the Internet often for free or very inexpensively, it may be the perfect place to start, or expand, your efforts in creating an online income and an Internet business.

With no floors to sweep, no insurance to pay and advertising that can work for you 24 hours a day – it can easily become a fairly passive income.  One you can start up while still showing up at the day job – or, when sufficient, taking “the rest of the day off” — nearly every day.

So, let’s get started…

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Building on the Viral Traffic Technique of giving away something for free, you can add the REFER option to your optin page. Using a simple script which requires visitors to add in their friend’s emails before they download the product can triple your optins. This method is very effective when used with an item that is perceived to be of a very high value or available immediately, satisfying the “Instant Gratification” urge. (more…)

One of the quickest ways to create a buzz is by giving something away for free. This is one of the oldest techniques utilized for obtaining a following and has been used by some of the largest online companies including Hotmail and Google. Their process of giving away a free service such as Google Docs and Hotmail free email accounts have made them household names.

One of the critical factors which made these programs so successful was the addition of their name and a link to their services in each free item being distributed. For example, Hotmail included a link to “Get Your Free Email Account”. At a time when AOL was charging about $24 a month for this service, you can imagine how quick this caught on. Today millions of people still have a free Hotmail account which they use for their mail services. (more…)

We had previously introduced you to Viral Traffic Generation. Now, let’s start reviewing some of the best known techniques you can use for Viral Traffic Generation.

The difference between gaining a large flood of traffic versus a small drip will depend greatly on your ability to offer your visitors something they find to be of high value so you want to be sure anything you are offering is either very useful or very much in demand. Your visitors are very smart. They will determine very quickly if the item you are offering is high quality or just simply another marketing ploy. When you offer something of value, your visitors and/or customers are far more likely to pass it along to others. But, if it is of no value they will simply leave and never return.

So, you will need to add something to the user experience that they perceive as important or useful. This can come in many forms and will vary greatly depending on your target audience. While one website may offer tips and tricks, another may offer an e-book or useful script or application.
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Part 1 of our 21 part Series on Viral Traffic Generation.

Viral Traffic Generation – What is it anyway?

Viral marketing has become an increasingly discussed subject in the past few years. Many bloggers and webmasters are forever discussing the value of this technique to drive large amounts of traffic to your website. So, you may be asking yourself; “What is Viral Marketing and how can it help me?” Is it a proven technique which works effectively or just another passing blackhat fad?

In its simplest form, Viral Marketing is a technique which gets others to willing talk about and spread your information for you. People read your information or hear about your latest offering and begin to tell others. The message begins to spread from person to person in this manner like a “virus”. When this occurs, it is referred to as” Going Viral”.

This type of marketing relies mainly on word-of-mouth techniques. Someone sees your information and passes it on to another who does the same. That person tells a few of their friends who tell a few of their friends and so the cycle continues As this goes on, the number of people who hear about your information increases rapidly. The more individuals who read about your information or product, the more traffic you receive.
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There are many business models for an Online Business. It is often the Internet Business beginner’s daunting task to find these various business ideas, understand how they work, and learn ways to profit with them. It is also difficult to decide which model will work best for YOU.

In this first article I will explain 2 of the most popular online business types. I think they are a good starting point for online business newbies. The models I chose here are well-known, easy to learn, and there is an abundance of information that you can find, for little or no cost, to help you get started. These models are ideal if you are starting out with little or no start up money and limited internet experience.

FREELANCING

The first of this type is Freelancing. Once thought to be available only to the writers and artists of the world, freelancing is fast becoming one of the most popular ways to make money online. Sites like Elance, oDesk, Guru, and Rent-A-Coder have made it extremely easy to get started to get up and running with a freelancer profile in less than a few hours. Some of the most popular freelance openings are:

Writers – These include article and report writers, eBook writers, blog posters, forum posters, copy writers, review writers and much more.

Researchers – Web researchers have grown in popularity to become one of the most sought after freelancers. Research takes time and today’s online marketers would rather spend that time on other tasks and outsource the research tasks to others. This area of freelance requires no more than internet access, a computer, and time.

Graphic Artist – Logo design, banner creation and web page design is a great way to get started in freelancing. Perhaps your background and education is in this area OR you just enjoy it as a hobby. Either way, graphic artists do very well in freelance.

Programmers – This includes every aspect of programming. It seems this area is a mystery to many and those who need this service are willing to pay very good money for a good programmer.

Freelancing jobs are abundant. Check out the sites listed above and for more information about getting started. You can also check out Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams
by Pamela Skillings. Skillings is an author and career coach who writes about her escape from the corporate world and discussed how others can do the same.

AFFILIATE MARKETING

In a nutshell Affiliate Marketing can be defined as commissioned sales online. The difference with Affiliate Marketing is that you do not need to have a sales background to get started and you do not have to do any of that dreaded cold calling or the face to face sales pitch.

Affiliate Marketers are promoters of other people’s products and services. They make a commission based on the type of product or service and that company’s affiliate program. Many of these programs are very generous offering up to 75% commission per sale.

So what types of products or services can you promote? Just about anything! eBooks, websites, dog grooming products, electronics, outdoor furniture and many consumer products that you probably use yourself have affiliate programs available. You can look for affiliate programs on some of your favorite sites. Just look in the headers, footers, or sidebars of these sites for links called AFFILIATES, AFFILIATE PROGRAMS, or PROMOTE.

Another way to find these programs is through Affiliate Retail Outlets like Clickbank and Commission Junction. These sites offer Marketplaces where you an locate 100s of products and services to promote.

How do you promote these products once you find them? There are many ways to promote as an Affiliate. If you have a website or blog you can post banner ads on your site or you can promote through list building and email marketing. Review sites are another great way to promote products. You can create a brief review and then offer the product you are promoting within the article. You can even promote products without a website through Pay-Per-Click advertising or Article Marketing.

Affiliate Marketing is one of my favorite online business models because you can get started for very little money and with limited experience. If this seems like it might interest you then I recommend you check out Rosalind Gardner’s “The Super Affiliate Handbook”. It was the first book I read on Affiliate Marketing and it is one of the most comprehensive guides on the market today. Rosalind just updated her handbook in September 2009 with the most up-to-date techniques for Affiliate Marketers. It is required reading for any new affiliate.

Freelancing and Affiliate Marketing are two great ways to get started making money online. They are very appealing to the beginner because they require little or no money to get started and are suited for individuals with a variety of experience levels.

In the next article I will discuss more online business ideas including creating your own saleable product, micro sites, and pay-per-click. Check back soon!

Ancora Imparo!