Making Web Sites Profitable:

(Adding Affiliate content to web sites)

Are you making the most of your site traffic? You do get several checks a month from various stable online companies right? If not this article is for you!

Affiliate programs and affiliate marketing are often misunderstood. Simply put they should be considered a way to diversify a web sites revenue. Whether your site is set up for e-commerce or not you can make money with your online presence.

There are many merchants online looking to have affiliates promote their products or services. Which one is right for you? 

Strictly content based sites can find content related programs to offer their visitors. Fishing sites can offer links to online fishing stores, Mountaineering sites can offer links to outdoor equipment stores etc...

Sites already offering products or services for sale can find complementary products or services. A site selling baby carriages will probably do better promoting diapers as an affiliate program than something like bowling balls!

You Do Need to Be Careful! Do some research on the Merchant before signing up. How long have they been in business? How long have they been offering an affiliate program? See if you can contact some of their existing merchants to make sure you'll get paid on time. Can you access your stats to track your progress? How often and how much will you get paid? 

Look for a commission rate of at least 25%, two-tier programs are excellent as you make money on affiliates recruited by your affiliates expanding your revenue base.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket, if you depend on one affiliate program for all your revenue don't quit your day job yet, diversify your revenue first!

In order for your visitors to take you seriously choose a few programs you can trust and promote them through your web site and e-mail newsletter. Adding dozens of affiliate programs will make your site look unprofessional, something straight out of the free personal homepage section. Try not to have more than one or two banners per page, slowing your site down will cost you visitors! 

Try each service yourself, your reputation depends on it! How can you promote something you know nothing about? If your visitors are being ripped off they'll never come back to your site and will find your name being tarnished! Personal recommendations always result in higher click throughs than plain banner ads.

Experienced surfers are skeptics and tune out banners. If you want to know where to start looking for Affiliate programs we've put together a list of the best companies for you here.

As always I look forward to your comments or questions. If anything isn't clear please let me know. mike@surf22.com

Happy Marketing!

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