Using Affiliate Marketing to Promote Your Business

November 15th, 2008

On one of the social networks to which I belong, the question was asked:

Do you or does anyone else use or have recommendations for other affiliate programs?  And if you offer affiliate commissions on your products and services I would love to know about your programs as well.

Here’s my reply:

 

What a great topic and one I have been doing lots of research on.   I am most interested in good affiliate programs that are highly respected and have a decent payoff (at least 15% commission) because if I am going to market the product or service to my list, it needs to bring in a good ROE ~ return on effort.

I love Linkshare and Commission Junction for finding good programs to sign up for. For small business owners however, sometimes this is challenge as they have certain criteria such as number of hits, etc. So even though there are really good programs to sign up for, sometimes the companies that offer affiliate programs don’t approve the companies because they don’t meet the minimum standards they have established. 

The other thing is that the programs you promote need to make sense to your audience.  I just interviewed Tom Antion ~ The Internet Marketing Multi-Millionaire and he had a lot to say about affiliate programs. He told my listeners that he makes between 70,000 to 200,000 month after month from those affiliate products he offers that other people market for him on their sites. That means the products he sells have a built-in audience of interested buyers.

I used to be an affiliate for AMAZON but have never made any money with them so joined the Barnes and Noble program. We are making a small commission with them. If you refer books to your audience, I highly recommend you join Borders, Barnes and Noble, Alibris or another good online bookstore (if you know of any) to send your readers to.

I just launched an ebook called “Your Step by Step Guide to Making Money Online” and there are literally dozens of quality affiliate programs listed in the book.

BTW, if you click on any of the links I mentioned above, you will notice we are affiliates of those programs and if you buy something would make a small commission. Of course, we don’t make any money unless you buy something.  But it is good to show the programs our click-through rates.  So please do click through and check them out.

To your success… and then some,

Heidi

Entry Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Heidi's Daily Tips, Small Business