Which are the best affiliate programs?
You might not be familiar with the term 'best affiliate programs' if you're new to the world of online business websites, When you run a website, there are numerous ways in which it can be monetized and probably Google Adsense, the eBay Partner Network and Amazon Associates (the Amazon affiliate scheme) are the best known ways of doing this. But did you know that you can sell the products of virtually any well known company - and many much lesser known companies - on your own website and take a commission every time you do so? That's called affiliate marketing and it's a wonderful thing for people who are building online businesses. Affiliates overviewAffiliate programs are available all over the place but with experience, you'll probably settle on a couple which you prefer.In this section I'll give you an overview of what's available and the companies which I use, but I'll go into much greater detail about each company on separate pages, so do check the detailed reviews if you think that you might be interested in a particular company.
Getting started with the best affiliate programsWhen you sign up to an affiliate scheme you have to be accepted before you can take commissions from the adverts.So long as you're a decent, respectable, honest website and the company's products are related in some sensible way to your business, you'll be accepted. If I've ever been refused it's because I'd only got the front page of my website completed when I applied to the scheme, so there wasn't enough information about my proposed business to make a sensible judgement about it. So my advice would be don't apply too soon to the best affiliate programs, make sure you've got a basic website up-and-running first so that thew company you want to do business with can see what you're all about. Types of affiliate adMost of the best affiliate programs will allow you to link to products in a variety of ways.Other techniques are available, but these are the main three types of affiliate ad that you'll use, certainly as you get started with your online business. Text linksThese allow you to have linked text in your web page like 'for great web-work at home tips check out this website'.The code you are given has a special identifier in it which tracks any click-throughs back to your account and makes sure that if a purchase is made, you make your commission. Banner adsThese are the picture ads that you see when you click on most commercial websites. They're often animated, big, loud and unmissable ... in fact they can dominate a website more than the content! They don't have to be that way of course, and if I made a usability recommendation to you, I'd always encourage you to focus on content first, sales second. If the content is right, the sales will come. How many times have you been put-off by a web page with animated objects flying all over the place? You need sunglasses just to focus. So make good use of banner ads, they're excellent sales tools, but always go for subtle, integrated ads which tie in to your content. They work in the same way as text links. Each banner ad contains a unique reference which means that if a customer clicks on one of your ads, then goes on to make a purchase, you take a small commission. Ad feedsIf your website's aim is to sell buckets, then you'd do your research and find an affiliate website listing a company which sells buckets.The best affiliate programs allow you to integrate content into your own site, so that it appears as if those products actually belong to you. On your website you'd see a picture of each product, some information and a price, and there might be several different items listed on each page. These are product feeds which will update automatically, if price changes for instance, but they all contain the unique reference code which means if a customer clicks and buys, you take your commission. These are a better integrated, more subtle way of selling than banner ads and are worth investigating if selling third party products is going to be a big part of your business plan.
My personal top 8 best affiliate programsIn no particular order, these are my personal best affiliate programs, the ones I use day-to-day on my websites:
Other affiliate schemes are available, but this list if offered by way of introduction to the world of online affiliates. Look them up, register, explore and see what you think. Over time you'll work out who you prefer and which affiliate scheme deals with the companies that you want to list on your own business website. You will probably discover new affiliate companies of your own and in time, develop your own top 10 best affiliate programs. I have many more affiliate arrangements than just the ten listed above, but some of them just give me affiliate commissions for one product, so I haven't bothered to list these here. Most companies have an affiliate arrangement these days, so even if the people you want to work with aren't listed on an affiliate website, do try going to the company's own website and see if they offer their own 'deal direct' affiliate arrangement. Remember though, when monetizing your website, think content first, ads later. If no-one wants to read your content they won't even give your ads the time of day.
More from this sectionAmazon
affiliate program Why not tap into Amazon's vast online
store and start selling some of their products for profit on your
website? Adsense income Themed sites based on quality written content are a match made in heaven for Adsense income ... Reseller hosting This is a tried and tested way of building an affiliate income ... Tradedoubler Tradedoubler is a great starting point if you're looking for an affiliate program for your new internet business ... Webgains Use the Webgains affiliate program as part of your portfolio of associate schemes ... Commission Junction Find out more about Commission Junction's affiliate program, one of the highest performing programs on the Net ... Clickbank affiliate Become a Clickbank affiliate and make money promoting some of the web's best digital products ... Return
from Best Affiliate Programs to Home Internet Businesses
homepage
|
