Learn Programming Language and Software Testing

Welcome to High Performance Affiliate Marketing. This e-book will show you
everything you need to know about making money online as an affiliate.
The format of this e-book is concise and to the point. I won't waste your time discussing
unnecessary details or bore you with useless statistics. This e-book is all about practical
hands-on information that you can use right now to start making money online.
Throughout the e-book, I'll be pointing to some third-party resources for further reading
and learning. If you're unfamiliar with a certain topic, I encourage you to follow the link
and learn more about it.
This e-book is not the encyclopedia of the Internet. This e-book has just one focus: To
show you how to make money online, the easiest and fastest way possible.
How to Use This E-Book
This book doesn't need to be read cover to cover like a traditional book. You can skip to
whatever sections you think will provide you with the most benefit. If you're new to
affiliate marketing it may help you to follow the natural progression of each section. The
sections are organized to build upon previous ones.
Why an E-book?
Nothing changes faster than the Internet. With an e-book, I'm able to update you with the
latest information in real-time, while it's still relevant. If this e-book were published as a
traditional book a lot of the information would be obsolete by the time it hit book shelves.
Free Updates
Unlike other e-books, which only get updated every couple of years; this e-book will be
frequently updated with the latest and most important online marketing information.
When new versions are made available you will be notified through e-mail. This will
allow you to stay on top of the industry and keep a step ahead of the competition.
IMPORTANT - If you haven’t done so already, make sure you add
jeremy@quityourdayjob.com to your e-mail address book. This will ensure that my emails
reach you and don’t get blocked by your ISP or corporate e-mail filters.
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
E-book Support Forums
One of the biggest benefits of this e-book is the member support forums. If you have a
question, or don't understand something, post it in the support forums, and either I or
another forum member will try and help you out.
To access the support forums please reference the “Getting Started” e-mail that you
received when you first purchased the book. If you can’t find this information contact our
support team (http://www.quityourdayjob.com/contact/) and we will resend you this
message.
Expectations
The information in this e-book is only as good as your commitment. I could give you the
winning lottery numbers, but it's no good if you don't go down to the store and buy the
ticket. The same rules apply to this e-book. You won't be successful unless you take
action!
If you are serious about quitting your job, and becoming a full-time super affiliate, you
must combine this valuable knowledge with your own hard work and dedication.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 11
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 –
Preparing for Success
In this section you will learn the basics of affiliate marketing. You will learn what it is,
how it works, and most importantly, how you can make money as an affiliate.
If you are brand new to affiliate marketing, or just getting started, I recommend that you
take time to read this section so that you can build a strong foundation for further
learning.
If you are already comfortable with the basics of affiliate marketing, you can skip ahead
to Section 2.
1.1 - What is Affiliate Marketing?
In simple terms, affiliate marketing is where you refer visitors from your website to a
merchant's website. A merchant is any individual or company that sells products or
services online. Wal-Mart®, Home Depot®, eBay®, and Yahoo® are all examples of
merchants with affiliate programs. These companies pay their affiliates to promote their
products and services online. Merchants with affiliate programs range in size from small
businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
You earn commissions when the visitors you refer complete some type of action on a
merchant's website. For example, you may earn a commission if the visitor you refer
makes a purchase, completes a lead form, or downloads some software.
1.2 - How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
When a visitor comes to your website and clicks on one of your merchant's links, a
tracking cookie is set on the visitor's computer. A cookie, in Internet terms, is nothing
more than a small text file that is placed on a user's computer when they visit a website.
This cookie tells a merchant that a visitor was referred by your website. When that visitor
makes a purchase, or completes some other action on a merchant's website, the merchant
gives you a commission. That's it!
You don't have to fulfill any products, handle customer service issues, or do anything
else. All you're doing is referring visitors from your website to a merchant's website.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 12
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
1.3 - The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing? What's in it for me? I'm glad you asked. Here is a summary of just a
few of the benefits you can experience as an affiliate:
Flexibility - Business on your terms
Perhaps the #1 benefit for affiliates is flexibility. I haven't had to punch a clock, report to
a boss, or sit in rush-hour traffic since I quit my day job and became a full-time affiliate. I
take vacations whenever I want. I never miss my kid's school or sporting events. And I've
never been happier!
Money - The only limit on your earning potential is you
Almost as nice as the flexibility, is the money. I don't consider it easy money; I've
worked hard for every dollar I've earned. However, I'm in control of what I make!
When you own an affiliate business you're in the driver's seat. If you need to make more
money, you just spend more time working on your affiliate business.
The nice thing about earning money from an affiliate business is that it can be residual.
Wait! What do I mean by residual? It means that my websites make money even when
I'm not working on them. This frees me up to build more money-making websites, which
also earn residual income. As you can see this has a multiplying effect. In the last 3 years
I have developed over 100 websites that have helped me to earn a substantial monthly
income. For the most part, these websites are self-sustaining. If I take a week off and go
on vacation my affiliate websites are still making money.
I’ve attached a graph that illustrates the power of residual earnings. Below you will see
my affiliate commissions for the past 3 years:
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 13
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
I didn’t attach this graph to boast, I simply wanted to demonstrate how you can grow an
affiliate business year after year. I launched High Performance Affiliate Marketing in
early 2006. Many people had assumed that I had cashed out and just wanted to make
money selling e-books, but I’m a big believer in practicing what you teach.
My affiliate websites are not 100% maintenance free. However, I only have to spend a
minimal amount of time each month maintaining them. This maintenance is mostly just
reviewing reports and trying to determine ways to earn more money.
Low Start-Up Costs - You don't have to mortgage your house to launch an affiliate
business
The costs associated with starting up a typical brick and mortar business range from tens
of thousands of dollars, to millions of dollars. This presents a huge obstacle for most
aspiring entrepreneurs. Even starting your own e-commerce website can be expensive
and difficult.
You can launch a quality affiliate website that can start generating instant cash for just a
few hundred dollars, even if you have little or no experience developing websites.
No Employees - Unless you count yourself
One of the biggest challenges facing business owners today is finding and managing
good employees. Employees can cost a business a lot of money. When you add up the
cost of an employee's salary, benefits, and other entitlements, it can add up quickly!
There are also hidden costs associated with having employees. Consider the costs of
unemployment if you have to lay off an employee. Consider the liability if an employee
gets hurt on the job. What if an employee sues you for wrongful termination? What if an
employee goes to work for one of your competitors?
As you can see it can be quite a burden to have employees working for your business.
With an affiliate business you can run the business without hired help. Not only does this
save you a lot of money, but it also eliminates risks associated with having employees on
your payroll.
No Inventory - All you need is a computer and an Internet connection
No need for an inventory when you have an affiliate business. The only "goods" you're
selling is information. You're delivering that information over the Internet, so there's no
need to deliver anything either. That's the beauty of having an information business or
becoming an infopreneur.
No Customer Service - Let someone else worry about it
Nearly every business has customers and therefore must provide customer service. An
affiliate business is unique because you don't necessarily have customers, but rather
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 14
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
website visitors. You are merely referring these website visitors to online merchants who
sell products and services. These merchants handle any customer service issues that may
arise.
Unlimited Products and Services to Promote - The possibilities are endless
Online merchants range from Fortune 500 companies like Wal-Mart®, to small
businesses like BackCountry.com, and everything in between. The selection of products
and services that you can promote with your affiliate websites is unlimited!
Market to a Global Audience - They don't call it the World Wide Web for nothing
The number of potential customers you can reach through your affiliate business keeps
growing every day. Millions of new users a month from all over the world are accessing
the web. This means that the marketplace is growing too. In 2006 the Internet welcomed
its 1 billionth user. The bigger the marketplace gets, the more opportunities you will have
to make money online.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 15
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
1.4 - Separating Fact from Fiction
There's a lot of hype right now about people making money online. You may have heard
or read stories about Internet entrepreneurs making millions of dollars a year in their
sleep, while their websites run on auto-pilot, only waking up to check their bank
balances, and play golf. On the other hand, you may have heard that the market is too
saturated, and that successes are few and far between. Don't believe the hype! This
section will identify some of the most common affiliate marketing myths, and help you
separate fact from fiction.
Fiction:
Running an affiliate business is easy.
Fact:
Running an affiliate business is easy when compared to the challenges of starting up a
traditional business. If you were to open up a brick and mortar business, you would have
to buy or lease a location, hire employees, carry inventory, and deliver products or
services to your customers. It is very expensive and time consuming to start a brick and
mortar business, and if you fail you have a lot to lose.
Running an affiliate business is also a lot easier than running your own e-commerce
website. With an affiliate website you simply refer visitors to merchants, and let the
merchants handle the transaction. Your job as an affiliate is over when the visitor lands
on the merchant's website. It's the merchant's responsibility to secure the transaction,
handle customer service, and deliver the product to the customer.
While it may be true that starting and managing an affiliate business is a lot easier than a
brick and mortar business, or e-commerce website, it's not entirely easy. Running a
successful affiliate business does require you to attract new website visitors and to get
those visitors to click through and do business with the merchants you're promoting.
Fiction:
Get rich quick!
Fact:
Building a successful affiliate business is not something that happens overnight. It takes
time to develop a good website with good content. It also takes time to build a constant
flow of visitors to your website. While you can make a lot of money with affiliate
marketing, don't expect to flip a switch and become a millionaire over night. Anyone
promoting these "get rich quick" schemes is only making themselves rich, while their
customer’s only hope to one day become rich.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 16
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Fiction:
The affiliate marketing space is too crowded.
Fact:
The potential for affiliates to be successful has never been better. Consider these facts:
• The population of web users continues to grow month after month, with no end in
sight!
• People are making more purchases online than ever before.
• More homes have broadband than ever before, making it easier to shop online.
• The web is the largest marketplace in the world. Reach hundreds of millions of
users!
It's never been easier to carve out a niche for yourself in affiliate marketing.
1.5 - How Does an Affiliate Earn Money?
There are four basic actions in which affiliates are paid when they send their visitors to a
merchant's website.
1. The visitor buys something from the advertiser (pay per sale).
2. The visitor completes a lead form (pay per lead).
3. The visitor downloads, installs, or uses some product or service (pay per
action).
4. The visitor clicks on a link and visits the merchant's website (pay per click).
Below are detailed explanations of each action:
Pay Per Sale:
Pay per sale is the most common type of affiliate program on the web. With pay per sale
you refer visitors to a merchant that sells products or services. You earn a commission
when that visitor buys something from the merchant. In most cases you earn a percentage
of the sale, but in some instances you may be given a flat dollar amount.
Most merchants that sell products online pay their affiliates a percentage of sales.
Merchants that fall into this category include, Home Depot®, REI®, Dell® Computers,
and most big e-tailers on the Internet.
Most of the merchants that pay their affiliates a flat dollar amount sell services.
Merchants who sell web hosting, online dating, and other online services tend to
compensate their affiliates with a flat dollar amount, rather than a percentage of the sale.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 17
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Advantages of Earning a Percentage of Sales
• You can earn a ton of cash on big ticket items.
(Example: You refer a customer who buys a $2,500 computer).
• You can earn a ton of cash when your visitors buy multiple items at once.
(Example: You refer a customer who buys a pair of shoes, matching purse and
jacket).
• Some merchants will pay their affiliates commissions on repeat purchases.
Disadvantages of Earning a Percentage of Sales
• Your visitor may buy a small ticket item.
(Example: The customer you referred buys a pair of socks, and never returns to
purchase anything else).
• Your visitor may return the merchandise, which could result in your commission
being reversed.
(Example: The shirt your visitor bought last week just doesn't fit right. They
return it, and your commission is reversed).
Pay Per Lead:
Pay per lead merchants are some of the most desirable merchants to promote. With pay
per lead you are compensated when your visitor completes an online lead form. Popular
pay per lead programs include merchants in the insurance, mortgage, and service
businesses.
Merchants will only pay affiliates for qualified and legitimate leads. For example, if you
send a California insurance company a lead from New York where the company cannot
provide insurance, that is an unqualified lead, and chances are you will not be
compensated for it. Another no-brainer is that merchants won't pay their affiliates for
leads with fake or incomplete data. A lead without a phone number or e-mail address is
no good to a merchant.
Conversion rates on pay per lead programs tend to be higher than pay per sale programs
because the visitor isn't buying anything; they're simply completing an online form. It's
much easier to get visitors to fill out a form than to buy something online. However, the
payout for a lead may be less than the payout for a good pay per sale program.
Advantages of Pay Per Lead Programs
• The conversion rate for pay per lead programs can be better than pay per sale.
• You can earn big commissions in industries like mortgage loans and insurance.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 18
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Disadvantages of Pay Per Lead Programs
• The commissions can be less than pay per sale programs.
• Some of the leads you send from your website may not be qualified.
Pay Per Action:
Pay per action programs pay their affiliates when their visitors download, install, or use
some product or service. Many of the merchants in this space are software companies or
web service companies that want customers to try their products or services.
Advantages of Pay Per Action Programs
• Your visitors don't have to buy anything. In most cases they just have to try some
software or web service.
Disadvantages of Pay Per Action Programs
• A visitor you refer may not meet the minimum software or hardware requirements
to install the software.
Pay Per Click:
Pay per click affiliate programs are almost non-existent now. Once a good idea, too many
affiliates defrauded merchants by clicking on their own affiliate links, or by creating
"click-bots" (software applications) that would automatically click on their links. The
cost and time involved with monitoring the fraud had become cost-prohibitive for many
merchants.
Advantages of Pay Per Click Programs
• Good conversion rates - The user simply clicks a link and visits the merchant's
website.
• If you have a lot of traffic, you could make a lot of money.
Disadvantages of Pay Per Click Programs
• Merchants that offer this type of affiliate program are few and far between.
• The payout per click can be very small.
Section 1: Affiliate Marketing 101 19
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An Important Note about Pay Per Click Programs
While many advertisers with affiliate programs are moving away from this payout model,
there are some popular contextual advertising networks such as Google AdSense, and the
Yahoo Publisher Network that are thriving under the Pay Per Click model. Contextual Ad
networks are outside the scope of this book, and will not be covered.
For more on pay per click (contextual ad networks) programs visit:
Google AdSense - https://www.google.com/adsense/
Yahoo Publisher Network - http://publisher.yahoo.com/
Kontera - http://www.kontera.com/
AdBrite – http://www.adbrite.com/
Chitika - https://chitika.com/
If you want to learn how to make more money with contextual advertising on your
website I recommend the following products:
Joel Comm’s Instant AdSense Templates
http://joelcomm.quityourdayjob.com
Michael Cheney’s AdSense Videos
http://michaelcheney.quityourdayjob.com
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 20
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Section 2: Finding Profitable Affiliate
Opportunities
It's impossible for me to overemphasize the importance of finding and selecting good
merchants. As an affiliate your job is to pre-sell a merchant's products or services. No
matter how good your marketing is the merchant still has to close the deal.
I've met several experienced affiliate marketers who seem to be doing everything right,
but are unable to be profitable when promoting certain merchants.
In addition to selecting the best merchants for your website, you need to make sure that
you are promoting the merchant's best converting products and services. There's no
substitute for experience, but using some due diligence may help you filter out some
poor converting products, services, and merchants in advance.
2.1 - What Interests You?
The easiest way to make money in affiliate marketing is by promoting products and
services that interest you. You can make money in categories that you know nothing
about, but it's always easiest to get started by promoting things you have an interest in.
For example, when I started in affiliate marketing I promoted online dating services.
Before I began working as an affiliate, I owned and operated an online dating site.
Because I was interested in online dating, and had a little experience running my own
dating site, it was easy for me to promote other dating services. My previous experiences
in online dating helped me to understand who the customers were, and what they were
looking for.
No matter what your interests are, I can assure you that there is an affiliate program that
caters to you. I went out to lunch with a friend of mine one time and he asked me what he
should promote. I asked him what he liked doing in his spare time. He mentioned that he
was really into playing video games. I suggested that he could create a gaming website
with video game reviews and strategies for his favorite games. He could feature
advertisers that sell video games like Amazon.com and WalMart.com on his site. After
just a few short months he was pulling in over a thousand dollars a month from his hobby
site.
Trying to promote products you don’t have a genuine interest in is a recipe for failure.
Too often new affiliates will ask me what products and services make the most money,
which is the wrong question to ask. If you don’t have passion and dedication your site
will go nowhere.
I’ve fallen into this trap a few times myself. In the past I would get a call from a merchant
telling me how much money I could make as one of their affiliates. I would spend the
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 21
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
next week building a site, doing keyword research, and launching campaigns only to be
disappointed by the results. If I had more interest in their products and services I may
have been able to figure out a way to make it work, but because I lacked passion my
campaigns fizzled. In the end, I wasted a lot of time and money. I promised myself from
that point on I would only promote products and services I was interested in.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 22
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Real Life Example:
You don't have to be an expert in your category. Simply having an interest or a desire to
learn more about something is enough. For example, I didn't know anything about Voice
over Internet (VOIP) a few months ago, but I was interested in learning more. So I spent
a few hours checking out different Voice over Internet providers, comparing features, and
trying to understand the benefits of using Voice over Internet instead of a traditional
phone line.
I even took it one step further and decided to try it out for myself. By becoming a Voice
over Internet customer, I really started to understand what the buzz was about. It was then
very easy for me to create a website and start promoting merchants in this category.
It's not necessary to buy or use every product or service you want to promote. If that were
the case, I would have dozens of credit cards in my wallet. However, it is important that
you understand the key benefits of each product so you are able to accurately and
effectively market the product.
Action Item:
If you haven’t yet decided what you’re going to promote take a few minutes to write
down some ideas:
What are your hobbies?
What are you passionate about?
Do you use a particular product or service that you’re always raving about to your friends
and family?
Do you belong to any clubs, have professional affiliates, or participate in any
communities? What products and services do you need to engage in these activities?
What products and services do you use that you might recommend to others? Write
down any products or brands that you use in your own life. You can categorize them by
home, personal, and work.
Have you recently searched for something online, but couldn’t find good information or
reviews about a product or service?
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 23
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2.2 - Researching the Market
Once you have decided on a category to promote, it's time to start researching the market.
What is the demand for the products and services you want to promote? How many
competitors are there? These are just a few of the questions you must ask yourself before
going any further.
2.2.1 - Start with a High Level Overview
I strongly recommend evaluating the overall market conditions of the products and
services you are looking to promote. Keep your ears and eyes open to current news and
events related to your category. See how some of the top merchants in your category are
performing. Find out what industry experts are saying.
At this point you are just trying to gauge the overall health of the category you are
interested in. You don't have to be a stock market analyst to perform this type of research.
The only tool that you need is a good search engine.
Example:
The overall market for dial-up internet service is shrinking in the US. More people are
switching to broadband because it's faster, more reliable, and more convenient than dialup.
I'm sure this information didn't come as a big surprise to you. This information is widely
available in the search engines and other media outlets.
You may still be able to make money by promoting dial-up internet service providers, but
the overall demand is shifting to broadband. As an affiliate, which trend would you rather
follow?
5 Tips for identifying Hot Products to Promote
1. Subscribe to Magazines and Newsletters for Your Product Niche – Stay a step
ahead of your competition by getting information about upcoming product
releases before everyone else does. I subscribe to dozens of trade publications,
newsletters, and magazines in the product categories I promote. Often times I’ll
be the only person bidding on a new product keyword, which allows me to build a
good click-through history before the product becomes mainstream.
2. Read Industry Blogs – Use a Blog/RSS reader like BlogLines
(http://www.bloglines.com) or Google Reader http://reader.google.com to
subscribe to the top blogs in your niche. For example, if you promoted tech
gadgets you would want to subscribe to Engadget http://www.engadget.com/ or
Gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.com/
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 24
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
3. Become a Customer – If you want to get the latest coupons, promotions and
product releases become a customer of the merchant’s you’re promoting. I also
recommend that you subscribe to their customer newsletter, and read their press
releases and corporate blog.
4. Use Google News Alerts – Google has a keyword alert service
(http://www.google.com/alerts) that will send you an automated message anytime
there is news or information about your selected keyword(s). I use this service to
keep current on industries I work in and news about competitors.
5. Participate in Investor Calls – If you want to get the inside scoop on a company
listen-in on the quarterly investor calls. During these calls company executives
will often talk about top selling products and the outlook for specific product and
service categories. To get a schedule of investor calls for your publicly-traded
merchants visit Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com.
2.2.2 - Measure the Demand
One of the best ways to determine the demand for a category is by doing some keyword
research using the Google Keywords Tool
(https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal).
To begin, I recommend coming up with a short list of keywords related to the
product/service category that you're interested in.
Here are some examples of “seed” keywords you can research:
• Generic terms and phrases used to describe your niche
• Product or service names
• Company or brand names
Once you have a short list of seed keywords, enter them into the Google Keywords Tool.
While you’re searching take time to record the keywords and the number of searches into
a spreadsheet. This will allow you to add up the total number of searches for the
keywords that you have researched.
For your convenience, I’ve included a “Keyword Research” template as an add-on to
High Performance Affiliate Marketing. This template is available in the zip file bundled
with your e-book. The file is called “keyword-research-template.xls”.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 25
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Digital Camera Exercise:
Let's say that you're interested in digital photography. You aren't really an expert, but 6
months ago you spent a lot of time researching and planning your own digital camera
purchase. Imagine you went to some review or shopping comparison websites. Maybe
you went down to your local electronics store and chatted with the Salesman. In any case,
you probably know a little more than the average person does about buying a digital
camera.
As you were researching your digital camera purchase, you stumbled upon several
different camera brands. You probably learned a little bit about the various features and
benefits of digital cameras too. Now, let's come up with a quick list of seed keywords we
can use to evaluate the demand for digital cameras.
What are some popular digital camera brands?
• Canon
• Casio
• Fuji
• Kodak
• Nikon
• Sony
What are some of the features or benefits you were looking for when you bought
your camera?
• 5 megapixel cameras
• SLR cameras
• Sleek and slim cameras
• Professional digital cameras
Did you purchase any camera accessories?
• Photo printer
• Photo paper
• Camera memory cards
• Spare camera batteries
As you can see, it doesn't take much effort to come up with a simple keyword list. Now
you can enter these keywords into the Google Keywords Tool. We’ll start by searching
for one of the brand name keywords: "Canon digital camera".
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 26
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Here is a screenshot of the results:
Figure 2.2.2.a Google Keyword Tool
This screenshot shows you the search volume for the previous month, along with the
advertiser competition for each keyword. The green bars represent a general low-to-high
guide to help you determine how competitive a particular keyword is.
This tool will also show you variations and related keywords for the search terms you
research. At this point you’re not building a comprehensive keyword list; you’re just
trying to assess overall demand for your niche. For example, you may notice some of
your keywords have a lot of competition. This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t
compete in this category, it simply means you will need to differentiate yourself and try
to stand out from the competition.
Understand Seasonal Demand for Your Niche
Many products and services will have periods throughout the year where the search
volume will increase, stay flat, or even decrease. Some products may only be hot during
certain times of the year. For example, trying to sell somebody tax software after April
15th is like trying to sell sand in the desert – there’s just no need for it. However, if you’re
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 27
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
selling tax software during the first 3 months of the year (January - March) it’s more akin
to selling water in the desert, the need is high.
Even products that don’t have such a pronounced season will have spikes throughout the
year. For example, PCs and notebooks tend to peak in August/September for the “back to
school” season and again in November/December for the holiday season. I also
discovered that search volume during spring months is surprisingly high.
To get a seasonal perspective on your niche I recommend using the “Search Volume
Trends” within the Google Keywords Tool. When you select this option, Google will plot
out the search volume by month. I’ve included a screenshot for our keyword “Canon
Digital Camera”:
Figure 2.2.2.b Google Keyword Search Trends
From this graphic you can see that searches for Canon Digital Cameras started to climb
during the holiday season and peaked in January. You can probably make money
promoting Canon’s digital cameras year round, but this search will show you when
demand is at its highest.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 28
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
A Note about Keyword Volume
You will notice that Google does not provide you with the actual number of searches for
your keywords; I guess they consider this proprietary data. As of this writing Yahoo still
provides volume estimates on the Yahoo Search Network through the Keyword
Suggestion Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/, however,
this tool will soon be phased out.
Keyword research tools like WordTracker and KeywordDiscovery have search volume
estimates built-in, but it’s my opinion that this data is only a rough estimate of actual
search volume. In some instances the search volume from these tools is much higher or
lower than the real search volume on Google and other top search engines.
2.2.3 - Check out the Competition
After you have determined that there is adequate demand for your niche, it's time to
evaluate the competition. There are two methods I use to evaluate the competition.
Method 1 - Check the Competition in Paid Search Listings
One of the best ways to check out the competition is to review the paid search listings in
the top search engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN). Paid search listings appear at the top
and the right side of the search results page. They're generally marked "Sponsored
Results".
To check out the competition in the paid search listings, take the keyword list that you
used to evaluate the demand for your niche and enter these same keywords into the
respective search engines.
When you’re sizing up the competition in paid search, think about the following
questions:
What keywords are most competitive? What keywords are less competitive?
As you’re doing keyword research take note of which keywords may be too competitive,
and try to identify keywords with less competition. Remember if you’re not on the first
page of the paid search results your business doesn’t exist in the mind of the customer.
I recommend that you use the Google Keywords Tool to evaluate the ratio of search
volume to competition in paid search. In the example below I compare the search volume
for two popular Canon camcorders:
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 29
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Figure 2.2.3.a – Compare Search Volume for Camcorders
As you can see the keyword “canon elura 100” had more searches in February, but less
competition. Conversely the keyword “canon optura 100” had fewer searches, but
significantly more competition. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t target
the Optura camcorder, but you do need to recognize that there will be more competitors
bidding on that product.
What keywords have the highest bid prices? What keywords have lower bid prices?
While you’re surveying the competitive landscape you need to estimate average click
costs for your keywords. Using the Google Keywords Tool you can get click cost
estimates by selecting “Cost and Ad Position Estimates” from the drop down menu.
In the graphic below I used the keywords “canon elura” and “canon optura from our
previous example.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 30
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Figure 2.2.3.b – View Keyword Bids
I’ve found these estimates to be fairly accurate in terms of click cost and ad position, but
if you write poor ad copy or bid on keywords that aren’t relevant to your website than
your click costs will most likely go up as your ad position is lowered. It may seem
counter-intuitive that your ad position would fall while your costs go up, but Google
rewards relevant ads.
How many competitors are showing up for various keyword searches?
When researching a new niche I like to see how many competitors are showing up for
various keyword phrases. General keywords containing 1-2 keywords will generally have
the most competition and the most traffic. These words can be very expensive to bid on
as an affiliate. Keyword phrases that contain between 3-5 words are more specific and in
many cases have less competition. The traffic volume for these keywords tends to be
lower, but in my experience they often convert better.
I’ve attached an illustration on the next page that demonstrates this:
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 31
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Figure 2.2.3.b – Sponsored Search Results for “HP Pavilion”
In this example you can see that there are 3 pages of sponsored links for the keyword
“HP Pavilion”.
In the illustration below we’ll do this same sponsored search for the keyword “HP
Pavilion a1520e”. (Image on the following page)
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 32
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Figure 2.2.3.b – Sponsored Search Results for “HP Pavilion a1520e”
In this example the keyword “HP Pavilion a1520e” only returns 7 results, compared to 24
results for the more generic term “HP Pavilion”.
In some cases it may cost more money to bid on specific keywords, but that can be an
indication that the keyword converts better for the advertisers bidding on it. For example,
if you do a search for “personal injury lawyer” in Google you will note that it costs $0.50
more to bid on the keyword “Chicago personal injury lawyer” than “personal injury
lawyer” by itself. This is because the users search is more specific and targeted.
Tips for Researching Competition in Paid Search
When you do a search at www.google.com you get both paid and natural search results. If
you want to filter the results to show only paid advertisers go to
http://www.google.com/sponsoredlinks and enter your search phrase.
Which competitors are showing up consistently during your keyword searches?
There can be many different types of advertisers bidding on a particular keyword. As an
affiliate you’re competing with manufacturers, resellers, vendors and other affiliates for
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 33
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screen real estate. As you’re doing keyword research pay special attention to the type of
advertisers bidding on your keywords.
Take time to note if there are other affiliates bidding on your keywords. At first glance it
may seem like a good thing if you don’t see other affiliates, but it can also mean that
others have tried and failed. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will fail, but you
should try to understand what could be preventing other affiliates from bidding on those
keywords. It’s possible that you uncovered a niche with little competition, but it could
also mean that bid prices were too high or the conversion rate was too low.
As you’re reviewing your competitor’s search listings and websites try to observe their
strengths and weaknesses. Can you find any hidden opportunities? Where can you add
value? What can you do to differentiate yourself from the competition?
Method 2 - Check the Competition in the Natural Search Listings
In addition to evaluating the competition through the paid search listings, it's also a good
idea to see which competitors are showing up in the natural search listings. Advertisers
cannot pay to be at the top of the natural search listings. Natural search listings are
determined by the search engine's own algorithms. Natural search listings appear in the
main body of the search results page.
Don't be alarmed, but there are going to be A LOT more results showing up in natural
search listings than paid search. This is because the search engines are going to display
every web page that mentions the keyword that you have typed in, including blogs,
forums, classifieds and other non-commercial results. Most of these websites will not be
competing directly with you, so don't be intimidated by the number of results returned.
Google Natural Search Example:
To determine how many pages are showing up in the natural search listings, all you need
to do is type your keywords into the search box of your favorite search engine. If your
keyword contains more than one word, you should place the entire keyword phrase in
quotes, which will ensure that the results contain that exact keyword phrase and not just
pages that contain any combination of those words.
Tip
Another way to determine how many competitors you have is to search for your keyword
with Google's allintitle operator (allintitle:"keyword"). The allintitle operator will tell you
how many web pages use your keywords in their page's title tag. The title tag is
commonly used to optimize a web page for a particular keyword.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 34
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
For this demonstration we’ll use the keyword “HP Pavilion a1520e” from our previous
example. Let’s start by entering in the keyword without quotes:
Figure 2.2.3.f – Natural Search Results for “HP Pavilion a1520e”
From this illustration you can see that Google returned 13,200 result pages for our
keyword phrase. Keep in mind that this search returns all pages that contain our
keywords, regardless of word order. If we encapsulate this same keyword phrase in
quotes there will be fewer and more targeted results because Google will only return
pages that contain our exact keyword phrase:
Figure 2.2.3.g – Natural Search Results for “HP Pavilion a1520e” using
phrase search
By limiting results to pages that contain our exact keyword phrase you get a better idea of
how many competitors may be optimizing their sites for this keyword. Google lists 962
pages, compared to 13,200 when using broad search.
What You Need to Look for When Sizing-Up the Competition in Natural Search
One keyword search may return 1,000,000 results, while another only returns 1,000.
Regardless of the number of results returned the only positions that really matter are 1-
10. Your listing will be invisible to most users if you’re site is on page two, and you can
forget about getting any traffic from the search engines if you’re on page 11.
If you’re planning on getting traffic from search engine optimization efforts you need to
determine how difficult it would be to crack the top 10.
At this point you are just trying to get a feel for the competition. Don't be intimidated
when you do a search for one of your keywords and it returns 182,000 results in the
natural search listings. This DOES NOT mean there are 182,000 competitors jockeying
for top position in the search engines. It just means the keyword is mentioned in that
many places on the web.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 35
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2.2.4 What is Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
In the previous sections I talked about finding a niche, how to determine if there is
enough demand, and evaluating your competition in paid and natural search results. This
is all important material, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have a unique selling
proposition (USP).
A USP is what makes you stand out from the crowd; it differentiates you from the
competition. The content you provide your visitors is more important than the number of
competitors in the search results, or click prices.
Your website has to fill a need and offer prospective website visitors some kind of value.
Give people a reason to click on your ad and buy from your merchant partners.
A quick and easy way that you can offer value to your visitors is to write-up a
personalized review on a product or service you’ve used. When you share your personal
experience and opinion about a product you’re giving your visitors a unique perspective
they can’t easily find at another website.
Another way you can add value is by writing up a tutorial or guide for using a product or
service. I’ve produced articles and made screen capture videos showing people how to
use software. Not only did this content give my visitors value they couldn’t find
anywhere else, but it gave them even more motivation to buy the products I was
promoting.
2.2.5 Market Research Summary
Before you get too far into your project, it's important to do some initial research. Think
about some of the consequences of skipping any one of these steps...
What could happen if you don't do a high-level overview?
• The product or service you want to promote could be on its way to becoming
obsolete. Would you invest time and money into building a website that promoted
film cameras? Sure there's still demand, but even Kodak, who invented the film
camera, is moving away from film.
What could happen if you don't measure the demand for your category?
• Your category focus could be too narrow. You may think everyone is as
passionate about "unicycle hockey" as you are, only to find out there's not enough
money in the sport to pay your monthly web hosting bill.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 36
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What could happen if you don't check out the competition?
• You could invest time and money into a website that will never be profitable. If
your website is focused on keywords that are too expensive or too competitive,
you will never be successful. You can make money in any category online; you
just have to focus on the right keywords within that category. If you decide to
target a highly competitive niche you should identify a segment within that
category that you can target and offer the most value.
2.3 – How to Identify Merchants with Good Affiliate
Programs
After you have carefully researched your category, it's time to start finding potential
merchants to promote. This section is dedicated to helping you find the best merchants
within your category.
After you have found a list of potential merchants for your website, you will want to
carefully evaluate each of their offers. As an affiliate, you want to send your valuable
traffic to the merchant with the best conversion and commission rates. Your job as an
affiliate, is to pre-sell the customer on a particular product or service. If your merchants
can't close the sale, then all of your work is for nothing. Before I start promoting any
merchant, I carefully consider all of the criteria outlined in this section. Once you're up
and running with a merchant, you will want to continually monitor their performance.
There are three ways to find merchants with affiliate programs:
1. Join an affiliate network
2. Search online for affiliate programs
3. Go directly to a merchant's website
1. Join an Affiliate Network
Perhaps the easiest way to find merchants is by joining an affiliate network. An affiliate
network is a trusted third party company that handles all of the transactions between
affiliates and merchants. In addition to handling all of the transactions, affiliate networks
provide detailed reporting, and handle payments between merchants and affiliates.
There are many advantages to partnering with an affiliate network:
• A trusted third party tracks all of the transactions.
• You get one consolidated payment, rather than individual checks from each
merchant.
• Consolidated reporting allows you to run numbers on all of your merchants in one
place.
• A single place to find and review merchants offers.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 37
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• Some networks allow you to compare merchant’s performance side by side. This
takes some of the guesswork out of finding good merchants.
• It's 100% free!
There are dozens of affiliate networks out there. The two biggest networks are
Commission Junction, and LinkShare. These two networks attract some of the biggest
and best online merchants. Some of Commission Junction's merchants include Yahoo,
eBay, Home Depot, and Citi Group, and thousands more. Some of LinkShare's merchants
include Wal-Mart, Dell, Avon, and Apple.
More Affiliate Networks to Consider:
• Azoogle Ads (www.azoogleads.com) – If you’re looking for some of the top pay
per lead offers in the industry Azoogle has some of the best programs. I’ve been
very impressed by their willingness to help affiliates at all levels succeed.
• Share a Sale (www.shareasale.com) - The favorite network of many affiliates.
They provide all of the enhanced functionality and reliability of the big networks.
The only drawback is that they don't have a lot of big name merchants.
• ClickBank (www.clickbank.com) - If you are into promoting "info products", or
software, ClickBank has thousands of merchants.
• OneNetworkDirect (www.onenetworkdirect.com) – If you plan on promoting
software products I highly recommend OneNetworkDirect.
Go to Section 2 Resources to see more affiliate networks.
2. Search Online for Affiliate Programs
Another great way to find merchants with affiliate programs is to simply search for them
using your favorite search engine. When I'm looking for prospective merchants to
promote on my website, I search for terms like: "{Merchant} Affiliate Program", or
"{Category} Affiliate Programs". {Merchant} represents a specific merchant and
{Category} represents a specific category. By searching for merchants this way, you may
have your eyes opened to some opportunities you never even knew existed.
The main advantage of using a search engine to find affiliate programs is that you're able
to find merchants who run in-house or self-managed affiliate programs. I'll discuss the
pros and cons of these self-managed affiliate programs later on in this chapter.
3. Go Directly to a Merchant's Website
One of the most straightforward ways to find out if a particular merchant has an affiliate
program is to visit their website. Most merchants with an affiliate program place a link in
the footer of their website. Look for a link titled "Affiliates" or "Partners". If you're
unable to find a link to their affiliate program in the website footer, checkout their
sitemap. In most cases, if a merchant has an affiliate program, you will be able to find it
in one of these places.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 38
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If you're not able to find a link to their affiliate program anywhere on their website, you
can try using their contact form to inquire about their affiliate program. Some companies
don't like to advertise that they have an affiliate program. For example, Chase® Bank,
which has a credit card affiliate program does not disclose anywhere on their website that
they have an affiliate program. This is because Chase's affiliate program is by invitation
only. This is the only invite-only program I have ever seen. Most of the time when you
can't find a link it's because the merchant either overlooked it, or forgot to put links to
their affiliate program on their website.
2.4 - Selecting the Best Merchants to Promote
Now that you know where to find merchants, you need to understand how to select the
best merchants. There are several factors to consider when selecting merchants for your
website. By using the guidelines outlined in this section you will know what to look for
when sizing up merchants.
In addition to the criteria outlined in the following section I’ve attached a Merchant
Scorecard that I co-developed with the training department at Commission Junction. This
Scorecard will help you compare merchants side-by-side using objective criteria. The
main objective of this tool is to get you to think about all the factors that go into selecting
good merchant partners.
2.4.1 If You Were a Customer
The first thing I do when evaluating a merchant's affiliate program is put myself in the
shoes of their customer. If you were a prospective customer would you buy products or
services from this merchant?
Some things you may consider as a potential customer:
• Are they a reputable company?
• Do they have good pricing?
• Do they have a good selection?
• What is their return policy?
• Is their website easy to use?
• Is their website secure?
• What makes them stand out from their competitors?
Before I consider promoting a particular merchant, I visit their website and use it like a
customer would. In many cases I'll even buy something from them so that I can evaluate
their shopping cart and checkout processes.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 39
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Real Life Example:
In early 2005 I had considered promoting a skin care company. Before I invested time
and effort into promoting them, I decided to checkout their website. Everything looked
good initially. The site was easy to use, their offer was compelling, and the site was
secure. I decided to take it a step further and actually order some of their anti-wrinkle
cream. As I was checking out there was a big red message on their checkout page that
read: "We do not currently accept Visa".
I was blown away! How could any website not accept Visa as a form of payment? Visa is
the most popular and widely used credit card in the world. Why would I bother
promoting a company that doesn't accept Visa?
As you can see, putting yourself in the shoes of the customer can help you eliminate
problematic merchants up-front. Think of what may have happened if I had started
promoting this merchant without first doing this important research.
Tip:
I highly recommend doing a test purchase with your prospective merchants. You don't
have to spend a lot of money to perform a successful test, and the information is
invaluable. If you're not planning on keeping the merchandise that you buy, I suggest you
buy something ultra-cheap that can easily be returned or cancelled*. I didn't need the
wrinkle cream that I attempted to purchase, but I had nothing to lose because it was a free
sample. I only had to pay a small charge for shipping.
* Make sure that you're aware of the merchants return or cancellation policies.
2.4.2 Does it make Sense for Your Website Visitors?
Does the merchant offer products and services that your website visitors would be
interested in? Are the merchant's products and services relevant to your website? The
more relevant your merchant's offerings are to your content, the more likely your visitors
will be to click through and buy.
2.4.3 Sales and Reporting Considerations
It's important to understand how a merchant will be tracking sales. Do they use a trusted
third-party affiliate network like Commission Junction? Do they use industry-standard
affiliate tracking software like My Affiliate Program? Do they have their own internal
tracking solution?
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 40
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What Kind of Reporting Do They Offer?
As an affiliate, it's critical to know detailed information about each of your merchants.
Different merchants may provide different statistics. If the merchant belongs to an
affiliate network or uses industry-standard affiliate tracking software, the reporting
capabilities will be fairly consistent. The more detailed reporting a merchant provides, the
more information you will have to make decisions about your campaigns. As an affiliate,
I would rather have too much information than not enough.
It's also important that the reports are updated frequently. The faster you have
information, the faster you will be able to take action. Some merchants offer real-time
reporting, which is very helpful. Some merchants will batch their transactions daily,
while others may batch their transactions weekly.
Real Life Example:
One of the challenges of promoting credit cards is the delayed reporting. Most credit card
companies compensate their affiliates based on approved credit card applications. This
can take anywhere from 1-6 weeks depending on the credit card offer. Imagine if you
were spending money on a pay per click campaign only to find out 6 weeks later that you
have been losing money the entire time!
Here are some of the most important statistics I look for in my reports:
• How many clicks did I send to the merchant?
• What time and date did the visitor make a purchase?
• What items did they purchase?
• How much commission did I earn?
2.4.4 How Many Return Days?
Return Days are the number of days after a visitor clicks on your affiliate link for which
you will still receive commissions. Your website visitors may not always complete a
purchase at the time they click through to a merchant's website. Return Days allow
merchants to compensate you for sales that occur after a visitor's initial click-through
from your website. The longer the Return Days, the more opportunities you will have to
get a commission. Return Days are tracked using cookies.
The length of a Return cookie varies by merchant. Some merchants only offer sessionbased
cookies. This means that the visitor must make a purchase within the same session
that they clicked on your affiliate link. Once they close their browser, the Return cookie
expires. If the visitor were to return to the merchant's website the next day, you would not
get a commission.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 41
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Other merchants have permanent Return cookies. Permanent Return cookies have no
expiration date. This means that if a visitor clicks on your affiliate link you will get a
commission no matter when the visitor returns back to make a purchase. The only
exceptions being that the visitor deletes the cookies on their computer, or another affiliate
is credited with the sale because the visitor clicked on their affiliate link more recently
than yours. (The affiliate whose link is clicked on last is usually credited with the sale.)
I prefer to work with merchants that have a Return cookie that lasts 30 days or more. This
allows me to receive commissions for visitors that are at the beginning of the buying
cycle and aren't quite ready to make a purchase. The majority of your website visitors
may purchase from your merchant's website within 24 hours, but many will wait a few
days or a even few weeks to make a purchase. As a rule of thumb, I don't work with
merchants that don't at least have a 7 day Return cookie.
2.4.5 What is the Merchant's Reversal Rate?
A merchant's reversal rate is not something that should be overlooked. Reversals can
happen for a number of reasons:
• Products or services were returned by the customer
• The order was cancelled by the customer
• The order was fraudulent
• The order could not be fulfilled by the merchant (out of stock)
Unfortunately, reversal rates are not published by the merchants. I recommend that you
either call or e-mail the Affiliate Program Manager to get this information. If you know
another affiliate that is currently promoting a particular merchant, you may want to ask
them too. Your reversal rate may be higher or lower depending on a number of factors,
but it's nice to get a general idea before you proceed to work with a merchant.
Real Life Example:
Reversal rates vary by industry and merchant. One of the highest return rates I have ever
witnessed is in the online shoes category. Return rates average between 20-40%. This
return rate must be factored into your profitability calculations or you will be sorely
disappointed when the reversals come through. This doesn't mean that you can't make a
profit from shoes; I know several affiliates that do, despite the high reversal rate.
2.4.6 Payment Considerations
Almost as important as HOW MUCH you get paid is WHEN you get paid. If your
merchant runs their affiliate program through an affiliate network, like Commission
Junction, you will be compensated when the affiliate network sends out payments. Most
affiliate networks send out payments monthly. These payments generally include all of
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 42
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
the prior month's transactions. For example, if you made 10 sales in January for a
merchant, you would receive your commissions the following month (February). This
allows merchants to verify all of the transactions before a payment is issued. This is
necessary because in some cases a sale may be reversed because of a fraudulent or
problematic order.
If your merchant runs an independent affiliate program, you will be compensated on their
time-table. Some merchants may pay their affiliates every 2 weeks, while others pay
them once a quarter (Amazon.com). Generally speaking, most independent merchants
compensate their affiliates on a monthly basis similar to the affiliate networks.
Many international affiliates (outside of the US and Canada) may experience additional
payment delays. If you are an international affiliate, check with your merchant or affiliate
network for more details about your payment schedule. In most cases the delay is
minimal.
How Do You Get Paid?
Most merchants and affiliate networks will send you a commission check. Many
merchants now offer direct deposit. This is my preferred method of payment. You tend to
get your payment faster and it's more reliable than the postal service. Plus, I hate trying to
track down checks every month; it's nice to know the money is in the bank!
Do They Offer Custom Payouts for Top Affiliates?
Merchants will often reward their top affiliates by offering them better payouts and
commission rates. Look for merchants that offer bonuses and increased commissions for
top performers. Some merchants will publish their custom rates in their program terms,
while other merchants have unpublished commission rates. If you don't see anything
published in the merchant's program terms, you will want to call or e-mail the Affiliate
Manager to find out if they have unpublished payouts for top affiliates.
Tip:
It's worth talking to your merchants about custom rates. Some of the merchants I promote
pay me double their published rate.
2.4.7 Check out the Merchant's Feedback
Before I join a merchant's affiliate program, I like to see what other affiliates are saying
about them. Keep in mind that people are more likely to complain about a merchant than
they are to give praise. When you are reading comments on a blog or a forum try to
weigh the feedback objectively.
*See the Section 2 Resources for a list of affiliate forums and blogs.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 43
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
What are Their Customers Saying?
In addition to reading comments from other affiliates, I like to see what a merchant's
customers are saying about them. Don't just take the merchant's own testimonials into
account. Try and browse forums and blogs to get a general feeling for the overall
satisfaction of the merchant's customers.
2.4.8 What Kind of Marketing Material Do They Offer?
Good merchants know how important it is to provide their affiliates with good marketing
material. Some merchants only offer standard banners and text links. This type of
marketing collateral is generally not effective. Banners no longer work because of banner
blindness. Banners are mostly ignored by users who are just looking for good content.
Examples of good marketing material:
• Electronic product catalogs (datafeed) - With a good electronic product catalog,
an affiliate can market specific products and services for a merchant. Product
catalogs should include pictures, good descriptions, and specific URL's that point
to destination pages on the merchant's website.
• Affiliate links with custom destination pages - The worst place to send a visitor
from your affiliate website is to a merchant's home page. Home pages are not
optimized for sales conversions. Good merchants will provide their affiliates with
deep links that point to specific areas of their website optimized for sales
conversions.
• Content links or web pages - Many merchants will provide their affiliates with
content for their website. This is an easy and fast way to start promoting a
merchant. You may find that by customizing the content for your visitors, you
will have more success. Plus, if several affiliate partners are using the same exact
content, it will be hard to make your offer stand out from the crowd.
• Keyword lists - Some merchants will provide a recommended list of keywords
for their affiliate partners. Sometimes the keyword lists are general, other times
they're very specific and comprehensive.
• Websites - A few merchants are now providing their affiliates with entire
websites. If the merchant provides a website, all you have to do is register a
domain name, and point it to your affiliate website. In some cases the merchant
may even provide you with a unique domain name. All you have to do is drive
traffic to the website. You don't have to worry about hosting or updating the
website because it's all handled by the merchant.
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 44
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Section 2 Resources
Tools to Measure Keyword/Market Demand:
Use these keyword tools to evaluate the supply and demand for a particular niche or
keyword.
Google AdWords: Keyword Tool - adwords.google.com
WordTracker - www.wordtracker.com (free trial)
KeywordDiscovery – www.keyworddiscovery.com
NicheBot – www.nichebot.com
Affiliate Networks:
Consider joining one or more of these affiliate networks to find merchants.
Commission Junction - www.cj.com
Linkshare - www.linkshare.com
Azoogle Ads – www.azoogleads.com
Shareasale.com - www.shareasale.com
ClickBank - www.clickbank.com
One Network (Digital River) - onenetwork.digitalriver.com
PartnerWeekly - www.partnerweekly.com
LinkConnector - www.linkconnector.com
DirectLeads - www.directleads.com
ClixGalore - www.clixgalore.com
MaxBounty - www.maxbounty.com
DarkBlue - www.darkblue.com
Section 2: Finding Products and Services to Promote 45
©Copyright 2005-2007, Quit Your Day Job, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Affiliate Forums and Blogs:
See what other affiliates are saying at one of these forums.
BumpZee – www.bumpzee.com Social network for affiliates.
5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums - affiliate-marketingforums.
5staraffiliateprograms.com
Associate Programs - www.associateprograms.com
Revenews - www.revenews.com
Affiliate Tip - www.affiliatetip.com
Section 3: Keywords – The Foundation of your Success 46
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