Making Money with Articles: The Best Place to Put Affiliate Links on Your Website

Where you place your affiliate links on your website can really make a difference on how many clicks you end up getting and, since every click means a potential sale, this is an important aspect of internet marketing.

Research has shown that the most effective affiliate links are text links. Yes, plain text links. Not big flashy banner ads like most affiliate website are filled to the brim with. What happens is, you write a great article (or have one created) about the product or something related to the product and stick the link into your text. This allows interested readers to see the link as they are reading and click on it.

Of course, your article and your link have to work effectively together to make this happen. A bad article and an unrelated link to an unknown product are not likely to make the profits roll in.

So the next time you are out to choose an affiliate link, try placing a relevant link in a great article that is well optimized for search engines and see how it works out for you.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a derivative of Internet marketing where the advertisement publisher gets paid for every customer or sales provided by him. Affiliate marketing is the basic for all other Internet marketing strategies.

In this type of marketing, affiliate management companies, in-house affiliate managers and third party vendors are effectively utilized to use E-mail Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, RRS Capturing and Display Advertising for the success of the product. The web traffic can be traced with the help of a third party or own affiliate programs. A lot of work is involved in this process. At first marketing by this method involved lots of spamming, false advertising, trademark infringement, etc. But, after the invention of complex algorithms and advance security this has been regularized to make it safer for doing business and shopping online. This even led to the better scrutinizing of the terms and conditions by the merchants. Affiliate marketing became more profiting with the opening of more opportunities but at the same time it also increased the competition in marketing.

Due to this pressure in house affiliate programs for merchants became a thing of the past and were replaced by out-sourced programs. The companies that offered this service have expert affiliate and network program managers who have various affiliate program management techniques.  These affiliate networks have publishers associated with them who help them with the advertising part.

Affiliate marketing was started by cdnow.com who had music oriented websites. They placed list of music albums on their site and they paid others if they put those links in their websites when a visitor bought their album through their site. The first company to link with cdnow.com was Geffen Records. Two months later, Amazon was offered by a woman that she would sell Amazon’s books on her website and she should be paid a certain percentage in return if she sold Amazon’s books through her site. They liked the idea and started the Amazon associates program. It was more of a commission program where they received a commission if a visitor clicked their links and banners on other’s site and bought anything through it.

Since its invention, the affiliate network has been adopted by various businesses like travel, education, telecom, mobile, gaming, personal finance, retail, and subscription sites, the most common being adult and gambling sectors. In UK alone, affiliate marketing produced £ 2.16 billion.

The compensation methods used are Cost per sale (CPS), Cost per action (CPA), Cost per mile (CPM) and Cost per click (CPC). The first two are the more famous methods today. This is because in CPM and CPC, the visitor which turns up on a particular website might not be the targeted audience and a click would be enough to generate commission. CPS and CPA have a compulsion that the visitor not only clicks on the link but also buys something or signs up for some service after it which proves that he is among the targeted audience. Only in the above case the affiliate gets paid. So the affiliate should try to send as much targeted traffic as possible to the advertiser in order to increase his/her returns and for this reason affiliate marketing is also known as performance marketing because it totally depends on the performance of the affiliate. The affiliate team can be differentiated from a sales team from the nature of their jobs. The job of the affiliate team is to drag targeted traffic to a point and from that
point it’s the job of the sales team to influence the visitor to buy the product or the service.

This is a very effective kind of method because the money is being paid only when results have been achieved. The publisher incurs all the cost except that of initial setup and development of the program, which is incurred by the merchant. Many businesses give credit to this method of marketing for their success.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Making Money with Articles: The Best Place to Place Affiliate Links on Your Website

Where you place your affiliate links on your website can really make a difference on how many clicks you end up getting and, since every click means a potential sale, this is an important aspect of internet marketing.

Research has shown that the most effective affiliate links are text links. Yes, plain text links. Not big flashy banner ads like most affiliate website are filled to the brim with. What happens is, you write a great article (or have one created) about the product or something related to the product and stick the link into your text. This allows interested readers to see the link as they are reading and click on it.

Of course, your article and your link have to work effectively together to make this happen. A bad article and an unrelated link to an unknown product are not likely to make the profits roll in.

So the next time you are out to choose an affiliate link, try placing a relevant link in a great article that is well optimized for search engines and see how it works out for you.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Dealing with WAHM stereotypes

One of the hardest issues to contend with as a WAHM is the perception of others that you aren’t working. Many people think that working at home isn’t working at all, and that you have all of the free time in the world. Those who have spent any time working at home know that there is a lot of time and energy that goes into effectively working at home. Friends who call in the middle of the day, spouses who expect you to be doing more while home or family members who make offhand comments, can undermine those efforts.

Not all stay at home moms work, and if you have friends who don’t it can be hard for them to understand that your days aren’t free. Calls during your working time, invitations to lunch and uninvited guests can throw a wrench in your work schedule. In order to get your friends to respect your time, it’s important to make your working schedule clear to them.

If you don’t have a clear work schedule, then it is time to make one for yourself. By setting office hours for yourself, you make it clear to everyone around you that you are serious about your work. It will also help set boundaries for your time. Tell your friends that you will be unavailable from a certain time to a certain time, but you’d love to talk before or after those times. You may even go so far as to turn off your phone. If you do answer the phone and someone wants to chat, politely let them know that you are working but can speak after a certain time. Also, schedule things like lunches or visits for one day per week. This way you’ll reduce the drop-ins and spontaneous invitations.

Spouses can sometimes have difficulty understanding why, if you are home all day, the housework isn’t done. This problem can best by solved by familiarizing him with the nature of your business. Show him exactly what you need to do each day, and how long it takes to do each task. Help him understand your work schedule, and how much time you need to work per day. Showing exactly how much money you are making will help him realize the benefits of your work as well.

Then ask him to help you come up with solutions for working at home and maintaining the household. Make a list of things that need to be done each week, and assign duties to you, him and the children (if they are old enough). Then taking care of the house becomes a family priority and something that you all share responsibility in. Notify him of any special projects by keeping a work calendar on the wall. That way he can see what is going on with your work schedule, and why you have ordered pizza for dinner three times in the last week!

Many WAHMs can be hurt over offhand comments about working at home. Family or even friends can say things like “Well you have the time, because you are at home.” In situations like these, you have two choices. You can either get upset and offer a flustered defense or you can take their comments with a grain of salt and offer a calm response. Depending on the situation you can say something like “Well, let me check my work schedule. I know I am not available on these days” or “That would be great on Friday afternoon, which is when I leave time in my work schedule for those types of things.”

Remember, working at home is new territory for many people although the numbers of Wahms are growing. It may take some time for the average person to understand the commitment and scheduling that it takes to effectively work from home. You may never convince some people that you are actually working while at home but establishing respect for your own time is one way to make them see that your work is a priority.

As with all marketing, I recommend strongly that you keep in contact with your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in scheduling reminders.  I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Blogging for Profit Begins With a Long Term Plan

Many people dream of blogging for profit, and this goal is not far beyond the reach of someone with average intelligence, a willingness to work hard, and a basic grasp of blogging technology. However, very few people manage to reap the profits they want from their blog. Most people who attempt to make money with their blogs do not succeed for two reasons. Often, bloggers have unrealistic expectations of how fast their readership will grow and how much money they will make, and when these expectations are not met the disappointment can crush the desire to continue blogging. The other trap that many bloggers fall into has to do with lack of planning. If you want to turn a profit as a blogger, the key to success is to make a realistic plan and stick with it.

To succeed at blogging for profit, the main thing that you will need is a large readership. The higher your traffic, the more advertisers will agree to pay you. However, cultivating the regular visitors that you will need in order to make a profit isnt easy. As more and more blogs appear each day, having a great idea or a wonderful writing style is no longer enough to get attention. You need to be able to market your blog effectively.

Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts and almost no time marketing their project. To be certain, updating as often as you can is a great way to keep your blog high on blogrolls and high in blog search engines like technorati, and once your readers know that you update frequently they will return to your site on a regular basis. However, it does not matter how often you update if nobody is reading your page, so dont skimp on the time that you spend drawing visitors to your site. To make your dreams of blogging for profit a reality, try decreasing your number of posts and using some of that time to draw new visitors by setting up link exchanges with other bloggers, making contacts in the blog community, and following other established modes of winning traffic.

Of course, even if you are a marketing genius or have a really great idea for a blog, success is not going to happen overnight. Building the kind of readership that blogging for profit requires takes time, and in all likelihood it will be at least several months before you are able to turn much of a profit. Try to stay committed to your blogging project during this initial rough period. To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will update and how many readers you want to attract, and then reward yourself for sticking with your plan.

As with all marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Successful Affiliate Marketing

There are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs out there, all of which claim to be the best.  Many of them try to give you the impression that all you have to do is use their banners and links then wait for the money to start rolling in.  Although this can be the case, this type of scenario normally applies to large sites with a lot of web traffic.

Choosing banners
With most affiliate programs, you are offered a variety of banners to plan on your website, as very few of them will be effective.  The problems with most banners are their size.  If you choose a banner that is high in size, it will take a long time to implement and use.  Therefore, it’s recommended that you use banners no more than 15kb in size.  We recommend My Banner Maker for a place to cut your teeth on making a banner.  Also, a good place to advertise your banner(s) is 50KBanners.   Great value all around.

When you select any types of graphical advertising, you should try and keep the theme of your website in mind.  Even though graphical ads are meant to stand out and catch people’s eye, they shouldn’t be to the point where everything else on the page is completely ignored.

Pop ups and unders
A lot of companies will now give their affiliates the chance of using pop up or pop under ads.  In most opinions, pop ups aren’t the way to go.  They can easily annoy visitors and are normally closed before they even have the chance to load.  You should instead go for pop unders and those types that only display once per visit.  I have a good script that you can put on your page that will load another page on exit.  If you would like to see it, email me at FredRaley@GMail.com and ask for it.  It’s just a few lines of code.

Text link ads
Once of the most successful means of advertisting is text link ads.  They are easy on bandwidth, don’t use a lot of space, and they easily be implemented into most types of page layouts.  Good text links offer some information as to why your visitor should investigate your offers.

Email advertising
The direct promotion via email has really taken off over the last several years, although it has brought tons of spam with it. If you plan to use email as a method of advertising your products, you should stand behind what you sell and make yourself available to answer any questions.  Our blog category “Email Marketing” has tons of information all in one place on this subject.

Patience
If you feel confident that your site can generate great sales for certain company’s, you should contact them to negotiate an arrangement.  If they don’t seem to enthused to begin with, you should remain patient as companies are approaced every day with affiliates looking to make better deals.

The reality remains that most affiliates can’t deliver what they promise, and companies are aware of this.

You should always keep in mind that most forms of advertising will take time.  No matter what methods you plan to use, give it some time before you make any type of decision. Although something may not happen overnight - it very well could in a few days or weeks.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Making Money with Articles: Picking a Good Web Hosting Company

Picking a good web hosting company is important to keeping your website open and your costs down. There are many to choose from, as well as different pricing plans to look over. Depending on the amount of sites that you intend on building, you may want to consider a larger web space in the long run.

You should start with the smallest web space that you can get to test the waters, just in case niche website Internet marketing does not work out for you. You may want to add on later, so make sure that your provider offers that option.

You will want to choose a provider that has a reliable service. If your site is down or takes to long to open up when visitors are trying to get in, it may lead them to click out of your site and move on to the next one. They will also more than likely not visit in the future since they will remember their bad experience. For this reason, it is probably best to stick with a well known company who you can check reliable references on. There are many small hosting providers that offer space for as low as $.50 to $1 per month, however, you never know what you will be getting and many of them want you to pay for at least a years worth in advance.

You will also want one that has the most affordable hosting. If you can create your own small site or have one made for you, then you will probably be able to find space for as low as $3 to $4 per month. However, if you need to choose a company that offers a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) website builder, then you will probably end up paying $10 to $15 per month for the smallest amount of space. But if this is the only way that you can build a site, then it is necessary.

Some web hosting providers may also offer a deal on a yearly URL or other products when you make a web hosting purchase.

Ultimately, whatever web hosting provider you choose will depend on your individual needs and what you can afford. Hopefully you will be able to snap up a well known provider at a low price who will allow you to upgrade your service as needed.  We recommend our host of course because of the number of great features and low cost and high value.  http://www.FredRaley.com/webhost.htm

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Making Money with Articles: Optimal Article Length

When choosing an article for your website, make sure that it is a length that is optimal for search engine optimization efforts. Articles that are as short as 200 words or as long as 500 words should fit into this category.

Even if search engine optimization is not your goal, it is still a good idea to keep your articles at this length for your reader’s sake. They are likely to not finish your page if it is any longer. This could leave them with only half of the information you wanted them to have or leave them with the impression that your site is too “wordy”.

Most Internet readers do not read a website page as they would a book, so the shorter the better. Even if this means splitting one long idea into 4 or 5 pages. Be sure to label them so that the reader can pick and choose which part they want to read or so they know what is coming up next to help them determine if they want to continue reading.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Attributes of a Successful Selling Strategy

The first attribute of a successful selling strategy is a website that provides information about the products and the service they are providing. The advantage of that is we can sell those products and services online. Selling is a talent to be cultivated. It requires a lot of understanding to find what the customer is looking for and then fulfilling his needs.

It is very important to get the complete attention of reader. The content of the message should be make reader think. This can be achieved by using power words, along with color and visuals. Once the attention is grabbed, it should be retained till the end of the message. The customer should be prompted to take some action and their involvement should be sought. They can be made to sign up for newsletters or can be made to take the survey by visiting the company’s website.

The consumer should be convinced to buy the product. All the features of the company should be specified, with the more relevant ones on the top. They should be explained logically through these points how the products will fulfill their needs or solve their problems.  It does only by convincing the customer about this will motivate them to buy the product. They should be made to understand what wonders the product can do to him. Strong emotional words should be included in the sentence. The customer should either fear the loss of the product if he doesn’t buy it in time or he should be given the greed of the advantages the product can provide. These reasons will create an emotional impulse and will make them think that they have no other option to buy it. They will have a logical reason to make the purchase. The emotions of the buyer should be manipulated with words.

Something like ‘limited edition’ or ‘limited period offer’ will create a sense of urgency. The customer thinks that he should get this product somehow. It’s nice to have sales often, especially to clear out old inventory in the name of some offer. The products which have an obvious damage should be sold out at a special price. But the damage should be mentioned to the customer. If it’s not mentioned, the first time the customer will be tricked into buying something, but he will loose trust and won’t come back again.

Always hold seasonal sales and offers. Since all the competitors will be giving out different offers to attract customers, it’s a good point to have one, too. But it should be remembered to not to imitate anyone. Only a unique offer will make the customers not go to the competitors’. Once in a while offer free shipping offer also works. A condition like if a customer spends particular amount of money, all items will be shipped for free. This is another attractive deal which will surely tempt the customer. Thanks to search engines and online stores anything can be purchased from the comfort of the home. Give away free sample to the customers or keep a pre-sale price for introductory products. The customers won’t think twice to spend a little money to try something new.

The ending of the sales message is where most people mess it up. The whole efforts will be wasted if the customer gets a second thought. He should be convinced, by nice words, to buy the product till the very end. The content should be arranged with care. The key is to tell the customer what to do exactly after he finishes reading the matter, like ‘Grab the golden opportunity now’ or ‘pick up the phone and dial the number right now’, etc. Do not include links or short advertisement of other products or services. This will shift the focus of the reader and he might have a second thought. A list of the existing customers should be maintained and from time to time special offers should be mailed to them. So basically the whole idea is to influence the mind of the customer until he buys a product.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com

Successful Affiliate Marketing

There are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs out there, all of which claim to be the best.  Many of them try to give you the impression that all you have to do is use their banners and links then wait for the money to start rolling in.  Although this can be the case, this type of scenario normally applies to large sites with a lot of web traffic.

Choosing banners
With most affiliate programs, you are offered a variety of banners to plan on your website, as very few of them will be effective.  The problems with most banners are their size.  If you choose a banner that is high in size, it will take a long time to implement and use.  Therefore, it’s recommended that you use banners no more than 15kb in size.

When you select any types of graphical advertising, you should try and keep the theme of your website in mind.  Even though graphical ads are meant to stand out and catch people’s eye, they shouldn’t be to the point where everything else on the page is completely ignored.

Pop ups and unders
A lot of companies will now give their affiliates the chance of using pop up or pop under ads.  In most opinions, pop ups aren’t the way to go.  They can easily annoy visitors and are normally closed before they even have the chance to load.  You should instead go for pop unders and those types that only display once per visit.

Text link ads
Once of the most successful means of advertisting is text link ads.  They are easy on bandwidth, don’t use a lot of space, and they easily be implemented into most types of page layouts.  Good text links offer some information as to why your visitor should investigate your offers.

Email advertising
The direct promotion via email has really taken off over the last several years, although it has brought tons of spam with it. If you plan to use email as a method of advertising your products, you should stand behind what you sell and make yourself available to answer any questions.

Patience
If you feel confident that your site can generate great sales for certain company’s, you should contact them to negotiate an arrangement.  If they don’t seem to enthused to begin with, you should remain patient as companies are approaced every day with affiliates looking to make better deals.

The reality remains that most affiliates can’t deliver what they promise, and companies are aware of this.

You should always keep in mind that most forms of advertising will take time.  No matter what methods you plan to use, give it some time before you make any type of decision. Although something may not happen overnight - it very well could in a few days or weeks.

One excellent resource I use to expand the marketing effect of my articles is Unique Article Wizard See what you think about this! I am pretty sure you will love it.

As with all online marketing, I recommend strongly that you collect information from your leads in a good autoresponder system.   This one is is especially strong in ad tracking.  I use it for every ad I run and the ease of use is outstanding.   I highly recommend  http://www.trafficwave.net/members/fredraley/features.html for all of  your marketing needs.

Fred Raley
Woodbridge, VA
703 203 4648
http://www.EMailSalesExplosion.com