Affiliate Programs Explained in Plain, Simple English
by Declan Dunn
This article was written in response to a request for an
easy to understand presentation of affiliate programs. I
wrote this to deal with people unfamiliar with the
Internet, but interested in the possibilities.
There are certain days when you feel your life change
profoundly, days you remember for a lifetime.
I will remember today forever, because it is the day I
found out how to finally make the Internet profitable for
virtually anyone.
My name is Declan Dunn and since 1994 I have been running
my business on the Internet. I have consulted with
companies ranging from ABC and PBS to my local real estate
appraiser. Working out of my home office in the secluded
foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, I thought I had it all.
Problem was, I really did not have a passion for making ABC
a success. What I do have a passion for is helping people
find a way to tap into this economic engine called the
Internet. Six months ago I dropped all my major clients
and went looking for a way to help the average person take
advantage now.
Today I am writing checks to affiliates who live from
Shanghai to San Francisco, empowering themselves to
succeed. A journalist in Australia works one day a week
and makes $1,000; I am part of his success. And this is
just the beginning.
If you grant me a few minutes, I will share with you the
power of what I discovered and how you can benefit.
Where the Internet is Going
The Internet is in the midst of a great consolidation.
Make no mistake about it, the brick and mortar powerhouses
are sinking their teeth into the Internet, trying to turn
the vast array of stores and Web Sites into portals, or
entry points, that they own.
How can an individual survive on the Internet today? Two
words; affiliate programs. Let me explain...
In the early days, people tried to join Internet Malls,
where they were given Web Sites and "self replicating" Web
Pages. The result were Internet flea markets filled with
all sorts of products, and very few sales.
Never have so many worked so hard to create so little. It
was like having a bunch of lemonade stands sitting around,
and no one driving by.
Worst of all, the overwhelming amount of choices actually
stop customers from buying. Mix this with the lack of
decent marketing materials and support, and you discover
why this dream is quickly slipping away.
That is why affiliate programs are so powerful; you are
given the marketing tools and excellent products to sell
for free. All you have to do is market.
Look at affiliate programs and you see the ultimate
business opportunity on the Internet; no cost, no
obligation, and free testing until you find the products
that move from vendors who are the backbone of the Internet
revolution.
These are not fly by night companies; from Amazon.com to
OfficeMax to Sony, the big companies are embracing
affiliate programs. They need you to complete the picture.
Discover the Quiet Internet Revolution Called Affiliate
Programs
A powerful, new marketing tool is emerging on the Internet
called affiliate programs. The most famous example is
Amazon.com. If you have ever clicked on one of its sales
links and bought a book, you already know how easy it is.
You get the book, the Web Site gets paid for the sale, and
Amazon.com adds another customer to its multimillion
dollar business.
That Web Site is called an affiliate of Amazon; they take
two minutes to sign up, grab the book cover and descriptive
text from Amazon, then point people via their special link
which tracks the order. All an affiliate does is market;
there is no risk, no inventory, no shipping, and no order
processing. You just cash the check from Amazon.
Now everyone is focusing on how to be Amazon.com, a pipe
dream that would take millions of dollars. What I found
was that Amazon has over 150,000 affiliates, people who
want to sell books from their email lists, Web Sites, and
even in the real world.
I have dedicated my efforts to showing affiliates how to
succeed in this amazing market. The success stories come
from around the world, from people just like you,
including:
The writer in Australia who was working for a newspaper
with 10,000 subscribers. A few months later, he quit his
job. He writes on the beach to an Internet subscriber
list of over 6,000 people, with little cost. He makes
his money as an affiliate, selecting products to offer.
With one email, he moved over 100 of my books to his
subscribers in less than two weeks.
Best of all, his subscribers signed up as affiliates and in
my system, he continues to make 10% for every sale they
make. Talk about putting your business on autopilot!
The engineer who started a Web Site about his passion,
robots. He sells books, videos, and toys, generating
extra income with little effort. He recently doubled
his monthly sales, and will likely achieve even more
growth with little effort.
The Web Site that donates part of its earnings from
affiliate programs to needy non-profits, generating over
$180,000 to 40 plus non-profits in its first year.
Where else but the Internet could you have this kind of
freedom, this kind of democracy, this kind of economic
clout, without mortgaging your house or taking food off
your kid's table.
If you are an affiliate you have:
No Inventory, Delivery or Stocking of Products
No Order Processing or Merchant Credit Card Account Needed
None of the risk or headaches of an expensive, debt-ridden
retail business
The opportunity to test out products virtually for free,
determine which ones pull, and focus solely on marketing.
All you have to do is get people to the door and buy.
Thousands are profiting with affiliate programs, people
who are no smarter than you are, no more experienced, but
who seem to know exactly what to do. If your Internet
business isn't generating significant income (and I mean at
least $2,000 a month), here's the reason why.
You probably don't yet understand how to get customers to
buy online, easily.
With affiliate programs, you may hit upon a powerful
opportunity that you have never considered, even though it
is right before your eyes.
Why Affiliate Programs Give You The Unfair Advantage on the
Internet
The real Internet revolution is not based on technology,
but on the home. In the early part of the 20th century,
most people worked from their homes or farms. By the 1980s,
this totally reversed; most people worked at companies and
factories.
The Internet is changing all of this back to the home. To
succeed in a home based business, you have to get the
right products to offer, and the freedom to pick and choose
the ones that make you the most money.
Affiliate programs are so powerful because:
A. You control everything. Thousands of programs are
available. You get the marketing materials and license to
resell products with little or no risk. It takes a few
minutes to sign up directly with each merchant. If you do
not like a merchant, you drop them and find another. An
abundance of affiliate programs exist, so they have to
cater to you.
B. You do not have to put all your eggs in one company's
basket. You pick and choose the best products, the best
profit margins, and the programs that give you the best
return. By selecting from a group of merchants who each
pay you a check, you spread out the opportunity and
minimize your risk. If one company goes belly up, your
other programs continue to pay, and you simply replace the
the old one with a new, better program.
C. The income potential is virtually unlimited. You can
earn up to 50% margins, and hundreds of dollars, on a
single sale. You have an unlimited selection of products
to choose from. This business can be run in your spare
time or as a full time business. Best of all, they do all
the shipping, order processing, and headaches of employees.
You are free to focus solely on making money.
D. Now is the time to take advantage of this dramatic
shift towards affiliate programs. This industry is brand
new and fueled by some of the richest companies. They want
you and have to do everything to keep you happy. Rest
assured that the ones who join now will be the ones
profiting in the future.
E. It doesn't matter where you live; you can do this
anywhere. I live near Paradise, California, living where I
want and working with the people I like. Paradise is not a
dream, it's not a place - it's a lifestyle you can choose.
Whatever Paradise means to you - working for yourself,
making more money, or just having more time to do what you
want - you are holding the key to a lucrative door with
affiliate programs.
F. It is so much fun. You determine your own worth and
join with people who, just like you, don't want someone
telling them what they are worth in terms of salary. Think
in terms of time, how much free time you can have while
your affiliate programs run on autopilot. There is nothing
like coming home from a relaxing walk in the woods and
finding ten new orders on your desk, and knowing that you
don't have to do a thing. You have done your work.
G. Start up costs are virtually zero. All you need is a
computer and an Internet connection. Some of my most
successful affiliates don't depend on Web Sites, they rely
on email to remind people to buy from them. This is the
type of business that doesn't even need a garage. All you
need are two plugs; one to plug your computer in, the other
to plug your phone line into your computer. It's that
simple.
H. You get free, effective training. You must have an easy
to follow system that people can use and share with others.
For example, in my affiliate sales training system, I give
my affiliates five immediate lessons on how to profit with
our program. Any of my affiliates who sign up others get
this automatically, empowering them to build their network.
In fact there's one company out there right now who is
using my system as a means to increase sales and help their
affiliates learn how to effectively sell on the Internet.
All they do is sign people up to learn how to:
Create an automated system that pays you to just market.
Generate visitors and put your Internet sales system on
autopilot. Offer products that people are buying. Sounds
simple, but few people are doing it! Offer products that
are easy to sell to your target audience.
The real power of affiliate programs is in the tested,
proven system that you plug into.
As the saying goes, why create mediocrity when you can copy
genius?
The Internet is not about bits and bytes, it's about people
working together in a network. From Shanghai to San
Francisco, affiliates are tapping into the power of this
revolutionary system.
I invite you to check it out at Active Marketplace
Don't settle for high risk ventures; affiliate programs
are the next wave of Internet business. Most people have
frankly wasted years with Internet malls and self
replicating pages.
Rarely in life do you get a second chance to succeed.
Affiliate programs can give you the chance to live where
you want, build your business in the long run, and earn
residual income while you stroll the beach, walk in the
woods, or simply spend more time with the people you care
about.
It's that simple...and that profound. And it is happening
right now, as you read these words.
Declan Dunn 6960 Ridgeway, Magalia, CA. 95954 Phone: (800)
280-9807 or (530) 873-3637 Fax: (530) 873-0192
Declan Dunn offers consultations, seminars, and training to
Web businesses, developers, ISP's, and consultants. E-mail
dunn@activemarketplace.com or call (530) 873-3637 with
questions. All materials Copyright 1998, 1999 Michael
Declan Dunn and ADNet International.All Rights Reserved.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More Affiliate Promotion Articles
More By Developer Shed
 developerWorks - FREE Tools!
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference, featuring Paul Boustany and Mark Krasovich, to speak to the experts about becoming a Rational ClearCase power user. Get a chance to ask your questions and learn tips and tricks for using Rational ClearCase in Agile development
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Effective governance for lean development isn’t about command and control. Instead, the focus is on enabling the right behaviors and practices through collaborative and supportive techniques. Hear from Scott Ambler on how it is far more effective to motivate people to do the right thing than it is to force them to do so. Learn how to form a lightweight, collaboration-based framework that reflects the realities of modern IT organizations.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Download a free trial version of IBM Rational Developer for System z, software that can help you deliver core development capabilities; the power of Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE); and rapid application development support to diverse enterprise application development teams. With comprehensive development tools to help create, deploy and maintain traditional enterprise and composite applications, Rational Developer for System z enables developers with different technical backgrounds to easily participate in important technology projects.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
XML has become a common way of storing business data as flat files and many data server vendors including IBM have provided ways to store this data within relational database systems. Increasingly collections of XML files are accessed like databases using an xQuery and other XML standard mechanisms. Businesses find the need to combine the traditional tabular structured data with XML formatted data. In this webcast, you’ll learn about IBM’s WebSphere Federation Server technology, which provides users with the ability to integrate these two data formats.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This webcast outlines the best practices that must be instituted to gain the maximum benefit from SOA while maintaining high quality of service. Whether you are deploying new applications or managing and monitoring your existing infrastructure, learn how you can ensure high quality of services with SOA based solutions from IBM. All registrants who attend this live Web Seminar will receive complimentary access to a white paper titled “Maintaining QoS in an SOA Environment”.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Learn how to do more with your reusable assets with the free Rational Asset Manager eKit. The eKit includes demos on how Rational Asset Manager tracks and audits your assets in order to utilize them for reuse. Plus you’ll find white papers and a Webcast that discuss the challenges of a Service Oriented Architecture and how Rational Asset Manager can provide quick and effective solutions.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on November 29 at 1:00 pm ET to participate in an interactive discusssion with Grady Booch around architecture and reuse. Get your questions answered!
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to try the IBM SOA Sandbox for people. The SOA Sandbox for people provides a trial environment with the necessary tooling and components required to enable consistent human and process interaction and collaboration, showing how you can improve user experience and business productivity.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
As businesses grow increasingly dependent upon Web applications, these complex entities grow more difficult to secure. Most companies equip their Web sites with firewalls, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and network and host security, but the majority of attacks are on applications themselves – and these technologies cannot prevent them. This paper explains what you can do to help protect your organization, and it discusses an approach for improving your organization’s Web application security.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
IBM Lotus Notes 8 provides a wide range of developers the ability to provide customized, integrated user interfaces via composite applications and via custom sidebar and toolbar plug-ins. This webcast provides you with tips and techniques to use with out-of-the-box capabilities of Lotus Notes 8, and survey how you can share useful components within your own company and within a larger community.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
