Guidelines That May Help You To Grow Your Affiliate Checks

By Matthew Meyer

As an affiliate, all that is required of you is to simply place the merchant's ad on your website. Then after that, you virtually do nothing but wait for anyone to click on the merchant's ad and later collect your profits. Easy, right? Well, not quite often. Many affiliates earn almost nothing from their affiliate programs simply because they do nothing. Remember that affiliate marketing is but another form of marketing, and you'll definitely need to market your merchant's product for you to earn something.

Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply don't sit there and wait for money to come. Why? Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting. If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you've got to do something. Think of ways on how to promote your merchant's business and products better. Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant. Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!

So if you're new in affiliate marketing and you try to follow the easy go lucky pit that most unsuccessful affiliate marketers follow, then you're definitely on the wrong track. But we're not advising you to stop right there. No. Rather, we want you to take some steps to make your affiliate program work better and gain more commissions for you. How? Here are a few guidelines that may help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:

* Become an expert on your affiliate product.

You can promote your merchant's product better if you know a lot of things about it. To become an expert, the best thing you can do is purchase your merchant's product yourself. This way, you can tell your customers about your first-hand experience using the product. You can even write a testimonial or a personal endorsement ad about it. But if any condition does not permit you to purchase the product, you can at least make a thorough research about it.

* Host your own website.

Or at least have a domain name that is short and easy to remember. You certainly wouldn't expect a visitor to remember a very long and incomprehensible URL. And if that's so, you also wouldn't expect him to visit your website any time soon. That means less traffic for your page and the less chance for your affiliate ads and links to be clicked.

It is also a good idea to create a private website and offer access to it to anybody who clicks on any of your affiliate ads. Visitors usually get interested with these private websites. Private websites also gives you a venue to promote your back-end affiliate products.

* Write your own affiliate ads.

Many merchants usually wouldn't mind if you write and design your own ads for their products, for as long as you ask permission from them and present them your ad before posting it on your site. This gives you a greater advantage over a lot of other affiliates who must be advertising the same affiliate products.

* Participate in chat rooms, discussion boards, and forums related to your product.

If you use to ignore them before, then it is time for you to start focusing your attention on them. You can start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product. You don't have to promote your affiliate product at once, but find the chance to advertise and promote it as you go along. The same would be true for message boards, discussion boards and forums.

* Create a free ezine or newsletter.

Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject. In your ezines and newsletters, you don't always have to promote your merchant's product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers. Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter. Also, don't forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.

These are but a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks. Sure there can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we won't discourage you from following them. What's important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchant's products even outside the boundary of your website. If you can do these, there's no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Matthew Meyer is an internet marketer who manages www.thefreeadforum.com where you can post your permanent free advertising to over 50,000 members daily. Click here to visit www.thefreeadforum.com

All Affiliate Marketers Procrastinate

By David Smales

Did you know that unsuccessful affiliate marketers are unsuccessful because they procrastinate? Did you also know that successful affiliate marketers are successful because they procrastinate?

Let me explain the reasoning behind this phenomenon.

The truth is, all affiliate marketers procrastinate, and they tend to "put things off, or will do that later." This relates directly to our enjoyment factor of the task in which we are currently involved with.

The unsuccessful affiliate marketer starts off their day with good intentions and go off to their computer or desk, ready and willing themselves to become successful. They sit there and think of something that they want to do, and get started.

Time flies as they are enjoying themselves, but they reach a point where the task involves an unfamiliar procedure or detail. After a while they realise that the current task is tedious, mundane or too difficult. It then becomes very easy to say "I will do that later." They will then find something that is easier or more enjoyable to do.

Therefore, they stop doing the current activity and do something more enjoyable, hence they are procrastinating the initial task. This is fine, until the now current task involves something that they do not fully understand or are unable to complete. They then say to themselves "I will finish this off later" and move on to something else. A pattern is now evolving, they are now procrastinating the second task of the day, and so on.

At the end of the day, they have achieved very little. None of their tasks have been completed and they are no further forward, yet they have been busy all day!

Whereas, a successful affiliate marketer will arrive at their computer or desk, knowing exactly what they need to achieve that day, and they get started.

Everything is running smoothly until the task involves an unfamiliar procedure or detail. This is now the time to procrastinate! They stop whatever they are doing, and say to themselves "I will finish this off later." They then make a decision. They either decide to research the problem in order to resolve it themselves, or they find someone that can solve the problem for them. They do not proceed any further with their current task or start a new task, until a solution to the problem is forthcoming. They know that their task will not be completed until "that problem" has been resolved.

With the problem resolved, they return to the initial task and continue on to its completion.

At the end of the day, they have achieved more than expected, because they have learnt a new method or procedure. Their tasks have been completed. They are now prepared and ready to start bringing in financial income with the completed project.

At this point, they sit back and have a read through their "to do list" to see what is the next thing they are going to do. Then they say "I will do that tomorrow."

Successful affiliate marketers procrastinate in a positive manner, unsuccessful affiliate marketers just procrastinate.

The essence of this article is to have a plan.

Plan what you do.

Do what you plan.

Record what you have done.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

For more affiliate marketing articles and tips, visit Myworldofinfo's Affiliate Marketing Weblog Feel free to distribute this article in any form as long as you include this resource box.

Choosing Domain Names - 5 Quick Tips on How To Choose A Good Domain Name

By Lubano Lim

Choosing a good domain name can help you in your business. In this article, we shall go through 5 tips on how to choose a good domain name.

Tip 1: Choose a Meaningful Domain Name

If you are selling health supplements, you should choose "healthsupplements dot com" instead of "ilovepizza dot com" for obvious reason. Let say a person is looking for vitamin C pills; he is more likely to visit "healthsupplements dot com" instead of "ilovepizza dot com".

Choosing a meaningful domain name will also help you in your search engine ranking. For example, if you choose "healthsupplements dot com" and your webpage is also optimized (optimized means your webpage title, meta tags, keywords and content are relevant to one another) with the term health supplements, you will have a better ranking for the term health supplements.

Tip 2: Length of the Domain

Should you choose a short or long domain name? Most people may argue that a shorter version is better than the longer version. Well, I agree. A shorter domain name is usually easier to remember. Of course, it depends on the situation.

For example, "IAmADatingCoach dot com" is a better choice compared to "IAADC dot com" since the former is easier to remember. Yet, you won't want to choose "IAmADatingCoachWhoHasTaughtThousandsOfStudentsSuccessfully dot com". People won't remember such a long name and even if they do, it would be a chore to type.

Tip 3: Avoid Trademark Names

You should avoid domain name that looks too similar to terms like eBay and Amazon. Registering these domain names can get you into trouble. You may be forced to sell the domain name. In the worst case scenario, you may even be sued. If you are unsure, it is always a good idea to consult a lawyer, especially if you are planning to start a long term lucrative business.

Tip 4: Try Not To Use "_"

If possible, try not to register a domain name with hyphen (or underscore – editor). Imagine you have a domain name "eat_pizza dot com". There is a very high possibility your potential customer will end up in "eatpizza dot com" instead. Most people don't type hyphen in the url.

Tip 5: Use .com Whenever Possible

".com" is the most popular domain name extension. Most people will try .com first whenever they are searching for a website. Unless your website has a special purpose, try to register a .com.

Special Case:
If you are in education, then you may want to register a .edu extension. If your site is geared towards providing information, then .info may be a good choice. However, in most cases, a .com will be a good choice.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Lubano Lim is Netpreneur who enjoys marketing on the Internet. Sick of recruiting downline by cold calling leads? For a very limited time, discover the secret system used by many ordinary people to attract thousands of targeted prospects without any cold calling. Visit kingofsponsoring.com now for a free 7 days Boot Camp.