Affiliate Networks are a way for companies to broaden their market awareness. The more websites that have links to their site the better, so sites pay Affiliate Networks money to have their ads throughout the network’s publishers.
It’s quite easy to become a publisher, as long as you have a website that has quality information on it related to the product you would like to publish for, you should be able to become an affiliate marketer.
A quick search on the Internet and you will find there are many Affiliate Networks to chose from, one of the most popular affiliate programs is from Amazon, however I would first recommend to view an Affiliate Network to see what products they have available, as their commission rates may be higher.
Below I have placed my Top 3 Affilate Networks for you to consider joining.
1)Link Connector
Allows you to put their advertisements on your site, get paid $100 for each merchant you sign up in their referral program.
2) Commission Monster Has hundreds of campaigns from Australia alone, they are very professional and have some big-name programs running.
The products on Commission Monster can be viewed by looking at this
3) Market Leverage has a personal approach to it’s customers and like some new Affiliate Networks likes to call it’s customers prior to approval. Has some really good affiliate campaigns.
You need to be careful with being a publisher though, there is a risk that your site may get cluttered with ads, or have it’s main focus on the ads, which is a sure way to lose your markets interest. You need to have an appeal in your site, so you will get returning visitors, which is one of the keys in making a popular site.
Think of your site as a theme park. People will love to return to your site, if you have lots of things that people expect will be at your site, if people go to a theme park and find there are very few rides, and a lot of sales people/advertisements, then they will not likely return.
The best sites offer great information, or some kind of service such as search, or an online shop. So be careful with your selection of affiliate ads, so it blends in with your sites theme.
Steps I would follow to become an affiliate marketer are:
1) Look at a number of Affliate Networks and other sites that have their own affiliate programs, and find the kind of products you would like to be a publisher for. (You may be interested in products that have the best return, or percentage of commission).
2) If you haven’t already got a site relating to that product, pay special care in making a site that related to that product. (Some say you should make a site you are interested in first the find the product, that’s really up to you).
3) Once you have a site which you think is appealing to visitors and would bring back returning visitors, place some affiliate ads (scarcely) on your site.
4) Having your site interactive, is a good way to make your site appealing, however forums need a lot of attention to avoid spam.
5) Once you have a very appealing site, you may like to make a group, eg. Google Group or Facebook group, to keep visitors connected. Having a monthly newsletter with your own mailing list of subscribed visitors to keep up your sites hit count.
I hope the above steps can start you onto the path of becoming an effective affiliate marketer.
Lindsay Woolcott B.Sc B.Teach
It’s a pity Adwords doesn’t allow advertising of poker sites unless you have a gambling licence. However there are plenty of other places to advertise, and there are great commissions, thanks for the blog.