Saturday, January 19, 2008

Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

The world of affiliate marketing is full of great opportunities in which one can generate meaningful profits through successful implementation.

Before starting, it is important to know what opportunities exist as an affiliate. Fortunately, there are plenty of options! The following is an example of three of the more popular programs available. However, do not be limited to this list alone, as there is an extensive number of opportunities available.

ClickBank - ClickBank has become a very popular marketing program for publishers and affiliates alike. Because most of the products found on ClickBank are electronic (such as e-books), the commission rates are often as high as 50-75%. This is very exciting as an affiliate marketer, which truly drives the promotion and sales through this site.
Commission Junction - Commission Junction is another popular affiliate marketing opportunity. Unlike the electronic products and services offered by ClickBank, Commission Junction mostly provides tangible products that customers receive via mail.
LinkShare - Many of today's top merchants use LinkShare as the middleman for their affiliate programs, including Wal-Mart, Target, American Express, and Orbitz.
Product selection is a very important step in the affiliate marketing process. For the product selection process, let's use ClickBank as an example since their data is relatively simple to pick up on.

To find the products ClickBank offers for affiliate marketing, simply visit he ClickBank Marketplace available through their website. Within the marketplace, there are various numbers below each product description labeled as $/sale, %/sale, %refd, and grav. These pieces of data provide important information that should be taken into account when selecting products for marketing on the Internet. The following is a breakdown of what each of these terms means.

$/sale, which means $Earned Per Sale, represents the average net dollar figure earned by an affiliate for each referred sale. A relatively low number indicates that there is little to be earned and/or has a high refund or charge back rate.
%/sale, which means %Earned Per Sale, is the average percent commission per referred sale. This value will only change if a publisher increases or decreases the commission rate.
%refd, meaning %Referred, is a representation of the number of total product sales that are the result to affiliate marketing. Any remaining sales occur through the publisher.
grav, which means Gravity, is the number of affiliates who earned commission by referring a paying customer.
Many affiliates aim to promote products that offer no less than $20 per referral. This is important because, for many products, the CPC (cost per click) for advertising will be relatively consistent despite the commission rate. However, it is also important to keep track of the gravity and percent referred numbers rather than solely selecting a product by the dollar commission rate. This will help to illustrate the popularity of a product and whether it is actually resulting in conversions from ad campaigns run by other affiliates.

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