Affiliate Programs….Are They Worth It?

Posted by Karl on Oct 9, 2007 in Tips and Tricks | 0 comments

OK…let’s cut the bullshit. The real question is:

Can affiliate programs (AP) make me any REAL money?!?

The simple answer is yes.

Affiliate programs, when managed correctly, work VERY WELL. The trick is to find a few and manage them.

Most people attempting the affiliate program typically do the following (hopefully this doesn’t sound familiar):

• Get several domains – a “prime” domain and several feeder domains (with the prime domain your future cash cow).
• Sign up with multiple affiliate programs – pretty much join a dozen or more.
• Go and find free hosting
• Build sites on each domain, spending about 3-5 hours per site adding your free content (even longer on your “prime site”).
• Letting the sites sit, waiting for the cash to come in.

For some reason, even knowing that more than 50% of the internet traffic is adult oriented – you aren’t making ANY MONEY. Also, If you noticed I don’t mention reading materials and using any tools provided by the programs, marketing, and so on…that’s also on purpose

So…where do you go from here? Nowhere. Stay where you are, you just need to focus and relax.

Firstly, unless you have LOTS of free time, your best best is to stick with no more than two or three affiliates to start. Start with the affiliate programs you have already decided to sign up for and get their help. They provide several resources to assist you – templates, how to’s, assistance via messaging and e-mail. They will definitely help you get the most out of the program (as it’s profitable enough to pay out upwards of 60% of the revenue).

Next, select your affiliate program in a niche you’re not particularly fond of. I say this because I’ve met many people who have become “addicted” to collecting the free content over managing their affiliation! So pick something that won’t have you using less than two hands <smile>, wasting time, bandwidth, and drive space.

Use the tools out there (TGP, blog tools, etc.) that help you manage and rotate content. Use simple management rules to make sure that you update content (i.e. update every Friday night) and stick to it. One you have a “non-static” site – start marketing it to newsgroups, blogs, forums and market it…after all having a site does nothing for you if no one finds it.

Like any program, you need to follow the program to work. There are lots of resources to help you either get started or get moving forward.

Lastly…remember it takes time! You’ll need to do some SEO, etc. to drive the right visitors for conversion to $$$.