You have affiliates for your business; why not put them to business for your joint venture project, too?

Affiliates are already enthusiastic and skilled at selling your products.  They’re familiar with your target market and they already have systems in place to drive business and sales.  When you incorporate your affiliates into the promotion of your JV project, you’re expanding the reach of your project and increasing the potential profits.

Additionally, if your partner has affiliates for their business, then you’re potentially increasing your reach and opportunities exponentially.

So what materials do you give your affiliates to motivate them to sell your JV project?

  o  A link back to your site and some form of advertising, such as a banner or side bar. 

  o  Detailed information about your product, including its selling points, what makes it different from other products, and its value.  If possible, provide them with testimonials from your customers.

  o  Ad copy, free reprint articles, email promos, free brandable reports, which affiliates can brand with their own link, and even a free e-book. 

  o  Make sure to let your affiliates know the strengths and selling points of your partner, too.  That way they can use the information in their own marketing tools and methods.

  o  A special website where they can send customers to help differentiate your JV product from your other products.

  o  Consider giving them an extra incentive to really promote your JV project.  Potential incentives could be a contest.  Give the affiliate with the most sales a cash incentive and you’ll really boost sales.

The more tools you give your affiliates the better.  Make sure to keep in touch with your affiliates for the duration of the promotion and give them tips on how they can improve their sales conversions.

Some business owners go as far as to provide their affiliates with a separate joint venture website template and full sales copy for their product on a warm-up page.  This may be worth the extra effort if you believe it will boost sales. 

The more excitement you build around a joint venture partnership, the more potential profits there are.  Your affiliate team can be one of the best tools you have to create this high level of excitement and anticipation for your joint venture project, and they can be the key to real profits.  Don’t forget them!

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Profiting from Joint Ventures:

Easy Partnerships

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Affiliate marketing is one way to build high-volume leads with no upfront cost and a significant return on investment.  Simply put, the business owner (called the merchant) partners with webmasters (called affiliates).  Affiliates publish a link to the merchant’s website.  Leads are generated for the merchant, and affiliates earn a predetermined amount for each lead.

Affiliates will sign up to promote a merchant’s business because they think the merchant’s products or services will be helpful to their visitors.  Affiliates generally reach a similar market as the one sought by the merchant.  The program works well because affiliates are, in effect, sharing their existing traffic flow with the merchant.  Leads developed through affiliates will therefore be pre-qualified.  Further, since leads come through action on the potential buyer’s part, an interest in the merchant’s product already exists, making the likelihood of conversion high.

Establishing an affiliate program can also help improve a merchant’s rankings with search engines.  The more people who click on the merchant’s link from affiliate websites, the higher that merchant will be ranked.  This gives the merchant a better position in search engine listings, which leads to even greater traffic.

The cost of running an affiliate marketing program makes it a highly favorable option.  There are several ways that affiliates are paid, and these are pre-determined by the merchant at the outset of the program.  Pay-per-click (PPC) means the affiliate is entitled to compensation for each visitor that clicks on the link to the merchants website.  Pay-per-Action (PPA) means the affiliate is paid each time visitors take specific steps, such as providing their name and email address to receive a newsletter or more information.  Pay-per-Sale (PPS) means the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate when a sale is generated through the affiliate’s website.  Pay-per-Impression (PPM) means the affiliate is paid simply for displaying the merchant’s ad or link.  PPA and PPS arrangements are more favorable to the merchant, who pays only for leads with high potential for conversion or only when a sale is actually made.

For best results, merchants can determine the criteria for affiliate partners in advance of establishing an affiliate program.  The best affiliate partners will be those with content-rich websites in a field related to that of the merchant.  This will ensure that any leads generated through the partnership will come from the merchant’s desired market. 

Another factor in how successful an affiliate partnership will be, is the ease of use that visitors enjoy when navigating the affiliate’s website.  A site that is difficult to use will not hold visitors long enough for them to take action.  Ease of use leads to higher conversion rates.

Through affiliate marketing, merchants stand to gain a massive amount of exposure, increased traffic, an ongoing supply of leads, and ultimately, more sales.

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Learn how to manage your affiliates — Make their profits soar as well as yours!

Affiliate Manager Course

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1. Choose Affiliate Programs that will complement your current site’s niche and will target your visitors’ interests. First, start by gathering a list of potential products and services that you feel would complement but not compete with your current services and products. Using an affiliate program
promoting “pens” might be the perfect complement to your “stationery” website and should not conflict with the sales your own products.

2. Choose Affiliate Programs with a good web design. Once you visit a potential affiliate company website for review, quickly evaluate the web design. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the fanciest site on the web, but if it’s very poorly done or looks very cheap, you’re going to have a hard time earning commission on sales. Also, take into consideration whether the affiliate site has easy-to-read lettering, easy-to-view colors, and a well-proportioned layout that is not overly crowded or confusing.

3. Choose Affiliate Programs that offer good commissions. If the affiliate site passes the web design test, take a quick peek at their affiliate program overview. Do not choose affiliate programs that do not state what they are going to pay you or that are merely interested in offering their pretty graphics to make your site a little lovelier. I’ve seen far too many affiliate companies boast about what value they can add to your site and what lovely graphics they have to offer you. This is a business issue not a web design enhancement!

Affiliate commissions need to be high enough to have a good return for your investment (ROI). To know 100% sure if you’re getting a good return, you will have to do some testing. In most circumstances, the little measly 5% and 10% commissions will hardly cut a profit for you after spending money on marketing. Look for at least 20% or more on commission levels. Many ebook affiliate sites will offer you a good 50% share on commission; however, 30% can be considered a good commission on an ebook of high quality especially if it fits your niche perfectly.

4. Choose Affiliate Programs with easy navigation and checkout features. Their sales will be low if navigation is difficult or their checkout is confusing. Test everything out by hunting for some specific items and doing a starter checkout to see how many clicks it takes to get to the final payment area. Statistics show that the more clicks required to checkout often results in a larger percentage of shopping cart abandonment.

5. Choose Affiliate Programs offering reasonably priced items and shipping costs. The company doesn’t need to offer the “lowest” priced items on the internet. It does; however, need to at least be reasonable. Some companies will try to price their items really low and then tack on high shipping costs. So, make sure to check out the shipping costs as well. I’ve abandoned my shopping cart quite a few times after the shock of discovering that my shipping costs were almost as much as the items I was ordering.

6. Choose Affiliate Programs run by companies that also offer good customer services. Take time to click the contact button and ask some questions about their products. See how long it takes to get an actual response from the company. If it’s a company that you’ve never heard of before, do a feedback checkup on your favorite search engine by typing in the company’s name. Look especially for some forum comments. People often chat about their good or bad experiences with related companies. Even purchasing a product yourself can be to your advantage so that you can testify on the quality of the product, the quick shipping, the wonderful customer service experience and more.

7. Choose Affiliate Programs by companies whose products or services are not overly saturated on the internet. If practically every blog and website is promoting that affiliate program, try seeking something a little more refreshing and new. Of course, if it’s an affiliate program that is overly
promoted but really fits well with your niche and you really like it, by all means, use it. Nevertheless, be sure to add some other affiliate programs as well that will offer you a chance to earn some commissions easier without the overbearing competition.

8. Choose Affiliate Programs that offer customer promotions. Check to see if the affiliate company offers their customers seasonal promotions or other promotional discounts. This is a company who understands marketing and benefiting from repeat sales. If they have a newsletter, sign up to see
what kind of offers they send to their customers. If they’re doing well on marketing themselves and not just depending on affiliates for sales, then this company may be a really good candidate for you.

9. Choose Affiliate Programs offering good tracking tools. Keeping an eye on statistics is important for affiliates. If the company also offers tracking cookies which are set for a period of time, you will have even a greater advantage since most visitors do not buy on their first visit. A 60-day cookie
means that the your affiliate company has tagged your visitor with your referral link. If they come back any time within 60 days, you will still receive commission even if they do not come back through your affiliate link.

10. Choose Affiliate Programs offering affiliate newsletters, promotions, graphics, text ads, articles, additional support and more. A good affiliate company will treat their affiliates well by offering them bonuses from time to time and additional promotions to motivate them to earn even more commissions. At the very least, make sure you are paid in a timely manner. No company is of complete perfection, yet, if you find that a company is frequently delaying payments or offering other excuses for not paying you, then move on to a company that will appreciate your talents more.

As a final note, there is no complete failproof guide to choosing the perfect affiliate programs for you. Only performing tests from your actual affiliate promotions will help you decide which ones are bringing you the best results for your business. Keeping your guideline handy; however, should help eliminate some wasted time and money and help you succeed in choosing ones that are worthy of your time.

Generate Extra Revenue. You will share revenue from the advertising fees that Zabang search engine generates. Their 2-level affiliate program makes you even more money! Earn 10% on level 1 and 5% on level 2 for the LIFE of the customer (level 2 are the customers your referred affiliates send to Zabang™ ) .

Mike Glaspie, the guy who founded and runs sites like BannersGoMLM.com, BannerCo-op.com, FreelinksNetwork.com, FreeMarketingInfo.biz, NoBSZone.com, MySiteInc.com, NetMarketing2005.com, and several other sites, all of which are easily within the top 1% of all sites visited online, is putting the final touches on a series of sites that are going to revolutionize the search engine business.

YOU have the chance to get in on the “ground floor” opportunity!

A brand new approach to search engines

Now search engines have been done, but they all have one big problem for people like you and me… they don’t provide any incentive to the marketer. For example, if you tell someone to go look something up on Google, who benefits from that? Why, Google does! Google gets the traffic, the viewer sees their ads that their advertisers pay them for, and so on. What do you get? Squat!

Mike has changed all of that. Zabang is built from the net marketer up, instead of from the “computer techs” down. (And yet, search results are blazingly fast… AND relevant. In fact, faster and more relevant than the other big names.)

Mike also knows how to penetrate a market fast and big… reward others BIG TIME for doing it for you! Through ZabangSolutions.com (the site that manages the Zabang affiliate program), you’ll get a FULL TEN PERCENT commission on every pay-per-click or sponsor purchase made by those you refer… for the LIFE of the customer.

Refer someone just once (using banners, links, or the Zabang search bar on your site) and you could easily be paid over and over again for years!

But it doesn’t stop there… you see, ZabangSolutions offers a two-tier affiliate program. (Now this isn’t M.L.M or network marketing, it’s just two tiers.) This means that whenever you refer someone to Zabang and that person then becomes an affiliate like you, anyone THEY refer goes under you also, and you’ll both get commissions from that customer… the affiliate you referred gets 10%, and you get a 5% override commission! Again, for the life of the customer!

But not “just” a search engine!

And there is more! Zabang will offer first class hosting solutions featuring options from no-cost all the way up to extremely sophisticated hosting options. Each one guaranteeing indexing (listing) at Zabang.com. You would expect nothing less from Zabang. And when your referrals host with ZabangHost.com, you get 10% & 5% all over again for the life of the customer’s account. And there’s no selling, just refer people to Zabang.com to do their online searches and they’ll take it from there. It’s completely passive… and totally viral.

And yet another bonus, Mike is also creating a companion site to Zabang called ZabangMail.

ZabangMail.com will offer 100% spam-free, free email accounts, the best this state of the art technology has to offer to-date. And they don’t use filters. They have their own proprietary technology for eliminating spam from your in-box. Users of ZabangMail.com will never have to worry that mail they want to receive will be filtered just because it contains words or phrases that couldn’t pass through. And because ZabangMail.com is their own ISP they give guaranteed whitelisting to all publishers.

Now remember (and this is important), ZabangMail.com is a companion to Zabang.com. Each one will promote the other. ZabangMail users will have a tag message at the bottom of their email just like Hotmail, just like Yahoo, etc. But this one will give a brief blurb about searching Zabang.com, but with a twist… are you ready? The URL in the tag message at the bottom of all user’s email will also be (if elected) the affiliate’s link for Zabang.com! Think about it… get just a few people to sign up for ZabangMail, and every single email they send out will track back to YOUR Zabang account earning you an override all over again! We’re talking major cross promotion, and hyper viral marketing. It truly is going to be huge.

Just to give you an idea

Just to give you an idea how big Zabang is destined to become… already their Alexa ranking is in the top 1/10 of 1% of all sites visited online… and this is only a private invitational pre-registration period! Wow!

So drop what you are doing right now and get pre-registered for the two-level affiliate program. At the very least, you get guaranteed “indexing” (i.e. listed in the search results at Zabang.com) as an affiliate (which is a HUGE benefit). Then, you’ll be emailed an invitational letter with your link dropped in so you can send it along to your closest contacts. They’ll keep accurate track of your referrals and when Zabang™ launches, you will have complete stats of all your referrals and commissions earned.

Click Here for Your Personal Invitation: http://mommyrevenue.com/zabang

Note: Google and Yahoo are Registered Trademarks and are not affiliated with Zabang.com, Inc. and it’s related companies.

Product reviews are an exceptional tool to drive traffic to a desired website.  It is content that is both valuable and readers expect a link in the review so that they can see the product for themselves.  As an affiliate marketer, product reviews are a great way to drive traffic to a website via click-throughs.

However, in order for a product review to be an effective traffic generation tool, it must be believable.  No one is going to buy a product that has only pros, no cons and a lot of exclamation points! (Or at least they shouldn’t.)

Here are a few great tips to consider when writing your next product review:

Tip #1 Every review must answer these questions:

• What does the product promise?
• How well does it achieve those goals?
• Is it a good value?
• What are the drawbacks of the product?

Tip #2 Reviews can be solitary or comparative.  Sometimes it’s easier to compare products than to simply evaluate one single product. 

• Remember when comparing products, compare the same types of products, “apples to apples” so to speak.  A review that compares copywriting software with video production software certainly won’t help anyone make a decision.
• Consider what features to compare.  If you talk about the cost of one product, be sure to talk about the cost of the other. If you have a bias toward one product, be honest and tell readers that you prefer one over the other but don’t leave out features or drawbacks simply because they place a preferred product in a darker light.

Tip #3 Be honest. Think about the reader. Think about the goal. You want visitors to respect your opinion and make a purchase. Talk to visitors and then write the review as if talking to a friend. This not only enhances the copy because it’s written conversationally, but it will ensure that the review feels genuine to its reader.

Tip #4  Learn as much as possible about the product or service you are reviewing.  It isn’t always possible to try every product or service that you’re reviewing; however, you should be as knowledgeable as possible.  Do a thorough research on positive and negative feedback from others who may have used that prouct.  You want to be able to actually provide quality advice and information to the reader.  You should aim to gain and keep the trust of your readers and website visitors.  When they learn that you are indeed honest, you will be trusted for positive reviews and suggested purchases in the future.  Thus, increasing your online affiliate sales.

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==> Improve Your Words; Improve Your Sales!  Click Below: http://mommyrevenue.com/copywriting/

Was your first case scenario like mine?  You build a site, throw up some banners and links to a bunch of products and eagerly wait for your affiliate sales to start rolling in. A few days later still no sales and you think affiliate marketing doesn’t work and throw in the towel.

Make no mistake, when applied properly affiliate marketing most certainly works and it’s a fantastic way to make money online.

Here are a few tips to help you avoid those dreaded mistakes many beginners make in affiliate marketing:

Banner Central – Banners don’t often work as well as text links. Of course, it does depend on your subject and you should test both individually to determine what works best but often times you’re better off sticking to text links rather than turning your website into banner central.

Unrelated Products – You’d be surprised at the number of people who do this. Make sure all offers on your website are related to the context on your site. For example if you have a site about pet care don’t offer baby care products. Sometimes it’s tempting to promote other products but stick to what your target market is looking for.

Missing your Target Market – Before starting any business venture (including affiliate marketing) you should always know who your target market is. To become a super affiliate you’ll need to build a website which speaks directly to the market you are trying to attract and you’ll need to understand the needs of that specific market. So who’s your target market?

Hype, Hype, Hype – Avoid it all costs. People can smell hype a mile away and will run quick with their credit card clutched tightly in their hands. If you review products on your website makes sure those reviews are honest. More importantly, try to take the time to actually use the product (or at least look into it) so that you can genuinely speak about its features and benefits; and don’t forget to add the not so good sides of the product too. If the product is lacking in some way, say so. People will appreciate your honesty and grow to trust you.

Not Tracking Sales – In order to know whether a program is worth you promoting or not, you’ll need to track how well it converts. Try out different things in your promotions and track each one of them.

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Learn More from My Favorite Affiliate Marketing Expert: http://mommyrevenue.com/affiliatemarketing

Many people promote affiliate links online; depending on your target market, you may be facing some stiff competition. While you should not stop your online promotion efforts, you can add offline promotion to increase your commissions.

When promoting offline, you will want to redirect your affiliate links. This is a very simple process. You can create a page on your domain that and include some HTML code that will automatically send your visitor to your affiliate link. If you are promoting an autoresponder, you may name the page www.yourdomain.com/autoresponder. Simply add the following code: <meta content=”0; URL=http://www.youraffilatelink.com” http-equiv=”REFRESH” >. It’s that easy!

You can design some flyers right from home. Depending on the price of your printer’s ink cartridges, it may be cheaper to just print out one flyer and take it to a copy shop and use the self service method to make additional copies. Take them with you wherever you go; put them up wherever you see a bulleting board, such as the grocery store, the mall, post office, library, etc. Using brightly colored paper will grab people’s attention. Create a catchy headline and make sure the font is clear and easy to read.

You can get car magnets made up that will stick to the side of your car. It will look like a message that is painted on your car. Stick the car magnets on whenever you are out and about running errands. Your car can be sitting in the middle of a parking lot, generating traffic for you.

Take a small cardboard box and decorate it with brightly colored wrapping paper. Attach a sign that says “Free Drawing” and offer some type of prize. You don’t have to offer anything of too much value.

You can get some entry forms made up at your local copy shop for a small price (make sure the entry form includes an area for the registrant’s email address). Take the box around to local salons, convenience stores, grocery stores, and anywhere else that you can think of. Leave the box there for a week, and when you return, take the entry forms and email the contestants. Let the winner know that they won; and let the other people know that they did not win, but you appreciate the fact that they entered. Include links to your site, as well as your newsletter. You may generate a lot of traffic to your site and add a few names to your mailing list.

Depending on your product, you may want to try a direct mail campaign. You can purchase mailing lists from companies that specialize in collecting demographic info. You can also purchase some postcards from companies such as BizCard for a reasonable price.

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More Recommended Resources for Promoting Offline:

Holmes Stamp & Sign

Corporate Casuals Free Hat Offer

Promote yourself and your business with Business Card Magnets.
Click Here For More Details!

Many affiliate managers wonder what they can do to make their affiliate program stronger, increase sales, and have happy, motivated, and hardworking affiliates.  The answer is simple.  One of the best things you can do for your affiliate program is to create an affiliate center. 

Think of an affiliate center as the heart of an affiliate program…  

Offering an affiliate handbook is advisable.  This can include a background on what affiliate marketing is, some examples of the methods they can use to market your products and services, as well as some additional resources you feel will be of help to them.

An affiliate center should also include affiliate tools.   These tools should help affiliates to promote your products, such as articles, brandable special reports, sample emails, as well as both graphic and text link ads.

If possible, affiliate statistics should be included in their affiliate area.  If the affiliate center is located outside of the affiliate management system, simply include a link to the URL affiliates can use to log in and view their stats.

Having all your affiliates’ tips, tools and articles in one location makes it very convenient.  Your affiliates can log in and check their stats, pick up some new ads to use on their sites or an article to post on their blog.  They can also take a few minutes to look through the affiliate handbook and pick up some new marketing techniques…all in one central location.

It does take time to create these training materials and resources, but it will be beneficial down the road.  Providing these things to  affiliates makes their job easier, therefore making them more willing to do the work necessary to earn commissions.  They can simply grab the ads you created and post them on their site or take the sample email and send it to their mailing lists. 

A quick guideline and step-by-step guide is very beneficial.  A new affiliate can join a program and start receiving sales the same day.  This is a win-win situation for both you and the affiliate.

Communicate with your affiliates.  You can send an email to your affiliates and ask them how you can make their job easier, what tools they would like to see provided, and what aspects of affiliate marketing they need training on.

Offer contests, incentives and heads-up on sales coming up, etc.  Current affiliates will have a new drive and will become more motivated and new affiliates will be able to get a running start.

You will benefit from having such an amazing affiliate program, as well and will see extra profits for years to come as long as the affiliate center is maintained well.

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Recommended Resources to Create Your Own Affiliate Program:

Ultimate Marketing Center

Wahm Cart