Selling for Others
One of the best of home based Internet businesses is selling other people's goods. The principle is not restricted to home businesses, moreover, and many companies become affiliates to supplement their revenues.
Amazon Books started the idea. Companies providing literary content, or selling travel products etc., placed a link from their site to a recommended book, a convenience to visitors that also earned commission for the site. The link recorded the site originating the sale, and software maintained by Amazon managed all aspects of the process thereafter.
The link was a simple piece of HTML code, readily cut and pasted to the page, and affiliates could view sales through a password-managed account.
Amazon still run their own system, but most companies have handed the process over to affiliate solution providers. The fee or percentage of sales taken by the third-part company covers:
maintaining lists of potential affiliates and companies looking for affiliates.
supplying links to the affiliate sites.
maintaining records of sales and commissions earned.
providing password-secured sites where sales records can be viewed.
publishing a simple-to-read report.
paying commission at agreed intervals.
Our resources page lists directories of the better-known affiliate solution providers.
Selling Email Addresses and Pay-by-Lead Deals
Free newsletters are a good way of building traffic, and selling the emails obtained is another popular form of Internet home business.
There are also pay-by-lead deals listed on our resources page.
Dealing Direct
You can sometimes cut out the middleman and deal direct with the companies concerned, though that's not recommended for the average home business. The link software itself is readily available (product details here) but you'll have to come to some arrangement with the company concerned over its purchase, coding and/or installation, particularly in the sections managing sales and commissions.
Becoming an Affiliate
How do you become an affiliate? Simple. You either look at the merchants represented by affiliate solution providers, or visit specialist affiliate sites presenting their recommendations. Alternatively, you can make your own list by searching for affiliate opportunities available from the companies of interest to you. You'll appraise the goods or services concerned, scrutinize the terms and conditions applying, and sign up. An online form will ask for details of yourself, your website and the account into which the commissions will be paid. Acceptance is often automatic — particularly if you have already been accepted by the affiliate solution provider — or you'll get an email from the merchant a day or so later when they've inspected your site.
Finding an Affiliate Solution Provider
We list directories on our resources page, but you need to:
shop around for the best deal, one where companies
supply quality goods/services
have popular products/services that really sell
offer lifetime commissions
happily provide names of other affiliates
assist their affiliates with good product information
don't insist on exclusive contracts
allow independent sales copy/evaluations
consult third-party sites and manuals for advice on selecting a competent and reputable provider: some 40% of companies are not apparently happy with their initial choice.
General Considerations: Performance
Creating a site with dozens of affiliate links is just the start. You'll need to work hard to:
make your site outstanding: i.e.
provide uniquely useful content.
promote effectively.
keep promoting through search engines, pay-per-click search engines, email marketing.
establish trust, confidence and authority.
actually sell the affiliate products.
It's easy to become an affiliate. There's no a sign-up fee, and many companies allow a free trial of their products. But you must remember that competition is fierce. The popular products are promoted by thousands (and sometimes tens of thousands) of affiliates. Our resources section points you to advice, courses and ebooks on Internet marketing, but the points constantly stressed are:
planning: find out what's really selling, and by what methods.
content: your site must provide free/unique/helpful content to be popular.
research: you must understand affiliate products to endorse them.
suitability: products must be appropriate to your visitor's needs and wants.
quality: you need top-notch products you can be proud of.
commissions should be sufficiently generous to repay your efforts in promoting the products.
do not engage in hard-sell, but create a willingness to purchase by engendering trust and confidence in your visitors.
replace banners supplied by informative text links — if allowed by the merchant.
consider adding a doorway page between your recommendation and the merchant's site, one where you can supply more information to the potential purchaser.
tacking on affiliate programs to an existing site doesn't usually work: you'll need to redesign the site around a tightly-focused group of affiliate opportunities.
see http://naija-currentnews.blogspot.com
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