An affiliate product is an item that another business produces, delivers, and supports. You can earn money from your website by marketing the products of another company. When someone makes a purchase through that website as a result of your recommendation, you get paid a sales commission. Affiliate programs don’t usually require you to create a website to promote them. They are also commonly free to join.
A domain name at Best Domain Name is an example of an affiliate product. Whenever someone buys a domain name or any of the other Internet services offered, you get a small commission on the sale. The product is then delivered and supported by the main company. All you have to do is supply some customizations and the traffic.
This is how an affiliate program works:
Find an affiliate product.
Your first step is to find a product that you’re interested in recommending. Your interest can stem from a topic that your customers have shown interest in that you don’t offer, or maybe a trend you recognize in your industry.
For example, if you see too many business owners with domain names registered by their web designers — meaning that the business owner didn’t truly own his own domain name — you can refer them to a domain name registrar that you’re affiliated with.
Your first affiliate products of interest will likely come from items you’ve already used and are impressed with, such as a good e-book, a software program, or maybe a CD set. And, affiliate programs can be quite lucrative — offering more than $1,000 per sale — so you don’t have to settle only for small-dollar-value products.
Here are two main ways to find affiliate programs to consider:
Search on a search engine. To find an affiliate product on a search engine, search for an industry-specific topic or an exact product, followed by the words affiliate program.
Use an affiliate aggregator, such as ClickBank or Commission Junction, where all the money and affiliate payments are handled. Simply create a new account for yourself and search available products to promote.
Access your unique affiliate link.
Visit the company’s website and add an affiliate account there. You will be directed to an administration area, where you can find a link to use in your promotions.
When people click your affiliate link and make a purchase, you get credit for sales that originate with your recommendation.
Promote your affiliate link or banner.
After you have the link to promote, copy and paste it for use in your e-mails and on your website.
Take the extra step to register a domain name to forward to your unique affiliate link. That way, you don’t have to remember a long string of numbers and letters every time you want to promote your link to someone. Plus, promoting an affiliate product verbally is a lot easier if you have people visit a domain name that’s tied to the affiliate link, and you still get the credit.
Visit the administration area frequently because that’s where you find important statistics related to your affiliate product, such as the number of visitors to your affiliate link, the number of sales per month, the conversion rates, and most importantly, the dollar figure you can expect to receive in your bank account for those referred sales.
