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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Affiliate Marketing Software You Can Not Do With Out

Affiliate marketing is a very lucrative way of conducting a business. If you are not already into an affiliate program, then you should really consider joining one as soon as possible because you are missing out on some big money.

I believe that by far the most important thing is the affiliate program you decide to join. A poorly managed program can make you get the wrong idea about your ability to make money on the Internet while a great program can turn even the most secluded computer geek into a money making machine.

There are programs and programs. Choosing wisely is the key to your success and here are a few things to look for when you consider joining an affiliate marketing program:

1. Affiliate Support
What do they offer in terms of support? Do they give you a couple of banners and several text links to load on your web site or are they actually involved into helping you do the right marketing and promotion for your business. Banners and text links don't work too well if you don't know how to write a sales copy and you have no idea what SEO research tools mean.

Find out what they offer in terms of affiliate support and make sure they are specific about it too. Don't buy the "we have a dedicated team of affiliate experts, blah, blah, blah..." Ask for some proof.

2. Affiliate Marketing Software.
Even if you don't need software at all to create and run a web site (other than a simple text editor), you will need a lot of software to manage your business. And affiliate software is not cheap, not cheap at all. You need a word tracker account, a FTP client for your web site (there are free options here), a program to analyze the logs of your customers’ actions on your web site, a program to monitor the sales you've generated and lot more!

Then you need some software to create your web site with if you are not a master with HTML and PHP/ASP or other scripting programs. Dreamweaver is one of the best out there, but it comes with a hefty price tag of $399!

Then if you are a blogger, you need to install blogging software like WordPress. And even if you are not a blogger you should become one pretty soon. Blogging is cool today, but find out who is going to pay for all these. Maybe they can offer you some or all these pricey software for a special low price. Or you can get some of it for free if you are really lucky.

3. Marketing and Advertising Tools.
Do you know how to promote your web site? How to organize an advertising campaign and how much money you should spend on promoting your business? Even if you think you know all there is to know about Internet marketing, a second opinion is always welcome and may offer a fresh point of view.

And if you are just starting out you will need a lot of guidance and support to learn the ropes of what a marketing campaign is all about. You will also be using all the creative materials they provide you with, so you need to see some of their artwork and if you think it looks sloppy and lacks that spark that can make the customer want to click a banner, then maybe you should just move on.

Remember that every little piece contributes to the success of your business!

How to Find a Top Rated Affiliate Program

you're reading this, then it's pretty safe to assume that you are interested in marketing and very interested in making as much money as possible without working too hard. Well, that's what top rated affiliate programs are for because the only way a program can get to the top of the affiliate world is to provide the affiliates with everything they want and then some. Being proactive in meeting the needs of affiliates pay handsomely, which is why top rated affiliate programs can be counted on to offer the terms that make a marketer's heart race with excitement.

What are the features of a top rated affiliate program? For starters, such a program offers high commissions. The people behind it know that their products will sell very well and don't mind giving up a bigger share of the money in order to motivate affiliates and reward their efforts. If you're spending a couple of hours everyday pondering traffic statistics, thinking up ways to improve your website to get top search engine placement and generating a lot of sales then you deserve those high commissions. And if your conversion rate is high enough, you will be making a lot of money in a short time.

Aside from the high commissions you will need quality affiliate support from the associate program in the shape of free website templates to choose from, free content for your website (or websites) written by professional copywriters, tutorials and guides if you're only just beginning and lots of information and advice on the niche market you are going to be operating in. Plus, you get access to advanced affiliate tools for keyword research and traffic tracking. Another very important thing to look out for is the way products are sold. If the managers ask you to buy the products and resell it to customers, then you're walking into a scam.

But you probably know by now that there are no magic buttons to push that can make you a super affiliate in a couple of days. You'll have to work your way to a position of financial security and you have a lot to learn about how to be a good marketer. But joining a top rated affiliate program goes a long way to making your dreams come true as fast as humanly possible because the sad alternative is to do the same amount of work for less money. And that runs contrary to the fact that you deserve to get as much as possible for your efforts.

Low commissions and small percentages of low prices are highly NOT recommended and working for a greedy bunch of managers is an experience that should be avoided. Why waste time and effort when you can start on the right foot by joining a top rated affiliate program? If some people out there are willing to work for low commissions and others can't find anything wrong with investing their own money in a business that doesn't ever pay off, then let them do it. You have other priorities.