Wow I cannot believe how busy I’ve been this winter. I managed to re-create Scrappers Talk Radio & Scrap Venture. I changed both of those sites completely to a blog format (which you’d probably never know it because it’s a really neat theme) and I absolutely love it all!

I changed it all over to blog formats because I know how much easier it is to update my content or have a virtual assistant be able to get it all done for me. And I can tell you it’s a HUGE relief!

I’m so very excited about what the future holds, I’ve been approached by another magazine to write and I’m just thrilled with it. This is what I truly love to do.

Ahh…Affiliate Marketing.  This is how many people with online businesses make their living.  So, what exactly is affiliate marketing and how does it work? 

Affiliate marketing, in a nutshell, is when a website owner promotes other people’s products for and receives compensation (commissions) for doing so.  Think of a car salesman to help grasp the concept.  The company who makes the cars puts them on a car lot and the hires salesman to make the sale.  Once that occurs the salesman then makes a commission on the sale.

Like the car salesman who doesn’t take the cars home at night, affiliate marketers do not keep an inventory of the products they promote.  Nor do they determine the sales price or handle any of the actual sales.  They simply promote the products in various ways that make their customers want to buy.  The product owner handles everything else including giving their affiliates promotional tools and tips to help them.

Here are a few tips to help you make the most of an affiliate marketing business.

1.  Have a website centered around a specific niche.
2.  Research products that fit well into that niche.
3.  Diversity…don’t just pick one or two products to promote and think that’s enough.
4.  At the same time, don’t try to promote products that your target market won’t be      interested in.
5.  Test different types of promotion and see which ones work the best for you. 
6.  Most importantly, don’t think affiliate marketing is simply a matter of posting links on a website and waiting for the commissions to role in. 

Basically, look for affiliate programs that match your website, say you have a scrapbooking site, you’ll want to look for scrapbook ebooks or products to add to your site.

You have to put some thought and elbow grease into your promotions in order to make a good income with affiliate marketing.
 

People love the prospect of winning a prize and that is why contests are a great way to gain publicity. Another reason that contests are great for publicity is that you can create buzz for your business before, during, and after the contest. You can use a contest to gain exposure for a product or service that you offer, or to create general traffic to your website.

When deciding what type of contest to have, take a look at the type of business you have and who your target market is. If your goal is to create traffic for a website devoted to cooking, you can hold a “worst cooking disaster” contest where entrants can write in about their biggest kitchen mishap. If you have an information product on a subject related to babies, hold a “pretty baby contest” where contestants can send in a picture of their infant.

You can also do a search on the internet for unknown holidays or other events that are taking place that may have something to do with your business. For instance, June is National Iced Tea Month. In using the above example of a cooking-related website, you could hold an Iced Tea Recipe Contest. June 18 is National Splurge Day. You could create a contest that asked the contestants to name their favorite “food splurge,” such as ice cream, cake, etc. Or you could create a contest asking entrants to describe the biggest splurge they made on a cooking appliance, such as a Panini Press.

You do not have to offer an expensive prize for the winner. If you are creating the contest to gain publicity for an information product that you have created, perhaps you can give a free copy to the winner.

Another option is to find sponsors to help contribute prizes to the contest. Find some websites that offer complimentary products or services to what you are promoting. For instance, if you have a website that provides information on how women can start their own business, you can find a virtual assistant, transcriptionist, life coach, etc. who may wish to donate a couple hours’ of time as a prize. In exchange for their donation, make sure you give them lots of publicity on your contest page and in your communications with the media.

Send in press releases to the media several weeks before the contest will begin. Follow up with a press release while the contest is in full swing. Then send in another release after the contest is over and the winner has been announced. You can also ask your sponsors to send in press releases to their local media and to the winners’ local media.

Don’t forget to follow up with the people that entered the contest but did not win. Send them an email and let them know you appreciate their efforts. You can make them feel like a winner by offering them a special discount on one of your information products, for instance.

Having outside links coming in to your website is very important when it comes to increasing your site’s traffic. Think of these links as doors or entry points. The more links you have, the more “open doors” your site has to welcome visitors.

A quick and easy way to increase the number of incoming links to your site is to add these links to your blog. You can add links to articles and other helpful information that you have featured on your site.

You can also add incoming links to your site in the signature lines of forums that you are a member of. Many people will read your posts and click on the links to see what your site is all about.

Writing articles and adding them to article reprint directories will also help you increase the number of your site’s incoming links. When you write an article, you can include a section at the end that tells the reader a bit about yourself and you can include a link to your site. Each time a website owner or blogger publishes one of your articles, an incoming link to your site is added.

If you have a product or service for sale, establishing an affiliate program will add to the amount of incoming links you have. As affiliates join your program, they will be promoting links to your site. If one of the people that come into your site through one of the affiliate links purchases one of your products or services, you will give your affiliate a commission on that sale.

You can also choose to form link exchanges with others. Think of your target market and the other types of sites they may be visiting. For instance, if you have a site that features information about kitchenware, try approaching websites related to cooking, meal planning, recipes, etc and explain the benefit of linking to your site. You can point out articles or other information their readers may find helpful. Perhaps you have a “how-to” article on your site about storing recipes that people have printed off websites. The recipe website owner can see why their visitors would find this information helpful, and will agree to post a link on their site to the page on your website that features this article (or post your article with a link back to your site).

The website owners that agree to add your links may want you to add a reciprocal link to their site in exchange. When adding links to your site, it is okay to be picky. If a site doesn’t offer anything of value to your audience, pass on that exchange and form a partnership with a site that does offer some type of information your readers would find helpful.