Would it no be great if you could sell merchandise online without having to buy it and warehouse it? Someone else handles all incoming orders and shipping and customer service and all you have to do is advertise your website and collect your money. If you already have a website that receives a fair amount of traffic this can become a reality through the use of affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to pick up some extra cash from your website. A majority of internet businesses either sponsor their own affiliate marketing program or use a separate company to host their affiliate program for them, Website owners can register to become an affiliate and while some companies will want to take a look at your site before approving your participation, others will automatically accept you as an affiliate partner.
Once accepted, you will receive a code that identifies your website and tracks any visitors from your site that goes to the company's site and places an order. In return for you placing the company's ad on your site, you receive a commission on any sales generated from your site. Typically, the ads you post are available as plaint text ads or graphics and are generated by the company or their affiliate marketing hosting service, containing the tracking code. As long as the code is entered as given to you, the company knows who to credit for the sale.
You can sign up with companies that compliment the topic of your webpage as well as any other topic you might choose. It is not advisable, if you sell products or services on your site to host affiliate ads for companies in which you are in competition. It is also recommended that you change out the ads frequently as many companies offer different products or services during different times of the year or for holidays. By keeping your advertisements fresh and in season, you have a better chance of making additional sales for the company and earning more money.
One minor point with affiliate marketing is you can alter the links to the affiliated site to have it open in a new browser window. Most links are written and coded to take the visitor to the company's website and if they close that browser page, they will go back to their default home page. By adding the instruction to open the page in a new window, when they close the window to the company's website, they are returned to your website where they can begin looking for another of your affiliates with which to do business.
One word of caution is to choose your affiliates carefully. If you have family-oriented website, you will want to make sure none of the ads you place on your site will direct visitors to sites designed for mature audiences only. Additionally, you should frequently verify that the links you have on the site actually go to the site with which you have affiliated. Company names online can be sold and the new company may keep the affiliate program operating as it was establish, except the merchandise being sold may not meet the family-only criteria. The key is to remember to treat your affiliations as a business relationship, and you should do well.
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