If you've been looking for work-from-home business opportunities, then affiliate marketing is well worth considering.  Affiliate marketing has become a major business opportunity over the years, especially for those who want to work from home. 

Here's a quick 'Affiliate Program Crash Course' for you…

Affiliate Program
Crash Course…

Let's explore the basics. Ready? 

How much does it cost you?

 Nothing. Affiliate programs are free to join.

How much can you earn?

This depends on many factors; The affiliate program, the level of demand for whatever you're promoting, the quality of whatever the merchant is selling, how well you presell, how many visitors you have… but let's just focus on commission at this point.

When you join an affiliate program, you can earn what is called 'commission'. The 'actions' that the program requires, can take different forms:

1. Per Sale: The most common method.
   
   Most affiliate programs offer you a percentage of the sales they make via your referrals.
   
   So say 250 of your visitors click through to their site via your affiliate link, and one of those visitors buys £100 GBP worth of stuff from that merchant. If that merchant offers, say, a 10% commission, then you'll be paid £10 GBP.
   
   Commission rates can range from 1% to 100% and anything inbetween. Yep - some merchants are willing to make a loss on their sales, in order to gain customers.



2. Per Lead: Some affiliate programs will pay you per lead. For example, if a visitor clicks on your link and fills out a form, you would be paid a certain amount for that.
   
   

   If you like this setup then you may also consider the 'Finder's Fees' monetization strategy, where local businesses pay you for referring potential clients and customers to them.




3. Per Click: Some affiliate programs even pay you per click. No need for your visitors to click through and fill out a form - just clicking on the link will get you commission. These deals are much rarer to find, but if you like the idea of this, then be sure to check out Google Ads. Google Ads are otherwise known as 'AdSense'  and they pay per click. You can find out more about Google Ads here…

Can you assume you'll be able to join any affiliate program?

No, you should not assume this.

Please don't get me wrong: There are many affiliate programs out there that do seem to accept anyone as an affiliate. All applications seem to be accepted. But!

… some affiliate programs have guidelines that outline the types of sites the merchant wants (or doesn't want) as affiliates.

What's more, some merchants like to review your site before they approve (or reject) your application. So make sure your site is up and running, has good quality content, and looks professional, before you start applying to the affiliate programs you really want to join.

If your site contains pages with phrases like, 'This site is under construction. Please come back later!' then it's a good idea to wait until your site is presentable, and has enough good quality content before applying.

 —

So those are the basics. We'll go into a little more depth in the next post.

In the meantime…

Here's A Free Ebook
About Affiliate Marketing
To Help You Along The Way…

Okay, want an early Christmas present?

Here's a free ebook for you!

It's called 'The Affiliate Masters Course' and it will walk you through what you need to do in order to become a top affiliate marketer via building your own C-T-P-M site.

Two things to bear in mind here:

1. 'The Affiliate Masters Course' is a free ebook, written by Ken Evoy, who is the mastermind behind the easy point-and-click system I recommend.
   
   The ebook contains very good quality information, especially considering it's free. But this ebook is a promotional ebook, so do expect some promo copy in there.
2. From what I can tell, the ebook is a shortened version of what used to be the point-and-click system's own affiliate manual for their own affiliates.
   
   So in this ebook, you'll find that Ken sometimes tends to show you how to promote their own products. But if this doesn't interest you, just ignore this and focus on the advice that surrounds it.
   There are some real nuggests of wisdom in there. And the advice equally applies to any other affiliate programs, products and services you might wish to promote via your C-T-P-M site, no matter what niche you choose.

The free ebook contains some absolutely great advice and information. If you read the ebook all the way through, it will give you a very good understanding of what you'll need to do in order to get your own site up and running, and making money from affiliate programs.

It's well worth a read, considering it's free.

In fact, if you're seriously considering becoming an infopreneur, then I recommend you read this free ebook more than once before proceeding.

You can access the free ebook here…

If you want to work from home then the internet business opportunities out there, can really make your dreams a reality. Affiliate marketing in particular can be very profitable indeed for your home business. The opportunity to work from home is literally at your fingertips and the free ebook is a great introduction to it all.

We'll explore affiliate programs even further in the next post.

Until then, happy reading!

Click here to get the free affiliate marketing ebook…

 

To learn more about affiliate marketing, feel free to check out the 'Affiliate Home Business Income' section.

The Home Business Geek