Happy Monday everyone! Today, I will be answering a question someone asked me over the weekend. They asked me if affiliate programs work. You know, the ones that claim you can make thousands a day. The answer is; yes, these programs work. But, only for some people. People that are experienced at bringing large amounts of targeted traffic to websites usually prosper in this type of work. For every one affiliate that succeeds, one thousand others fail. Affiliate programs are not for everyone.

Although a majority of affiliate programs are legit, most of these programs are very misleading. They claim you can make thousands of dollars a month for doing absolutely nothing. This may be true, if you can place that affiliate program link on a website that gets thousands of hits everyday. If you don’t have a website that gets thousands of hits everyday all ready, then you would have to build one. It could take months or years to drive a marketing campaign and get thousands of visitors a day.

They make it sound very easy. You place the affiliate link onto your website. Someone visits your website and clicks onto the affiliate link. If they buy something, you get an affiliate commission for each sale. No inventory, no overhead, no boss, no storage space needed. It sounds very easy. And it is very easy. Only if you know how to market and advertise your affiliate website with the affiliate links. Or, if you have a website that already gets thousands of hits everyday.

Some programs even say you don’t need any customer service. WHAT? No matter what you do in the business world folks; you will always need customer service. Most programs go out of their way to hook you in to the program with big dollar amounts and fancy slogans. I tend to stay clear from these types of programs, as they are usually bad news.

Stay away from all the sketchy or questionable programs. If you feel uneasy about the program, don’t sign up for it. There are thousands of others out there that are very good programs. Try and sign up for major name affiliate programs. People tend to trust these programs more for obvious reasons. Try and find affiliate programs that you know will pay you well. You are not doing this for free. Lots or programs out there reward you with a very reasonable commission. Don’t be forced into small affiliate commission pay outs.

Make sure the program is suitable for your customers. Does the affiliate program offer them a good deal for a reasonable price? Remember, they clicked onto the affiliate program from your website. So you can be held accountable in your customer’s eyes. They may never return to your website if they get ripped off. Have you ever tried the product or program? Would you buy it? Scams are everywhere. Although something may seem legit, try and do extensive research on each of your affiliate programs you advertise. You don’t want to give your website a bad name by advertising scams to your customers.

Try not to combine other ad programs and affiliate advertisements on one website. Blending other ad programs onto an affiliate website never seems to blend in right. It usually makes the website look jumbled together with advertisements. I am still learning how to make a website look pretty with advertisements. All in all, it makes a great trial and error experiment. From my experiences, you get a very poor turn around rate if you combine other advertisement programs with affiliate programs on one webpage.

If you know how to drive traffic or have a website that already gets lots of traffic, you can be a big affiliate success. If you don’t know how to advertise or market, here is a post I made to bring targeted traffic to your website. Check it out here.

Having lots and lots of traffic coming to your affiliate webpages is very important. You won’t succeed in the affiliate world without lots of traffic. This is the heart of the operation when you are an affiliate marketer. Some people go to college for years to learn how to market or advertise. Other people have picked up on how to advertise and market right out of their homes. There are many different ways to market and advertise. My suggestion to you is; change with the times. Find out what is new and working right now. Because, what worked 5 years ago to market and advertise wouldn’t work as well today.

Related content is another important factor on your affiliate website. Make sure the content on your website is somehow related to the affiliate programs you offer. If your website is about home business, you shouldn’t offer recipe or cooking affiliate programs. If your website is about home business, offer legit programs that help people make money. Offer some good e-book affiliate programs. Whatever the case may be; don’t steer away from the related content on your website.

Make your affiliate links blend in as much as you can. You want your affiliate program advertisements right in your customers face. But don’t over-do it. Sometimes less is more. You can put a picture link affiliate advertisement on your website. Or you can place just text link advertisement on the website. Sometimes text links have a better turn around.

If you are still interested in affiliate marketing, do your homework. Do lots of research. There are lots of programs out there. Take them for a test drive and see what works for you and your website. Everyone is different. Don’t expect to get the same results as the guy making thousands of dollars a month from affiliate marketing. But it is very possible if you keep working hard at it. Or you can ask me any questions you might have.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

LP@thehomedropshipguide.com