Jim Daniels shares his secrets to finding and working the right affiliate programs to bring in 80K a year - and how YOU can find the right program to help YOU do the same!

By Jim Daniels

A few years ago, when affiliate programs began to make their way onto the Net, I was already "living" online. So naturally, I was one of the very first marketers to take a look at this "new" online marketing idea.

And frankly, after a close look inside the numbers, what I saw was not overly exciting. But thanks to a little patience and a few strategies I developed, I've been able to generate affiliate income that most experts predicted was impossible (and continue to say it's impossible to this day!)

If you're looking to do the same, read on...

The very first affiliate program I reviewed, paid an average of ten percent commissions on each product sale my site generated. The products (mostly books) averaged around $15 so my share would be about a buck and a half per sale. I figured if I could get one sale out of every 35 visitors I sent to the site, that would be a decent conversion rate (better than average, actually). After doing a little math, I concluded that I would earn about $45 for every 1000 visitors I sent to the site.

But getting 1000 visitors to any given affiliate site meant I'd have to get about 10,000 visitors to my own site. If I could do that every week, I'd be doing OK for a small business site with a marketing budget close to zero. But I was already learning that it takes time and money to get 10,000 visitors a week. And let's see... for all my traffic generating efforts I would pull in a cool $180 a month? It didn't take a genius to figure out that it might not be worth the effort. I passed.

But I did NOT pass on the affiliate game altogether. I knew there was potential for excellent long-term income in the right affiliate programs so I bided my time and grew my website traffic and my ezine subscriber numbers. Meanwhile, I kept a close eye on the affiliate horizon.

Then during 1998 and 1999 I joined my first few serious affiliate programs. And to make a long story short, these few affiliate programs were responsible for over $80,000 in income at my website last year alone. Who says you can't make a decent income with affiliate programs?

While I've sampled a few other programs along the way, I continue to promote only a select few programs on a regular basis. As far as affiliate program marketing goes, you won't find too many marketers who are as picky as I am. But picky works. Had I joined that very first affiliate program I looked at, I would have been lucky to make $5,000 last year in affiliate income. Not bad, but a far cry from 80K.

So what programs pulled in 80k last year for me?

I'm not going to tell you!

That's right, you'll have to poke around at my website and find out. I did not write today's tip to round up more second-tier affiliates. I wrote it to show you the TRUE potential in affiliate program marketing and to explain exactly how you can grow affiliate income like I have.

So let's get to that next. What are the secrets to generating measurable affiliate income? Here they are in a nice five-step program...

1. Choose the right affiliate programs! As my example above shows, this important step can mean a difference of 75K a year, easily. The right programs for YOU are ...

a) programs that tie in with your site well (Ex: don't promote a dating service if your site focuses on business)

b) programs that you can get behind 100% and recommend personally to your website visitors, subscribers and all else who come in contact with your business

c) programs that pay serious commissions of 25% or more on sales -- and if you can earn residual or recurring income that's even better (Ex: services like web hosting require customers to pay monthly, so you as an affiliate can earn monthly too!)

2. Promote your best programs with personal recommendations at your website and in your email messages.

While most affiliate programs offer marketing assistance to their affiliates, your best bet is to form your own marketing plan and promotion material. This sets your affiliate site apart from thousands of others.

And don't forget, in order to truly make personal recommendations, you'll need to be a CUSTOMER as well. I see far too many affiliates making personal recommendations without even making the investment in the product or service they are promoting. Not only will you lose credibility when you do this, you'll be limiting your marketing potential by not knowing the product like you should.

3. Don't go affiliate crazy and promote too many programs.

A handful is fine, but a dozen or more cheapens the experience for your users. If you absolutely MUST promote lots of products and services, PERSONALLY RECOMMEND only a small number of them. Take your very best ONE or TWO affiliate programs and stick to recommending them as your staple. A premium service with a slightly higher than normal price tag and generous commission is ideal for this strategy. But be sure it is worth the price!

4. Don't expect to grow serious affiliate income without having a website of your own.

Too many newbies make this mistake. They think they can avoid ALL online business start-up time and expenses by joining an affiliate program and using the free site they get as their main site. It's a mistake. The best affiliates in EVERY program have their own website where they bring ALL their traffic first. From a "home base" like this you are free to make personal recommendations, promote a variety of programs and earn income other ways such as advertising or selling your own products and services. Growing your own site is a major key to growing serious long-term affiliate income.

5. Get help!

Don't go it alone. Ask successful affiliates how they've grown their incomes - most are happy to share the details. Read their books, take their courses and get on their subscriber lists. There's no point in trying to reinvent the wheel. Simply follow the path that other successful affiliates have taken before you and you can achieve success too. It really is that simple.

And if you want some more hype-free advice on generating real, long-term, "wow!" income online, read my new five- page website that reveals _exactly_ how I did it and how YOU can do it too...

---> https://www.make-a-living-online.com AOL HotLink

Tutorial by Jim Daniels of https://www.bizweb2000.com. Jim's new, no-hype, step-by-step Guide to Making a Living from the Internet is at https://www.make-a-living-online.com Read Jim's web-based guide and discover how you could make your living online.

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