Chapter 5. Making Money with Affiliate Programs
Youâve got the content (Chapter 1). Youâve created a business plan for your site (Chapter 2). Youâve learned how to drive traffic to your site (Chapter 3). Youâve optimized your site for search engine placement (Chapter 4). Now, whereâs the money?
This chapter explains how to make money from your website by having your site work as a virtual âsales rep.â You become a sales rep for another site, often called a merchant, by becoming an affiliate, sometimes called an associate, of the merchant.
With affiliate programs, your site provides links to a merchantâs site. You make money ifâand only ifâvisitors you send to the merchantâs site make purchases. If this sounds easy, it can be. You donât need to stock inventory or worry about fulfillment, shipping, and returns. And you still make moneyâsometimes very good moneyâwhen the product sells. Best of all, the visitor doesnât necessarily need to make a purchase right away.
However, selling on the Internet is very competitive; there are always multiple avenues for a consumer to buy anything. Furthermore, thereâs nothing to stop consumers from bypassing your site completely and going directly to the merchant. Youâll only be successful with your affiliate links if the goods provided by the merchants you are associated with are relevant to the content of your site. Specificity also helps. There must be a good connection between your site content and specific ...
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