Affiliate marketing

This is not the right piece of cake for a beginner in computer-based home earning, but you need to understand the basics before we can proceed to other avenues – if only to recognize the possible pitfalls and avoid the lure of so many Websites who scream out the overnight ‘rags to riches’ potential of joining them as an ‘affiliate’ for promoting this or that ‘wonderful’ product or service, of course at a ‘one-time’ fee which may be hard to recover!

You have already seen that the modern explosion of Internet Job opportunities is driven by the spread of ‘globalisation’. The essence of this is that the whole world is becoming an integrated marketplace for producers, sellers, intermediaries and buyers across national boundaries. Now how do you think buyers and sellers can exchange information on such a massive scale? Advertisements through the normal media channels like Newspapers, magazines, TV and radio are no longer able to take care of the communication needs.

Here is where the ‘Internet revolution’ has stepped in as a phenomenal media tool, thanks to ever new innovations in Internet communication. Say, you want to see all offers on all varieties and brands of ‘leather shoes’. All you need to do is open any of the ‘Search Engine’ Websites like ‘www.google.com’, ‘www.yahoo.com’ or ‘www.msn.com’ type ‘leather shoes’ in the box marked ‘Search’ in the website screen or window, and click ‘Google Search’ or ‘Web Search’ or whatever ‘search’ medium is indicated. Lo and behold, a whole host of Websites dealing with ‘leather shoes’ will be displayed on the screen, which you just need to click to open one by one and fill your heart with all savoury details on your subject!

Some Websites have by now become hallmarks for gathering market information and even completing ‘online’ buy-and-sell transactions on all kinds of products and services, displayed after grouping into categories and subcategories (Category ‘shoes’, sub-category ‘leather shoes’, say). You simply click the button or box for the required category or sub-category, to display a phenomenal range of products or services to choose from. Examples are ‘Commission Junction’ (CJ), ‘Clickbank’, ‘E-bay’, etc. The sellers advertised on these sites would, however, like to spread their publicity net to a wide variety of other sites. So, when you click and open any particular category or sub-category display, you will find a ‘button’ or ‘box’ inviting you to become an ‘Affiliate’ for them. What this means is that if you click this ‘button’ or ‘box’, a ‘registration form’ will open up, where you have to fill up your particulars like name, postal & e-mail addresses, telephone nos., etc. in different boxes. Once you correctly fill up the form, click the box/button marked ‘Agree’ to abide by the terms and conditions of the seller’s ‘privacy policy’ (you can click the related button to open and read the policy) and click the ‘button’ or ‘box’ marked ‘submit’ at the bottom of the form; a message will appear, prompting you to see the E-Mail being sent to you in acknowledgement. You then open the said Mail in your ‘Inbox’ and click a ‘button’, link or ‘box’ you are directed to. A new window then opens, mentioning the ‘Username’ and ‘Password’ assigned to you for ‘logging in’ after opening the seller’s own website.

Now, where do you go from here? Dear friend, the whole idea is that you must first have your own Website, where you can place ‘banners’ or ‘text’ messages or what they call ‘html codes’ advertising their products or services. And how do you access these different publicity materials? - click on the button/box in a marketing site of your choice (say, ‘Clickbank’) related to the material of your choice, copy the displayed ‘code’ wordings and store them as a separate file in your PC in any appropriate manner. Then open your own website, copy the stored ‘code’ and paste them on a location within the site that seems most appealing. That’s it! The ‘code’ will automatically translate into a ‘banner’ or ‘text’ message, which is called a ‘link’ in your site to the advertiser or seller’s own website. Now every time someone opens your website and clicks on the ’link’, you have started a potential sale of the related product or service. When he clicks, a ‘form’ is displayed, to be filled up and ‘submitted’ if the clicker wishes to purchase the advertised product or service. Filling up this ‘form’ is called generation of a ‘lead’. The ‘form’ usually leads to other boxes or buttons to be clicked for ‘Online’ payment through ‘Paypal’ or other recognized payment media, including Credit Cards, of which the potential purchaser is already a member. On clicking these boxes/buttons as directed, the customer’s related Payment or Card A/C will be debited, and the advertised product or service is to be shipped at stated price and other charges as mentioned in the seller’s website. Depending on the policy adopted by a particular seller or advertiser, you get a commission on the sale price, either for every ‘lead’ or actual sale or both – the terms will be stated in the window which opens on the advertiser’s site after you click the ‘Affiliate’ button/box in the site.

‘CJ’ gives you the option to choose a number of sellers displayed on their site through a series of clicks on appropriate boxes/buttons. However, you are normally required to follow up with each individual seller through the E-Mail they send you in acknowledgement. They may even reject your application, if your bio-data (you filled up a ‘form’ remember?) doesn’t indicate you to be a good enough ‘publisher’ – that’s what you will be called.