Not a beginner’s piece of cake

As you can see, the entire process from the first click in the appropriate button/box in the site of ‘Commission Junction’ or whatever other site you choose, to the last click in the acknowledgement E-Mail sent to you by the advertiser or seller concerned is time-consuming. Besides, apart from the uncertainty of possible rejection of your ‘Affiliate’ application, your commission earnings depend on how many visitors you can entice to your own website and then click on the desired ‘links’ in your site and finally fill up the ‘purchase order’ Form on the seller’s site, to win you a commission on ‘lead’ generation basis. If the seller stipulates actual sales for eligibility to your commission, the ‘probability’ of a return gets that much smaller!

What do you have to do to raise the ‘probability’ or “up the ante”?

First, you have to ensure your Website is among the first 10 sites – preferably first 5 – on the first page of the screen which opens when a ‘key’ word or phrase relating to your site (ex: ‘telemarketing’, say, if the content you have put on your site basically deals with how to publicise a product or service through telephone calls to potential buyers) is typed on the ‘Search’ Box of the currently most used ‘Search Engines’ like ‘Google’ or ‘Yahoo’ and the ‘Search’ button is clicked. Very few searchers go beyond the first page which opens on ‘searching’ through a ‘Search Engine’ on the Internet, and the first page usually does not contain beyond 10 site buttons to be clicked.

But how do you manage to get your Website among the top 10 or 5 to be so listed? ‘Search Engines’ follow a complicated computerized or automated process of ‘page ranking’ any Website ‘submitted’ to them through a ‘registration’ process for a place in their pages, corresponding to particular ‘keywords’ or ‘phrases’. The ranking depends on:

a) What words you choose as the ‘domain’ name of your site
b) The attractiveness of the design of your Website in terms of colors, placement or arrangement of different components
c) Ease of navigation through the components
d) The attractiveness of ‘keywords’ or phrases you choose to place among the contents of your Website to attract visitors to really go through whatever you want them to listen to and be convinced (say, on the purchase of your own product or service) – the most optimum use of correct words or phrases is called ‘keyword optimisation’
e) The attractiveness and arrangement of the ‘links’ you place on the site to promote various products or services as an ‘affiliate’ publisher for an advertiser or seller (ex: too many ‘banners’ on too many products at the same time, arranged close to each other, may lead to confusion and abandoning your site)
f) And so many other factors

The combination of optimum choices on each of the above factors leads to what is called ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ (SEO). Google has specialized sites and softwares dealing with ‘keyword optimisation’ and ‘SEO’ generating all kinds of alternative ways, which may be quite heavy at least for a relatively inexperienced ‘Affiliate’ marketer.

Taking care of any one of the innumerable factors as above requires long experience and professional knowledge in Internet marketing – whether for your own products or services or for ‘affiliate’ marketing for other sellers. Even after you manage to get a top ranking in any ‘Search Engine’, you still have to be very clever in choosing the products or services you want to promote (that means choosing the right sellers with the right brand image in the market and the right sales pitch) and then arranging the ‘links’ borrowed from their sites in your own site, and then pray that everything turns the right way to entice tens and hundreds of visitors to your site and on to these links, and convert their ‘clicks’ on the link to actual ‘leads’ or ‘sales’! Although ‘Google’ and other ‘Search Engines’, as well as ‘marketplaces’ like ‘Commission Junction’ have wonderful ways to track and display statistics on ‘link-wise’ clicks, ‘leads’ and actual sales through your site at any particular time, and other helpful features on ranking and designing your site, do you feel courageous enough to launch into this jungle right now as a beginner in computer-based home business?

Moreover, you need to apply for a Website with your chosen ‘domain’ name, and that itself may be a costly affair! However, you can opt for what we call a free website or ‘blog’ by applying through ‘Google’ – the ‘domain’ name you choose is also registered free, but always end with “blogspot.com” (ex: www.dataentryjobs.blogspot.com). But you can then place only approved “text” messages through Google’s “Adsense” program at certain limited positions around the main content you place on the ”Blog”. You have here no independent choice in forming advertiser-publisher relationships as through ‘marketplace’ websites; “Google” has in place a computerized system which “reads” your “Blog” and places Ads which fit with the contents. You have to register with “Google Adsense” site for this, then copy-paste HTML ‘codes’ on limited sites of your ‘Blog’. Your earnings now depend on the ‘lead’ or ‘sale’ generating clicks on the ad ‘links placed