HOW TO MAKE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN TWO DAYS

Using affiliate programs to generate fast cash without selling a thing

An Armchair Webmaster™ report by Ty Belknap

This version of the ebook How To Make Thousands of Dollars In Two Days is free to read and study. Copying the information is, of course, illegal without written permission. You can purchase a downloadable Adobe Acrobat version of this ebook so you can read it at your leisure, without having to be connected to the Internet and without ads by clicking here.
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Page 6 - The Satisfaction of a Hard Day's Work

We all work hard, but sometimes it seems that a full day of hard work accomplished nothing. There have been times I’ve gone to the office, worked frantically all day long, and didn’t have a single thing to show for it. Have you ever noticed that? There is a difference between just working hard and working effectively.

Work hard, and work on task (do you have goals and daily tasks that you write down? If not, look at the book recommendations in the Resources section) and, within 48 hours, you will have an affiliate program working for you on your Web site. Remember, you reap what you sow.

Reap what you sow

That term is getting old, and I had to look it up to make sure the definition fit. It’s actually a term farmers use for their fields, and it means this:

The more attention you pay to your fields when you plant the seeds for your crops, and the more you look after those seeds by watering and fertilizing correctly, the better the crops will be.

What is working?

Start one affiliate program at a time, and track how it’s going. It will start slow, and that’s fine. Once you feel comfortable with how your first program is going, start another one. Watch what is working, and quickly let go of programs that aren’t. If you have two programs that show generic banners, and one pays twice as much as the other, stick with the one that pays well and drop the other one.

Case Study: Windows Galore –

Affiliate programs have been around for quite some time, and one type of program or another has been on Windows Galore since 1994. Most programs failed, but one of the first programs I put onto the site was hugely successful (in my mind).
(90% of Web sites designed to do nothing but sell someone else’s items fail)

Amazon.com is one of the MUST HAVE affiliate programs (see the reference section for how to find affiliate areas), and it was one of the first affiliate programs on Windows Galore (Amazon.com claims to have set up the first affiliate program, but there were others before them. I believe Amazon.com has the biggest affiliate program though).
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Here are the steps I took when I added Amazon.com:

1. I studied each area of the Web site to determine how I wanted to highlight the affiliate program.
2. People are always looking for GOOD books to help with computer and certification difficulties, so I knew I wanted the best products the affiliate offered that complimented the site.
3. Each book was reviewed and chosen based on the ratings other people had given (Amazon.com has a great rating system).
4. A sample review was put below some books to help show this was a choice offering among the hundreds of computer books being offered.

What did this accomplish?

• Researching the Web site gave clarity to what types of products or categories of products would be most beneficial to the reader.
• Affiliate programs that compliment the site add to the value of the Web site.
• Personally choosing what exact items, or wording, to use for the affiliate link gave more credibility to the program.
• Sample reviews (either by me or someone else) gave confidence in the reader that the item was worth looking into.

Let’s look at each of these:

Researching the Web site gave clarity to what types of products or categories of products would be most beneficial to the reader.
You may not want to offer affiliate programs that are directly related to what you are writing about. For instance, someone writing about the better lawn mower would not want affiliate programs selling other brand name lawn mowers. Affiliate programs about grass, gardening, fertilizer, even outdoor furniture, may be great, but be careful of offering products that directly compete with what you are writing about.

Affiliate programs that compliment the site add to the value of the Web site.
Find affiliate programs that compliment the site may add a great deal of value to your site. Read the researching paragraph above again. An affiliate program for a competing lawn mower may drive readers away. Why would you advertise a competitive lawn mower if the one you are writing about is so great?

Affiliate programs about how to have a greener, more inviting lawn (fertilizers, flowers, furniture, etc.) may create more trust in what you are trying to convey.
(Note: Do you see why this worked so much better than the Commission Junction fiasco above in “Not all programs work”?)
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Personally choosing what exact items, or wording, to use for the affiliate link gave more credibility to the program.
Read that last sentence again. This is the second most important item to learn (the most important is the next section). Don’t let the affiliate sponsors choose what text to put on your Web site. Granted, we don’t have much choice when it comes to banners (they generally won’t change a banner for just one site), but most affiliate programs will let you change the text to better suit your Web site.

WARNING: Do NOT write anything that may not be true! We all know about false advertising, and all that quick-talk announcers do now (especially in car commercials), and all the small type at the bottom of ads. Don’t fall victim to thinking that embellishing what the program offers will generate more sales. This could:

• Get you permanently kicked out of the affiliate program.
• Have you black-listed from ALL affiliate programs.
• Allow you to get visited by the Federal Government.

False advertising is against the law. False advertising on the Internet is a federal offense, and those guys are almost as scary as IRS agents (I personally believe they copied the typical IRS agent, toned down the meanness a bit, and used the result as the “agents” throughout the Matrix® movies).

When all else fails, copy what they have or, better yet, send them a quick email asking if what you’ve written is okay. They want you to succeed, because your success is their success, so they should be happy to help you out.

Sample reviews (either by me or someone else) gave confidence in the reader that the item was worth looking into.
(This is the #1 reason most affiliate programs fail)
Trust is the key issue with most everything we deal with. I wonder about every affiliate program I join. I question whether the program does as well as the producers say it will. It’s their program, of course they are going to flaunt it.

The people that go to your Web site have the same doubts about the advertising on there, so see if you can find testimonials, reviews, or anything that will help them decide.

I started adding buyer comments next to each book on the certification side of Windows Galore (www.windowsgalore.com/cert), and my commissions jumped 200%. When you go to a store looking for an item, are you more likely to buy the first brand you see, or do you remember someone telling you about a brand that works well, and buy that one? How about movies? Do you go to movies everyone else hates, or everyone else loves? The opinions of others matter a lot, and the more people who have given their opinion, the more weight we attribute to it.

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