Merchants have nothing to lose if you sign up to sell their products on your website. Or do they? Merchants, or advertisers, have a brand to protect, and don’t want to sign up just anybody as affiliates.

Think of what it would be like if they hired a commission-only salesperson in the offline world. This too is pay for performance, but if the salesperson representing them in unkempt, doesn’t know the product, does a bad job qualifying potential buyers, the merchant looks bad. They spend time setting the salesperson up on the payroll system, giving them training and materials and coaching. Time and money they could have spent with someone who could do a good job for them.

Because it dilutes their marketing managers efforts too much having many unproductive sites, the want to be pretty certain that you will bring them real customers or people who will do what their site is built to do – such as take a survey. You need to be able to show them that you know quantitative and qualitative information about your site visitors – age, income, location, that they’re buyers, and _what they’re interested in.

Your site will also be reviewed. The “No’s” are pretty obvious – nothing off-color, no opinions that a human resources department would find troubling, nothing derogatory about the category of business, kinds of business practices or their business in particular. The “Yes” includes a site with real value to the user – and that means one where they can learn something, have fun, connect with others with similar interests, buy something, etc.

The more you know your self and the more have to offer, the more likely merchants or advertisers will see you as a potential source of valuable leads…. And the more you stand to earn from affiliate marketing.

Karen Kari's articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:

http://www.affiliatebandit.com
http://www.advertisingcellar.com
http://www.billionfreeads.com

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