Well you have finally done it. You have packed in the rubbish job and told your boss exactly what you think. You have taken the plunge and made the decision to begin your own home business affiliate marketing. Home business affiliate marketing can be very lucrative. It provides people with the opportunity to work for themselves with very little risk to them. Those that are sales savvy, good at marketing and are not afraid of a little hard work can often do incredibly well with a home business affiliate marketing program.
Home business affiliate marketing sounds easy but you do need to exercise some caution. You want to avoid the home business affiliate marketing pitfalls that can ruin your home business and worse, have you crawling on your hands and knees back to that boss that now knows how you truly feel.
People tend to get excited when they start a new venture. Unfortunately this excitement and eagerness can cause them to miss key things in their agreement. Whenever you sign up for a home business affiliate marketing program, you will be expected to sign an agreement. The terms and conditions of the agreement for both sides should be outlined. However, if they want to hide something this is where they will put it. It will either be in the small print, so get your magnifying glass out, or they will baffle you with legal language. Either way, you need to read and understand your agreement thoroughly to avoid disappointment and lost earnings.
If you are signing up for a commission based home business affiliate marketing program then you need to understand how the term revenue is defined. This is one of the biggest pitfalls of the contracts. They may advertise 5-10% commissions but it all fall on how they define revenue. Most home business affiliate marketing programs will calculate commission on the gross value of the sale. In other words, the amount of money the site will get at the completion of the sale. You may think that this sounds great. However, you need to read this part of the agreement very carfully. The amount of the sale almost always excludes credit card or debit card payment surcharges. They also are likely to exclude payment and delivery charges as well as any gift wrapping or other surcharges. What sounded like a nice commission is soon shrinking before your eyes. Ask these questions specifically before you sign an agreement.
Some home business affiliate marketing programs are even stricter in their definition of revenue. Your commission may be based on the profit margin of the sold product. For example, if you help sell a book for 20 dollars but the company only makes 10 dollars profit, you will receive a percentage of 10 dollars not 20. This can make a substantial difference in your earnings. Again, make sure you understand these things and ask specifically what your commission will be based upon. Read your agreement and look out for odd sounding clauses. These could come back to haunt you later.
Something else to beware of when you work on commission is returns. Many home business affiliate marketing companies only pay commission out on completed sales and then only if the customer keeps the item. If they return the items your commission could be cancelled. To really rub salt in the wounds, you could be billed for the outstanding commission if you do not have sufficient commission credit built up. Make sure you understand this before signing on. You cannot expect a company to pay you a commission on an item that is returned but make sure you understand their return policy. Find out your rights in this situation.
Home business affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn money. If you have good sales and marketing skills then it can give you the opportunity to out them to good use. You will be able to work for yourself and not someone who undervalues and does not appreciate them. One needs to consider home business affiliate marketing carefully. Make sure you understand your agreement and exactly what you will be paid for. You do not want to have to go crawling back to your boss begging for your old job back.
Alexander Gorbachev
http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-home-business-affiliate-marketing-689752.html
#1 by myportraitdrawing on January 31, 2010 - 8:11 am
How is affiliate marketing? Is it another smoke screen to sell useless guides to desperate people?
I am desperate to find a way to start my own home based business, and affiliate marketing seems good because there is virtually no startup cost (I’m broke). Is this something likely to bring in a real income?
#2 by Daniel K on January 31, 2010 - 1:13 pm
If you have a good teacher, affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make money online. Selling eBooks is only one small aspect of affiliate marketing, and I agree that most of them are junk. You can sell almost anything with affiliate marketing, there is an affiliate program for almost any product imaginable. I’m making most of my money right now selling cell phones. But you name a product and there is probably a way to make commissions from it.
I learned everything I know about affiliate marketing from a great website called "Wealthy Affiliate." It takes you step by step through the marketing process and includes everything you need to get started. It even includes an easy to use website builder and web hosting.
My favorite part of Wealthy Affiliate is the members forum where you can ask any question, and will usually receive a good answer from an experienced marketer in minutes. The people there really want to help each other succeed. See the link below for more info.
References :
http://www.wealthyaffiliate.com/?a_aid=DUOLq3MA
#3 by Tom S on January 31, 2010 - 1:15 pm
You need to look for products that have very high coversion rates, and know how to market to that niche…marketing is key. Yes there is a lot of bs on the web, so use common sense when selecting a company or products. affiliate marketing may have allmost no start up cost, but advertising your product is allmost never free…unless you know how to do it. There are programs for selling software, like ‘clickbank’. Amazon.com is one of the best affiliate programs in the world. You may want to look there
References :
http://www.craigslistunderground.com
#4 by Momof4 on January 31, 2010 - 1:17 pm
I don’t know anyone who is affiliated in affiliated marketing. So I can’t really answer that. but I do know, that you wouldn’t be owning your own business unless you invest money into it. By means of a start up cost, or buying products yourself and re selling them, advertisement or something along those lines. Owning a business is not free. I wrote some things down that might help you to see for yourself if this is a good business to get involved in, using my business as an example. If on the list it checks out (you may have to do some research) but if it all checks out, then you can chose to do it. IF it’s a business, don’t just try it. You need to devote time and effort into it and build it. If your going to just try a business, you will most likely fail! So here’s a few things that you should take a look at before getting involved in any company.
1. How long have they been in business? We checked to see how long our company was around, at the time it was nine years old and now it’s 15. Do you know when they started? If it’s under 5 years, then their is a risk factor
2. Are they registered with the BBB. Ours is registered. I think this is important one.
3. Who’s involved with the company? Like in ours Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki has endorsed our company. Many actors and actresses, business owners, government officials etc use our products. Check to see if anyone has endorsed this company. Also, meet with the co-founders. We’ve personally met our co-founders and found from our first meeting that they were incredible people with incredible visions. See if their’s a time where you can meet them. If your going to be doing business, there should be a time where you should have the chance to meet with them.
4. What is the compensation plan now, and what was it like before.
See the history of the comp plan and see if increases and never decreases in it’s history. We checked with the records in our business and found that in over the years, the compensation plan had only gotten better each year. As long as we’ve been involved, we’ve now witnessed the compensation plan always increasing. Check the history on yours.
5.Have they been featured in magazine’s? For instance our company has been featured in several magazines Like Success, Fortune, USA Today etc. Check to see if they have. You can get a lot of information on the company by reading about them.
6. Has Inc 500 rated them? This magazine or slit rated our company the 22nd fastest growing company in revenue in it’s first 5 years. Inc 500 shows the top 500 businesses in revenue growth. Check to see what Inc 500 rated the company your looking at.
7. Do they have a physical address that you can go to? Check for an address not just a P.O. Box
8. Where are their headquarters? Our world headquarters is in Farmington Hills Michigan, Personally been there, (If your here in the states) Other headquarters in different countries. and US headquarters in Charlotte.
9. What does the start up cost take care of? If there is no start up cost, what will you have to be dishing out and for what? In my business headquarters takes care of all the billing for my customers, Inventory, Customer services, Order Entry, Employees, workman’s comp, Cross referencing, Licensing, Insurance, paperwork, accounts payables, accounts receivables etc.
10. What is the product and service you would be selling.
Is the product and service in high demand? For instance we offer services that people are already using every day and paying for anyway, but at a lower cost. Things like Local and Long distance telephone services, Internet, video phones, digital phones, cellular phones through all the major cellular providers. We make a percentage every single month they pay their bills. Everyone uses them and everyone pays for them. When money gets tight, would they keep your service or be able to run to the store and be able to purchase them on sale? Leaving you to have to wait until they run out of what they just purchased, or wait until their finances get settled? This is what I mean by high demand.
So many different things to check out in making sure a business is a good one to get involved in. If the business feels right to you, and all questions are answered and you feel good about it, then I’d say jump in. Running a business is different then a job though. You have to treat it like it’s your child and not just something your going to "try" you have to believe in the product and service and go at it full force. This is your future your talking about, no one else’s.
I hope my examples of what we looking into with our business helps you be able to find the same answers in the business your looking into. Forget about asking the common question and asking someone how much they make in their business to determine if you’d get involved in this or not. In a business, it doesn’t matter what one business is making over another. It only matters what you do in "YOUR" business. I hate it when people ask me how much I make. Because they’re not going to walk into and start up their business making what I make. I’ve been involved with my business for over six years. So yeah, I will make more. If you tell someone how much you make, then it’s a psychological thing that they expect to make that amount in a week, and that is just not going to happen. Six years of building a business verses 1 day. So don’t even ask. Look at the possibilities for YOURSELF.
If you have any further questions or need help,feel free to contact me at kaiden4@aol.com
References :