I’ve mentioned this a few times, but many of you don’t know that I actually got my business start in the direct mail advertising world. I ran a direct mail advertising business for several years and had a force of dealers (known as affiliates in the online world) who promoted my services for me.

I never advertised. All I did was fill orders and create new services for my dealers to promote. They got a commission, and I got half the money and the customer. When I would fill the customers order, I’d always send them more offers. When they’d order directly from me, I didn’t have to pay my dealers anything.

It was a wonderful business model. So wonderful that I took it and used it as my online business model. In just 6 months starting online, with the same business model, things literally exploded for me. So much so that I have actually quadrupled, what I used to make with my direct mail advertising business.

Because of this, I no longer run my direct mail advertising business. Making money online with the same business model is so much easier and there’s so much money to be made in it, so I just decided to close it up, and hang out with you guys.

What’s the common thing here to my success though?

AFFILIATES!

Yes, affiliates are what make me about 70% of my income. So without them, guess what? I’d make 70% less money than I’m making right now. I’ve kind of gotten used to my lifestyle and making 70% less than I make right now is not an option for me.

I constantly recruit affiliates, train them, give them more products to promote, and give them incentives and bonuses too. Why? Because they make me a ton of cash!

Instead of cashing every single hair brain traffic technique out there, start an affiliate program. It’s not hard at all, so don’t let it scare you.

Let’s take a look at your options…

If you’re just getting started I highly recommend ClickBank.com They do have their cons, but the pro’s far out way the cons. They track all affiliate sales for you and pay your affiliates and you. So if you have a $47 product and you are giving 50% commissions to your affiliates for your product and ClickBank would track all of that send your affiliates a check and send you a check for the other part.

Very simple and easy to use, but just like everything else, you’ll need to educate yourself before using it. The best product I have found about using ClickBank for your own affiliate program is Dominating ClickBank and you can get it by going to tomeymarketing.com/recommends/DominateCB

Okay so for someone that has never run their own affiliate program or who wants to run one hands free, I highly recommend ClickBank.com

If you want a little more control you could also use PayDotCom.com Basically the same thing but you have to pay your own affiliates and all the money comes straight to you. Very similar to ClickBank in their process though. Like I said, it just gives you a little more control.

Now if you are more experienced and a bit “techy” then here are a few other all in one solution options for you…

1. Business Automation Center

2. Post Affiliate Pro

3. iDev Affiliate Management Software

Now a good total site solution would be Launch Formula Marketing. With Launch Formula marketing, you have a total site solution. It runs your sales page, OTO, memberships, upgrades, and affiliate program for you. It’s a very robust solution.

If you want the grand daddy solution, then I highly recommend that you get your hands on CMS Infusion which is an all in one site solution, but it’s like Launch Formula Marketing on 10000mg steroids. It will do everything Launch Formula Marketing will do and a ton more.

(Note: You can see a post I did about all the different sites you could create with CMS Infusion by going to www.liztomey.com/15-profitable-websites-you-can-create-starting-june-5th)

The cool thing about LFM and CMSI is they have a built in affiliate system that allows people just to copy and paste ads you put in their affiliate area and promote. That’s it… Just copy… paste… and promote. This makes your affiliate program INCREDIBLY viral.

This is an absolute must if you are running an affiliate program. You have to have it setup where people can just copy and paste ads with their affiliates links into their emails, blogs, websites, signature lines, and more. Here’s a short video you can watch if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

It’s my affiliate area for AdsenseNewbieVideos.com This way you can see exactly what I’m talking about…

Click To Play

See how cool that is? Well the problem is that most affiliate programs don’t have that. LFM is $297 and CMSI is $997 (soon to go up to at least $4000), so what if you choose an option that we talked about above and spend less money, but then lose the viral affiliate area that LFM and CMSI give you?

Until now, there wasn’t a solution, but Paul Kleinmeulman has now come out with a solution called “Affiliate Page Pro” and you can get it by going to tomeymarketing.com/recommends/affiliatepagepro.html

It’ll make the same great viral affiliate pages for you as LFM and CMSI. It’s a great solution for those of you who are using other types of affiliate programs. I’m even going to be using it for one of my affiliate programs so that MORE of my products can be promoted by my affiliates.

Affiliate Page Pro is also simple easy to use. You install it to your desktop, and click on it to use it. You fill out a few forms, add your ad copy in, push a button and it spits the pages out for you!

Now I do have a few tips for you…

When you create the pages, make sure that you edit them some so that they blend in with your site. You’ll also want to make sure you put all your contact information on the page, how to signup for the affiliate program, and any other important information they need to know.

I’ve given you several options here, so let’s look at this step-by-step. Below is how you could setup your own affiliate program along with some tips of how I have done mine.

1. Of course you’ll have to have your own product that you are wanting affiliate to promote. I have several, and have built an entire site dedicated to recruiting and keeping my affiliates up to date at www.TrainYourAffiliates.com

You’ll also want to add more products as often as you can and ALWAYS keep recruiting affiliates.

2. Pick your affiliate program. I’ve given you several above.

You could have a stand alone affiliate program or a complete site solution like LFM or CMSI. If you don’t choose one of them, be sure to pick up Affiliate Page Pro so you can create your own viral affiliate pages.

If you decide to use ClickBank.com I highly recommend you get the Dominating ClickBank course at tomeymarketing.com/recommends/DominateCB

3. Get your affiliate program all setup, put your product into it, and get all your affiliate tools setup.

4. Start promoting your affiliate program.

As you start adding more products, you’ll see that by promoting just your affiliate program you’ll make sales from all your products, and you don’t have to promote the products one by one. You’re actually killing several birds with one stone. It’s all about working smarter and not harder, right?

Okay, I hope this has shed some light for you guys. This is literally the big secret that allows me to pull down the income that I do. If you’re serious about your business start an affiliate program right now!

Posted on June 7th, 2007 by Liz Tomey
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Easy Marketing How To's