The Key To High-Volume Web Sales

 by: Michael Southon

The quickest way to achieve high-volume sales on the web is to set up your own affiliate program.

There are two ways to set up an affiliate program: you can install affiliate tracking software on your server or you can use a 3rd party affiliate tracker.

Here is a list of sites that offer affiliate tracking software:

http://www.ezine-writer.com/affiliatesoftware.html

For most people, a much easier option is to use 3rd party (or web-based) affiliate tracking.

There are literally dozens of web-based affiliate management services. Some have setup fees, some have monthly fees and others charge monthly commissions on your sales.

Here is a list of 3rd party affiliate trackers:

http://www.ezine-writer.com/3rdpartyaffiliate.html

One of the most popular 3rd party affiliate trackers is ClickBank (http://www.clickbank.com).

Compared to some other affiliate programs, ClickBank's system is quite basic - for example they only offer one-tier affiliate tracking and they don't provide click-thru stats.

But the one big advantage of ClickBank is they are widely used (by over 10,000 merchants) and trusted - and that means your customers will feel safer when ordering your products.

Here are some of the features of the ClickBank affiliate program:

• one time setup fee of $49

• no monthly fees

• 7.5% commission on your sales

• automatic email (to you and your affiliates) every time you make a sale

• ClickBank issues checks to your affiliates

• checks issued every 2 weeks

• low minimum ($5) before a check is issued

One drawback to using ClickBank is that the links your affiliates post on their websites won't contain your domain name - so they won't increase your link popularity.

But there is a way around this - a script specifically designed for ClickBank merchants that generates URLs for your affiliates, based on your domain name:

http://www.easybiztools.com

With this script, your ClickBank affiliates would use a link that looks like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/sales.php?offernickname&pid1

Once you have your affiliate program set up, you'll need some promotion tools to offer your affiliates.

Here are some ideas:

• free eBook - this could be as little as 5 or 10 pages explaining the benefits of your product or service. Make sure it contains some valuable tips and include links to your website that your affiliates can customize with their own affiliate link.

• your own articles - if you write free articles, encourage your affiliates to use them in their newsletter and on the website, with their affiliate link in the resource box.

• ezine ads - offer your affiliates 30-word ads they can place in newsletters (preferably ads you have tested and found to be effective)

• email course - if you have an email mini-course, allow your affiliates to offer it from their website, with their affiliate links

• popups - give your affiliates a template popup for their website, with instructions on how to install it

• affiliate kit - put all your affiliate tools into an eBook that your affiliates can download

That's it! All the information you need to set up your own affiliate program.

(c) 2003 by Michael Southon