Special post today, we have an affiliate article from a new guest author on freebloghelp.com.

Hey, my name is Craig and I am the owner of Love to Play Bingo, which is an online bingo comparison site and I thought I would put this article together to help people out who want to know more about affiliate marketing and for people who are thinking about giving it a go.

My site is aimed at confused bingo players but that does not mean that affiliate marketing stops with just gambling. You will be surprised at how many sites on the web have affiliates programs. Usually, there is an affiliate link on the bottom of the page of the site if they have one (see the image below for the link boxed in red). Affiliate programs usually take a few minute to sign up to, and once you have imbedded the links and banners on your site you are good to go.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

The way affiliate marketing works is based around promoting a website’s business or services. You as an affiliate will either have to gain visitors to a site, subscribers or most popular, sale leads. It is usually referred to as paid on delivery. You will not get paid unless you deliver.

What do I Need to Get Started?

A website or blog is crucial to get started at affiliate marketing. A blog or site that is well established will give you better results to start with than with a site you just register today.

Before you start, you need to make sure if you want your site to be an informational site with the odd banners at the side, or you want your site to be a full affiliate site, where the sole purpose of the site is affiliate links.

Whatever you decide you need to make sure what niche your site will be about. There is no point having a site that promotes TVs, watches, cooker, and then gambling. You need to make a site that discusses and promotes similar products. Having a site that reviews TV with an affiliate link at the bottom of the review is perfect. Bear in mind that you need to sign up to all the affiliate programs from the different manufacturers of TVs. Then you as an affiliate will receive commissions for every person that you refer to the TV merchant who buys a TV.

But Wait

Many people believe that you can make an affiliate site today and then tomorrow be rich. I am sorry to disappoint you but it is really not that simple. If you had a huge advertising budget then, sure, you will get results a lot quicker. For the rest of us however, it is going to take some time.

Without Visitors to your site you are going to make no commissions whatsoever. You can either use such programs as Google Adsense to buy traffic to your site, or you need to get your site into the top of search engines. To do this you will either have to hire an SEO (which could have negative effects if you hire the wrong one) or you need to learn SEO (search engine optimisation) yourself.

The look and feel of your website can also play a big part. It is not essential, but a site that you think does not look professional will also have the same effect with other people. Getting a Designer and Developer to make your site look and function better can be very expensive. Knowing how to do this yourself will save you a hell of a lot of money in the beginning. It is just taking the time to learn.

Most affiliate programs will not pay you the $5 you made last month if that is all you made. You need to read the small print as many affiliates have a withdrawal minimum and they will not let you withdraw any funds from your account if it is below this minimum.

This post was written by guest author, Craig Crossland, who runs Love to Play Bingo.
His site is a bingo portal that is aimed at bingo players who are unsure which bingo site to join and he wrote this post to give you an insight into affiliate marketing.
Drop a comment below and he will be more than happy to reply.

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Those of you who have tried Google AdSense (let’s face it, who hasn’t?) had to make an important decision at one point — “Should I go with an all text ad or an image ad?” Ironically, many people start by letting Google choose by simply selecting the ‘Text and image ads’, which is the default setting. Is that bad?

Well, yes and no. I get asked that question from time to time and it really all depends. If you do a little research on what has been successful for others, you’ll find a mixed bag. For instance, some say that text ads are more effective because they blend into the rest of the site. Conversely, others claim that image ads bring in more revenue since they are more visually appealing.

Let’s look at some of their pros and cons:

Text ads

Pros

• Can be configured to blend in with the site content
• Almost all advertisers have text ads available
• Take up minimal space per advertiser, leading to more per ad block

Cons

• Looks very bland and generic

Image ads

Pros

• Can be visually attractive
• Are larger and easier to see
• Can tell a story through basic animation

Cons

• Fewer advertisers can be displayed since one image could replace up to five text ads
• Some visitors are “blind” to image ads (they have been conditioned to ignore banners)
• Can limit the number of advertisers since not everyone has an image ad

One way to determine whether text or image ads would be better is simply looking at your market. Niches in glamorous industries would benefit from sexier ads, where image ads excel. Conversely, blogs that focus on topics that visitors just want to read through quickly, text ads are probably more appropriate. Below are some examples of categories where one type of ad may have an advantage over the other type are:

Text Ads: Business, Science, Careers, Politics, Self-Help, Making Money, Health, Educational

Image Ads: Gaming, Sports and Fitness, Music, Movies, TV, Fashion, Arts, Celebrity News

Text and/or Image Ads: Technology, Auto, Pets, Food and Drink

By no means are the aforementioned gospel but it gives you a starting point. You may have a micro-niche that bucks the trend.

In short, the question of text vs. image doesn’t have a clear cut answer. It really depends on what type of site you have, what you’re trying to accomplish with the ads, and who your audience is. Personally, for Google AdSense, I prefer text ads because I already have sponsors with image links throughout the page. I choose to display text ads with a look and feel that’s similar to the rest of the site. Although that has worked well for me, I may still use an image ad from time to time, just to test its effectiveness. Like all other moneymaking tactics, a lot of trial and error is involved. Experiment to see which works better for you.

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In my last post, PPC 101: Pay-Per-Click basics, I described PPC as a form of marketing advertisers could use to bring targeted audiences to their sites. This guide will detail the steps you would take to actually create a PPC ad campaign.

1. Go to Google Adwords and create an account if you don’t already have one. You may use other search engines but if you’re new to this, I suggest starting with the most popular, Google Adwords.
2. Perform research on keywords for your site.
3. Create a keyword list that you want to display your ad upon being searched.
4. Choose how much you’re willing to pay per click. This is known as your bid amount.
5. Choose or create a landing page for your ads. This is where you want your targeted audience to show up. If possible, it should be a page developed specifically for your campaign and usually not your home page.
6. Write your ads. Stick with text ads for now; for each ad you will need a headline (max 50 characters), a description (max 200 characters), and the URL for your landing page.
7. Activate your Google Adwords campaign!

Those are the steps to create your PPC campaign but you are not done! Just like any ad campaign, you need to monitor your performance closely. If this is your first dive into a online ads, you’ll find that you probably need some fine-tuning almost immediately. Luckily, unlike traditional ads, you can be as agile as you want. To be candid, you can almost chalk up your first campaign as a learning experience and if you somehow make a few dollars in the process, then that’s a bonus.

A final tip: the parts that advertisers should evaluate (and constantly re-evaluate) are steps 2 and 3. Getting the keywords right is an art and a science. Even if you eventually get your keyword list to what you think is perfect, it’s probably time to look again.

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Anyone who has surfed the web has seen their share of ads. Some good, some not so good. For many of us, we’ve conditioned ourselves to ignore most ads.

So why do advertisers still make ads? Because they work! The law of large numbers reinforce that only a small number of visitors have to click on these ads for the advertiser to make a profit. The goal of any ad, especially in the PPC (pay-per-click) world, is to get the message in front of the right people.

I actually just got off the phone with one my partners about a client list that we just received from a software giant (they’re headquartered in the Pacific Northwest — you figure it out!). We’re in the process of identifying our audience for a workshop that we’re hosting next month. After reviewing their client list, I felt that it wasn’t targeted enough. One thing I said was that there’s a big difference between 1,000 emails that they’ve collected over time and 100 emails of people who are ready and willing to spend money on our solution today. I, of course, would much rather have the latter. Just as with PPC, our numbers will improve drastically with the right targeted audience.

As I wrote in my Types of Affiliate Marketing post, PPC, aka CPC (cost per click), advertisers pay every single time their ad is clicked. Below is an excerpt as written for an affiliate marketer:

Cost Per Click (CPC)/Pay Per Click (PPC)

One of the more well-known affiliate types, CPC pays you every time a visitor clicks on the ad. Although this seems like a surefire way to get paid by simply abusing the ads, the top search engines have technology to prevent this from happening.

Anyone can create their own PPC ad campaign. The trick is getting it right, which takes time to perfect; after all, as a PPC advertiser, you are paying for every click, even if people don’t actually do anything when they get to your site. Obviously, you’d rather pay for relevant clicks. That means for your pet site, for instance, you want to bring as many people who want to spend money on their pets as possible. A big part of that is creating a keyword list that is appropriate for your targeted audience.

In my next post, I’ll give you a step-by-step process on how to create your own PPC ad campaign.

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Looking for a great affiliate to market on your site? How about an affiliate partner that provides a service that differentiates one site from another… a solution that every serious blogger or business needs?

I proudly unveiled my new logo six weeks ago today. Since then, I have received many comments regarding how it provides with site with just that extra polish that separates it from many other blogs in the same space.

I enjoyed the experience so much that a few days later, I signed up to be an affiliate of LogoNerds, the kick-ass company that provided me with the professional design that helps establish the brand identity of Free Blog Help. The process and service is first class but the cost of a new web logo is a measly $27! How can anyone beat that?!?

In fact, if you need a new logo, please use my LogoNerds affiliate link! Oh, and please read my disclosure in case you didn’t realize I could make a few dollars of the transaction.

However, if you’re looking to add an affiliate to your site so you can earn some extra bucks, the LogoNerds affiliate program has perks for the casual earner as well as the hard core marketers. For those who are looking for a supplemental revenue stream, just sign up and add an affiliate logo to your site. You’ll see dollars trickle in with very little effort.

For the heavy hitters, being able to refer a handful of sales can lead to thousands of dollars a month with a real potential of over $100,000 annually if promoted properly. It’s hard work but it’s a great income for sitting in your pajamas and not even having a lick of design skills, right?

The great thing is that all referrals are tracked for life. That means if the same customer has additional needs, you will get a commission on every single one, even if it’s several years after the first sale.

So, are you ready to make some money? Sign up with the LogoNerds affiliate program today!

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In my last post, affiliate marketing – the nutshell version, I stated that I would provide details on the various types of affiliate marketing. Of course I always keep my promises so here goes.

There are basically four different methods of getting paid as an affiliate. Some are more common than others and depending on what you’re trying to promote on your site, some types may work better than others. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to choose your affiliate partners.

Alternatively, you could choose to go with a strictly passive approach like using Google AdSense straight out of the box. In that case, Google will control what ads to bring onto your site and you’ll end up with mixed bag. As you learn more about the different ways to leverage affiliate marketing, there’s no reason why you can’t start with Google Adsense and integrate your own affiliate ads as you grow.

Four types of affiliate marketing

Pay Per Sale

Probably the most common methods of affiliating, Pay Per Sale is pretty self-explanatory. You only paid when your ad brings in actual results, usually in the form of money being passed through.

Cost Per Click (CPC)/Pay Per Click (PPC)

One of the more well-known affiliate types, CPC pays you every time a visitor clicks on the ad. Although this seems like a surefire way to get paid by simply abusing the ads, the top search engines have technology to prevent this from happening.

Cost Per Mil. (CPM)

For every 1000 page views, you get paid a certain amount. Also abused in the past, CPM is now protected through the top search engines.

Pay Per Lead

You get paid every time a lead is provided. This can be in the form of an email, address, or even phone call. There are plenty of technology tools to track any type of lead.

Choosing the right affiliate marketing type for your site

The logical follow up question is: which is the best? The simple answer is that it depends. I know that’s not what you want to hear but there’s no magic formula. A lot of it depends on your niche and your goals.

Even though some methods have worked better for some sites than others, over time, the bloggers who are able to maintain and even increase their revenue are the ones who are able to monitor and adapt. That means changing their affiliate strategies as necessary. Just like anything else in this crazy, fast-paced, tech world that we live in, being able to shift gears at a moment’s notice is key.

Which type of affiliate marketing has worked best for you?

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Often times, especially for people who have been blogging for a while, we make assumptions that everyone knows what we’re talking about. The reality is even the most commonly used terms become black holes for some new folks. Today, let’s review one of the big ones: affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is just a fancy phrase for producing results for a seller and getting paid for it. In some cases, you could look at it like selling a product for a company without having the need to carry inventory or fulfill an order. Not a bad concept!

Here’s one of the ways it could work, in a nutshell:

1. Visitor arrives at your site
2. Visitor clicks on a banner ad on your site and it leads him to your partner’s site
3. Visitor purchases a product from your partner
4. Your partner pays you

Seems like a simple model, right? Well here’s the best part, in many cases, the visitor doesn’t even have to buy anything! Although Pay Per Sale is very common, there are other ways affiliate marketing could work. I’ll describe them in detail in my next post.

One last thing, even though concept has created many affiliate millionaires, it’s actually not all that easy and success won’t come overnight. The part that people don’t realize is that it requires a lot of work to get visitors to your site. There are many resources, especially online resources, that can help you meet your goal. The key really involves combining other people’s lessons learned with a lot of your own trial and error.

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