Choosing an Affiliate Program for Your Themed Website

If you are looking for products to recommend based on your theme, it's best to find products you like and see if the company offers an affiliate program. You will better promote a product if you have tried it and you actually recommend it.

Sure there are affiliate marketers that can sell anything, but that's not you...try the method we recommend. And please, don't expect to paste a bunch of banners onto your site and watch the cash rolling in. You need to provide quality information on these products.

An Example:

You have a website about babies and you have written some information on how to treat diaper rash.

Give them quality non-commercial information: Give the baby some exposure to air, switch from disposable to cloth diapers, etc.

Then be sure to recommend a product (perhaps some excellent diaper rash cream) that could further help remedy the problem.

The point is, don't just make a sales pitch...your visitors want information...give it to them. You will build their trust and they will return for more information.

Step 1: Look for the Affiliate Program

Again, your very first step should be to go to a website that sells a product that you have tried and can honestly recommend. See if that company offers an affiliate program.

Check the big "department store" websites based on your theme. They will likely have an affiliate program and a variety of products. For example, if you have a fitness-themed website, a company like Fitness Depot will have an affiliate program. But do note, these large store commissions tend to be in the 10% or lower range. You may find higher commissions if you go straight to the source of the products.

You can also visit some affiliate networks and search for the theme you are looking for. Here's a few of those companies:

> Click Bank: Sell ebooks, software and other information products with great commissions.
> Amazon (a good place to find a wide variety of products, but you're commissions will likely average out to only 5% of the sales)
> Affiliate Fuel - Lots of good pay per lead and pay per sale programs?
> LinkShare - All kinds of products and services
> ClixGalore - All kinds of products and services

Step 2: Analyze the Affiliate Program Offerings

What is the commission? Do you receive commissions from repeat sales of your "customers"? Can you earn commissions from affiliates that you refer to the company?

Make sure it is worth your while to promote these programs and that they make it easy for you to check your click-through and sales statistics.

Step 3: Analyze the Website Offering the Affiliate Program

If you are familiar with the company and product, you may want to promote regardless of how many sales you can potentially make. If you are not as familiar, check the following:

Read the "About" page on their website to see how long they've been in business and perhaps find some sales information. If you can't find this information, you can always ask.

Go to Alexa.com and type in the website into the search box (i.e. domainname.com). Here, you will find out the traffic ranking of the website and you can read reviews, if any have been listed. The ranking will you give you a general idea of how busy a website is and may be an indication of how well they sell their own product.

Type in the product name + "product review" in your favorite search engine and see what others are saying about the product.

Also, type in the company name + "review" to see what appears.

While you're at your favorite search engine, type in "link:domainname.com" and you can see who else links to this website. This may give you information on their business associates, opinions on the company and information about who their affiliates are.

Do your homework. You don't want to promote a poor product or a company with a tarnished reputation.

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