How to Promote a Web Site or Product without an Affiliate Program

What if you have a product that you really like and want to tell others about it, or even create a web site around it and attempt to try and earn a few dollars in the process. The first thing you would do, would be to visit their web site and see if they have an affiliate program. Let’s use Myoplex (energy / protein drink) for example. Before or after going to basketball everyday, I make sure to grab a Myoplex. I love the drink, so I don’t mind giving them some promotion… but when I visit their web site, I see that they don’t have an affiliate program…. what’s a blogger/site owner to do? Here are a few choices you have.

1.) Find another Site with an Affiliate Program
Myoplex is growing in popularity fast, and one of the most popular places to buy the high protein drink is through GNC stores. Let’s head over to GNC.com and see what they have available. As expected, they have over 35 different products for sale on Myoplex. They have the product, but now we need an affiliate program to make it work. Yes, they have one! Now you can earn a nice 11% commission on every referred sale. Now, instead of that free promotion you were just going to give to Myoplex, (or any other desired product), you can now be earning a nice commission on all referred sales. (and not just on myoplex)

2.) Contextual Advertisers
Myoplex was a great example and luckily for this case study, the largest provider (GNC.com), had an affiliate program. What if you can’t find any sites with your product that have their own affiliate program? Visit Google.com and do a search for your desired product. When you search on “myoplex” you will see a ton of advertisers on the page. Instead of promoting an affiliate program directly, you can run Adsense or Yahoo Publisher Network. Based off your heavy content site, Adsense or YPN should trigger exact or related ads. (If you search “myoplex” on Google, you will see both GNC.com and the parent company, EAS.com, both advertising through Adwords. You may not be able to promote EAS.com directly through an affiliate program, however through adsense you can promote them on a per click basis.)

There are many retailers advertising on Google Adwords for “Myoplex”

3.) Direct Contact
If all else fails and the product or company you are looking to promote, doesn’t have an affiliate program and there are no relevant advertisers on Adsense… try contacting the company directly. The only thing you have to lose by contacting the company, is that they don’t reply back or they say “not interested”… and you are back where you started anyway. On the other hand, if they are interested, you can sell them advertising on your site, possibly work out a deal for any referred sales, or at the least, ask them to send you samples or some freebies for your time and promotion.

There is nothing better than a web site that offers a true testimonial. I have no problem telling others about the Myoplex protein shake because I actually use it and would recommend it to others. With the combination of a real testimonial site and information to back it up, the ability to push traffic and sales to the related advertisers should not be a problem at all. Not only is there a high demand for Myoplex out there, but since they don’t have a “direct” affiliate program, it may make it that much easier for you to succeed with promotion. Now think about what other type of products and programs are out there that you can take this same method to and apply it.

Popularity: 9% [?]

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Creating Your Own Video Entertainment Web Site

When looking for new ways to make money online, the decision to create your own site and build up a member/visitor base is always a good one. Today I will show you how to create a video / entertainment site of your own, while setting up the necessary advertising to turn it profitable. Way before there was all of this video content available, one of the first areas I started making money online in was with freebies, celebrities and video entertainment area. Now, putting all of these methods together and utilizing the free resources at hand, you can create your own money generating entertainment site.

To give you a basic idea of how you can setup your new video entertainment site, I will use the CollegeHumor layout as an example. The key points I will focus on are Building Your Site, Adding Fresh Content, CPM Advertising, Tell a Friend Forms and Newsletter Subscriptions. I have marked several advertising and viral linking methods on the image below.

Building Your Site & Adding Content
For this article, we are going to focus on building a site around funny videos. There are already hundreds, if not thousands of funny video and humor sites out there. The main purpose of all of them is to gain the attention of the user and keep them coming back to the site. In the end, they make money by offering free content and getting paid every time banner ads are displayed. The longer a visitor stays at a web site, the more money there is to be made.

We all know that everyone loves watching videos online and there are already several huge sources that can provide you with free content. Just head over to any of the big video sites like YouTube, DailyMotion or MetaCafe and start grabbing content. These video sites want to get more viewers, and are giving you their “embed” code to place the banners on your site. Since you are grabbing content directly from their site, you don’t have to worry about copyright issues from videos or having to host them on your servers. To make your life easier, these sites already have the videos indexed and broken down into categories, you can easily create multiple categories or new sites based on each different category.

To keep your web site updated with new videos, simply visit these video site often and add new content, or visit the “What’s Hot” categories and add the most popular videos to your site. As your site continues to grow and gets spread around, you should start seeing some nice free traffic coming in through your free search engine listings. Once your site gets larger and established, you may want to host your own videos.

CPM Advertising on Your Site
Once you create your video entertainment site, you are going to try and build the site around your content, along with premium placement for advertisements. In the CollegeHumor.com example above, you can see they have a 786×60 skyscraper on top and a 300×250 banner on the side. Because of the massive traffic and branding of CollegeHumor, they are able to sell their advertising direct and on a CPM basis. Not all of us have this same branding and traffic power, so the next best solution for us, is to place CPM banner advertising on our sites from companies like CasaleMedia, ValueClick Media and CPX Interactive. If you are unable to get approved by any of these CPM networks, you can also place your regular affiliate network offers on the site. (In addition to cpm advertising, you can also play around with contextual advertising, such as Google Adsense. Placing adsense above or below video content has proven to perform well.)
- CPM Networks I Use: CasaleMedia, ValueClick Media, CPX Interactive
CasaleMedia is a more premium network and hard to get approved with. ValueClick Media is one of the largest and easier to get approved with. CPX Interactive is the easiest to get approved with, but also offer the lowest cpm rates.

Tell a Friend Forms & Social Network Marketing
Below the main video content, you should have the option for users to embed the video (if you are hosting your own videos) or link back to your web site. Offering your users the ability to link to your content, will not only give them something to add to their MySpace page, (thus sending more visitors back to your site) but it is also one of the greatest reasons to create a video site… people love to send funny stuff to their friends. In addition to social bookmarks and linking, you should also add a Tell a Friend form, which enables the visitor to send an email to a friend, with your web site url and funny video link. There area few TAF affiliate programs that will pay you to add a tell a friend form onto your web site, where you will get paid every time the form is sent. The ideal placement for a tell a friend form is right below the funny video or funny picture content.
- Tell a Friend Networks I’ve Used: TafMaster & OptMedia

Building Up Your Newsletter
Creating a newsletter for your web site is crucial to it’s growth. In most cases, people will visit your site for a few seconds, then leave. If you offer them a newsletter subscription, you can have them coming back to your site daily. In addition to sending out the latest content added to your web site, you can also feature ads or free content of the day. In most cases, this can be any type of freebie or trial offer from an affiliate network. You can send out mailings daily, once a week or once a month. Sending out daily would be best for traffic as long as you are providing quality content and mailings.
- Mailing Provider I Use: Aweber

In addition to the methods I listed about for earning revenue and increasing traffic, you can also link with partner web sites (check webmaster forums), run “free stuff” (cpa offers) sections on your site, create a forum around your site where users can submit content or even offer your own image/video hosting service. The options are limitless, and each will help in establishing your new web site’s presence.

Before jumping into the video entertainment area, make sure that you spend some time to research other sites and what may be your next competition. There are thousands of sites out there fighting to get top position in search and trying to build a visitor base. If you can create a unique or useful service around video entertainment, you might just be able to create the next hot video portal like CollegeHumor.com, Break.com or EbaumsWorld.com.

Popularity: 15% [?]

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Pay Per Click Isn’t the Only Way to Make Good Money Online

We all know there are a lot of ways to make money online, and one of the most preferred ways to make money is through pay per click marketing. However, what if you don’t want to learn pay per click marketing or have the funds to provide for a campaign budget? People are on the internet for one of two reasons… they either want to find something (product, purchase information), or want to be entertained (videos, news, celebrity blogs). Here are a just a few new ideas on how you can start making money online, without relying on paid search.

1.) Start a Free Stuff Web Site
Years ago when I first started making money online, I ran a few free stuff web sites and newsletters. To this day, thousands of people are still search for “free stuff” daily, and web sites are cashing in. Provide your web site visitors with the latest freebies and promotions available, while offering free/trial CPA offers in the process. You can also build up your web site by offering a daily newsletter or a forum for other members to list new freebies on the web.
(Example Site: TheFreeSite.com - One of the largest and oldest free stuff resource web sites)

2.) Contest & Sweepstakes
In addition to running a free stuff web site, I also had plenty of contest and sweepstakes web sites. If you are more interested in cash prizes, games and lotteries, this may be the niche area for you. Just like in the “free stuff” market, you can offer CPA offers to your web site visitors.
(Example Site: ContestBlogger.com - A large resource site for Online Contests, Sweepstakes and Free Stuff)

3.) Get Paid to Complete Offers (Incentived)
There are many sites out there that have the concept of “get paid to….”. Usually the concept it to take surveys, but there is also a whole market for cash prizes and rewards. These type of networks are a lot like the email/zip offers, but usually have the option to complete more or less offers and not limiting you to specific prizes. There is a new site called ThisSiteIsForReal.com, and all they do is list a ton of CPA offers, and pay users a small percentage for completing them. Whatever they don’t pay to the person completing the offer, they profit from.
(Example Site: MyPoints.com - Get paid to complete offers)

4.) Running a Niche Product Content Blog
Blogs are one of the easiest ways to setup a new web site, which can focus on individual products or services. For instance, PepperJamNetwork has a ton of affiliate programs for well known products that aren’t available on other networks, one of them being the AeroGarden. If you were to create a blog based on growing a garden or on vegetables and herbs… you can easily target this blog towards the sales of AeroGarden. Based on your blog content, you would receive free search traffic and people interested in the product. This same process can be done for almost any product or service available.
(Example Site: WeViews.TV - a blog that reviews individual products)

5.) High Traffic Content Web Sites
Reference back to the top post this blog post and how I said people are online to either find something or be entertained… in either case, you can be the resource for what they need! If you can provide a content service or something that brings people back to your site often, you have a winner. Instead of trying to sell a service or product, you can focus on selling advertising to your web site or blog. The repeat traffic to your web site will only increase with time and so will your ad dollars.
(Example: CollegeHumor.com - Funny Videos, Pictures & Content)

6.) Create an Online Store
Provide to the people that are searching to make purchases online, by creating your own web store. It’s easy enough to setup a store with Yahoo, or many of the other providers out there. Your main focus is to find what you can sell and how you will do it. I recommend and prefer the concept of drop shipping, I would never want to hold inventory in-house. If you are able to find quality products through a drop shipper, all you need to do is process the sales and bring new buyers to your web site.
(Example Site: WorldWideBrands.com - Resource for Finding DropShippers and Products to Sell)

These are just a few of the different ways that you can start making money online, without relying on, or having to master pay per click marketing. If you are still stuck for an idea, think about what web sites you currently use, and how you could make them better. In addition to finding a profitable business, make sure it is one that you have an interest in… otherwise it will just become another annoying job, like what everyone else has!

Popularity: 10% [?]

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How to Setup SubID Tracking URLs

I frequently get emails from new affiliates asking how to setup tracking urls for different advertising campaigns. The easiest way to do this, without any outside scripts or software, is to run through the network directly. Many networks are running off the DirectTrack network platform, including MarketLeverage, Copeac, CPAEmpire, Rextopia and Ads4Dough to name a few. Through this walk through for setting up SubID tracking, I will use MarketLeverage as an example, but the same process applies to all previous affiliate networks listed.

- Step 1: Login to MarketLeverage and Select an Offer
No matter what offers you select on MarketLeverage or any of the other DirectTrack powered networks, you can setup an unlimited amount of SubID tracking urls.

- Step 2: Setup SubID Tracking URLs
Once you have selected your offer, you should be looking at the page with all of the creatives and banners. Find the email or banner creative that you want to use, then click on the [Add] link in that creative field.

After clicking [Add], five new text forms will open for you to place your subid tags in there. These can be any type of terms you want to use. For my example I threw in a couple tags which would be recognized for search marketing through Google, Yahoo and MSN. You can use whatever text or terms you like.

Once you place your subid terms, click “Update Click Code“, you will be given a new tracking url like the following:

http://payoutdeal.com/a.php?a=CD###&b=19468&d=0&l=
0&o=&p=0&c=3771&s1=searchgoogle1&s2=&s3=&s4=&s5=

The area in RED is your subid tag that you just created to track campaign performance.

- Step 3: SubID Tracking & Stats
Now that you have your subid tracking urls setup and running, you will want to check their individual stats. To do this, all you need to do is go to your stats page as you usually do, but this time instead of clicking “Display Stats“, you should click the “Get SubID Stats” link on the bottom section. You will then be sent to the reports page for performance on your subid tracking urls.

- Additional Campaign Tracking Options
In addition to the SubID tracking setup above, you also have the option to simply setup a “Name Creative for Deployment“, which is how I usually setup campaigns. To do this, you follow the same process as step 1 above, to find your offer. Skip step 2 above with the [Add] and just look for the form (shown below) at the bottom of each creative. Just place your creative name tag in the form and click “Deploy Creative”. The next page will provide you with your new tracking url. For stats tracking, follow the same process shown above in step 3, but instead of clicking “Get SubID Stats”, you should click “Get Stats for Deployed Creative”.

This SubID tracking process will work with any of the following networks: MarketLeverage, Copeac, CPAEmpire, Rextopia and Ads4Dough. I will follow up to this post with more ways on how to setup tracking ids through other networks, setting up your own tracking scripts, or using another outside service. Feel free to comment with any recommend scripts or services you have used.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Are ZIP and EMAIL Offers Worth It?

We’ve all seen them, and most of us even promote them. Yes, I’m talking about those high paying offers that pay for JUST and EMAIL address or a ZIP code. How can these networks pay so much money for just one field? Easy, they put the user through a massive signup process (usually 50+ coregs), then ask the user to complete several CC required offers for the last section. In the end, they make a ton of money off all of the visitors that put in their legit email and contact info, then requested any of the coreg information… and since most of these users will never complete the signup process and terms to get their free prize/reward, they end up banking.

I made a post about a year ago called, “How to Get a Free 42″ Panasonic Plasma TV!” by signing up to one of these offers, then completing all of the annoying offers at the end of the process. Back then it was easier to complete and qualify for your reward and to complete offers. Now most of the offers have put in a new clause in to the terms and conditions, saying that you have to stay subscribed to the services you are required to signup to, for at least 6 months. I can only imagine the backend advertisers were getting a ton of signups that were only staying for the free trial, or canceling within a weeks time… I know I did!

In the end, I did end up getting my free flat screen tv… but it wasn’t without a hassle. After having to signup to a ton of offers, I had to make sure they were all cancelled. Not to mention completing the offers ran me around $200 in shipping costs and trial fees. To make things even worse, since the TV is worth more than $600, anyone that received one, also receive a 1099 tax form which meant you were going to pay taxes on the $1699 TV you were sent. So in addition to paying the $200+ to join all of the offers, you also had to pay taxes (few hundred bucks) on the TV.

In the End, I did get my 42″ Panasonic TV… but it really wasn’t “FREE”!

So the answer the question, “Are ZIP and EMAIL Offers Worth It?“. As a marketer, Yes… they convert well and make good money. I’m sure they do well for the back end advertiser as well, since we have seen no shortage on these offers for years now. (For the record… the EMAIL submission converts better than ZIP submission… which is why they usually pay more.) As a customer, the offer probably isn’t that great anymore, especially since you can’t cancel any memberships or services for 6 months. The only program I’m actually STILL using as a result of the Free TV signup process, is my subscription to BlockBuster Online.

In any case, I saw these offers being promoted all over the place and wanted to see if they were really true. I got my free flat screen tv, then I told some friends about it and they got theirs too. Have you promoted any of the ZIP / EMAIL campaigns, or attempted to get a free product of your own?

Popularity: 15% [?]

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