Affiliate Prescription: How to Prevent 'Sudden Earnings Collapse'
Veronika Noize

What would you do if your affiliate earnings suddenly dropped from $50,000 per month to $2,000 per month; or from $2,000 per month to absolutely no income at all?

How would you pay your super-sized mortgage and auto loans?

Never mind trivial items like shelter and transportation, who's going to pay the groceries? Your mother-in-law? Forget it. She always knew you should get a 'real job' and now she's going to lord it all over you.

Don't think that such catastrophes can't or don't happen.

They can and they do.

Merchants go belly-up and the commission checks stop arriving.

Products become obsolete or illegal, and entire markets disappear. (Remember BETA video cassette players? They didn' t even make good boat anchors.)

For example, let's consider the implications of the following news release from the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) in the United States, "DEA Unveils International Toll-Free Hotline to Report Illegal Prescription Drug Sales and Rogue Pharmacies Operating on the Internet".

Read the full press release.

At issue here are doctors who prescribe drugs without seeing patients in person. It's a downright dangerous practice, and the medical questionnaires on pharmaceutical web sites don't begin to solve the problem.

As a result, doctors and online pharmacies in several states had fines levied against them, and some pharmacies have had their licenses lost or revoked.

OK, but how does that affect you as an affiliate?

Well, here's a post I found on the RXAffiliateForum with the subject line "My Conversation with the FBI".

"I spoke with the Special agent in charge for the southeastern region for INTERNET pharmacies. I was told in no uncertain terms it is illegal to dispense medications without a doctor/ patient relationship. The FBI, DEA and other regulatory and enforcement agencies are investigating all websites that operate in this fashion."

"In addition there is no distinction between websites (read 'affiliate websites'), Ops (Online pharmacies) and pharmacies. Just a heads up."

Just a 'heads up', indeed!

Here's another post that I found at the same forum.

"I've taken HUGE losses in the OP (Online Pharmacy) industry. ABC Merchant Site (name changed) owes me over $15,000! And XYZ Merchant Site (name changed) owes me over $5000! There are people who have lost 2, 3, 4... even 5 times the amount that I have! And I've lost over $20,000! If you read through old posts on this forum, you will find TONS of people in the same boat. Some people have even taken legal action... but very few have got any money."

After those online pharmacies pay their fines, there probably isn't much left to cover their affiliates' commission checks.

According to Richard A. Chapo, Esq. of AdultInternetLaw.com, "it is clear that affiliates of online pharmacies can be prosecuted in states such as Nevada".

Mr. Chapo encourages webmasters of online pharmacies to "review the programs they are promoting to make sure that they are not in conflict with the Controlled Substance Acts of various states, such as Nevada. There is little doubt that the industry will see many more prosecutions in this area of the online industry."

Scarey, huh? Yes, but the point is not to scare you away from affiliate marketing.

The point is that there are potential 'problems' with any business arena you may want to enter. You simply need to be both cautious and aware.

So, what's the prescription for protecting yourself from sudden earnings collapse?

Well, just like you can't expect to stay healthy or thrive on a steady diet of cake, neither should you hope to maintain or grow an affiliate business with a single type of product.

There are thousands of merchants with affiliate programs, and tens of thousands of products in different markets from which to choose, so start choosing. Expand and diversify your product range and build a solid and healthy affiliate business!

In other words, hedge your bets - and no, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should promote online casinos. :-)

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Rosalind Gardner the author of the runaway best-selling ebook, "The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online" and is recognized around the world as a leading authority in affiliate marketing.: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/superaffimanual.html

William McRand

So, you are thinking about marketing online, good idea. The easiest and most profitable way to start is Affiliate Programs. If you are willing to put a good bit of easy work into affiliate programs you can make a comfortable living. You will not need a college degree or anything like that. All you need is a willing mind. The main road to success are focused dedication and a lot of enthusiasm..

1. Affiliate programs may be the easiest online business to start running. although it doesn't hurt to do some study so that you can learn from other people's mistakes rather than go through them yourself. In addition, you are likely to pick up ideas that you wouldn't have come up with yourself. There are numerous training products with great strategies to adopt. One of the best ways to do this is look at what people who have used the courses are saying in some of the popular Internet marketing forums.

2. These programs are a great way to get started in an online business. There are some 'Super Affiliates' who are making fabulous incomes from these programs. Affiliate programs allow you to sell another company's service or product and make a commission on every sale or lead. You don't even need to build a web site or handle the transaction. Your job is to drive traffic to your affiliate link.

3. An affiliate link is a special URL code that will identify customers coming to the company's site from your advertising. It will be the web site address with a code attached to the end. Some programs also have tiers. That means if someone who is interested in selling the product comes through your link and signs up you will also get a small percentage of their earnings.

4. To choose a program: You should research the popularity of some of your interests. Try to determine if people are buying that product or service online. There are many sources for finding that information including free ones, such as the Overture keyword tool. When you have found an area that is popular then type the subject along with 'affiliate program' into your search engine and see which programs have services or products for that area. You can also use an affiliate program directory.

5. After finding a program that looks good you should check the terms of the program. Make sure that payouts are not based on a high commission earning or you may never see your money. Also try to choose programs with high commission rates. Often you will find ebooks and downloadable software has the highest rates as there is no physical product to make or ship. If you are satisfied with the terms then you need to sign up.

6. The reason affiliate programs are so great for beginners is that you only need to focus on marketing. Many affiliate programs have information on how to market and give you tools such as banners, product feeds and more. You can also look for other information on marketing including writing articles, creating pay-per-click campaigns, commenting in online forums etc.

As you gain marketing experience you will make adjustments to your selling and start creating a wonderful income! Why a large number of would-be online marketers are either unsuccessful or only partially successful is because they lack focus. They jump from one strategy to the next without mastering any.

In affiliate marketing, the key to success is planning and focus. Take one strategy and concentrate on it for a set period of time, maybe a month. If it isn't returning enough then look for an alternative and spend time developing it. If it is working, then look at ways of making it even better.

Most people want to 'get rich quick' on the Internet and fail. To make real riches you need to have a strategy, look for the longer terms and stay focused.

****************************************
William McRand is deeply involved in Internet Marketing (Affiliate Programs). He has taken his love of marketing, developing web sites and blogs to the top in his expert marketing career, he offers assistance to other would-be marketers. Visit the site here: http://mcrand-blogadvertising.blogspot.com/

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