Category: sub-articles

A Domain is a user-friendly string of characters that can be used to access a site on the internet. The domain name is the web address of your online business, for example, http://yourbusinessname.com, it is the way visitors enter your website, http://Google.com is a domain name. A domain name is a requirement of every website owner.

Choosing A Domain:

Normally your domain name is the name of your business or an associated name. Choose your domain name carefully because it is not that easy to change. An easily remembered or associated name can attract visitors to your web site. Most common names are already taken. If you are not using a business name select a catchy domain name.

-Domain names should be short and easy-to-remember so they can be typed without errors.

-Longer names increase the chance that a user may not have it written down and find it difficult to recall into memory.

-Domain names made from initials are usually not a good idea unless the brand is familiar to everyone and is very common (e.g. IBM).

-A domain name should be associated with a product, service, or company image making it easy to recall.

-Companies should register alternate names for and re-direct information to one web site so the user has a feel for a ubiquitous web site, which can lead to brand identity.

The Domain Suffix.

After your domain name, you have the domain suffix example: .com, which depends on what global top-level domain you purchased and the purpose of your domain. The most common global top-level domains are:

.COM – used for commercial and personal sites

.ORG – recommended for not-for-profit organizations

.NET – recommended for companies involved in Internet infrastructure

.EDU – recommended for educational institutions

.MIL – used by military agencies

.GOV – used by government organizations

Once you decide on a domain name it is time to register your domain name.

Domain Name Registration:

You are required to register your domain name annually, for a small fee. ICANN: is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A Registrar: is a company recognized by ICANN that can register a domain on behalf of a customer. Most hosting companies offer you the ability to register your domain name on your behalf annually. Besides hosting companies there are independent domain registrars.

A simple search of the Internet for Affiliate Marketing programs will produce hundreds of thousands of results! To start, enter “Affiliate Marketing Programs” in the search engine of your choice. Not all affiliate programs are legit,  do your research before joining an affiliate marketing program.

To see if anyone has had a problem with the affiliate program you are interested in search online for reviews.or complaints about said company.

Do as much research on the company of your choice as you can and ask questions of concern. Another way to start out is to join an  Affiliate Network.

Affiliate Networks:

There are many companies that pay Affiliate Networks to manage their accounts including big-name companies. Some of the best affiliate programs can be found by signing up with an affiliate network. Affiliate networks house major companies such as Walmart, AT &T staples, best buy and hundreds of others too numerous to name, you get the idea. The affiliate network does all the work and keeps you updated on how much money you make through reports generated on their site.

To get started you sign up with an affiliate network as a publisher and provide them with all your information including the websites you will be posting affiliate’s banners and links to. Normally you are able to place links on multiple websites that you own. Before choosing an affiliate program it is a good rule of thumb to look over their merchant’s program agreement. Pay special attention to the commission percentage. Look out for how many days after a visitor from your site makes a purchase before you will be entitled to credit for it?

To sign up with an Affiliate Network you will be required to provide your taxpayer information and the method of payment you prefer. Once you are signed up and approved, you have the option of applying for the companies you are interested in becoming a partner affiliate with. You may have to wait a day or two or longer to find out if you are approved for the affiliate program you selected.

To be on the safe side affiliate beginners should select only affiliate programs that are apart of an affiliate network. The following is a list of well known Top Affiliate Programs not necessarily in the order I have them in.

Top Affiliate Networks

1. Rakuten Advertising

Rakuten Advertising, formally know as Linkshare, is reportedly the largest affiliate network, with over 10 million affiliate partnerships, Rakuten offers over 2,500 affiliate programs. As a publisher, you can partner with thousands of leading and emerging brands across a variety of industries

2. Commission Junction

CJ is said to be the largest affiliate marketing network in North America (though it operates globally) in addition to its regular pay-per-action affiliate program, the company also offers a convenient Pay  Per Call program to help affiliates “ensure they get paid commission for the leads they generate, thus further monetizing existing ad placements and having the opportunity to expand their promotional…online and offline campaigns.”

3. ShareASale

Chicago-based ShareASale has over 2,500 merchant programs and features brands such as HootSuite and PS Print. ShareASale has received excellent ratings, with the company’s reputation/security, ethics, customer service, and ease of commission payment receiving glowing reviews.

4. Amazon Associates

Placing fourth in the 2012 Blue Book of Top 20 Affiliate Networks, for a reporting system that “far surpasses other big networks,” this is one of the largest and most diverse affiliate programs available.

As most people know, Amazon.com offers such a wide array of products that there’s bound to be something to fit your niche. In fact, they offer over a million products from which you can choose to monetize your website or blog. Amazon Associates is a pay-per-sale affiliate program.

5. ClixGalore

ClixGalore is an Australian PPA (pay-per-action) affiliate network that also has offices in the US, UK, and Japan. The company offers various types of programs, including PPM (pay-per-impression), PPL (pay per lead), PPS (pay-per-sale), and PPC (pay-per-click). Many programs pay in US dollars.

Some well-known brands that use ClixGalore for their affiliate offerings are Bluehost, Time-Life, Trend Micro, Citibank, and Fox Sports Shop. While not as widely known as some of the other affiliate networks, ClixGalore is a solid network that offers thousands of potential merchant programs. The network also offers a two-tier network. By referring other affiliates to the network, current affiliates can receive a portion of their earnings.

6. PeerFly.com

PeerFly is a PPA network with its own proprietary software system. The network made the 2012 Blue Book of Top 20 Affiliate Networks, which stated regarding them, “They are courteous, helpful, and point you in the right direction.” PeerFly accepts publishers from all over the world and offers thousands of merchant programs.

7. ClickBank

A well-known affiliate network, ClickBank features digital products, such as e-books, software, and membership sites. The program reportedly offers up to 75% commissions on its tens of thousands of products. Commissions are paid weekly, and direct deposit is available to its affiliates.

Over the years, this network has remained popular, though some have questioned a few of its practices.

8. MaxBounty

MaxBounty came in sixth in the 2012 Blue Book of Top 20 CPA Networks, though it didn’t make a showing in the Blue Book’s top 20 affiliate networks. In business since 2004, the network was founded on the philosophy of paying its affiliates more.

Ebooks are a quick and easy way for anyone to become a self-published author.

Ebooks or electronic/digital books are easily the most common and in-demand type of information products available today. This is probably because it is the easiest and cheapest of information product you can sell and buy. There are so many ebooks available on the market today, covering every imaginable topic and catering to different audiences.

If you have a flair for writing or you feel you can be able to share expert advice and information on a specific field, you can consider creating your own ebook and sell it in the market. You will want to come up with one that will best appeal to your target audience.

Information marketing is one of the most rewarding businesses available today, with very little or no money required to get started. Below are the most popular and highly in-demand products in the market today!

How To Information:

This type of ebook offers important assistance on learning a new skill, enhance existing knowledge or provide an innovative approach to doing certain things. If you plan on creating a how-to ebook, you should first take time to study your target audience and find out what are the most significant concerns/issues/problems and create content that will be able to provide a solution to that problem. In order to do that, you will need to conduct extensive study on your market and determine how you can effectively position your information product to be regarded as the ultimate solution to the problem.

Making Money Info

Another type of ebook is one that is geared towards offering information on how to make money. Most people, if not all are always interested in new ways of generating new income streams. If you have discovered how to make it big and rake in a serious amount of money doing something, then you might want to write about it and share your expertise.

Money-Saving Info

Aside from making money, people are generally interested in how to save money. Well, it actually makes total sense, right? No matter how much money you make, you will eventually exhaust your resources, sooner or later. With so many people facing debt problems, debt issues, every penny counts – which means, an ebook on saving one, whether it is on learning how to get better gas mileage or maximizing grocery coupons, can prove to be highly interesting.

Health And Fitness

With the growing prevalence of fatal and life-altering diseases, a lot of people have grown more concerned about their health and general well-being. This type of ebook covers various topics such as weight loss, natural remedies, and muscle gain. Through the years, there will always be a great market for these information products.

Self-Help

These types of ebooks focus on providing relationship advice, such as dealing with a divorce or getting back with an ex. There has been a growing demand for books that tackle gaining self-confidence, dealing with stress, and becoming a better person as well as training and skills improvement

Travel and Lifestyle Guides

There will always be a constant demand for books that provide information on a certain area, city or country. If you are confident you will be able to provide valuable information on a certain place, why not create an ebook to provide information and insider knowledge about the place focusing on specific topics, tourists and visitors are most likely interested to know.

Whether people are genuinely interested in acquiring a new skill or trying to save money by doing things on their own, more and more people seek online resources on enhancing knowledge and improving a certain skill.

You can sell your e-books through Online e-book retailers or through your own website. Some popular e-book sellers are:

iTunes:
Apply to the iTunes book’s account program. The service only accepts the epub format (and multi-touch).  ISBN is recommended but not required for any book you are offering on the iBooks Store. An ISBN uniquely identifies the book and its current edition and helps you to ensure that you are marketing the right book. The ISBN is also required for reporting your book’s sales to industry reporting agencies and charting organizations.

Learn More

Amazon Kindle

Amazon accepts epub format, independently publish with Kindle Direct Publishing to reach millions of readers. Get to market fast. Publishing takes less than 5 minutes and your book appears on Kindle stores worldwide within 24-48 hours. Make more money. Earn up to 70% royalty on sales to customers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, India, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and more. Enroll in KDP Select and earn more money through Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.Keep control. Keep control of your rights and set your own list prices. Make changes to your books at any time.

Learn More

Google Books 

Promote your books on Google—for free. Apply to the partner program. Submit the epub and pdf version (up to 250MB file size). No ISBN required, google will assign one after upload.

Learn More..

Nook (Barnes and Noble)

Publish your book on the popular NOOK eReader and your book will share virtual shelf space with the latest New York Times’ bestsellers, Pulitzer Prize winners, and time-honored classics.

Learn More

Sell From Your Website

You can always sell your PDF ebook from your own website. There are many different free e-commerce programs you can use to set up your own online store.

Which will mean you will no longer be splitting the profits with ebook vendors. Another positive of selling from your own site though is that you can set up your own affiliate program. This means that you can offer a commission to Internet users who are will to help you sell your book.

While this still means you will be splitting the profit once again, it also means that you’ll have the opportunity to recruit hundreds of people interest in helping you to sell your book on commission. Which in turn, can result in you selling countless copies that you wouldn’t have otherwise sold.

The downside about selling the books on your own is you’re vulnerable to pirating. And it means you may not have access to the large audience that you would have through the large ebook vendors.

When people read what you have written about a particular product and then click on those links and buy something from the retailer, and as an Affiliate, you earn a commission from the retailer. It is the same as if you are endorsing the product and therefore you must disclose that information according to the FTC.

Disclosure:

Affiliate link disclosures are a requirement of the FTC whenever a link is used on your website that results in a commission, you must disclose this information to site visitors. You are required to disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, the readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement.

In some instances – like when the affiliate link is embedded in your product review – a single disclosure may be adequate. When the review has a clear and conspicuous disclosure of your relationship and the reader can see both the review containing that disclosure and the link at the same time, readers have the information they need.

Affiliate Marketing Disclosure

You could say something like, “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” But if the product review containing the disclosure and the link are separated, readers may not make the connection.

Where Do I Have Place the Disclosure?

As for where to place a disclosure, the guiding principle is that it has to be clear and conspicuous. The closer it is to your recommendation, the better. Putting disclosures in obscure places – for example, buried on an ABOUT US or GENERAL INFO page, behind a poorly labeled hyperlink or in a “terms of service” agreement – isn’t good enough. Neither is placing it below your review or below the link to the online retailer so readers would have to keep scrolling after they finish reading. Consumers should be able to notice the disclosure easily. They shouldn’t have to hunt for it.

Is “affiliate link” by itself an adequate disclosure? What about a “buy now” button?

Consumers might not understand that the “affiliate link” means that the person placing the link is getting paid for purchases through the link. Similarly, a “buy now” button would not be adequate.

What if I’m including links to product marketers or to retailers as a convenience to my readers, but I’m not getting paid for them?

Then there isn’t anything to disclose.

Does this guidance about affiliate links apply to links in my product reviews on someone else’s website, to my user comments, and to my tweets?

Yes, the same guidance applies anytime you endorse a product and get paid through affiliate links.

It’s clear that what’s on my website is a paid advertisement, not my own endorsement or review of the product. Do I still have to disclose that I get a commission if people click through my website to buy the product?

If it’s clear that what’s on your site is a paid advertisement, you don’t have to make additional disclosures. Just remember that what’s clear to you may not be clear to everyone visiting your site, and the FTC evaluates ads from the perspective of reasonable consumers.