Many collectors and dealers have become very successful selling antiques and collectibles from their sites. You can enhance your income by simply adding some well chosen links. Putting effort into creatively describing your items, adding content and developing relationships is time well spent. I encourage you to investigate other opportunities the web has to offer as well.
There are literally thousands of different companies that will pay you for promoting their products. The average commission is 10%, but many companies offer more.
You may be skeptical. You should be. Earning affiliate income isn't easy. It takes a lot more than simply pasting in a flashing banner and waiting for the checks to come rolling in. You will need to find offers that compliment what you sell in your site and create copy that will convince your visitor that clicking on your link will benefit them. You have to "pre-sell" and send them off to buy.
There's a lot to learn, but like everything else on the web, there are dozens of articles to read and sites to visit. Spend time educating yourself.
Before I explain much more there are a few things I must discuss. You may say, "I don't want my visitors to leave." Of course you don't. Nobody does. But the fact is that everyone is going to leave your site some time. Offer them places to go where you can earn some money. If you've put in the time it takes to create a quality site, people will come back. If you haven't, holding them in won't work anyway. Besides, you can have your links open in a new page, so your site stays on your visitor's computer.
Another thing is that although you will get credit when you click on your own links, don't do it. Your affiliate partner can track where the clicks originate, usually by a third party. If you are planning to make money by sitting at your computer and clicking back and forth to your affiliate sites you will get caught, and most likely kicked out. Besides, it's cheating. Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat.
One last thing is a caution about those spam email offers that promise wealth and prosperity through all kinds of hype driven junk. There is an easy way to deal with them. Delete them. Don't respond. Don't read them. Especially don't waste your time trying to get removed from their list.
I have been in the mail order and affiliate selling industry for many years and am bored and annoyed with these schemes and tricks. There is no easy money. Please don't clog up the web promoting your affiliate programs with spam either.
We all look forward to the day when our site has enough traffic to sell advertising. Unless you have at least 100,000 page views a month, you're most likely going to be overlooked by the big companies. Placing affiliate links is often the best way to supplement your income and make the most of the traffic you have.
Before you can become an affiliate marketer you will have to register with each site you wish to promote. They most often want your basic information - name, address, website and details on how much traffic you have and who is coming to visit. Sometimes it can take a little while for them to process your info and visit your site to make sure everything is correct. If you are approved, they will email you and provide you with details and your linking options.
You will be issued a special link so they will be able to keep track of the traffic you send. You will need to simply copy the link code and paste it on your page. Sometimes these urls can be quite long. Have you mastered the art of cutting and pasting with the control key? This article may help.
Be careful! Double check to make sure your links are correct!
Here are some good websites to get you started in affiliate marketing.
Here is an article on being creative when making your affiliate links.
