[Websiteking]

Start At The Beginning
Making a residual income on your web site is simply a matter of choosing the right item and promoting it correctly..it has to be in the right place at the right time or it will just be yet another ignored online advertisement.

As an example, let us imagine a website that offers Villa rental in the South of France; the site is well made and has been promoted to the point that it now gets plenty of traffic. The conversion rate is 8 hits to one booking which is very good but still leaves 7 people clicking away. In this case we could have a banner advertising flights after the booking has been made and another banner elsewhere. By doing this we have already targeted our audience; the flights banner comes after a booking because that is when the client is most likely to be thinking about travel arrangements..you've probably seen this type of marketing in action on sales pages that sell products with master resell rights - buy one thing and you'll be offered something else after you have downloaded the original purchase. This works because the visitor already trusts you, has their credit card at hand and has nowhere else to go. Of course, the flights banner could also be placed elsewhere but show it too much and it will lose it's impact.
For the remaining 7 visitors we would run a different banner that is somehow related to the site and helps to heighten the impression that 'these guys are experts'..in this case we could show a banner for a local Wine distillery since people visiting the South of France are likely to be interested in going to such a place. The added bonus is that if they click the banner and like the place, they will probably come back to the Villa site because they now need somewhere to stay!

How To Become An Affiliate
So now we understand where to advertise, we just need to know how :
Most web sites offer what are known as 'affiliations'; they give you a slice of HTML (web site language) to add to your site and any purchases made by someone who clicked on your banner earn you some money. We recommend you contact the web sites you think would interest your visitors and ask if they affiliate. For bigger websites I recommend 'Tradedoubler' where you can find the top names in the world offering you affiliation deals.

Make A Residual Income Selling Ebooks
You have probably seen Ebooks for sale on ebay that more than one person is selling. This is possible because those people have purchased the ebook with the rights to resell it from Ebay and alike.
This type of item can be resold as many times as you wish (some can even be given away to drive traffic to your site) and, by adding these items to your site, can provide a little extra income. You can even write an ebook yourself and have me design the ebook cover and mini site!

Make A Residual Income With 'Google Adsense'
Finally, there's 'Google Adsense' which is a detailed subject you can learn about by searching Google.

[Alvin]

most types of affiliate programs seem to offer a pittance and banner adverts do not work.

Its much better in general to sell your own products on a site in order to ontain the full benefits of your endevours.

why take 5-10% when you can have 100% .?

There are some fair affiliate schemes but few and far between,some in the insurance area.

Alvin

[Websiteking]

Originally Posted by Alvin

most types of affiliate programs seem to offer a pittance and banner adverts do not work.
Alvin

As per my article, I accept that most banners do not generate a huge income (hence why I called it 'residual income') but most people find they can easily cover the price of their domain name and hosting by running the right banner in the right place.

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Websiteking

Make A Residual Income Selling Ebooks
You have probably seen Ebooks for sale on ebay that more than one person is selling. This is possible because those people have purchased the ebook with the rights to resell it from Ebay and alike.
This type of item can be resold as many times as you wish (some can even be given away to drive traffic to your site) and, by adding these items to your site, can provide a little extra income. You can even write an ebook yourself and have me design the ebook cover and mini site!

An interesting post - thanks.

But note that you are no longer supposed to sell ebooks directly on eBay. Until 31st March you could sell them on the US site but now they've stopped it, allegedly because people were selling too many 1p books just to get their feedback scores up very quickly.

Having said that there do still appear to be a few still on there for sale......

[Websiteking]

Thanks John for the heads-up mate; interesting about Ebay stopping these Ebooks - they didn't tell me that when I advertised 2 last week (both of which failed to sell).....mmmm....didn't stop 'em charging for the ad tho !
Methinks I've been robbed (again!) by the Ebay staff

[moonlighterUK]

Originally Posted by Alvin

most types of affiliate programs seem to offer a pittance and banner adverts do not work.

Its much better in general to sell your own products on a site in order to ontain the full benefits of your endevours.

why take 5-10% when you can have 100% .?

There are some fair affiliate schemes but few and far between,some in the insurance area.

Alvin

You have a product that returns a 100% return?

Tell me more

In all seriousness, 95% of affiliate sites fail (market stats not mine) due to many coming up with the idea, launching and then doing nothing.

As with anything in business, you get out what you put in. It takes hard work and the constant cycle of evaluation and change to keep it earning.

The major downside is the payment cycles from the big boys such as TD. They can take up to 4 months to release funds.

Choose your service carefully and pick your market even more selective.

The major bonus to affiliate marketing if you can make it work is the TOTAL COST EFFECTIVENESS

Consider what you do not have to do as opposed to owning your own store and selling products.

1. No product sourcing issues
2. No inventory management requirements
3. No after sales management required
4. No returns requirements
5. No DTR compliance
6. No staff requirements
7. No stock storing issues

In short, minimal overheads for potentially good returns. 5% to 10% on sales is a good margin when you consider the online margins around today for competitive products.

Make no mistake, it is a long road to success and requires a business plan like any other venture.

Just remember...only 5% make it into super affiliate status.

HTH.

HTH

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by moonlighterUK

You have a product that returns a 100% return?

Tell me more

Deal directly with manufacturers for maximum returns.

Try M&S 300% return on some of there lines or Nike up to 1,000% return.

to many middlemen cut your profit margins.

Its not the price you can sell for that will make a success ,its the price you can buy for.

Alvin

[moonlighterUK]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Deal directly with manufacturers for maximum returns.

Try M&S 300% return on some of there lines or Nike up to 1,000% return.

to many middlemen cut your profit margins.

Its not the price you can sell for that will make a success ,its the price you can buy for.

Alvin

Amen to that Alvin...

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Websiteking

Thanks John for the heads-up mate; interesting about Ebay stopping these Ebooks - they didn't tell me that when I advertised 2 last week (both of which failed to sell).....mmmm....didn't stop 'em charging for the ad tho !
Methinks I've been robbed (again!) by the Ebay staff

Yes, eBay didn't make a big thing of it - they just removed the ones I'd got for sale in my shop, so I closed the shop and told them why. They did issue a statement about it but it was very low key and well hidden. I did know in advance because I'd picked it up from some other traders.

I notice the big ebook sellers seem to have either closed down or are starting to turn their ebooks into DVDs and yet there do seem to be a few still on sale. As far as I can see eBay have removed the digital download facility anyway.

Not great customer service is it?

[Websiteking]

Ebay eh! they think they run the world