Articles your affiliate marketing sites should have

...if you want to increase your sales, that is

The past few decades have bore witness to the internet being one of the best ways to earn money. Improved communication and safer money transfers make it easier for both the sellers and the buyers to indulge themselves in the act of buying online. Thus, the boom of Affiliate Marketing. The main reason why affiliate marketing has become so popular lies on the simple fact that all you have to do is apply for an affiliate program, pay for the program’s fees (if there are any), establish your pre-seller site, and write away. Simple, isn’t it?

Not quite. A number of affiliate marketers do not witness success (or any sales at all) because of the part where they “write away.” Writing for your affiliate marketing site does not require the skills of a Pulitzer Prize winner, but those of a smart affiliate marketer. Your articles need to have certain qualities that would utilize online resources best, and, of course, turn prospects into closed sales. This article brings you five types of articles your affiliate marketing site should have, if you want to increase your sales (which I know you do!).

REVIEWS

People want information. Small is the probability of having a person enter your site and establishing a sale the first time around. They probably didn’t even notice the “sales pitches” you have placed all over your site in the first place—the main thing that must have been going through their minds is that they need the product, and fast! Generally, people hate hard core sales pitches.

They want to know more about the product. So give your prospects what they want. Give them honest and sincere information on your affiliate marketing site in the form of reviews. Be honest with your reviews. Place any cons that might come in buying the product. And since this is an affiliate marketing program, market your product as well. Do so in a way that “promotes” the product and not “sell” it.

BENEFITS

Prospects want to know the features of a product the first time they get around to wanting to buy it. If the features of your products are to their liking, they would want to know more about the products. Let them know more of the benefits, instead of features, that come in buying your product. Your product is not the only one in the market, and it probably has other competition out there that have as good, or even better, features than the one you’re selling. But if you can provide your prospects with more benefits than the competition can, the more likely will these register as sales increase.

COMPARE

If you are confident of your product’s ability to sell in the market, do product comparisons. Also, do so in the fairest way possible. Do not highlight all the cons of the competition while highlighting your own product’s benefits. Highlight the benefits of the other product, then compare in such a way that your product comes out on top. Be smart in selecting which benefits of the competitor’s product you are going to highlight.

If the competitor’s product has qualities that yours can’t beat, then opt to ‘overlook’ that quality, and focus instead on the other product’s benefits which your product can beat. Make sure sales come your way, and not the competitor’s.

TESTIMONIALS

Your prospects need to know that real people are using your products. Find people who can attest to the benefits of your products in the real word. You might want to keep the contact information from previous sales. It would be good if your previous customers can provide you with photos of themselves, alongside the products if possible. Once you can convince your prospects that your products are good enough for real people, your sales have nothing else to do but increase.

NEWS BRIEFS

Keep your affiliate marketing site fresh with news briefs. You might want to include promos, developments, and previously unknown information regarding the product (such as “studies show that this product (benefits of the product)” or “Top Marketing groups regard this product as one of the most revolutionary products of the 21st century”). Keep your news briefs concise—do not bombard it with too much information. If you happen to have a dozen new information regarding your product, post them on your affiliate marketing site as a week’s worth of news briefs.

These types of articles can be used all at once, or in a combination. Choose what best works for your affiliate marketing program, or product, and you can be on your way to claim sales commissions that just keep on increasing.

What You Should Know About Affiliate Commission Payment Schedules

Arguably the best and most exciting part of becoming an affiliate is receiving your payment for the very first time. After all, that check or deposit notification represents all those weeks (or even months) of hard work, tireless promotion and lead hunting on your part. Finally, there's proof that your affiliate marketing efforts are beginning to pay off. To understand how the payment system of affiliate marketing program works, learn the basics of affiliate commission payment schedules.

Getting paid

Your earnings as an affiliate come in the form of commissions. This is a set percentage or portion of the total price of an affiliate product or service that you helped promote or sell. In many cases, it can also come from a portion of the monies generated through the efforts of downline members in your team.

The payment of commissions to affiliates is ruled by a schedule. This can vary from one affiliate program to the next, although a minimum amount and cut-off date are generally imposed.

If you're wondering why affiliate programs do not automatically send you a check for every sales income you generate, it's quite simple, actually. Affiliate programs need to maintain a standard when it comes to paying their affiliates to make sure that the process is seamless, glitch-free and fair to all. A program without a commission payment schedule risks becoming disorganized and erroneous.

Finding out the schedule of commission payments for your affiliate program

When you sign up as an affiliate for a program, it's important that you check their FAQ section. Affiliate marketing programs often provide the most basic information about themselves on their website. Their FAQ section should clearly state the schedule of commission payments they have imposed for their affiliates.

If the information is unavailable, you can ask your sponsor (if you have one) or your affiliate program. The schedule of commission payments to affiliates is an important consideration when choosing an affiliate program. Do not sign up for an affiliate program without this information so you will be able to avoid disappointments later.

How often is the payment disbursed?

The schedule of commission payment varies, depending on the preference of the affiliate program. The affiliate pretty much doesn’t have any control over this matter. Schedule of disbursement can range from bi-monthly to monthly payments. Some, such as LinkShare, disburse commission payments on a weekly basis, a considerably shorter amount of time.

What methods are used for affiliate commission payments?

There are three methods generally used by affiliate programs. These include: electronic payment processing (such as PayPal), checks and wire transfer. The length of time it will take for your commission payment to reach you will depend on the transaction method.

If the payment is coursed through electronic payment systems, this will usually take as little as 24 hours. Checks (usually delivered via postage mail or courier) usually take from 3 to 7 business days – longer if the affiliate is located in certain areas. Wire transfers take from 3 to about 6 business days.

Is there anything that will affect the schedule of affiliate commission payments?

Generally, the schedule of commission payments for affiliates are pretty much set. However, there are certain things that might cause delays. One of the most common is whether an affiliate's earnings have reached the minimum amount.

Affiliate programs often impose a minimum earned amount per pay period ranging from $10 to $100. If an affiliate earns less than that, his current earnings will be carried over to the next pay period until such time that he will meet the minimum required. Only then will his payment be released.

Watercolor Paintings – Why You Should Try It

Paintings add up to the beauty of homes, offices, and business establishments. If you have the skill to paint, you should try to develop it. Learn more about painting by enrolling in painting classes or you can research about it online. Whether you're an adult, teenager, or a kid, learning how to paint is not that difficult especially if you put your heart into it. While you're trying to find a media to use, perhaps you might want to try watercolor paintings.  You can express your chosen subject matter through the use of watercolors. In fact, there are many advantages in using this media over other types of media. It is also a beautiful way to convey your feelings through your painting.
Here are some of the best reasons why you should try watercolor painting. 1. It is easy – as compared to other types of painting, watercolor painting is really easy and you can expect better results in a very short time. 2. Fast – there are certain techniques that you should learn in watercolor painting. Once you learn such techniques, you can do quick washes and spontaneous strokes. This is the beauty of watercolor painting and you can finish your piece in less than an hour and the greatest thing is that you will get satisfying results. 3. Great for people who are always on the go – if you travel often, carrying watercolor kits is not a problem. The kits are lightweight and come with compact boxes that you can carry around with ease. The paper used in watercolor painting can be purchased in blocks so you don’t need a lot of space. Preparing the papers needed is also not required. 4. Does not smudge – as compared to charcoal and pastel, watercolor painting doesn’t smudge.5. Dries quickly – in several minutes, your art piece is already dry. But if you use oil paints for your painting, it would take days or even weeks before the piece dries up completely.6. Watercolor is also a fluid – because of its nature, with only a few strokes, you can already fill large areas.7. 'Accidents' can contribute to your creativity – you don’t have to worry about accidents during watercolor painting because it can magically develop into something beautiful. You can even pour the watercolor on the paper as you start your painting and see what designs it can create.8. Watercolor painting is versatile in look and style – you can do illustrational works as well as abstract arts. You can experiment in some designs that you haven't done before and it will all depend on your skill and creativity. Experts say that using watercolor is hard because the artist or painter can't control it easily. For beginners, here’s a good advice – let the watercolor's magic work. Don’t interfere at first and see the designs it can create and start painting from there. Allow endless explorations and you can surely enjoy your creativity for the rest of your life. As an art lover, you already know that sometimes beautiful paintings come as accidents. But this should not be the reason to stop practicing. If you frequently practice, in time, you will be able to control your strokes and create more artistic and unique watercolor paintings. Never stop learning because by doing so, you can develop more interesting and artistic ideas that you can use in your paintings.

View the original article here

More Information Regarding Affiliate Programs That Should Really Help You Out

Affiliate marketing for all affiliate programs is most definitely a very tough skill to master, there is just no doubt about that at all. Top affiliates know that the best way to make money online is to promote only the best affiliate programs. Everyone who wants to make money online needs to know the secrets to promoting products correctly in order to maximize your affiliate commissions.

Build a mailing list of 5,000 subscribers and participate in product giveaway marketing events. These free product giveaways allow you to distribute your free report or other giveaway item to thousands upon thousands of new visitors to your website.

Participate in one event and your list will triple in size! Always build a list of future prospects for additional offers by capturing name and email addresses from their web site visitors. Even if you don't have a full-blown website, set one up and host squeeze pages. Squeeze pages serve as name capture devices before redirecting the customer to the product you are promoting using your affiliate link.

You can make a lot of money promoting products where you don't have a lot of competition. Look for a niche within a niche (or microniche) that you can dominate easily on a small marketing budget. Examples would be time-saving tools or money-saving ideas aimed at markets with money to spend. Promoting membership sites is a great way to tap into recurring commissions from monthly membership fees.

Each sale contains a built-in residual commission stream that continues to pay you as long as your referral remains a member. Signup for your free website traffic membership and earn 50% recurring commissions on everyone you refer. Use affiliate links in your blog posts. Be creative with how you describe the offer. Reviews work well because they provide real value to people searching for information about the product.

Disguise your affiliate sales links with Simple Links Manager. And of course, use the HitsUSA SEO techniques to get your blog posts top 10 Google rankings for your chosen keyword phrases. Affiliates often overspend due to the high cost of Google AdWords, but overlook much cheaper sources of PPC traffic. GoClick, SearchFeed, 7Search, LookSmart offer PPC ad spots starting at $0.01 per click.

There are several different things that all of you should know more about when it comes to any affiliate program and hopefully after reading through some of the articles that are written about this subject, you are going to walk away feeling much more informed than you ever were before.

On Miva, Mamma, and Lycos/Ask, you can get clicks for $0.05 on popular terms that cost ten times that much on AdWords. Signup for a free membership at HitsUSA and discover the best ways to maximize your profits from affiliate marketing! Affiliate programs or an affiliate program could potentially make it possible for you to earn the kind of money that you knew you always could earn at some point in your life, only now it is sooner rather than later.