Remember the primary reason most people use the Internet? We discussed it in Select the Best Business Model for You. The answer is information . Content is king on the Internet. Sites with interesting, frequently updated content are favorites of the search engines, as you will learn in Part Two. More importantly, however, content attracts visitors to stay and read, to return again, and often to purchase. In terms of Internet marketing, on affi liate sales sites as in other types of business sites, content can be considered preselling. Following are some examples of affi liate sales sites that offer excellent content of great interest to their visitors.

E-Commerce Confi dential ( www.ecommerceconfi dential.com ) is a site owned by our friend Bill Hibbler. Bill has an excellent reputation as a knowledgeable Internet marketer, and he is respected for the integrity of his information. In this site, Bill offers no -holds-barred reviews of Internet marketing products, based on his fi rsthand experience with the products.

A number of products are listed for sale on Bill ’ s site. Some of them, such as The Rudl Report , are products Bill wrote or produced himself. Many are products for which he is an affi liate. What makes Bill a strong advocate for his readers, and a really successful Internet marketer, is that he uses all of these products and carefully examines them. Before he recommends them to his readers, he makes sure that they give value.

Go to Mexico ( http://www.go2mexico.com/ ) is aimed toward visitors who are thinking about traveling to Mexico but don ’ t know a lot about the country. These visitors may have heard of Cancun and Cozumel and Mexico City, but most of Mexico is unknown to them. They are looking for guidance on possible destinations, safety issues, laws in Mexico, places to stay and eat, fi shing guides, and a host of other topics. The site is packed with valuable content, and at fi rst

glance most visitors would not think of it as an affi liate sales site. But in fact, almost every link on the site is an affi liate link.

Earlier we mentioned dating sites. Sage Hearts ( www.sage-hearts. com ) is owned by Rosalind Gardner, an affi liate marketing expert who makes seven fi gures a year from her group of affi liate sites. Sage Hearts includes a blog and online dating news. Rosalind reviews different dating services. She reviews books and movies. She gives you ideas about where to go on dates. She has a section set up specifi cally for seniors. She has created a site with content that is interesting to people who are looking for a partner, looking to date, and are considering using the Internet to meet people. In doing so, she has created hundreds of opportunities to represent and endorse various merchants.

GOOGLE ADSENSE

AdSense is Google ’ s affi liate advertising program, through which Google places ads on your web site, and pays you when visitors click through to the advertisers ’ sites. You are paid for each and every click, not for sales. The amount you are paid is based on the cost of the keywords (see below), as well as the time of day, month, and season.

The ads are written by the advertisers, who essentially buy traffi c by bidding on keywords through Google ’ s AdWords program. Keywords are the individual words or groups of words used by Google visitors to search the Internet. For example, someone looking for information on this book might search using the title as keywords: “Your Internet Cash Machine, ” or he might type in “Internet business” or “Vitale + Wheeler.”

For example, Jillian ’ s business uses Google ’ s mail program, Google Apps. You may be familiar with gmail ( www.gmail.com ), a version of this program. Jillian recently went to her inbox and read an e - mail from a customer in Salt Lake City, Utah. As she glanced at the e -mail, she noticed on the right of the screen a row of ads targeted to Utah. One was directed toward Mormons (many Utah residents are Mormons), another was for a ski program in the Utah mountains, and a third was for a restaurant in Salt Lake City. This very specifi c targeting is a function of Google ’ s superior relevance formula, which also provides the highly targeted search results that have made Google so popular with researchers.

AdSense ads are available in a number of different sizes and formats, including banners, buttons, towers, and rectangles. The ads may be comprised of either graphics or text. You may also adjust the colors of the background, border, text, and links in the ads. The AdSense

system offers a URL fi lter that allows you to make sure you do not end up displaying your competitors ’ ads. Also, be aware Google considers it fraud for you to click through ads on your own site, and they have sophisticated tools to identify rule breakers.

Although you will see Internet sites fi lled with AdSense ads and no content, these sites are generally not profi table over the long term, for two reasons. First, as you have already heard from us, and as you will read in Get the Word Out when we discuss search engine optimization, content is highly prized by Google and the other search engines. Second, Google frequently changes its formulas. In fact, there ’ s even a name for it: the Google dance. When Google dances, what was once profi table may suddenly become unprofi table, and the site owner must adjust. For any type of affi liate sales site, regardless of whether you include AdSense in the mix, your best strategy is to offer at least as much valuable content and information as you do advertising.

In this chapter, we have discussed information specifi c to affi liate sales sites. But, as we ’ re sure you have noticed, many types of Internet businesses can benefi t from a more limited use of the affi liate selling model. If you have decided your new Internet business will be an affi liate sales site, you will fi nd all the information you need to get going in Part Two.

Resource Page

Summary of topics discussed in this chapter: ☛ Advantages of affi liate sites. ☛ How to make money as an affi liate. ☛ How to select your merchant partners. ☛ Include valuable content on your site. ☛ How to use Google AdSense.

Affi liate links are fairly easy to recognize, and affi liate link theft is a common problem for affi liate marketers. To read more about this problem, and to learn how to protect yourself, visit www.YourInternet CashMachine.com. Access interviews with our guest experts. Claim your free membership now!