Why do we blog? This is the question that has puzzled me since long time and I have tried my best to find out various answers to it. I am thrilled at the outcome. Many people used to blog because they just loved the idea of having their own personal space on the Internet. With the advent of Internet advertising, pioneered by Google AdSense, the focus shifted to making a few bucks out of it. I am part of this second generation where I write because I want to and then I utilize many advertising sources to earn decent revenue, so that I can continue running my online life! By this time, almost everyone knows about Google AdSense and how to use it to make money online. But there is life beyond AdSense - there are affiliate marketers who are just awaiting to be embraced, paid reviewers, and even freelancing opportunities.
I would now talk about how to make money out of affiliate marketing - it is by the way of earning commissions for qualified leads / sale. There are hundreds of providers out there, but I would strongly suggest you associate with only the best. To name a few, the best ones are Commission Junction, Shareasale, eBay, and many more. The most important point to understand, before you start, is: What is basis on which you get commission? If you search Google with this search query, you’ll get hundreds of thousands of results. But I have come across probably the best description of this process: “Understanding Commission Structures in affiliate advertising” on the Web-Articles site (refer screenshot). This site is neatly classified under different categories with huge collection of useful and informative articles. Coming back to our main topic, note that most of the affiliate marketing sites give out commissions in one / more of the following methods:
- Pay per click - A pay-per-click commission structure pays you a fixed amount generally between 3 and 25 cents per click for each click (or visitor) you send to the client’s web site.
- Pay per sale - Pay-per-sale programs fall into two categories:
- Percentage of sale or revenue. You receive a percentage of the purchase price or a percentage of revenue (net profit).
- Fixed commission per sale. Instead of a percentage of the sale price, you receive a fixed commission (e.g., $5 or $10 per sale).
- Pay per lead - They pay affiliates when someone clicks on their ad and performs a particular action. Some examples include “Completes forms” | “Opts for free registrations” | “Takes advantage of free downloads”.
- Mixed payments - Some sites, like eBay, have well-developed affiliate systems that pay differently for different actions. First, if you place an ad that causes someone to register with eBay for the first time and then use his or her new registration to place a bid, you earn a fee of between $12 and $22.
