Affiliate marketing is a system where you post links to products or websites on your site, and receive money when people click on those links and purchase products.  Affiliate marketing is extremely easy to get into: you can apply for hundreds of affiliate programs in a day, post the links on your site, and wait for the money to roll in.  Except you might be waiting a long time.  As anyone who has rashly built an affiliate site can tell you, you could wait months and end up making about $6.  Why?  What goes wrong?  Well, affiliate marketing isn’t as easy as you think.
The problem is, while you can post the links on your website, you only make money if people click on those links and purchase products.  So you have to do two things in order to be successful: you have to bring traffic into your website, and you have to convince that traffic to click on your links and make purchases.

How do you bring traffic into your site? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is imperative.  People have to be able to find your website on the SERPs (Search Engine Response Pages).  SEO can be a full-time job: among other things, you will need to write fresh content and solicit inbound links on a regular basis to keep your website visible.  But this is only the first step.

Once you’ve brought traffic into your website, you need to promote your links, and this is actually the most difficult part.  Just because I find your website doesn’t mean I’m going to click on your links and buy products.  In fact, when I land on your website, I’m probably going to navigate away from it immediately because it will be obvious it’s only an affiliate website.  Most people who build affiliate sites don’t bother to put up anything of value, so there’s no reason for me to stick around and click on anything.

How do you get people to click your links? The first and most important thing is to put valuable content on your site.  This can take a number of forms.  You can write an amusing or informative blog, you can post educational articles or product reviews, you can make a “Tip of the Day” section…  All this content will be related to your affiliate links (i.e. if your links are to gourmet coffee websites, your tips/articles/blog will  be about coffee.)  Your content serves two purposes.  First, it helps with SEO, and second, it gives people a reason to navigate around your site.  If your site is just a blank page covered in links, it has no value.  It’s not even useful as a place to find websites with a particular theme, because there are hundreds of directories that fulfill that function far more efficiently.

photo credit: surlygirl

The second thing you can do to get people to click on your links is to provide a “call to action” or endorsement of the link. You don’t want to be cheesy about this: putting some text that says “Hey click this link!” or “This product is awesome!” isn’t going to work.  However, if you write an informative and extensive review of the product, and then have your affiliate link at the bottom, your chances of getting clicks are pretty good.  Or you could write an entire blog on “The Best Mother’s Day Presents” and then put four or five affiliate links below that (for the products you referenced in your blog).

Another way you can get people to click your links is to sell products related to your affiliate links. You have to be careful with this, because the last thing you want is to post links that are in direct competition with your products.  But say you have a dance-apparel website: you’re selling dance shoes and leotards and tutus, but you don’t have any music.  You could post affiliate links to websites that have ballet CDs or hip-hop MP3s.  Just make sure that the affiliate sites don’t ALSO sell dance sneakers or anything else that you supply.

photo credit: Megyarsh

Affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money.  Some people use affiliate links to supplement the income they make off their website selling products.  Other people have enough valuable informative content and efficient enough SEO that they make the entirety of their income off affiliate links and maybe a few ads.  You can experiment and see what works for you.  Just be aware that affiliate marketing isn’t a cash cow you can milk at your convenience.  It requires as much work as other kinds of e-business to be successful.

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There’s a lot of controversy over which of Amazon’s online business programs are worth using and which are not.  Basically, Amazon now offers dropshipping and fulfillment in addition to their affiliate program.  While I think the fulfillment service may benefit some online businesses, I would recommend against using Amazon’s dropshipping program.

photo credit: chrisparkeruk

Rundown of Amazon’s Programs:

Amazon’s Affiliate/Associate Program: Amazon’s “Associat” program like any other affiliate program.  You sign up for it, then provide links to specific products on your website.  When those products sell, you receive a percentage of the sale (up to 15%, depending on the product and your sales volumes).  Like any affiliate program, there is money to be made here, but it works best in conjunction with other online ventures like a blog or a product line of your own (otherwise how will get people to your website?).

Amazon’s Dropshipping Program: Amazon allows you to resell any product off their website.  Once the item is sold, you order it from Amazon and have it shipped directly to the customer.  This is how all dropshipping works: you advertise a product you do not actually have possession of, and once the sale is made, your order it from the supplier and have it shipped to the customer.  The problem is, with dropshipping you want to avoid middlemen whenever possible.  And what is Amazon?  A middleman.  They are not the manufacturer of their products – they are someone who stands between you and the manufacturer, taking a cut of the profits.  An even bigger issue is that, as far as I can tell, Amazon does not offer ANY kind of discount to dropshippers.  This means that you are purchasing a product for full price, will have to mark it up to make a profit, and then will be competing with the exact same products being sold on Amazon for cheaper.  Finally, Amazon sends the dropshipped product in an Amazon box with an Amazon packing slip and shipping label.  So if your customer somehow managed to miss the fact that the same product was offered more cheaply on Amazon, they now have a glaring indication that the product can be purchased direct from Amazon next time.  This will nix most repeat business.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to make money dropshipping through Amazon.  People swear up and down on the messageboards they’ve made a profit reselling Amazon products on eBay, for instance.  But just because you can make twenty bucks doing it doesn’t mean it’s a sustainable business model.  I’m all about building your company name and customer base.  You want to build a business that will grow exponentially over the years.  There’s no growth in trying to find people oblivious enough to pay super-retail so you can clear a small profit.

photo credit: Steve Keys

Amazon’s Fulfillment Service: This is the most promising of Amazon’s programs, in my opinion.  Fulfillment is when a company outsources their product storage, packing, and shipping.  Besides handling those services, Amazon also provides customer service and returns.  Basically, you would order a batch of products wholesale and have them sent to Amazon’s warehouse.  They would store the products for you, and whenever you received an order, you would forward it to Amazon for packing and shipping.

Why might you need fulfillment? If you’ve found a dropshipper you love, then there’s no reason to use a fulfillment service.  Your dropshipper does the storing, packing, and shipping for you.  However, certain items are not available for dropship, or are much cheaper when bought wholesale.  If you decide to purchase wholesale, you may want an outside company to handle storing, packing, and shipping (due to the variable prices and the hassles of doing it yourself).  That is when you would consider Amazon.

The benefits of using Amazon over other fulfillment services: I’m not going to say that Amazon is the best fulfillment service that ever existed; I have no idea if that’s true.  However, Amazon has an extremely efficient storage and packing system in place.  They have negotiated for cheap shipping rates, and their shipping is known for being blazing fast.  You should be aware that  Amazon will include a “Fulfillment by Amazon” sticker with every package.  Some people consider this beneficial as the good name of Amazon lends credibility to your business and product, but other people do not want their customers to know that shipping is handled by an outside company.  Amazon charges according to the volume of product they fulfill, and they provide shipping labels, inventory tracking, and Super Saver Shipping options.  Finally, you can use Amazon’s fulfillment service to sell products on Amazon, your own website, eBay, or pretty much anywhere you please.

photo credit: mescon

Fulfillment services are not necessary for everyone.  As I said, the easiest option is simply to use a dropshipper.  However, if you are looking for a larger profit margin or to sell something that can only be bought wholesale, you may want to consider fulfillment to streamline your operations and ensure consistency in shipping time and expenses.

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Hard-core advocates of affiliate marketing will tell you that you can put a few links on your website, then just sit back and watch the commissions roll in.  As with most schemes to make money online, the potential for profit is there, but it’s not quite that easy.

First, an overview of affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing is a system where you apply to affiliate programs of various online businesses, and then set up a link between your site and theirs.  When people access their site via yours and purchase a product, the sale is recorded and you receive a commission, between .5 and 12% of the sale, usually.

So how do you apply for affiliate programs? It’s quite easy, actually.  You use a database like Popshops, CJ.com, or Linkshare, and you search for the businesses you might like to work with.  You send an application, and usually are accepted or rejected within a few days.  (Acceptance can be immediate, or contingent on an examination of your website).  You can also contact companies directly to determine whether they have an affiliate program you might qualify for.  You can apply for as many affiliate programs as you want, but you have to consider two things: the relationship of their products to your website, and how it will affect the aesthetics of your website.

photo credit: dionhinchcliffe

First: The relationship of their products to your website. You want to pick products that are similar or logically linked to the products on your website, but not in competition with your products.  So, if you’re dropshipping camping equipment, you might link to a company that provides freeze-dried food or first-aid kits (if you are not already selling those products yourself).

photo credit: Idhren

Second: How will the affiliate links affect the aesthetic of your website? Don’t go over the top here.  A few affiliate links are fine, in fact, if they are links to products people want that are not available on your website, they can be very welcome.  For example, if you want to dropship the Farouk Chi hair straightener, but you’re unable to find a supplier for that product, your best alternative may be to provide an affiliate link to the exclusive supplier of that product.  However, an overload of links will mean that nobody will click on any of them, and probably will scare customers away from your site entirely.  It looks gimmicky, trashy, and hectic.

Ultimately, you can use affiliate marketing to make money online, but in a supplemental capacity, not as your main source of income. The products on your website should be your main source, with the affiliate commissions as the gravy on the mashed potatoes.

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Dropshipping, selling products online, eBay, online businesses… these ventures can be intimidating for beginners.  You may understand the general process of dropshipping or eBay, but have so many questions about the particulars that you just do not know where to start!

So many people remain puzzled about a particular question they may have about dropshipping without realizing that their greatest resource for answers is right here: the Wholesale Match Blog.  Our blog is updated daily with helpful tips and amazing dropshipping deals to help you with your online business ventures.  These posts are catered to be helpful to both the beginner and the advanced user.

Here is a list of popular questions and where you can go to find your answers…

Do I need to have a dropshipping website to sell products online?

• Learn how you can sell products online without a website – Selling Products Online: No Website Required!

I am a beginner and need to learn more about selling products on eBay.  Can you help me?

• Learn all about eBay with our Educational Videos – Dropshipping on eBay Made Easy with our Educational Videos

What are Affiliate Programs and how can I use them with my dropshipping business?

• Read up on Affiliate Marketing here – Dropshipping Tip: Using Affiliate Programs Wisely

How do I use the Daily Deals page on your site to dropship products on eBay?

• Use this blog post as a template for your dropshipping endeavors – Dropshipping for a Quick Profit

Here is one of the smartest things you can do to greatly improve your success with dropshipping and help you avoid mistakes: Check this blog daily for new tips.  By reading through these posts, many of your most important questions can be answered.  You will also be able to read the comments of other online business owners like yourself!  This blog can be your ultimate dropshipping resource by providing help and ideas to revamp your dropshipping progress.

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As many of you may know, Wholesale Match has a dropshipper directory that is one of the most extensive in the business.  We constantly update our suppliers, and stay in good contact with them for any changes to their business.  Having said this, we would be happy to list your business in our directory for absolutely no cost to you!

And for the rest of you out there who use quality dropshippers, wholesalers, or affiliates… if you have a great supplier that you would like to recommend to our database, go ahead and send them on in, and we will check out their site!  The more responses we get from our customers, the better our directory will grow, which will help people like you find the suppliers they need to sell products online.

If you are a manufacturer, dropshipper, wholesaler, or have an affiliate program that you would like to list in our dropshipper directory for our customers to search through… please answer the questions below and send your response to alyssa@theshipper.com.  Again, this is a completely complimentary service, and we will gladly remove you from the system if ever you needed us to.

Here is a brief outline of our company:  At Wholesale Match we help online business owners sell products online.  We do this by giving them access to our dropshipper directory, our educational eBay videos, our Daily Deals section, and our Product Research Team.  These services are targeted to those people who are looking to sell products online, whether through their own website or an auction site like eBay.  By listing your company in our dropshipper directory, you would be available for our customers to find you in our database, where we will list the appropriate information for your company.

If this sounds like something you would like to participate in, please read through the following questions carefully, and send the information directly to alyssa@theshipper.com, and we thank you for your participation.

1. Company Name and URL:
2. Contact Name (for Wholesale, Dropship or Affiliate Accounts):
3. Phone Number / Fax Number:
4. Email Address:
5. Country:
6. Short Company Description:
7. Do you offer an Affiliate Program?
8. What Referral Percentage is offered for Affiliates?
9. Do you Wholesale your products?
10. What Wholesale Minimum do you require?
11. Do you DropShip your products?
12. Is there an extra DropShip Fee?
13. Do you Blind DropShip? (Meaning, you will send out the product to the customer without placing the drop ship client’s information on the packaging – it appears the product was purchased through you.)
14. Do you require a Tax ID, EIN or Reseller’s License?
15. Do you ship internationally?
16. Can your products be sold on eBay?
17. Anything else you would like us to know?

Thank you!

Wholesale Match customers: be ready to see some big changes to our dropshipper directory as we are getting started on importing many new dropshippers!

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Those with an online business may be a little cautious about using affiliate marketing on their site. However, if utilized correctly, affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money online. This blog will outline the things you need to keep in mind when considering posting affiliate links with your online business.

First! An overview of Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate marketing is the process through which an independent company, such as an online business selling various types of jewelry, advertises another site and then earns commission on the sales thus generated. You are not selling the actual product, you are simply posting a banner and some images on your website, and when anyone from your site clicks on this link and makes a purchase, you will earn a percentage of the profits. Immediately you can see the problem some people have with this: it redirects traffic from your website, and you lose money. This is why I am here to explain about how to use this process for your benefit: to make money online, not lose it.
Second! Consider the affiliate as your competition. You are trying to sell products online through your website, you don’t need the affiliate link to distract your customer! For example, the website in question is a jewelry site, selling many different types of jewelry. If you are going to place an affiliate link on your site, it should be for a site that does not have as great as variety as you, or else none of those customers will purchase from your site, but rather from your competitor! This is how people lose money with affiliate marketing.
Third! Choose an affiliate that compliments your site. If you are selling jewelry, a great affiliate for your site would be something like beads, handbags, belts, and other accessories. Placing a link in these categories on your site will expand your site’s marketability without directing your customers to a site that is in direct competition as yours.

Utilizing the affiliate marketing area of online business can be extra income for your business with virtually no effort. Following these steps will ensure that your site is still profitable through the process.

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Whether you are starting a new home based business, selling products from home, or are just interested in making money online, you can greatly profit from our Wholesale Free Trial.

Today, I am here to show you that owning a dropshipping business is not your only option here.  We have a variety of resources that you can take advantage of.

1. Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is the most risk-free way to make money online.  You would not be selling a product, but merely advertising someone’s website and earning commission off of the sales that you generate!  With the Wholesale Match Free Trial, you can search our directory for affiliate programs that would fit great into your site.  (Learn more about Affiliate Programs).
2. Daily Deals: With our Daily Deals section, which we have mentioned in the past, you can either resell those products online and dropship them to your customers, (learn more about that here), or you can purchase the products and sell them locally through classified ads and Craigslist.  This is a great way to make extra cash on the side!  This service is also available through the free trial.
3. Wholesalers:  Wholesale suppliers allow you to purchase in large quantities for steep discounts.  You can buy from these suppliers and sell off the products individually, or you can wholesale supplies to make your own products!  If you’ve ever had a great idea that you’ve felt would sell great either online or in your local stores, wholesaling supplies can be your answer.  You can search for such wholesalers with our online directory once you sign up for the free trial.

Don’t be limited in your online or local business ventures.  With our free trial, you can experience the power of our educational resources (our blog, eBay video series, etc) and our extensive supplier directory.

AND, once you decide to become a member, you will have access to the Product Research Team, who will scour the internet for the right suppliers for you, leaving you more time on your hands to market your site, create a blog, or explore other business ventures!

My last advice to you is this: explore all of your options when starting a business.  Experiment with alternate ways to make money online.  This can allow you to profit from your home based business in ways you never thought possible!

Alyssa

alyssa@theshipper.com

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By signing up for a free trial, you have taken the first step towards finding wholesalers, true dropshippers, and quality affiliate programs for the products that you would like to sell.

If you cannot find the products you wish to sell submit a  Product Research Request to the Research Team (Members Only).  We will then email you the dropshipper results we find… now what?

These are the steps you should take once you receive your Product Research results:

1. Browse the company’s website. Let’s say that you submitted a request for cookware dropshippers and you received 4 results.  Take a look at the websites for each individual company.  Take your time looking around the site.  Take down some notes remarking what products you like, which you do not like, etc.  Doing this will help you narrow down your future searches and make your searches more efficient.
2. Check out the company policies. Looking at the “About Us” section of a company’s site can be helpful because it will help you know a bit more about the people you may be dealing with.  If the site has a dropshipper, wholesale or affiliate page, read over the company’s description of their services.  This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the company’s policies that you may be restricted to.  This is important because they will often answer some of your vital questions, like whether or not they will blind dropship, if they can ship internationally, and if they will require a Federal Tax ID # or a Resale License.
3. Call, email or sign up with the company. Once you have familiarized yourself with the company’s site, people and policies, you can decide if you would like to speak to them or email them personally to receive more information, or go ahead and sign up as a dealer for their products.  Many sites are including a dealer sign up page that makes starting business with them quick and easy.  Sometimes, when calling or emailing suppliers, it is necessary to fulling explain the dropshipping process and what type of business relationship you are looking to set up, as many employees are not familiar with the term “dropship”.  For more information on dealing with dropshippers, see Mani’s blog titled “Negotiating With A Dropshipper.”  Once you decide whether or not to sign up with the company, follow the next step.
4. Keep these results in mind when you submit your next Research Request. Once you have completed the above process for the companies in your previous Research Request, you can use that information you gathered to start a new search!  By taking down notes about which products you are interested in, you can use this information to either specify or broaden your searching methods.  For example, because your original search was for cookware dropshippers, which is a pretty broad topic, by looking through the results of this search you have decided that you would like to sell only cooking utensils.  This method will give you more specified results from the Product Research Team, and will greatly benefit your business.

The Product Research Team is here to help you find the specific products from the specific types of suppliers that you are looking for.

Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions you may have.

alyssa@theshipper.com

affiliate programs, dropshippers, dropshipping, product research, wholesale dropshipping, wholesale

Hello again, this is Alyssa writing to you in this holiday season!

Affiliate programs can be a great way to expand your profits in addition to dropshipping!

An affiliate program is a marketing practice that gives a third-party entity, such as yourself, commission or other incentives for advertising a separate company’s website on your page.  How it works is like this:

• You find a product line or brand that you would like to advertise on your site. (For example, Nike products).
• You contact their Affiliate Department, or management, and are given a link, pictures, or text from that company.  (Such as a banner featuring Nike shoes).
• You then place this information in the form of a banner on your website.
• Then, when customers come to your website, click on the banner, and purchase from that company, you earn money!

Although you are directing some traffic away from your site, this gives you the opportunity to host a greater variety of products.  This is especially beneficial when you would like to include some products that are not always available for dropshipping on your site, such as certain Nike products.  You will be able to include their brand name in your keywords, and make your website more accessible to all those surfing the web out there!

With our Product Research Team, we can help you find Affiliates that can give you 25%-50% commission on all sales that you generate!  Go ahead and submit a Research Request for affiliate programs, and we can help you earn some extra cash.

Thanks for reading, and please contact me for any questions you may have.

Over and out.

alyssa@theshipper.com

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Something you may not have realized that you are able to take advantage of with The Shippers dropshipping list is purchases for yourself.  I usually share these kind of (personal purchase) stories around the holidays because they are obviously more appropriate then any other time of the year.  When you have access to thousands of suppliers you can gain access to more then just the ones you are using on your website.  You can give them your business information and set up an account and do your entire Christmas shopping for about 1/2 of what it would probably normally cost you.

A few birthdays ago for a sister of mine, I purchased a (retail value) $500 Kitchen Aid Mixer from a supplier that I gained access to through The Shippers dropshipping database of suppliers for only $180.00.  The savings that were made on that gift alone paid for membership fees many times over.  The point here is helping you understand why paying for a membership to The Shipper can actually help you save money in the long run.  This is true for personal and all of your business expenses.

Think about it, and if you are looking to sell products online, or even just want to save this holiday season, The Shipper can help.  The Shipper is offering a FREE 7 day trial with full access to all of our product sourcing databases.  If you are looking for dropshippers, manufacturers, wholesalers, trade show hook ups or anything else product sourcing related – we are your only source.  JOIN TODAY AND SAVE!

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