Team Alpha 375

"It requires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Bad Seeds of Affiliate Marketing
By Jason Holland

There is a very easy way to get started in business online. You don't have to create products, write sales copy, process or fulfill orders, or worry about customer service...

All you do is send out offers to your prospects and collect checks when they buy.

I'm talking, of course, about affiliate marketing. As an affiliate, the company whose products you sell provides you with everything you need. And you make a commission on every sale that's made as a result of your efforts, anywhere from 5% to 75% or more.

It's a business model we recommend to many of the members of our Internet coaching programs.

It allows first-time entrepreneurs who don't have their own products to start making money right away.

There's a ton of legitimate -- and lucrative -- affiliate opportunities out there. Amazon, Walmart, and Home Depot, for example, are just a few of the big name retailers that have affiliate programs. But as with any industry, there are some bad seeds.

Today, I'm going to give you some excellent sources for finding the real deal. But first, I want you to know how to spot the scammers. Here are the main red flags to watch out for:

• A program that doesn't provide you with valid contact info. Sounds obvious, but check it out. Call the phone number listed on their site. Send a "test" e-mail. Does somebody get back to you?

• A program that makes you pay to participate. Real affiliate programs are free.

• A program that doesn't provide you with authentic testimonials. If their affiliates are making money, the people running the program will hype it. If they don't have any success stories, stay away.

• A program that makes promises you can't verify. Do an online search to find affiliates of the program and see how well they are doing... or if they have complaints.

By taking these simple precautions, you won't get burned.

So now that you know what to steer clear of... how do you scout out legitimate affiliate programs that give you the potential to make serious money online?

One great source is the networks that many affiliate companies outsource their program management to. Linkshare.com and Commission Junction (cj.com) are two of the bigger ones. On LinkShare, for example, you'll find affiliate programs for Macy's, Delta Airlines, McAfee, Hanes, and Apple iTunes. Commission Junction has Sony, REI, the Disney Store, and Uggs.

"For digital information products, I love Clickbank," says Internet marketing expert Brian Edmondson, who runs our Internet Money Club coaching program. "You can find products to sell in just about any niche. And Clickbank not only handles the commission payments (so you don't have to worry about getting paid), Clickbank commissions are usually higher than those of most affiliate programs -- anywhere from 50% to 75%."

What if you can't find a product to sell on Clickbank... and you can't connect with a big-brand program that works for you through an affiliate network? Maybe you can sell a product that you're especially interested in through Amazon. If you have a specific product in mind, check to see if the product owners run their own affiliate program. (In many cases, they do.) Simply go to their website and look for a link that says "affiliates" or "partners."

In general, says Brian, as long as you're promoting something as an affiliate that has a well-known company, brand, or guru behind it -- or you're utilizing an independent third party network (like Clickbank, Commission Junction, or LinkShare) -- you should do very well.