However Associate Programs aren't for everybody, so I'm going to give you the inside information on who should join an Associate Program, and what you should be looking for if you do join.

Associate Programs are also called Affiliate Programs, Re-seller Programs, Commission or Pay-Per-Sale, Pay-Per-Click and Click-Through Programs.

Let's talk about how Associate Programs work.

Basically Associate Programs reward website owners for referring customers to their business. Website owners are rewarded for sending customers to another website (of which you belong to an Associate Program for that website), and for any business (sales) which is generated from the customer who linked through your site to the other website.

These "Pay-Per-Sale" programs are usually really easy to join. Just make sure you pay attention and read the terms and conditions, because they can vary from program to program.

As an associate for that website, you are assigned a special URL which tracks all the visitors you send to the website and all sales generated. You basically post a banner ad, or a small graphic or a text link to the Associate Program's site and you earn a referral fee from every sale that is made from that site.

It is the ultimate electronic joint venture (and you know how I love joint ventures if you have my course… I do over $1,500,000 in business every year just from my own personal joint ventures!).

You can also recommend the Associate Program site (or the product or service) in newsletters, private emails to your customer base or lead list, newsgroups, ezines or any other way of marketing which you want to undertake.

Once you join a program and put up the graphic or text link, whenever someone follows that link from your site (or your newsletter, or your ezine advertisement, or your private email to your customer, etc.) to the Associate Program owner's site and buys a product or service from them, you receive a commission (or referral fee as it is sometimes called).

Basically, that's how it works!

I should mention that there are a number of Associate Programs out there that don't actually "pay-per-sale" but actually "pay-per-lead" or "per-click". In a pay-per-lead program, you are paid every time your customer fills out a survey, asks for more information, or gets a quote on a product (in other words your are paid for giving the company a "lead"). It may be the kind of situation where you get paid every time your customer downloads a trial or demo software.

Pay-Per-Click is very similar. Basically, you get paid for every time someone "clicks" through the link from your site the Associate Program owner's website (whether it be a text link or graphic link).

So, the next question you are probably asking…. "That is all great Corey, but how do I get paid?"

Ahhhh... ask and thoushallt receive.

There are different ways companies will pay you.

Some pay you in credit toward merchandise or services they offer (but not many). The rest usually pay in cash (or more specifically, a check written to you each month).

Many companies have a minimum "pay-out" balance. For example you would have to accumulate $100 in commissions (or whatever amount they choose) before they issue you a check. Other companies will pay you no matter how little is owed to you… they'll cut you a check even for a dollar or two. So be careful to read the agreement when you become an associate… you don't want to be dealing with a company who has some really high pay out where you have to accumulate hundreds of dollars in sales before they will issue your first check.

Just so you know, the reason they do this is to lower their costs so that they are not writing out checks for $1.00 or $5.00 or low amounts like that all month long. They want to wait until your commission accumulates to $50.00 or $100.00 or more before they write you a check (so they write fewer checks every month and have less bookkeeping to do).

On that note, make sure you do business with a reputable company. I know many people (and I even speak from personal experience) where you promote a company and you don't get paid your referral fees, or you have to wait for months to get them because they are just not set up for it. In other words, they are not taking their Associate Program seriously enough and haven't bought the proper software to keep things automated (they are doing too many things tediously by hand) or not devoting enough manpower to it.

We will get into more problems which some companies can run into a little later in this newsletter… and how to detect them so you don't get caught with one of these companies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/892189

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