HomePage MadeEasy !!

Affiliate Marketing

Information + Useful Tips

In general lines, Affiliate Marketing is the term used to signal a relationship including one Web site (an affiliate), which promotes another Web site's products or services (a sponsor, or marketer) in exchange for a commission.

The sponsor provides ads for the affiliates to place on their Web Sites. Whenever an ad which links to the sponsor's website results in a sale, a sign up (of whatever sort), or (less commonly nowadays) a mere click and its resulting visit, then voilà! that affiliate earns a commission!

There is no complication, it's all very straightforward. Most commercial Web Sites offering Affiliate Programs offer as well updated statistics, so it is easy to see how productive your Web Site has been, which of your pages have been most productive, what profits you have earned, etc., within whatever period of time that you wish to verify.

Some of what goes on this page is useful information collected at the Commission Junction web site (with permission, of course), which we're happy to share with you here. Commission Junction, in case you don't know, is a very large and reputable presence in affiliate marketing, one of the largest enterprises in the affiliate context.

Affiliate marketing, as Commission Junction currently defines it, constitutes any form of online advertising or marketing where the advertiser pays for results rather than paying to reach a specific audience (as is characteristic of advertisement on TV, newspapers, etc.). This is the most common model of affiliate programs nowadays.

Publishers (affiliates) promote advertiser products or services on their Web sites in exchange for a commission on leads or sales that result from the Web site visitor acting on these offers.

This is referred to as pay-for-performance – that is, a form of online advertising in which a marketer (sponsor) pays for results rather than paying to reach a particular audience. As already mentioned, a Web site (called the publisher, or affiliate) advertises products or services offered by another Web site (the advertiser, or sponsor) in exchange for a commission on leads or sales (i.e., performance).

The publisher (affiliate) displays banners, ads, text links or products on his/her Web site and is paid a commission by the advertiser (sponsor), every time a visitor takes a specific action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.

Up to August 1, 2001, Commission Junction included the pay-per-click modality in its program, as well. (See here if you need to understand what this and other related terms mean.) From that date on, the Commission Junction Network has supported exclusively the pay-for-performance modality, that is, advertisers (sponsors) pay only for performance - sales or referrals (leads) - instead of paying up front for advertising.

Why has the change taken place? Because the affiliate programs that paid per click have simply proven not to be economically viable for anyone. Our capitalistic world lives off what is profitable, so what is not, eventually wanes and is abandoned. This is what has been happening with the pay-per-click affiliate programs, though some still exist.

Our concern here is of course the affiliate or advertiser, that is, the Web Site owner who advertises for a sponsor. Here's the Pay-for-Performance situation from the viewpoint of the affiliate, in contrast to the old Pay-per-Click.

With the Pay-per-Click modality of affiliate program, you need very high traffic, a figure approaching a six-digit number daily, at least, in order to make a pay-per-click program profitable. Realistically speaking, only a small elite on-line can boast such daily traffic – for sure not the average home page owner, who would advertise and advertise for a long time, before he ever got a check...

For the rate of clicks per visitors, statistics show, averages around 1% – 2% being a very good rate, and anything beyond this, from excellent to exceptionally good. Since the most common pay-per-click commission is around .01 cent, and only 1% of visitors will click, how many visitors would you need in order to make only $1.00 a day? Can you see where the need for huge traffic comes into play?

In contrast, the pay-for-performance policy adopted by most affiliate programs and networks nowadays (among which Commission Junction,, as well as AllPosters.com and QuinStreet, mentioned below, and others) makes it possible that one single click that yields a sale or a lead can generate from $0.10 to $100.00, depending on the advertiser and the product in question.

All these figures of course vary from program to program, from product to product. But they represent a fair image of what can be found, though of course $100.00 per sale is most certainly not average! (Well, if you won't settle for less, you can send us a query and we'll let you know which sponsor to apply for. A tip? We offer you this sponsor on our Earn Money Page; or else sign up with Commission Junction, and you'll find this sponsor there.)

To conclude this item and move on, though the conversion rate (from clicks to performance – leads or sales) may vary anywhere from less than 1% to 15% (we haven't heard of much higher than that, though there may be), it is still more advantageous, in the long run, to occupy space on your page with an advertisement that can suddenly generate decent revenue, than use the space with advertisement that will be so slow in producing revenue that you may feel you've been trying forever...

We have devised an excellent method for personal home pages, and modest business and commercial pages, as well, to enjoy affiliate relationships quite effortlessly and pleasantly. This special tip, which has become very popular among our guests, we refer you to, ahead, so you, too, can enjoy it and profit from it, if you'd like! It is based solely on pay-per-performance programs, by the way. (If you can hardly wait to see what it is, then open here this page on a separate window, so it'll be waiting for you once you've found out all you wish about affiliate programs.)

We've been using Commission Junction, the largest pay-for-performance advertising network, as an illustration, so we'll stick to the same illustration throughout, so as not to confuse you. This very large Network is also referred to as an application service provider (ASP). This means that Commission Junction is a third party network of advertisers and publishers, which tracks, reports and measures all of the transactions taking place, collects and distributes payments from each advertiser, and pays the publishers (affiliates) their monthly earnings in one aggregated payment.

A leading affiliate marketing solution provider, Commission Junction thus acts as a trusted third party, managing the network, tracking and reporting on the ads in real time, and handling monthly commission payments to network members, as just mentioned. View our Revenue Pages, where we have long recommended Commission Junction and from where you can actually search Commission Junction for sponsors for your page, as well as get a better idea of the large variety it comprises.

Whether you are a beginner, or an experienced WebMaster, you can safely join Commission Junction's global network, and enjoy seeing your traffic start turning into profit! (To this end, we're adding some useful rules of thumb below, by the way.)

The same goes for the other affiliate programs and networks that we link to from our site. Independently of their size, they are all reputable organizations which have so far demonstrated seriousness of purpose and concern in maintaining their earned reputations.

So, there is nothing to lose, whereas you gain interesting experience and profit. You have no expenses – it is free for you – nor are you committed: you are free to leave a network or program anytime, if you don't like the experience, whatever your reason. Why not give it a try, then?;)...

Next, we tackle a few relevant issues that some of you have queried us on. And after that, we share a small set of useful rules of thumb, as already advanced.

How/when do you get paid? This varies a bit, from program to program. Commission Junction, which we have used here as an illustration, issues a monthly paycheck to all its advertisers (affiliates). Other organizations do the same. Some others pay every three months. Still others pay every time a certain revenue amount is reached by an affiliate, but not more often than once a month. When you sign up on-line with a network or affiliate program, you are usually told the payment modality that they use (and if not, look for it, for the information will be there!).

In addition to the above, however, all networks and programs have a stipulated standard minimum amount which triggers, so to speak, the issuing and mailing of a check to you at the next payday. (You are able to read about these policies before you sign up with a program.) Occasionally, you find sponsors or programs that will give you the option of a deposit in your bank account, as well.

Now, suppose you have signed up with Commission Junction, and at the end of the month your Web Site has earned less than the $25.00 that would enable them to issue your check. In this case, Commission Junction will roll over your earnings to the next pay month, and continue adding your new revenue to that amount that you have already earned. As soon as you reach (or surpass) $25.00, your check is issued and mailed on the very first payday after that. You do not lose any revenue that your Web Site has generated, even when it is below the minimum amount, you can be sure.

Can you get paid before your earnings reach whatever the minimum amount stipulated? Usually not, though it may exceptionally happen.

The reason a certain minimum amount is stipulated for payment (often $25 to $50 US Dollars, though this is a rough average) is that not only banks charge for transactions, but also the extra administrative work required whenever a check is issued and an account reset would be uneconomical to the sponsor, for payments below whatever the stipulated minimum amount.

Note that whereas you pay nothing in order to be an affiliate (it is really 100% free for you), a sponsor has a number of expenses in order to provide you proper advertising material, to keep track of the number of clicks and transactions coming from your site, to translate these into the corresponding amount that your Site has earned, to keep your account statistics neatly updated, etc., etc.

So, for each different sponsor, this minimum amount that is paid their affiliates will vary, since each company has its own characteristics (size, type of product, administration, etc).

But also to you (unless your currency is US$), it would hardly be worth the trouble to cash many small checks in US$, because your bank will also charge for cashing the check and converting the amount to your currency.

For as long as your earnings are below this minimum stipulated amount, whatever the revenue that your Web Site has earned so far will be honestly kept, and will continue being added to (as your Site derives more profits), till that minimum amount is reached. Once this happens, your check is immediately issued (that is, at the same time as all other due checks in that month or period), and you get a pleasant surprise on the mail!:)...

When you first sign up as an affiliate, we suggest that you don't get too anxious for your first check. Some Web Sites are quick in returning profit, others less so; though given it time, every Web Site should find its way to delivering some or a fair share of revenue. If you are not too anxious for your first check (why should you stress yourself?...), you will continue enjoying your Web experience as always, and one day get pleasantly surprised when you open your mailbox!

In order to be an Affiliate, what you need to do is [1] to sign up with a sponsor or affiliate program or network, and [2] to place the sponsor's advertising on your Web Site. Then you can sit back and enjoy the results. :)

In the case of independent sponsors, such as AllPosters.com, a sponsor we recommend very highly to you, you sign up directly and, shortly after having been accepted (your application is usually reviewed, your being notified of acceptance via e-mail), then you're all set to get started for real.

In the case of a program or network, such as Commission Junction, the process is two-fold: [1] you initially sign up with the network or program and, once this is done, you are free to choose the sponsor(s) you wish to advertise for, within those comprising that network or program, and to [2] apply for the wished sponsorship. This application is usually a very simple and straightforward process, often requiring no more than the mere clicking on a button or link, for each of the sponsors that you have chosen.

Some sponsors allow the network or program to accept automatically any applicant (after all, all applicants have already been approved by the network or program!).

Other sponsors request that they, too, approve the applicant as their affiliate or advertiser. In these cases, you are notified of approval or not, by e-mail. In most cases, you will be approved, though it may happen now and then that an application is refused.

At any rate, once you are accepted by a marketer, you're just as much on your way as when an independent sponsor sends you a message of acceptance and welcome.

What's next is to select the advertisement that you'd like to use on your Web site, and get busy with placing that advertisement on your pages. Once this is done, there is no more that you need to do – except enjoy the revenue that your Site can generate. :)

Of course it is very helpful that you invest in building more traffic (submit here your Web Site to 50+ Search Engines for free, and find lots of useful tips in our Web Site Promotion Pages, as well). For the more traffic you enjoy, the more likely your pages generate profit.

Whereas in the case of an independent sponsor you are already in direct contact with that sponsor, within a network or program, you are free to e-mail your sponsors directly, whenever you may wish/need to.

They may likewise send you occasional mails, to let you know that there is new advertisement available (you are not obliged to use it, though of course it is usually in your interest to make the most of the advertisement available, since your revenue depends on it in great part). Or sponsors may contact you to let you know of a new product, and so forth.

By the same token, should it happen that you are not accepted by a marketer whose advertisement you'd really like to have on your site, you certainly free to write to that marketer. Express your motivation, explain why you think your site could be a good advertiser for their products, direct their attention to whatever detail on your site that you consider relevant to the evaluation of your application and that you feel the sponsor may have missed, or not taken into consideration, for example. You might (or not) be accepted, after all.

As usual, you are free to choose the advertisement that you wish to place on your page. On your Web Site, you are the boss!:)

No one interferes with what you do on your Site, for as long as you of course respect the usual guidelines of not altering the advertisement available to you, nor altering the coding in that advertisement – a care that reverts in your own interest, as it is that coding that will allow the network or program to track your activities as an affiliate (advertiser), and ultimately the commission that you may be due.

We should highlight that, above all, what is by no means tolerated is spam! – in addition, of course, to whatever dishonest practices! If you are caught spamming, you're likely removed from that program or network.

By the same token, you are emphatically discouraged regarding a practice that we actually witness here and there on the Web: requests on a site to “please visit my/our sponsors” or to “please click on my/our sponsors' banners.” These are met with no approval, to say the least, so you should abstain from any such requests on your site.

There may be sponsors or programs that do not disapprove of such practices...but certainly not among the ones that we recommend to you!

The sponsors you are welcome to, at HomePage MadeEasy !! all frown vehemently upon any initiative or intention of coercion (whether overtly or not), deception, or whatever other crafty or cogent way to press or pester your guests into clicking on links, or signing up for whatever, or making purchases.

The only form of advertising allowed, and encouraged, is that which, above all, respects people's freedom of choice and right to go about their lives in peace and in the way they choose.

But how do you go about finding the right sponsor for your pages?

If you can't wait to get started, we'll let you have below, albeit in a nutshell, an infallible tip which has helped many WebMasters be successful (including total beginners!), independently of the type of web page that they have:

1. Sign up here with AllPosters.com
2. Sign up here with AccuWeather
3. Join here the Commission Junction Network as an Advertiser (affiliate),
   and then search for a sponsor that suits your Web pages and apply

In steps 2. and 3. above, you're of course welcome to apply for additional marketer program(s), at Commission Junction. There's no limit, even if you've just joined these networks. You are free to apply for and join others.

Just please keep in mind that we can only assist you regarding affiliation to one of the three marketer programs currently included in HomePage MadeEasy's very successful tip, among which programs the one offered by AllPosters.com is undoubtedly the most significant one. The AccuWeather program can be successfully used as complementary to the former.

You'll find it worth it taking a minute to check this popular tip (the page opens in an extra window). This tip allows you to enjoy building an entire Web Site very easily, or easily add beautiful new pages to your existing Web Site. And just as easily, you can start earning revenue, if you choose to. Additionally, when you follow this tip, you can count on special related support from us, should you have any questions, doubts, etc.

All in all, if you are not experienced in affiliate marketing, we strongly suggest that you stick to the suggestions, above, to begin with. Then, once you start feeling yourself more at home, so to speak, you'll naturally start expanding your own affiliate activities, if you feel you'd like a wider variety of sponsors.

You have learned a bit about Commission Junction,, above, as we used it to illustrate our description of affiliate programs. You can find out about both AllPosters.com and AccuWeather on the same page you find our popular tip which we have suggested you try and profit from. For now, we'll just advance that AllPosters.com is our favorite affiliate program, being also the one we'll readily recommend in first place to anyone beginning as an affiliate.

Commission Junction, being a Network, and therefore so much larger, comes in second place, for these reasons – on the other hand, it offers an incredible variety of choices. The LinkShare Network, an e-commerce business solution offering over 500 online marketers (sponsors) and enabling over 3.5 million online relationships, and QuinStreet, are other similar programs that we can likewise recommend, in addition to a few others (view our Revenue Pages and complementary Earn Money Page).

Why should you want to join more than one network or program? You'll understand this better in the next section: rarely will you find all the sponsors proper for a Web Site like yours, all within the same network.

Just as helpful as submitting your Web Site to Search Engines (you can do it right here) and developing your Site in ways that will help generate more traffic, here are some useful rules of thumb for you to have in mind, as you get started as an affiliate.

Make sure that you apply for sponsors that are related to the theme(s) of your Web Site. For example, if you built your home page because you're a big baseball fan, and therefore most of your content is related to baseball, then you should search for sponsors that offer merchandise related to baseball and sports. In other words, you want to advertise stuff that will be interesting or attractive to the audience that visits your pages.

Developing the example further, you'll be getting sponsors that offer baseball gear (caps, bats, balls, etc.), sports memorabilia, books (videos, CD-ROMs, and/or DVDs) on baseball or baseball teams, perhaps baseball-related music, if you find it, health products that help people stay (or get) fit, and whatever more your creativity can come up with and relate to the main theme of your page, which is what attracts your visitors.

It is likewise helpful that you take care in placing your advertisement links near content that refers to or is related to each product advertised. Why? Because the visitors reaching that part of your page are the people who may be truly interested in the product, and therefore these are far more likely to click on the advertisements (and purchase, too) than people who are not interested in that particular topic.

Because it often happens that guests will load a page and immediately go on to another, without taking their time to scroll down the page, entirely, it is standard practice, among experienced affiliates, to place the advertisement links that they are most interested in promoting on the upper part of their page – i.e., on the part that will be visible on the screen even if the person viewing does not scroll down.

The bottom of a page is considered by many as second, in efficiency, to the upper part of the page. This, however, may vary, depending on what is on that page. For example, links that you place on the top part of the page may lead to content mid-way through the page, near which you have placed an advertisement (text or banner). This particular advertisement is likely to be a lot more effective than one standing in the same place on another page, but not linked to from the upper part of your page.

At any rate, if you're attentive to these quick but useful rules of thumb, as you start placing advertisement links that you've just gotten from your sponsors, you are on your way to success!:)

Now, please don't expect to get rich, unless you wish to invest a lot of time and energies! Then, you may come to derive excellent revenue. There are people who claim they do. What we believe you can realistically expect is to be able to get enough revenue to help pay for the expenses you have with your page, and possibly also to derive whatever modest additional profit. It all depends on how much time you invest in generating traffic, in making your page attractive and visitor-friendly, and of course in searching for adequate sponsors and placing their links strategically (as tipped above).

A final tip, before we move on to the closing sections on this topic. Nowadays, it makes little difference whether you choose an advertisement link in the form of a banner or a plain text advertisement. In the early days of the Internet, banners were a lot more effective. We have probably gotten used to them, so we don't notice them as readily. Thus, text links have grown in efficiency, and at times surpass the efficiency of their colorful graphical counterparts. So, as you choose links to place on your page, try to imagine where you'll be placing each, how you'll be using it (amid your content), and decide accordingly whether it should be a banner or a text advertisement link.

There is nothing to fear, as far as signing up with a sponsor or program, especially those you reach via HomePage MadeEasy. We have mentioned that becoming an affiliate is 100% free for you. So, you will not lose money, since you need to invest none.

Although there are unfortunately people on the Web who seem eager for easy money, independently of how objectionable their means might be, most people doing business on-line are well-intended and hard-working, as well as mindful of the good reputation that they may each have earned. As often the wolf disguises itself in sheep's clothing, if you'd like to play it safe, then sign up with any of the sponsors or programs that we have tried and can therefore recommend to you (view our Revenue Pages and complementary Earn Money Page).

Evidently we cannot foresee how people will conduct themselves in the future. Therefore, we can pass on to you our direct experience so far, but cannot give you a guarantee regarding the future. If we could, we'd be rich, and offering you free hosting, free domains, and all else you could wish for your page!;)...

No, the future no one can predict. We all must resort to logical deduction, based on what we have learned in the past and in the present, in order to derive an idea of what is to come. Some things are easier to predict: if you place and leave your finger right over the flame of a candle, you will get a burn on your finger. Other things are harder to predict, because they depend on so many variables: the weather is a good example. Human behavior is probably on top of the list of those things hard to predict. And the Web, we should not forget, is made of human beings, even though all we see and experience directly are screens, beeps, clicks, etc.