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Avoiding Affiliate Scams

by J. McGovern

We've all seen the "too good to be true" offers online - "make 10,000 a week with our simple program, just $49.99" etc. The fact is, individuals at home CAN make this sort of money, but never straight away, and it's never as easy as it sounds.

Typically, affiliate sites promising residual income will require you to open a google adwords account. This costs £5 (in the UK, about the same stateside) to set up, beyond which you pay each time someone clicks on your ads, or for their exposure. (http://adwords.google.com give a better description.) As an affiliate, you're usually expected to advertise exactly the same kind of program that you bought into in the first place. (earn money from home, etc) If you've read about Google's PPC method of advertising, you'll know that there are massive variations in the CPC of each keyword - and unfortunately, keywords like: "earn cash from home" "make money" et al, are so popular that to get any decent exposure, the CPC can be about £2.75 (~$4.95).

This can quickly incur massive costs - Google first proposed to me that I would be spending in the region of £20,000, daily! Of course, no one actually does this, but my point stands that without good marketing and savvy use of keywords, the CPC costs can outweigh your commissions. Keep in mind that good conversion rates are about 1-2% (so for every hundred clicks or so, someone will purchase and you'll receive your commission) and commissions are often between $23 and $30. So you'll earn $30 per hundred clicks, say. If you spend even $0.30 on each click that's your profit gone on advertising. Aiming to spend $0.10 to $0.20 per click would give a clear profit, but you then run the risk of your ads being unseen, and higher bidders taking your place. This isn't scaremongering, and many online programs do work, but to anyone looking to start earning money through affiliate commissions, it really is worth finding out all the information before investing.

Clickbank is one of the most established and reputable affiliate networks, and they hold a "marketplace" of programs, which I found useful in shopping around for the best opportunities and deals. Visit it here: http://sjs95.marketplace.hop.clickbank.net

About the Author

I have a full time day job and am content not to make $10,000 a day from home. When working at home my aim is to find the most trustworthy and reputable sites before joining them as an affiliate. At the moment, I feel these are: Clickbank (massive range of programs to choose from) http://sjs95.marketplace.hop.clickbank.net And this 12-in-1 program: http://sjs95.richyrich.hop.clickbank.net

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