There's More Than One Way To Make Money Online

The amount of money you can earn online without your own product is open to question. Undoubtedly, many of the top affiliate marketers are making lots of dollars, but a lot of them also market their own products.

Of course, having your own product is highly desirable, and there are several forms of product creation. One of the simplest ways is to get some PLR articles, which are really cheap, if not free, rewrite them and combine them into an e-book that you can sell on eBay for 99 cents. If you want to be a little more ambitious, get a software product that you bought and see if there is a way to improve it. Are you always saying to yourself “the product’s fine, but I wish I could ………). Then get a software programmer to quote on coding you some software which does exactly the same thing, but with your desired functionality included. Don’t be scared that it will be too expensive; there are lots of programmers outside the US who will do your work for a ridiculously low price.

The advantage of having your own product is obvious – you get to keep most the revenue instead of just an affiliate commission, but there may be downsides. If your product is not reliable, you will get a lot of calls for refunds, and your reputation will take a dive. You will also have the costs of promotion and the costs of the commissions which you are offering your affiliates.

Once you have your own product, there is no reason why you cannot set up your own affiliate program, which may not be as difficult as you may think. If you are already a successful affiliate marketer you will know what affiliates are looking for. Make sure you give them the tools you yourself look for in an affiliate program.

Here are the basic requirements to get started:

1. A professional looking web site with your own domain name.
2. At least one product that you own completely
3. Reliable shopping cart software to handle orders.
4. A tracking system to handle your affiliate database, commissions and payment.

All this sounds relatively easy. Websites and hosting are really cheap, just make sure that both are reliable and have been around a long time. Don’t go with someone selling you a hosting package through a reselling program. These kinds of packages are notorious for just shutting down without any notice, leaving you stranded with no site (and you probably didn’t take a backup!) and your affiliates fuming. You really can’t go past Godaddy for buying domains and Hostgator for hosting.

Now all you have to do is get the word out about your new product. Try and get someone with a large list to let their prospects know about your sensational new product. Offer both the promoter and your would-be affiliates an enticing commission, which will make them go the extra mile to promote your product over someone else’s.

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