Product Knowledge - Key to Affiliate Success

Affiliate Marketing can be a lucrative business. It can also drain your bank account faster than you can say "Where did it go?"

If you are using affiliate products to compliment your own product, you have it a little easier. Since your main product is your own, you know all about it. However, if you don't have your own product, the affiliate program(s) you choose to promote is your main product.

As your main product, you must learn everything you can about that product. The best way, of course, is to purchase it yourself, and use it. If you're promoting a lot of affiliate products, this may not be feasible. In that case, your best bet is to study the website of the company producing the product.

As well as studying the obvious material, go behind the scenes. Right click on the web page and choose "View Source." Look to see what description and keywords the owner is using. Then, use http://wordtracker.com   to find more words that are related to those.

The idea here is to learn everything possible about the product. It is YOURS. Are you proud of it? Does it live up to its promises? Is it just a take-off of every other product on the same subject? Or maybe it's just a bunch of hype. You have to know - and love - the products that you promote.

You're not finished yet. How long has this product been on the market? You need a NEW product; one that hasn't been seen in every advertisement in every newsletter on the 'Net.

It also needs to be HOT. As an affiliate marketer, you need to keep up on what is available. You can do this by visiting ClickBank and other affiliate program clearinghouses, such as Commission Junction. Most have a "new products" section.

Now you have to fit this product link into your website's theme. It does fit your site's subject, doesn't it? No? Then go back and find a product that does.

When setting up your product link, don't use the link provided by the product owner. Rather "mask" that link with a redirect page. Here's an HTML code you can use to redirect your link:

<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0;

url=http://www.youraffiliatelink.html">

The redirect code will redirect your visitor to another web page instantly. The content="0; can be changed to the number of seconds you want the browser to to wait before redirecting.

Be aware that a persistent snooper will still be able to see your affiliate ID. The best best way to beat the snooper is to use affiliate link masking software. This software creates a redirect page, but it also hides the link by encrypti