But I also like to use ClickBank as an individual buyer because they make it easy to get a refund. So if something I buy isn’t up to snuff for whatever reason (see my recent Google Nemesis review) I can get a full refund within 8 weeks of the purchase, no questions asked.

There are two ways to get a refund. The simplest is to simply take the electronic receipt ClickBank mailed you after the purchase and forward it to refunds@clickbank.com along with a brief message asking for a refund and why you want the refund.

The second way is to go to the ClickBank purchase questions page and select the “I would like to request a refund” subject. You’ll have to fill in the purchase details (obtained from the aforementioned receipt) and give an explanation. (Since you need the receipt to do this, it’s just simpler to mail a copy off IMHO…)

In either case, you’ll get a refund within two or three business days. It’s really that simple.

BTW, refund requests shouldn’t be knee-jerk reactions. If you’re having a problem with the product, contact the vendor first and see if they can fix it. Refunds should be a last resort. Sellers get notified when refunds occur and can see the reason why a refund was requested… there’s nothing worse than getting a “the product never worked” reason when you could have fixed it easily enough if the buyer had contacted you first.

Out of all the ClickBank products I’ve purchased, I think I’ve only asked for refunds on two of them.

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These stories of debt consolidation can be good, bad, or neutral. Possibly you have heard from someone else trying to consolidate their credit cards and other loans through this process.

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It goes something like this…

To be successful as an affiliate, just join any affiliate program, slap their banner ads onto a basic web page, and PRESTO, you’ve got an INSTANT web business that will make you money hand over fist!!

For the record, YES, you can make a LOT of money by marketing other peoples’ products on the Internet…

… but NO, affiliate marketing is NOT a shortcut to instant wealth!

As with any other online business, building a successful affiliate site still requires research, planning, and — here’s that four-letter word I keep insisting on using — work.

It’s like building a house. The more solid the foundation is, the more stable the entire structure will be!

So if you’re thinking of starting your own Internet business promoting affiliate products, here are four strategies you MUST follow to GUARANTEE you earn the maximum amount of commissions…

Strategy #1: Start By Finding A Niche Market

I’ve probably said this a million times, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face…
Do NOT get started by choosing the affiliate program you want to join!

Most people who start affiliate sites make the mistake of picking the products they want to promote first, because:

they look fun to sell
they think people will want them
they offer the highest commissions
they assume the products must be profitable, because so many other people are promoting them.
Trust me, you won’t be doing yourself any favors.

You’ll end up working around the clock trying to drive qualified traffic to the site, and failing miserably (and you’ll likely drop a hefty chunk of change on pay-per-click ads in the process)!

So do your niche market research first…

What are your interests?
What kinds of problems are people going online to try to solve, within your areas of interest?
Which of these problems seem to be neglected by most of the sites out there?
Identify a group of people who are desperately trying to find something online without success — and then offer them that something. They’ll be sure to snap it up.

Strategy #2: Make Sure Your Products Are Relevant and Related

Nothing frustrates me more than seeing all of those affiliate sites out there with banner ads promoting everything from cheap holiday travel to pet health insurance, steak knives to Internet marketing tips…

… all from the SAME page!

I call them “flea market” sites, and they’re a complete waste of time!

Make sure that ANY products you promote are closely related to your niche, and closely related to each other!

Otherwise, you’ll struggle to find qualified traffic for your site, and you’ll have a heck of a time writing copy that directly relates to your visitors’ needs.

But worse, you’ll also risk hurting your credibility.

That’s because, rather than look like someone who has the interests of your visitors in mind, and really wants to help, you’ll look like someone who is out to sell anything to make a buck!

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After the success of my recent firefox blog and seeing how the traffic was really good once you started to see that GooGle had indexed the site I decided to give it another go with the exact same theme. I decided I wanted to try another firefox blog. With the upcoming release of Firefox 3, I knew that there were going to be alot of searches for the terms “firefox”, “download firefox”, and “firefox 3″.

So I quickly went out and bought my self a nice little domain for a firefox 3 download site. The initial idea was to get the site setup and flip it for a profit. After not being able to sell the site I decided to just let it sit there for awhile and see what it could do for me.

Bare in mind that I have done no work on this site since the last post. No backlinks no directory submissions and no linkbait. Luckily enough it is indexed in GooGle and ranking for some great terms already. I am not making a crazy amount of money from it. But it is already covering the cost of the domain, and its share on my hosting account.

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Making money through affiliate marketing is one of the most rewarding careers one could ever have. What’s good about this business is that anyone can join and make their way to success. Affiliate marketing has been known to be cost-efficient, assessable method of conveying long-term results. In fact, you can start even with a shoe string budget. And with affiliate marketing, you can have the benefit of working from home and enjoying the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself.

But there are also some people who failed in this kind of business. It could be because they lack knowledge and tactics. If you are a web site owner and you want to join in an affiliate marketing business, you should know where to get good affiliate programs.

Clickbank is an ideal place to start. Here, you can find one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the industry. You just need to visit their site, clickbank.com”>http://www.clickbank.com and secure a clickbank ID. From the Clickbank’s home page, proceed to “Earn Commissions” and look for the products and services that perfectly fit you and your site. These products are typically ranked according to their popularity.

Clickbank is one of the affiliate networks that serve as a 3rd party between the web merchants and the associated affiliates. It is responsible in providing the technology to deliver the merchant’s offers and campaigns. The affiliate network also do the job of collecting commission fees from the merchant and giving it to the affiliates involved in the program.

Clickbank provides you a large and increasing network of publishers or affiliates to tap into. To be more specific, clickbank has more than 100,000 affiliates who are experts in finding potential customers for your affiliate program. The reason why more and more affiliates are joining Clickbank is obvious - the process of gaining commissions in this network is absolutely fair and transparent.

Affiliate marketing is a booming industry, and practically every possible niche has a program to choose from. Many of these programs want you to believe that all is required to make money in affiliate marketing is to stick a banner on your site and the bucks will roll in. Although this may have been the case for some, and in the early years of affiliate marketing, now savvy affiliate marketers know that there are proven marketing tactics that should be utilized before seeing success.

Adding affiliate banners to your website. Most programs provide marketers with a variety of banners to use on websites and blogs. Keep in mind however, that very few of these graphics will prove effective. If you choose to use affiliate marketing banners on your site, remember to select banners or buttons that will not degrade the appearance of your website, or annoy your visitors. Graphics should complement your site, and even though banner ads are intended to stand out and catch visitor’s eyes, they shouldn’t be so flashy that everything else on the page is completely ignored.

Using pop ups and unders. A lot of companies will now give their affiliates the choice of using pop up or pop under ads on their sites. Most people will agree that using pop ups as an advertising method is not the best way to go. They can easily aggravate visitors and are usually closed before they fully load on the page anyway. If you opt for using this type of advertising method, then go for pop unders and those types that only display once per visit rather than pop ups. Most people nowadays have popup blockers installed on their computers, so your ad most likely will not even be seen.

Text link ads are a successful advertising method. Choosing text link ads to use in your affiliate marketing advertising is by far one of the best ways to go. They are easy on bandwidth, don’t use a lot of space, and are easily implemented into most types of page layouts. Good text links offer some information as to why your visitor should investigate your offers. You should always include in the wording of your link some action that the visitor should take that also informs them of the benefits of the product or service.

Email advertising still works. In previous decades, the most successful proven advertising method was direct sales via postal mail. Nowadays, direct mail via email is proving once again to be one of the best ways for affiliate marketers to reach their target market and achieve success. Although creating an influx of spam, there are now rules and laws in place that tell marketers what they can and cannot do in relation to email marketing, and as long as these laws are followed, email marketing is a great way to make repeat sales and build a customer base. If you plan to use email as a method of advertising your products, you should stand behind what you sell and always be available to answer any questions.

Just as with any business, affiliate marketing advertising takes time, patience and tracking. Regardless of what method you use, give the marketing some time before opting to change. Do not put all of your advertising money or plans into one basket or form as well. Use several types of marketing and expand upon what is working well for you. Success in affiliate marketing does not come overnight, but with careful planning and marketing, you can build passive wealth or supplement your current income.