Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net: Turning Clicks Into Cash

Flexing my cerebellum, I recently reviewed Daniel Gray's book concering Affiliate and Associate Programs on the Internet. The book itself is entitled Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net: Turning Clicks into Cash and does a good job not only of categorizing but also of explaining how to use these services.

Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net: Turning Clicks Int
author	Daniel Gray
pages	224
publisher	McGraw-Hill, 01/2000
rating	8/10
reviewer	Jeff "hemos" Bates
ISBN	0071353100
summary	The author takes stock of the Affiliate/Associate programs on the Internet making recommendations on what programs do work and don't work,and what ones will actually, maybe, make your Web site profitable.

The Scenario

So, you've got your fancy-pants new Web site, and you've got a fair amount of traffic. Sure, you're no google or anything, but people are checking your page frequently, and you're pretty proud.

The one problem is that nasty bandwidth bill you're getting every month. You've thought about taking advertisers and such, but let me tell you from personal experience, it's hard to get good rates on ads. And then you're spending so much time trying to chase down those advertisers that your page suffers from lack of updates.

As an Internet user, you've probably been unable to avoid hearing about the various kickback -- er, I mean Associate -- Programs. Originally peculiar to adult Web sites, the programs have spread to all sorts of different Web sites. Amazon is famous for theirs, but everyone from 1-800-Flowers to Fatbrain to CD-Now to Sharper Image has a similar program up and running.

The premise is pretty simply -- you send traffic to someone's Web site, and they purchase something. Usually, as owner of a site with an affiliate link, you would get a set percentage of the amount the referred visitor spends, and can login to the other person's server to find out how much you've racked up. The practice can be suprisingly lucrative, provided it's done correctly. Careful promotion of the links is what matters. Doing it in a way that doesn't screw your readers is paramount, IMHO.

What's Bad?

The major problem with the book, and other books like this is timeliness. The sheer speed with which things change on the Internet means that information that was current when this book was published may be out of date now. And though I looked for one, I didn't see reference to a Web site published in conjunction with the book that would be updated with changes.

That said, the author does talk about several Web-based services that essentially accomplish this task, serving as overseers of different affiliate programs.

What's Good?

The book lays out in a clear and organized fashion not only how to sign up for various affiliate programs, but also how to use these programs within your Web site. That's an area that is typically forgotten -- After that crucial first step of signing up, how do you place the links in a such a way that you maximize their usefulness, and with a minimum of reader annoyance?

Additionally, the rating of the top 100 affiliate/associate programs is very useful. There's a compendium of information on this collection of sites, listing the various programs by URL and giving information about their typical rates of return. Helpfully, there is also information about each site's back-end administrative work -- something very useful for all involved.

So What's In It For Me?

Well, honestly, money. That's the name of the game when it comes to paying the bandwidth bill, and that's what this book tries to do -- present to you the best way to earn money from your Web site.

Table of Contents

Chapter Descriptions taken from book.

Chapter One: Explains how affiliate programs work, why they make sense, and how you can make them work for you.

Chapter Two: Provides hints and tips on how to build an effective affiliate site. You'll learn how to build community, select merchants, generate traffic, and add productive links.

Chapter Three: Lays out additional traffic generation strategies, explaining how search engines and other links can send your Web site a steady stream of qualified visitors.

Chapter Four: Tells how to keep track of the statistics -- both on your Web server and with the affiliate programs themselves.

Chapter Five: Allows you to peek inside some of the Web's best affiliate programs, with profiles of fourteen merchants.

Chapter Six: Tells real-life success stories from affiliate sites around the world. You'll learn what works from the folks who have made it work.

Chapter Seven: Contains the "Top 100 Directory." This directory focuses on quality over quantity, delivering key details on one hundred of the best affiliate programs.