What Kind of Marketing Material Do They Offer?

Good merchants know how important it is to provide their affiliates with good marketing
material. Some merchants only offer standard banners and text links. This type of
marketing collateral is generally not effective. Banners no longer work because of banner
blindness. Banners are mostly ignored by users who are just looking for good content.

Examples of good marketing material:
• Electronic product catalogs (datafeed) - With a good electronic product catalog,
an affiliate can market specific products and services for a merchant. Product
catalogs should include pictures, good descriptions, and specific URL's that point
to destination pages on the merchant's website.

• Affiliate links with custom destination pages - The worst place to send a visitor
from your affiliate website is to a merchant's home page. Home pages are not
optimized for sales conversions. Good merchants will provide their affiliates with
deep links that point to specific areas of their website optimized for sales
conversions.

• Content links or web pages - Many merchants will provide their affiliates with
content for their website. This is an easy and fast way to start promoting a
merchant. You may find that by customizing the content for your visitors, you
will have more success. Plus, if several affiliate partners are using the same exact
content, it will be hard to make your offer stand out from the crowd.

• Keyword lists - Some merchants will provide a recommended list of keywords
for their affiliate partners. Sometimes the keyword lists are general, other times
they're very specific and comprehensive.

• Websites - A few merchants are now providing their affiliates with entire
websites. If the merchant provides a website, all you have to do is register a
domain name, and point it to your affiliate website. In some cases the merchant
may even provide you with a unique domain name. All you have to do is drive
traffic to the website. You don't have to worry about hosting or updating the
website because it's all handled by the merchant.

Tools to Measure Keyword/Market Demand:
Use these keyword tools to evaluate the supply and demand for a particular niche or
keyword.
Google AdWords: Keyword Tool - adwords.google.com
WordTracker - www.wordtracker.com (free trial)
KeywordDiscovery – www.keyworddiscovery.com
NicheBot – www.nichebot.com
Affiliate Networks:
Consider joining one or more of these affiliate networks to find merchants.
Commission Junction - www.cj.com
Linkshare - www.linkshare.com
Azoogle Ads – www.azoogleads.com
Shareasale.com - www.shareasale.com
ClickBank - www.clickbank.com
One Network (Digital River) - onenetwork.digitalriver.com
PartnerWeekly - www.partnerweekly.com
LinkConnector - www.linkconnector.com
DirectLeads - www.directleads.com
ClixGalore - www.clixgalore.com
MaxBounty - www.maxbounty.com
DarkBlue - www.darkblue.com

Affiliate Forums and Blogs:
See what other affiliates are saying at one of these forums.
BumpZee – www.bumpzee.com Social network for affiliates.
5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums - affiliate-marketingforums.
5staraffiliateprograms.com
Associate Programs - www.associateprograms.com
Revenews - www.revenews.com
Affiliate Tip - www.affiliatetip.com