When the first entrepreneurs began their online businesses, they all were relying on the same advantage.  The advantage was that a small company and a big company look the same online.  You can put up a website and have just as much success as a large competitor.  The Internet was the great equalizer.  Ah, those were the good old days.

The rules have changed.  Internet shoppers can usually tell the difference between a small operation and a major Internet business.   The “big boys” are easy to spot.  They have built up reputations with their customers.  People trust Amazon.com, Buy.com, and so on.   These companies were born as Internet companies, but they have successfully earned the trust of millions.

Smaller Internet companies still have outstanding opportunities to succeed online.  The amount of money spent online is still exploding year after year.   Even though there are fantastic opportunities ahead, the trends are moving towards the established sellers.  Smaller companies have to work much harder to earn the trust of their customers.

Here is why:

• Identity theft
• Spammers
• Online Fraud and Scams
• Phishing Sites
• Selection
• Price
• DOA Websites

The central theme to most of those reasons is “trust”.  Customers need to know they are doing business with a credible company.  Okay, now that we know the who, what, and why … what can we do about that?

Earning the trust of a stranger requires a strategy based on your own products, services, and industry.  There are a few general ideas that can help you get started with building trust:

• Testimonials
• Big Guarantees
• Photos and Videos of staff and/or customers
• Free offers
• Trial offers
• Bonus gifts and limited time offers
• An 800 number

Once your customer places an order and everything goes smoothly, that customer will trust you.  Then you can sell them something else, hopefully something more expensive.  As you continue to build trust, you will be able to sell them more stuff.  You will also start to get referrals from your customers and a referred customer is almost as good as a repeat customer.

The key is to do everything possible to earn enough trust to create that first sale.   Your first sale might not make you much money, if any, but it is important because it helps you build trust and that is how you earn your next sale.

Your success depends on your subsequent sales.   So many companies will fight hard for that first sale but fail at creating repeat customers.

Do you:

• Have a follow-up marketing plan?
• Have more products, services, or options to sell?
• Have a newsletter?

Remember, it was nearly impossible to generate that first sale.  Your success depends on generating subsequent sales to the customers who have learned to trust you.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

An affiliate-marketing program is an agreement between a company that has products or services for sale and anyone who believes they can help to sell those products and services for the company.  In short, if you have products and services, consider using an affiliate system to get the word out about your products.  Alternatively, if you have a popular website, consider putting someone else’s products or services on your site and earning commissions on your sales.

Who Should Sell Through Affiliates?

If you offer any products or services on your website in such a way that customers actually make the payment on the website, then you are a good candidate for selling through an affiliate program.  If you tend to “close the deal” over the phone, then the affiliate management company will be unable to know when sales occurred and will not be able to administer the program for you.

Your product should have appeal to people throughout the nation or even the world.  Local products are harder to sell through affiliates although it is possible.

Why Sell Through Affiliates?

Imagine having ads for your products placed on hundreds of websites throughout the nation or even the world.  Companies such as NetFlix.com are very successful with their affiliate programs.

Who Should Sell Products Using Affiliate Marketing?

If you have a website that is rich in traffic but poor in generating cash in your pocket, then you are the perfect candidate for adding affiliate marketing to your website.  Affiliate programs are ideal for anyone that already has content and visitors.  If your site is not very popular then an affiliate system may not be worth the trouble.  For this article, we will assume you are the ideal candidate for affiliate marketing.

The KEY to success is to ad products to your site that are highly appealing to the people that visit your website.  If your website does movie reviews, you want to partner with NetFlix.com and other video or entertainment programs.  If your website focuses on gardening, then add gardening and home improvement products to your website.

How to Get Started

Whether you buy or whether you sell, it all starts by joining an affiliate marketing management company.  These companies do all the hard work of tracking sales, paying commissions, and matching product companies with webmasters who want to add affiliate products to their site.

http://www.cj.com/ – Commission Junction

http://www.clickbank.com/ – Click Bank

http://www.linkshare.com/ – Link Share

Secrets to Success

It is important to consider the many factors affecting the success of an affiliate marketing system.  There are so many factors that we cannot go into them here.  We will consult with you about your particular needs.  What is important is to do lots of testing.  Try different ads, different products, different placements on the page, and keep switching things around while you carefully track what is working and what is not.  With a little practice you will likely end up with a lucrative system.