Affiliate Yourself with Winners

Joining affiliate programs can do a few things to help your Web business succeed. While you may earn a reasonable commission on sales you generate, your greater benefit may be the image you project by associating yourself with prominent, relevant businesses. The credibility gained by representing familiar brands that your customers trust, coupled with the convenience of providing access to desirable product lines, may help convert visitors into customers.

Linkshare.com offers one convenient place to review multiple affiliate programs at once. (In fact LinkShare administers Register.com's affiliate program.) You'll be asked for basic information about your site, including monthly estimates of the number of visitors and page views, and enough personal data to cut you a check for any commissions you earn.

When you select programs, you're actually submitting applications to join them. Some require minimum traffic levels, or specific subject matter, and others manually review applicants' sites before accepting new affiliates. These programs may turn down your application if your site doesn't match their criteria, but most will approve you if your site appears to offer an appropriate environment for their products.

Once approved you'll be prompted to select banners or links to place on your site. You're free to try different programs, different banners, and test different combinations to see which perform best for you. As you search for the right balance, your customers will know you by the company you keep.

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