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    • 81 Useful Affiliate Marketing Resources

    22 January 2008
    79 comments

    Affiliate Marketing

    Whilst the idea of selling a product on behalf of another company or person has existed for a long time, affiliate marketing itself was born in November 2004, but has only really taken off in the past few years. New generations of affiliate marketers are raking in massive per month profits, and more people are starting to experience profits through this method. Here is a list (which is by no means definitive) to help you get started – please feel free to suggest anymore if you so wish!

    Keyword Tools

    If you are creating websites, or even pages, to target specific affiliate programs you will need to know what keywords to target. Additionally, many affiliates use PPC ads, which is heavily dependant on keyword research:

      1. Google AdWords Keyword Tool – Get keyword suggestions with some search and competition stats.
      2. Keywords Analyzer – One of the leading keyword tools, especially for PPC marketers ($97).
      3. Wordtracker – Another leading keyword tool ($329 for one year subscription).
      4. Wordze – Another subscription-based tool ($35/month).
      5. Overture – A popular keyword selector tool.
      6. SEOBook – Several different keyword tools.

    Multiple Domain Hosting

    Many affiliate marketers own a number of different websites. The cost of hosting these sites can be very affordable if you choose a host that offers multiple domain hosting. These are just a few of the options:

      1. Host Gator – Shared hosting at $6.95 per month.
      2. DreamHost – Great plans, great prices with loads of bandwidth and diskspace.
      3. Bluehost – Affordable, Reliable, Web Hosting Solutions.
      4. Carolina Hosting Service – Good Hosting Service.
      5. Media Temple – Awesome recommendations, grid and dedicated hosting.
      6. Rackspace – Managed, dedicated and scalable web hosting for businesses.

    Domain Names

    If you’re operating affiliate websites, you will need to purchase domain names. Here are a few of the low-cost providers:

      1. GoDaddy – $9.99 per year (and lower).
      2. NameCheap – $9.41 per year with free WhoisGuard.
      3. Proud Domains – Cheap, affordable domain names.
      4. AffiliateJackpot – Great registrar for domaining affiliates.
      5. 1&1 – $6.12 per year with free private domain registration.
      6. MyDomain – $8.75 per year.

    Affiliate Networks

    Affiliate networks manage the affiliate programs for hundreds or even thousands of different companies. They make it easier for you by combining payment from multiple programs into one check and by giving you one place to go to for management of your campaigns:

    Affiliate Program Directories

    If you are searching for a specific type of affiliate program there are a number of directories that can help you find the right one:

    Tools To Create PDFs

    Many successful affiliate marketers create and distribute e-books with embedded affiliate links. As the e-book becomes widely distributed and read by hundreds or thousands of people, considerable commission is possible. Here are some resources to help you with creating a PDF e-book:

      1. Adobe – Create your first five PDFs for free.
      2. Open Office Writer – The word processor that is part of Open Office includes functionality for creating PDFs, and it is free software.
      3. CutePDF – A free download for creating PDFs.
      4. pdf995 – Another free PDF creator.
      5. PDFCreator – Another free program.

    Email Auto Responders

    The top affiliate marketers have built large mailing lists with which to promote their affiliate products. Here are some of the options for setting up an auto responder and managing a mailing list:

      1. GetResponse – One of the leaders, a turn-key email marketing service.
      2. AWeber – Another leading program with all of the features.
      3. FreeAutoBot – A free auto responder. Doesn’t have the features for managing a mailing list.
      4. iContact – Email marketing and survey software.

    Affiliate Marketing Blogs

    Want to learn more about affiliate marketing? These blogs regularly produce content that will help you to improve your results:

    Affiliate Marketing Forums

    Forums are often the best places to get real feedback about your campaigns, and to talk about the latest affiliate marketing news. Here are a few of my personal favourites

    Amazon.com

    One of the oldest, largest, and most successful affiliate programs in the world. With Amazon you can promote just about any type of product you want:

    Ad Rotators

    If you are interested in rotating your banner ads to promote different affiliate programs there are several resources available:

    Software

      1. Openads – An open source advertising community.
      2. Bannersoft – Ad management and delivery software ($99).
      3. adButler – Ad management program with free and paid (starting at $5.95/month) versions.

    PPC Credits

    If you plan to use pay-per-click ads to market affiliate products, here are two offers that you won’t want to pass up:

    This post was written by Steven Snell.

    79 Responses to 81 Useful Affiliate Marketing Resources

    1. Ad Tracker January 22, 2008 at 5:31 am #

      Thanks for the great resource! I thought I was aware of all of these but there are a few I haven’t seen before.

      Once again, thank you :)

      Reply
    2. Nicholas James January 22, 2008 at 7:02 am #

      Nice list you’ve composed there Adnan :)

      EarnersForum isn’t as popular as it was when it first launched however, its under that category so it should be a shout.

      Reply
    3. Self Defense Secrets January 22, 2008 at 8:49 am #

      Great post Adnan. Really comprehensive.

      Reply
    4. Fed January 22, 2008 at 9:28 am #

      I never go through a post like this before that covered many aspects relating affiliates and affiliate marketing. Nice compilation.

      99% of my revenue comes from CPC and I never tried affiliate before, bcos i didn’t know the potential. Your post was really an eye opener for me.

      Once again thanks for the resources.

      Reply
    5. Brian January 22, 2008 at 10:29 am #

      Wow, such a great resource Adnan! Thanks!

      Reply
      • Acb Media October 12, 2012 at 9:58 pm #

        Steven..This was really a great source of learning affiliate marketing for the newbies.
        this was really a very good share thanks.
        Hope for more shares in future

        Reply
    6. Brian January 22, 2008 at 10:30 am #

      Scratch that… great post Steve. Adnan still gets a tip-of-the-hat for providing the forum to find it ;-)

      Reply
    7. Steven Snell January 22, 2008 at 1:42 pm #

      Adnan added some of the resources on the list. It was a bit of a joint effort.

      Reply
    8. fc January 22, 2008 at 1:49 pm #

      It really is an awesome list…
      If I could add a couple here.. especially on the domains front – having a reseller account with someone like enom or resellerclub can pay good dividends over a period of time though you need a small bit of initial investment..

      also on the hosting front asmallorange would be a great name to add here…

      Reply
    9. Alan Johnson January 22, 2008 at 7:27 pm #

      Steven, nice to see you contributing on blogtrepreneur as well, you’re doing a great job and I’m looking forward to other articles from you as well :)

      Best wishes,

      Alan Johnson

      Reply
    10. Coryan January 22, 2008 at 10:15 pm #

      Your post could not have been more timely! I have just started researching affiliate income and this list will greatly reduce the my and improve the results. THANKS!

      Reply
    11. adnan January 22, 2008 at 11:32 pm #

      @ AdTracker: no problem mate – glad it’s useful.

      @ Nick: yeah EarnersForum has become a bit quiet as of late – but there are still some good gems in the archives, so they shouldn’t be forgotten.

      @ Self Defense Secrets and Fed: no problem guys – let’s hope you can use this info to make yourselves some nice moolah!

      @ Brian – lol – it gets confusing when I have guest authors now – something I need to change in a new theme. Thanks for stopping by.

      @ Steven: you get most of the credit – I only added a few resources, which was easy to do. Hopefully this post can go places (I’m talking about social media). Thanks again for writing such an amazing post.

      @ fc: thanks so much for the suggestions – that’s what this list is about – continually updating it to provide you guys with the best resources – which is why you need to bookmark this page ;)

      @ Alan: On Steven’s behalf, thanks for the kind words :)

      @ Coryan: awesome – glad this post has come in handy!

      Reply
    12. Steven Snell January 23, 2008 at 12:31 am #

      Alan,
      Thanks for the compliments.

      Reply
    13. pablopabla January 23, 2008 at 2:52 pm #

      Steven,

      You have outdone yourself again with this resource packed post. This post is gonna be a mainstay for those who are into or going into affiliate marketing!

      Reply
    14. Steven January 24, 2008 at 1:37 am #

      Hi Pablo,
      It’s good to see you here. I’m glad you liked these resources.

      Reply
    15. offshore software development January 24, 2008 at 5:13 am #

      wow, what a great list.

      its really good to see this list, it will help me a lot

      thanks

      Reply
    16. Tibi Puiu January 27, 2008 at 10:34 am #

      Wow, great write up. Good work Steven and Adnan !

      Reply
    17. Charles January 27, 2008 at 11:19 am #

      very very useful, thanks, i have bookmarked this page

      Reply
    18. Steven January 27, 2008 at 7:35 pm #

      Tibi and Charles,
      Thanks for your comments, glad you liked it.

      Reply
      • rounak May 18, 2012 at 2:40 pm #

        wow, what a great list.

        its really good to see this list, it will help me a lot

        thanks

        Reply
    19. Marc January 29, 2008 at 8:24 pm #

      One nice blog that I really like for market research, is http://www.aboutsurveys.com this site is actually run by Qualtrics, the proclaimed #1 survey software. But this blog rocks. It has all kinds of tips and deals that are great for your company

      Reply
    20. InfoSmith Web Services February 5, 2008 at 3:13 pm #

      For work with affiliate networks, you also need web service API.

      Reply
    21. Lorfel Quinan February 7, 2008 at 9:13 am #

      Invaluable info. for a budding affiliate.

      Reply
    22. Petter May 2, 2008 at 9:45 pm #

      Great list of useful tools for affiliates. I also recommend to join wealthy affiliate university where you will find all the tools you need for a low monthly fee.

      Reply
    23. Shontavia Griffin September 10, 2008 at 9:09 pm #

      This is a Great! I love the Commission Junction Affiliate Network too … they always have great, quality items for affilaites.

      A little disappointed though …. You didn’t have Site Build It on you Domain Hosting list It! Non-the-least … Excellent Information.

      Reply
    24. GallantGifts.com January 23, 2009 at 9:07 pm #

      Awesome resource. Thanks for the great info….

      Reply
    25. Geoserv January 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm #

      Wow, thats a lot of resources, thanks for compiling.

      Reply
    26. network marketing guide May 12, 2009 at 6:41 am #

      Thanks for the list. This is awesome!

      Reply
    27. Preecha September 25, 2009 at 1:07 pm #

      Thanks for sharing. This is very useful for me to starting affiliate business.

      Reply
    28. Evan November 2, 2009 at 3:38 pm #

      Nice post. Good info and affiliate resources. I’ll have to bookmark this site.

      Reply
    29. Free Autoresponder January 13, 2010 at 12:02 am #

      Thaqnks for the list.
      Actually, I can’t get to use Ouverture keyword tool, it look like it’s down.

      As for the autoresponders, the list is a bit short and the only free autoresponder has poor features.

      I wrote a short report comparing 10 of the most used free autoresponders, based on the features they offer. If somebody wnats to check it, contact me.

      Reply
    30. Martin loh March 26, 2010 at 12:15 am #

      Thanks for all the lists. This is awesome! I can use some of the info in my site.

      Reply
    31. rob busby June 1, 2010 at 1:57 pm #

      This is great information! I am Web Designer / Web Developer by trade, but wanted to learn more about Affiliate Marketing and stumbled upon your Website via a blog on VandelayDesign.com. Hopefully I can use the resources you have here to further my understanding of how Affiliate Marketing works and how it can work for me. Again, thanks a great deal for this information. It’s a very good read.

      Reply
    32. Dave Hale November 16, 2010 at 10:47 am #

      I love the list. Great tools.

      Reply
    33. nick December 31, 2010 at 9:38 pm #

      I actually went through every one of these, it was worth the time for me. I have an affiliate resouce site myself and I plan on making some changes to incorporate some of this information, thanks.

      Reply
    34. Peter June 23, 2011 at 5:41 pm #

      Great article Steven.

      Huge contribution on your behalf. Good to see someone else has mentioned “My Domains”. I have been using them for years and find them as cheap as anywhere and their business model is so easy to use.

      Reply
    35. kelly spears August 19, 2011 at 7:26 am #

      nice resources. here is another ad server for the list
      http://www.adservingsolutions.com/

      keep up the great work

      thanks

      Reply
    36. Gol Media September 2, 2011 at 8:09 am #

      Steven i think that good stuff to be shared with all newbie affiliates marketer.. thanks you for sharing with us

      Reply
    37. Commission Inferno December 2, 2011 at 3:21 am #

      Hey Steven, great resource, even us who already know all bout internet marketing were actually surprised to see how much “newbie” resources we were missing out on. Thanks for the share.

      Reply
    38. Revolving Commissions Review January 12, 2012 at 5:12 am #

      Thanks for the great resource! I thought I was aware of all of these but there are a few I haven’t seen before.

      Once again, thank you :)

      Reply
    39. Kamagra June 12, 2012 at 4:28 am #

      Nice post. Thanks for sharing marketing resource technique.Keep posting.

      Reply
    40. affiliate management June 26, 2012 at 10:45 am #

      Quite insightful post – with thanks!

      Reply
    41. Christo September 22, 2012 at 5:12 am #

      Thanks for this great post . I learned lots..

      Reply
    42. affiliate marketing website January 19, 2013 at 2:06 am #

      Hello There. I found your blog the usage of msn. That is an extremely smartly written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thank you for the post. I will definitely comeback.

      Reply
    43. Alan March 19, 2013 at 9:27 pm #

      I think this site has got a truely interesting subject.I appreciate the info here and will bookmark this site.Keep up the interesting work!!! Cheers.

      Reply
    44. Alan March 19, 2013 at 9:28 pm #

      I beleave this site has a truely interesting subject.I appreciate the info here and certainly will bookmark this site.Keep up the good work!!! Cheers.

      Reply
    45. Sneha April 11, 2013 at 5:35 am #

      too good sir,:)good job,thanks !

      Reply

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