Making Money off Gadget Geeks

Remember that $700 HP dv9700t deal we featured a while back? It was featured on deals2buy.com, and websites like that represent an open secret among those who make extra income online.

You see, most big online retailers practice affiliate marketing, which are programs that reward third-parties (called affiliates) for generating sales. An example will help explain the concept.

For instance, Mr. X signs up for Dell’s affiliate program. Dell makes banners and other online advertising materials available to Mr. X for use on his website, which we’ll call websiteX.com.

So, Mr. X takes care of attracting visitors to websiteX.com, and advertising Dell’s latest deals to them. If a visitor to websiteX ends up visiting dell.com and purchasing a product, Mr. X is paid a commission (which is usually a percentage of the final sale) for his trouble.

Dell wins because it increases sales through the efforts of other people. Mr. X wins because Dell’s affiliate program represents a cost-effective way to earn some money. It’s relatively cheap to put up a website, place some banners and write some effective copy to convince people to buy stuff. The most effective affiliate marketers can literally spend a few hours every week and watch the money pour in, since affiliate websites don’t require 24/7 attention. It’s a case if you build it, they will come.

Of course, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Effective affiliate marketing requires a lot of experience to pull off properly, and this knowledge is usually gained from lengthy periods of trial-and-error. Still, a lot of people have also made money from teaching others how to be effective affiliate marketers, and a simple search on Google offers a wealth of information on the subject.

(image from Wikipedia)