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Creating an Affiliate Marketing Budget
...... shipping to a customer. It is a good
idea to set up an account with http://paypal.com because a
lot of affiliate managers are using PayPal to make payments
to affiliates. There is no charge for using PayPal.
* Software and Scripts. You will need, at the least, some
kind of spreadsheet to track your expenses and income from
your affiliate business. Eventually, you will need a more
robust program like QuickBooks or Microsoft Money. If you
don't have a spreadsheet software application, you can get
one free from http://openoffice.org. This is a suite of
tools that works like Microsoft Office. You may or may not
need website scripts - depending on how elaborate you want
your website to be. Examples would be article management or
"tell a friend" scripts. Let's just set at cost at $50 just
in case.
* Advertising. For the first few weeks, you will not be
spending money on advertising or promotion. But since we are
working on an "Annual" budget, let's estimate it at $50 per
month or $600. I know that sounds like a lot, but if you
want to get the word out, you'll need to set money aside for
pay-per-click search engines and ezine advertising.
* Education. Ongoing education is going to be extremely
important to your affiliate marketing success. You will not
have to purchase a lot of educational materials - if you
don't want to. There are many free resources, such as
newsletters, that you can study. For now, we'll set a zero
budget, but allow a certain amount later for ebook or how-to
videos.
What is the final total' Approximately $800.00. Does that
seem extreme' Remember, this is for an entire year. Where
else but on the Internet can you start a business for under
$1,000' Keep it in perspective. If you intend to have a
"real" business, you must treat it as a real business -
which includes real expenses.
About the Author -----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm
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