The world of a sports betting affiliate is one that is as full of variety and opportunity as that of the industry it serves. Online sports betting has become one of the largest industries on the Internet both in terms of financial turnover and membership. It’s notoriety and popularity have meant that year on year the membership numbers swell. It has developed into an online phenomenon, raking in billions each year. But through affiliate programs this wealth can finally be redistributed to Internet users of all sizes and stature.

The affiliate program works as a reward system for website owners, who host advertisements from companies, in this case that of sports betting sites. For the affiliate this is a golden opportunity to make their web space into a useful earning plot rather than a stagnant place. The affiliate receives all of the banners, text links and even in some cases e-mail documents ready for mass sending, for absolutely nothing. Therefore there is no implied risk or up front capital that is necessary to begin a venture into the world of affiliate marketing. The simplicity and ease with which new affiliates can obtain this paraphernalia is one of the key reasons why so many have joined this, and other affiliate marketing programs on the Internet.

The other reason that so many have decided to host affiliate sports betting banners is the simple monetary factor. Most affiliate programs may offer you a small percentage of a sale or a few dollars up front for passing on a customer, but look smartly in the sports betting field and the rewards are much higher. Imagine for example earning not just a small percentage for a one off bet or a couple of months, but between 20 and 35% of a player’s entire lifetime on a site. This introduces the availability of some serious money into the equation, and is also what has drawn many people into becoming serious sports betting affiliates. The more fully signed up betting customers an affiliate can attract, the more they are liable to earn, therefore the onus is well and truly on affiliates to get out there and sell their product.

In turn the affiliate is also supplying the sports betting site with hugely valuable and potentially lucrative customers. The affiliate is more than pleased to earn just 25% whilst the sports betting site is benefiting from the remaining 75%, which may be slightly depleted but far better than nothing. Many affiliate programs also protect the affiliates from making a loss, something that even bookmakers are susceptible to. Therefore the sports betting site does have the element of risk on their side, but it is an industry born out of such things, so it is barely surprising. The beauty of the affiliate marketing program is the success that it reaps. Simply by rewarding affiliates handsomely the sites get what they want, and just by adding banners the affiliate gets the money they want. It is a win win situation, in which both parties do all they can to promote themselves and each other in order to profit further from the financial rewards.

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If you want to have a business online, you need to build a website. A website helps to promote your products, as well as, identifies you on the Internet. When I created my website, I went on the premise of “wanting to learn how to do it” as I experience the essence of building my business. I realize now, that even though I learned quite a bit, it did slow my progress down. Read on, I’ll tell you want I mean.

A Little History First

After attempting to do typing on the Internet — you’re right –my first newbie scam. It wasn’t a true scam, because I was paid. However, I put in long hours for very, very little pay. Does that read green, naive newbie all over it? Yes, I’m afraid it does.

Needless to say, I gave that up and began looking for something that would give me a viable income — affiliate marketing was the answer. Thus, my adventure began.

Getting a Web host and Domain

Well, after much reading, I realized I needed to get a web host and a domain if I was looking for a long-haul attempt at making it in affiliate marketing. I found a pretty good web host, paid for my domain — And, now I was ready to build my website…

My first advise here is — If you are inexperienced in web
construction and you want a quick presence online, I would go with a web host that has web tools which includes Site Studio. It saves you time, money and gets you up and moving quickly.

Building My Website

I decided to use FrontPage (with a dash of HTML) to create my website — in my first attempt. Well, my first attempt was beyond words — no one wanted to hurt my feelings — the website was beyond bad and the color was what I call Medicine Yellow. But I was still in the glow, and I must say, working
with blinders on. (This was my first mistake, my knowledge was
limited — I should have utilized Site Studio that was available to me.)

Needless to say, my first attempt did not stay up long. I went back to work, restructuring my ugly site — my second attempt. I changed the color to a dark green with a base of gray. At the time it looked good, I thought. I actually got, “you’re improving” from a friend. But somehow, it looked, well — downtrodden.

Third restructuring came when — after a year, I came upon an article that stated, “if you are using Times Roman — even though it is easy to read, it reads amateur all over it.” My first internal thought was, “Crap, I’ve got to do my website over again.”

So, once again, I began restructuring my site. This time around, I decided to go with a lighter green for my website (just as well, I was going to have to change everything anyway), revamped by Google Ads (4 times), and changed the lettering to “Arial”.

By the way, it has been said that either “Georgia” or “Arial” are the two fonts that will give your website a professional look. And you know — they were right. After changing from “Times Roman” to “Arial” — it gave my website a cleaner and more professional look.

Color as well, is important to your website — it is part of your total presentation of your site to prospective visitors. How important is color — if they don’t like it, they are just a click away from removing your site from their vision.

After all the overhauling and tweaking of my website, I believe it is now presentable, brighter and personable to my visitors.

However, I, as well as you, should realize that you are never done with your website. You should always be looking at ways to improve the appearance, products, and service available to your visitors.

Becoming An Affiliate

You cannot be an affiliate marketer without affiliate products. With that being said, you can start your journey as an affiliate marketer by looking at the following sites for items that fit your theme and of which you can make a commission.

Commission Junction

ClickBank

BeFree

Now, don’t be disappointed if some of the vendors turn you down in the beginning — after you have your website up for a while, you will find that some vendors will be dropping you an email and requesting that you sell their product for them. It’s flattering, however, be sure that you can blend it nicely into your website theme.

Getting Your Feet Wet

The water may be cold, tepid, or hot — it depends on your skill level when you begin your journey online (I believe my feet were in the cold phase when I started) — but you have to get your feet wet. Do your research, get all your ducks in a roll, and begin your journey. If you sit on the fence too long, you will never jump in.

Get what Internet tools you can, read all that you can, and stay positive, even if it means you have to step away from your computer for a day or two to regroup your thoughts.

As you can see from my experience, I jumped in, had some setbacks, some disappoints, but also some individual triumphs. The most important thing to remember is to close your mind to your own negative thoughts, and the negative words of those around you. Why? They can cripple you, and slow or even end your journey toward success.

If you know in your gut, that what you are doing will succeed –say nothing — just keep on keeping on. Soon, the naysayers will be saying something positive.

Vickie J Scanlon — Visit her site at: http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, how to info, affiliate opportunities, software and computers — all geared to help the affiliate/small business person online.