"Affiliate Losers" How to Stop The Big Affiliate Rip-Off And How You Can Claw Back The Thousands People Are Stealing From You
By Alan Brown

Here is the updated 'Affiliate Losers' Report.

Over the last weeks I have uncovered that more - not less of Affiliate's commissions are being lost.

It's staggering how much hard-earned commission is being lost by poor hard-working Affiliates. Read on to see what you must do to make sure YOU aren't losing out!

If you are an Affiliate, or thinking of becoming one, this information could make the critical difference between success and failure.

If you Don't follow what I reveal in this article you could be missing out on $1000s that are rightfully yours, that you have earned, but aren't collecting!

I will show you also how you could make $1000s of dollars extra for EACH and EVERY Affiliate sale you make - with no extra effort!

I'll give you a step-by-step method to earn lifetime riches.

And no, this isn't some kind of hyped-up 'report' that generalizes and tells you nothing!

This is a really hard-hitting factual expose that will give you the hard facts and information you need if you intend to make money as an Affiliate.

What you will find here are the answers you have been looking for. You don't need to spend $100s on 'marketing secrets' books and manuals - all the answers are right here.

'Staggering' Failures by Affiliates, That Keep Them in the Losers Class

Just look at these appalling FACTS about Affiliates.

The money they lose by not taking the right action is staggering! And it's not just a few Affiliates who fail to take the necessary steps to secure their commissions - it's the majority!

Appalling Fact 1.

Did you know that an astonishing 40 to 50% of all commissions earned by Affiliates are never paid out! On average, for every $100 you actually earn as an affiliate by making sales, you are likely to receive only $50 to $60!

Appalling Fact 2.

Most Affiliates give away the lifetime profit from repeat purchases by customers - to the Merchant who's products they are promoting.

Appalling Fact 3.

It's well known that owning a large list of prospects and customers is a ticket to lifelong wealth.

But most Affiliates, when given the chance to build their list, chose instead to give the prospect's or customer's email address away to someone else!

This sheer folly is so widespread you wouldn't believe it - except for the fact that you are probably doing it yourself!

Appalling Fact 4.

The Gold in 'The List' comes from marketing other products to existing customers. (This is commonly know as 'back-ending').

It's so easy to make a fortune with this simple strategy.

Why is it then that most Affiliates don't do it?

Appalling Fact 5.

Most merchants who operate Affiliate programs report that only around 5% of Affiliates ever make any decent money!

This is what Jimmy D. Brown of "Profits Vaults Monthly" says:

"Let me give you some startling facts about my own affiliate program and the resellers who promote it...

- 5% of my Affiliates earn about 80% of the commissions paid.

- 10% of my Affiliates earn commissions every pay period.

- 20% of my Affiliates earn commissions at some point.

- 80% of my Affiliates either earn *very* little commissions or no commissions at all."

This is a typical statement regarding how poorly most Affiliates are rewarded for their effort.

Here is another one:

"Hi there, I thought these stats might interest you. I recently spoke with a handful of high profile affiliate managers and they were kind enough to share this information with me. It is quite revealing.

The affiliate managers I spoke with all noticed the same things about their programs...

- For every 100 Affiliates in their program, less than half ever get a SINGLE visitor to their affiliate website.

- For every 100 Affiliates in their program, only 4-5 Affiliates make a sale in any given month.

- Of all the affiliate checks mailed every month, 75% of the total income goes to a group consisting of less than 20 Affiliates. Yet, with all these things that seem to be working against Affiliates, one thing surprised me...

- These affiliate managers were getting HUNDREDS of sales each month from their Affiliates. A few affiliate managers actually reported that 50% of all sales at their sites were made by Affiliates.

So SOME Affiliates are doing it right. And those "super- Affiliates" all have something in common...

What do you think that is?

They all own a website of their own where they feature their best affiliate products and services. They also promote their affiliate links via opt-in email marketing."

Ken McArthur

Appalling Fact 6.

Let me just repeat what Ken McArthur just said about something all those "super Affiliates" have in common:

"They All Own A Website of Their Own"

Guess what? Most Affiliates don't have their own website!

Let me repeat this:

According to Ken McArthur (and many others) all 'Super Affiliates' have their own website.

But Most Affiliates don't have their own website.

Well, do you have Your own website?

How then, do they expect to make any money? The answer is they don't and they never will - until they get their own website and follow the strategy I am about to explain...

Now I didn't invent these Appalling Facts. I discovered them by undertaking a research project to find out exactly what made a "Super Affiliate" and to learn how to make a decent level of profit from affiliate programs.

My reason for doing this study was simple: I wanted to make a pile of money and at the time I was failing like so many other Affiliates - Not Any More! Now I get several affiliate checks in the $1000s every month and it just keeps growing. I even had to tell ClickBank not to send me any checks for less than $1000 - I was spending too much time banking them!

As I researched, I began to find the reasons why Affiliates fail and what action to take to move myself into the top 5% of earners. The answers are right here, in this article.

Read on and I will tell you some of the reasons why so many Affiliates lose-out, and what you can do to make sure you're in the top 5% of money earning Affiliates. And the top 5% make a lot of money!

The first thing I discovered was that most Affiliates are being cheated out of $1000s of dollars extra profit that are rightfully theirs - by the Merchants whose products they are promoting!

- "Affiliates Used as Traffic-Fodder by Merchants!" -
(I use the term "Merchants" in this article to refer to the company owning the product that the Affiliates are promoting)

Affiliates spend their time - their money - fishing for customers. Occasionally they catch one and are (sometimes) paid a "well-done" commission.

But who keeps the fish?

The Merchant!

They keep all these fish in their own pond and feed tidbits to them until they are worth 50 times the original sale.

Who cashes in on the big fat fish?

The Merchant - again!

The Affiliate does the hard work - catching the little fish. The Merchant does the easy bit and makes a whale of a profit!

So how are the Merchants stealing the profit from the hard- working Affiliate?

Well, I will tell you that later. . . First - you may not have fully grasped the 'parable of the fishes.'

Let me explain in cold, hard, but clear words that may hurt - How Affiliates are being Ripped-Off by the Merchants.

It's what smart marketers and companies have realized all the time - long before the Internet was invented. The piece of advice that follows is priceless - if you grasp it's implication and take action to implement it, it could make you a fortune.

This is information you could pay $100s for by buying "marketing courses" or "how-to" e-Books. Here it's FREE.

- How Many Affiliates Operate -

- and why this is Totally Dumb! -

I will now tell you how so many Affiliates operate and why it is so, so dumb!

And if You do this, then please don't take it personally. This is a hard-hitting report and gets down to the dirty truth many people don't want to hear.

But for those who take note and follow the advice, they could walk away with Gold... lots of it!

This is what many Affiliates do:

Many Affiliates post a teaser ad, in a newsletter or e-zine, promoting the product with an affiliate link to the Merchant's website.

Sounds familiar? Well that's not surprising because it's what most Affiliates do. Why it's so dumb, I explain below.

First look at an example of their dumb 'profit model': Dumb Example:

Cost of the Ads (A) $100

Cost of product (C) $200

Affiliate's %age Profit (P) 33%

Number of Sales (N) 3

Affiliate's Commission (AC) = (CxPxN) $200

Affiliate's Profit (AC-A) $100

(Return on investment (ROI) = 100/200*100 = 200%.

That means he makes 2 (two) times his investment.)

Heh! - he's doubled his money - why is this so dumb?

Because it STOPS HERE.

If the Affiliate wants to make any more money, he has to repeat the above cycle. He has to find another customer, to spend his money on advertising to get that customer.

(By the way a return of 2-3 times investment is generally considered satisfactory. Alan Brown has made over 30 times investment on a single ad for direct sales only promoting his website. Later in this course, he will show you how he did it - and how you can make even More money than this!)

-- This Is Where The Good Stuff Starts --

The Key To *Outrageous Profits* Is...

** The Lifetime Value Of A Customer **

The process is simple, but few Affiliates follow it!

Grasp this simple concept; it could make you a fortune - as it has in the past and will do in the future for ALL savvy marketers.

DO NOT consider using the commission from Affiliate programs for your bread and butter - your mainstream income.

DO NOT use Affiliate programs for your mainstream income.

Instead, use Affiliate programs as bait to catch a lifetime customer. Someone you can sell products to over and over again - so that YOU reap the lifetime value of the customer, not the Merchant!

This process has delivered a never-ending stream of wealth to a long string of successful marketers over many years. Apply this process diligently and You Too can become wealthy - Without RISK!

Here is the 4-step process in outline:

Step 1 Market an in-demand product. (Or better, create your own products you can sell for 3 or more times the cost of producing and marketing it.)

Step 2 Acquire a customer at a low $ acquisition cost.

Step 3 Feed your customer with information the customer values throughout their lifetime. By so doing develop credibility and trust with your customer.

Step 4 Sell multiple products to that customer over and over again to reap the lifetime value. (Called backend sales)

So how then is the dumb Affiliate being Ripped-Off?

No 1 In Step 2 above " Acquire a customer at a low $ acquisition cost", the dumb Affiliate is doing the Merchant's work in acquiring the customer.

In fact, instead of the Merchant paying $100 to acquire the customer, they are often paying nothing - or even make money on the first sale - even after allowing for the Affiliate's commission, if he gets one at all!

Thereafter the customer belongs to the Merchant. It's the Merchant who gets the customer's email address to mail out offers to over and over again - not the Affiliate!

* "The Money Is In The List" *

It has been said many times "The Money Is In The List".

It is the (email) list that is the most important part of any (online) business.

These are qualified prospects and trusting customers. People who have bought once and are ready to buy again and again.
Pure gold-dust.

And who has the list? The Merchant - the Winner. Who found the customer? The Affiliate - the Loser.

And don't forget, the Merchant is selling his own products at 3 to 8 times cost. That's 300 to 800% profit, compared to the Affiliate who only makes 20 to 30% on any sales.

Who is the Winner? The Merchant. Who is the Loser? The Affiliate.

So how can the Affiliate make sure he receives the lifetime value of his customer? I will tell you later, but first...

It gets worse!

Yes, as if all that bad news wasn't enough to scare you off becoming an Affiliate for life, there is even more bad news!

Here is another way the Merchants are ripping profits from Affiliate's wallets!

No 2 Already robbed of the $1000s from backend sales through the lifetime value of the customer, some Merchants are playing another dirty trick and even stealing the once-off commission payment!

They sell products through online checks, Pay-Pal or other non-credit card payment methods. Nothing wrong with that - except it by-passes the tracking system and the Affiliate never gets a cent.
And worse . . .

No 3 The 'average' surfer, if there is such a thing, may well make the occasional purchase online, a $9.95 book for example through an Amazon affiliate.

No problems here, the Affiliate gets the commission.

But if the product is more expensive, such as software or an expensive marketing course then we are looking at a much more sophisticated customer.

He will often override the normal 'must buy now' impulse and think to himself - "I want this, but can I join the Affiliate program and save myself the 30% (or whatever)

Affiliate commission?"

There is nothing to stop him joining the Affiliate program then buying the product through his own Affiliate membership.

He doesn't even need a website. Just join the program, copy the affiliate link into his browser, click and he's done!

It happens all the time!

(In fact if the product is sold through a ClickBank affiliate link, he doesn't even need to join an affiliate program. He can just steal the commission for himself in seconds. I'll tell you all about the ClickBank link-thieves and how to prevent it in a later Chapter of this Course.)

That customer then gets the commission - not the Affiliate who found the customer and spent his advertising dollars bringing the offer to before the customer.

(In some cases the customer simply deletes the Affiliate ID code from the end of the Affiliate link to go directly to the home page of the Merchant site. Maybe they think the Affiliate shouldn't profit from them. Anyway it's done!)

It's not the end of the bad news yet...

Here are some *more* ways the Merchants steal the commission from their Affiliates:

No 4 The Merchant holds on to commissions for 3 months, or until a certain level is reached. e.g. $100. Often the Affiliate never makes the $100 threshold and never gets paid.

No 5 They don't set cookies. If cookies are not set then the next time the prospect - that the Affiliate introduced to the site - makes a purchase, the Affiliate gets nothing.

(If cookies are set then the next time an Affiliate's prospect visits the Merchant's site and makes a purchase the Affiliate is credited with the sale and gets the commission.)

The story is always the same. The poor Affiliate who did all the hard work of bringing the prospect to the point of making a purchase loses his commission.

He spends all his time and money on generating leads, creating sales messages, posting ads, follow-up emails and on and on - for nothing.

- Summary of the Affiliate Rip-off -

Through all his hard work, time and commitment the Affiliate eventually draws a prospect to buy. A customer!

And what does the Affiliate get in many cases? Nothing! Not a cent. Zilch. Zero.

o Is that fair? No.

o Is it moral? No.

o Does it happen? Yes.

o Do the Merchants care?

Why would they care who received a commission?

Think about it!

These are practices that have being going on long enough, you would think not. After all, the Merchant made the sale and made the profit.

This is borne out by the fact that many Merchants do nothing to protect the Affiliate from some of these practices.

(Now don't get me wrong! Not all Merchants are the bad guys.

After all I am a Merchant running an Affiliate program myself! I do take steps to eliminate these practices.)

Is there a solution?

Yes, if you follow my advice!

- What Are The Solutions To All The Above Problems? -

What then are the solutions to all the above problems?

How can the Affiliate Claw Back his rightful rewards?

Here are the answers you need to make sure that You keep 100% of the commission you have earned AND profit for a lifetime from backend sales:

Problem No 1. Merchant harvests the back-end sales

The Merchant gets the email address of the customer and can reap the lifetime value of the customer by back-end sales. The Affiliate does not have a list-building system nor a back-end sales system in place.

This is the absolute killer. The kiss of death to any online venture if you don't reap the backend sales yourself!

So, naturally, I'll spend some time explaining how to do it right.

How can the Affiliate make sure he - and not the Merchant - receives the lifetime value of his customer?

. . . and how to stop the Affiliate Rip-Off?

The answer is that the Affiliates MUST catch the email address of all prospects before they send them to the Merchant’s selling page. The key words are:

The AFFILIATE MUST catch the email address of ALL prospects

This is quite easy IF THE AFFILIATE HAS HIS OWN CREDIBLE WEB SITE.

But how many Affiliates actually do this? Very, very few!

Why? Is it because they don't understand the importance of this, or because they don't have the right website?

Do You catch the email address of Your prospects before sending them to the Merchant's website?

This is how most Affiliates are giving their Merchants 3000% of additional profits that rightfully belong to the Affiliate.

Do you remember above, I explained that the way a 'normal' Affiliate works is to write (or more usually copy) a small article or Ad and post it on an Ads site or in an e-zine. The Ad sends the prospect directly to the Merchant's website.

Let's review this simple, but dumb, process step-by- step so that the vital missing step can be exposed.

- The Totally Dumb Process Used by 95% of Affiliates -

The Affiliate writes, or more likely copies, a small article or Ad and posts it on an advertising site or in an e-zine.

The Ad, article or banner contains a link to the Merchant's sales page. The link has the Affiliate's link code embedded.

(Something like this:

www.ecovergenerator.com/x.cgi?admin=814&id=23443

where 23443 is the Affiliate's link code)

The prospect clicks on the link and is taken to the Merchant’s selling page and joins the MERCHANT'S LIST!

This is where the Affiliate is literally giving $1000s of hard- earned dollars to the Merchant - for FREE!

But most Affiliates do just this! How dumb can you get!

Whether the prospect then makes a purchase OR NOT, once on the Merchant's site, the Merchant usually manages to get the prospect’s email address by some kind of free offer. The Affiliate never gets a look-in.

For the Affiliate, it's goodbye to all those lifetime backend profits - forever!

But not for the Merchants - they will keep raking in the profits time and time again! All because the Affiliate was so dumb to hand over the prospect's email address on a plate!

Now what if the process was changed so that when the prospect clicked the link, the prospect was taken to a sales page ON THE AFFILIATE’S website? Then the AFFILIATE could obtain the email address. A further link would then send the prospect to the Merchant's sales site.

At last the Affiliate can start to build his own customer list and make a fortune on repeat sales throughout the lifetime of the customer.

Here is the step-by-step method to earn lifetime riches.

Make sure that you:

o Own your own website.

o Bring the prospect to Your website first.

o Obtain the prospect's email address.

o Only then, send the prospect to the Merchant's site.

o Nurture and grow your email list.

o Keep in contact with your list and educate your prospects to build credibility and trust.

o Supply your prospect list over time with a series of good-value products that the prospects want.

Here is the smart Affiliate's profit model:

Smart Example:

Cost of the Ad (A) $100

Cost of product (C) $200

Affiliate's %age Profit (P) 33%

Number of Sales (N) 3

Affiliate's Commission (AC) = (CxPxN) $200

Affiliate's Profit (AC-A) $100

Add lifetime sales on other products $3,000

Lifetime Profit $3,100

Return on investment (ROI) = 100/3,100*100 = 3,100%.

That means he makes 30 (thirty) times his investment!
(ROI = 3000%)

Compare that to the 100% ROI made by the average affiliate. (If he's that lucky). Its an increase of 30 times! For very little extra work. the average affiliate would have to do 30 times the work to make the same profit!

- Most Affiliate Miss The Lifetime Value Of Their Customer -

Most Affiliates completely miss out on selling subsequent products for the lifetime of the customer!

Instead of making $3,100 profit - they are lucky to make $100. They are losing out on $3,000 - that's a 3,000 % increase in profits!

That is one problem solved - how to make sure YOU reap the lifetime value of the customer by repeat backend sales.

Problem No 2. Merchant by-passes the tracking system

The Merchant accepts sales that by-pass the affiliate tracking system. (Such as accepting payment by check or system not already built into the affiliate tracking system). The Affiliate introducing that customer never sees his commission.

There is very little the Affiliate can do about this, except to only choose Affiliate programs where the Merchant doesn't do this.

Problem No 3. Customer buys through his own affiliate link.

A potential customer signs up as an Affiliate just to get the commission on that purchase. The Affiliate introducing that customer never sees his commission.

The most powerful protection is where the Merchant REQUIRES the prospect to make the purchase before they are allowed to become an affiliate.

(This is very protective to existing Affiliates but has a big downside for the merchant. You see, once a prospect joins a company as an affiliate, even though he hasn't bought a product, he immediately becomes a hot prospect for all the products the Merchant has. Now or in future.)

In fact it's just ANOTHER BIG RIP-OFF exposed!

The Affiliate seeks out sub-Affiliates to join his team. What happens as soon as they join?

* They are entered on the Merchant's list! *

The Merchant wants that hot prospect on his List. The List that the Merchant can sell to over and over. That Affiliate on the List is a hot prospect to be converted into a customer!

That's why not many Merchants impose this rule.

Another way the Affiliate can protect himself from these rip- offs is to only join two (or three)-tier programs.

In these programs the Affiliate receives a commission on all the sales made by sub-Affiliates. So that if his prospect decides to become an affiliate mainly to save the commission for himself, at least the referring Affiliate still receives something for his efforts.

If fact it's a good deal all round. The Affiliate receives the reduced commission (say 10%), but also has a sub-affiliate who may bring in more sales, with more commissions for the original Affiliate.

So that is another problem solved - how to retain your sales commission.

Problem No 4. Payment threshold too high

The Merchant sets the commission payment threshold so that many Affiliates never get paid.

Problem No 5. Cookies not set

The Merchant sets the commission payment threshold high so that many sales are required before an Affiliate payment is triggered. Hence many Affiliates who make only one or two sales and never cross the payment threshold don't get paid.

Again, the Affiliate can only check to see what the threshold is. At least now you have this knowledge, you are forewarned.

- Putting Your Systems in Place -

Putting all this together is not an easy task and this is why many Affiliates fail at the first hurdle.

The work and skill involved in creating a professionally looking website with good content, installing the code to capture visitor's email addresses, building and managing a list, writing and publishing a newsletter and then finally finding the traffic is just overwhelming for many people and not to be taken lightly.

Some Affiliates try to operate without a suitable website. Either without a website at all or with a 'free' website that destroys any level of credibility they may otherwise have in the eyes of the visitor.

- Can I Offer A Solution To You? -

How would you like a website professionally designed specifically for Affiliates? If you could obtain a superb website, that was a delight to own, was complete with blistering content and was already charged-up with Affiliate programs and the special scripts that catch email addresses, would you be interested?

o A website linked to affiliate programs that overcomes all 5 problems described above.

o A system that will collect email addresses and send out a Newsletter automatically, with YOUR affiliate links include.

o Multiple follow-up messages for you to send automatically to

your prospects via sequential autoresponder, and a FREE sequential autoresponder offer

o A complete backend sales system that put products the customer needs and wants right under his mouse button every single day!

o A website that ensures that YOU generate a lifetime of backend sales and reap the rewards of the lifetime value of the customer.

o Personal help, assistance and training

o A massive Site Owner's resource and training website, complete

with eBooks, software, tutorials and ScreenCam videos

If so, you may be interested in owning your own customized version of an Affiliate Website Company website.

Your site will incorporate worthwhile and Top-Quality Affiliate programs and every list-building, traffic- generating, profit- making tool, tip and product we can think of!

It is specially designed to take Affiliates into Profit at the speed of lightning. Newsletters, training and on-line personal support are all there to help you with your business.

It is more than a website. It is a virtual *clone* of my own very successful business.

I will let you into a little secret. I make an income many Affiliates can only dream of from my website.

It's not millions (yet), but it is $1,000s a month and often $1,000s a week. I can't tell you exactly, because every month it increases! (In fact, I had to instruct ClickBank not to send me any checks less than $1,000, because I was spending too much time filling in check deposit slips!)

And you can own a copy of this business!

If you decide to take me up on this, you will have a real website customized with your name, and all your details and hosted under your own domain name.

It will belong to you 100% - every html file, every java script, every graphic.

All you have to do is change the affiliate link codes to your own codes and promote your site to start earning Affiliate profits.

(I show you exactly how to change your affiliate links in one of our online movie tutorials)

You don't even have to worry about managing your opt-in email list and writing Newsletters. (Remember the money is in the list) You can build repeat business with your own opt-in list and the built-in automated prospect contact system.

I build your opt-in newsletter subscriber list for you and issue the On-Track Newsletter customized and delivered with your name and website details included, just as though you had issued it yourself!

This is how it works:

As soon as someone subscribes to the On-Track Newsletter on your Affiliate Website Company website my system automatically deliver the latest newsletter to your prospect. The subscriber’s name and email is also added to YOUR opt-in email list.

When a new issue of the newsletter is published it is sent out to YOUR list with YOUR website URL, YOUR name and email address, as though it had been sent from YOU, and also with YOUR affiliate links included for the featured products!

No other site that you can buy or rent on the Internet offers you this terrific service. And It’s FREE to Affiliate Website Company Site Owners.

This is a killer.

Imagine this. The newsletter sent out with your own affiliate links in all the right places.

- Own Your Own Website and Internet Company -

The site will be your own and your business will be your own. You will own it 100%.

You can do what you want with it. Add to it, change parts you don't like, add Mini-Sites to sell e-Books and so on...

There are several styles of website you can choose from, including sites with or without FLASH.

- FREE Personal Support from Alan Brown.

Just as I have given you completely free in this article, the best advice about how Affiliates can retain more of the profits that are rightfully due to them, when you own one of these sites I give you much, much more, valuable information and help completely FREE.

I will train you, give you all the help and support you need and let you into our secret Site Owners' site AND the secret Affiliates' only site. Here I will share with you the secrets of online business building and Internet marketing I have *stolen* from the Net's best and richest marketers.

You can also earn as you learn from the specially recorded and exclusive online movie tutorials.

Find Out Now What a Terrific Opportunity this is for You.

Follow this link to go to the Affiliate Web site Home Page, for Worldwide Affiliate Profits. (and please subscribe our Profits.CC email newsletter below).

Have a profitable day,

This article is written and published by:
Alan Brown of The Affiliate Website Company.

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