Making Money From Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is simply promoting a brand or business, in exchange for a commission, on one's own website or blog on behalf of that brand or business. The affiliate marketer uses the text links, images or banners provided by the advertiser on it's website or blog and helps the advertiser generate sales and profits. For every referral made by the affiliate marketer, the advertiser pays a certain percentage of the sales profit to it.

Affiliate marketing is an interesting business area and can be a lucrative career choice. Many people out in the business world are making thousands of dollars in this area.

What are the things required to become an affiliate marketer?

• You should have a website or blog or any other online presence like a forum or page. If you don't have any, you can make it now for free with weebly, blogger and hubpages.
• You should try to promote those products that you love, relate to your site and benefit your readers. Promoting a product you are uncertain about can make you lose your audience and hence money.
• Try to promote multiple businesses as it gives your audience an array of choice. In this way, you will have a clear vision of what business your audience do like the most.
• Increase traffic to your site by promoting it on social networking sites like facebook, twitter and Google. The more the traffic, the more the chances of you generating referral sales. 
• You can ask for marketing tips and tools from your advertiser. The advertiser-marketer relationship is based on mutual trust and profit.

Most of the businesses today don't partner with publishers (affiliate marketers) directly. They rather partner with third-party which recruit marketers and administer their marketing campaigns.

Here are some of the trusted affiliate marketing platforms.

CJ Affiliate:

CJ Affiliate, formerly Commission Junction, is a Californian-based affiliate marketing company that is said to be the largest affiliate platform in the North America. CJ operates globally and is rated as one of the best affiliate platforms worldwide. CJ provides it's publishers opportunity to generate sales from tools like deep link automation, pay-per-call, lead generation and mobilized solutions. Publishers can also track their detailed referral activity and reports. The minimum payout is $100.00 and can be via cheque, paypal or direct bank deposit.

Amazon Associate:

Amazon is a top rated retailer of goods and services worldwide. Amazon has its own affiliate platform called Amazon Associate. It's a great platform for bloggers seeking more money. Amazon has an inventory of reputable products and is a master at converting visitors into customers. It grabs it's visitors' attention with it's unbeatable sales offers and promotions. Publishers can get a higher cut in raises as they promote more products and generate more sales. The minimum payout is is $100.00 if the publisher demands payment by cheque and $10.00 if the publisher demands direct bank deposit or amazon gift card.

Google Adsense:

Google Adsense is extensively used by publishers in Google network of content sites worldwide. It serves targeted advertisements directed to site visitors. The advertisement is administered, sorted and maintained by Google. Adsense publishers have access to a large pool of advertisers, precise and targeted ads and extensive reports. The minimum payout is $100.00 and can be made via cheque or direct bank deposit.

FlexOffers:

FlexOffers is an easy-to-use affiliate platform which has partnerships with well-known brands like JCPenny, Verizon. Kmart, Starbucks, Nordstorm etc. With FlexOffers, publishers can also earn a commission of 10% on referring another publisher.There is a variety of content that publishers can promote on their sites. The minimum payout is $100.00 and can be received via mail or direct bank deposit. The payments are made once a month.

Peerfly:

Peerfly is known for it's courteous and helpful staff and is an excellent platform. It accepts publishers from all over the world and connects them with thousands of advertisers. According to mThink, Peerfly is # 1 affiliate manager in 2015. It provides it's publishers free training and tools and offer the participation in reward contests. The minimum payout is $50.00 and payments are made on weekly, bimonthly and monthly basis. Payments can be received via cheque, paypal, payoneer, bank wire and ACH (US only).

Rakuten Linkshare:

Rakuten, formerly Linkshare, is reportedly have over 10 million affiliate partnerships and offers over 2500 affiliate programs. It occupied # 1 spot on 2012 Blue Book of Top 20 Affiliate Networks. Rakuten is an easy-to-use affiliate platform and offer search service to it's publishers. The minimum payment threshold depends up on advertisers, can be $1.00 or $100.00, and can be received via mail, paypal or direct bank deposit. 

ClixGalore:

ClixGalore is an Australian-based affiliate platform that has various affiliate programs for publishers like pay-per-impression, pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-click. Publishers can also earn by refering other publishers to this platform. The minimum payout is US $50.00 and can be received via paypal or cheque. 

There are other platforms also which might suit you better based on your preference and site content. Please feel free to share your experience as an affiliate marketer with our viewers in the comments below.

Best Eight Online Tutoring Platforms

A tutor, as the dictionary definition describes, is an individual who gives basic instructions and guidance to other individuals or small groups. A tutor shares its extensive knowledge and experience with students to help them reach a point where they can be an independent learner, thus no need of support.

Anyone can start tutoring from home and make it a part-time or full-time business. It cost a little or nothing at all to start this business. All you need are an Internet connection, subject knowledge and a few school stationary items.

There are also online sites which provide valuable materials for subject knowledge and tutoring. If you enjoy helping others and teaching children, this can be a great start-up for you. This can be a great opportunity for college students.

Here are the top eight virtual platforms for online tutoring;

WizIQ:

Wiziq is one of the best tutoring platforms which allow tutors build their own virtual classrooms and set their own prices. There is also a mobile app which can also be used on tablet device to teach virtually to anyone in the world and anything you want. There are a great variety of courses available and you can either create your courses or teach live. The price of setting up a virtual course classroom with 10 attendees is $190/year.

Tutor:

It is also a famous platforms and widely used by tutors worldwide. Students can't only get classes but also get their homework simplified. Tutors are experts in their subject fields. Courses like calculus, algebra, chemistry, physics, English etc are taught. For one-hour class, the minimum service is $39.99/month. Moreover, there are different membership plans are available.

Udemy:

Udemy is a widely used online platform for teachers and students. You can begin by creating your content (design, art, business, education, music or anything you have expertise of), publish it and then finally promote it. You can set your own price for your content and receive 100% of the revenue, except for a small fee for processing your payments. It is free to join.

Skooli:

Skooli is a new online tutoring site which allow students take any course available. Most of the courses are school and college level. It even helps students find a tutor form its own university network.  There is also a free 60 minutes beginning trial for students. Prices vary based on membership plan. A basic plan cost $10/week, plan A cost $17/week and plan A+ cost $30/week.

Tutor Vista:

Tutor Vista is also among the famous platforms for online tutoring. Subjects are taught using white boards. The subjects available are science, maths, biology, English, physics and chemistry. Students can get help in solving assignments, preparing for exams and mastering difficult concepts. Prices vary depending on the course level. 

Tutor Hub:

It is UK's famous platform for online tutoring, with 1163 tutors. Students start by selecting a tutor, deciding how to learn and when, arranging a lesson, and scheduling the classes. The payments are made first before starting the class. But there is also a pay back guarantee, if the student is not happy. 

There is a wide variety of subjects available and prices vary alongside teachers and courses.

Eduwizards:

It is also a great platform and quite famous in India and the rest of the world. Tutors just have to start with creating their profile and showcasing their talent and knowledge and wait until a student contact. There is a free demo class in the beginning. Students are free to choose any teacher worldwide that suit them and payments are decided based on the teacher-student mutual consent.

Flashnotes:

An interesting platform for students which allow them to share their study notes and guides with other students for a fee. Students also can get video help from other students for their assignments. You can sell your study notes or guides to anyone in the world for a fee and earn a handsome income. Prices are dependent on the seller, how much it charges for its study materials.

Share your experience of working for any of them, or other online platforms, and build a supporting say for your site.

Best Ten Sites For Micro Tasks

A small task is generally a simple and convenient task or assignment that can be completed within a short span of time. While doing these tasks, workers are free to choose any time they are willing to work and any task that interest them. These tasks may vary in nature like writing, transcribing video, creating content, collecting data, completing surveys etc. It is a great opportunity for stay-at-home moms and part-time students.

Here are the top ten widely used platforms for micro tasks;

Easyshifts:

An interesting iphone app which allows you to earn money easily by completing simple shifts on your iphne. the microtasks are simple like taking photos, checking prices and finding if a product is available in the stock. Once the task completed, you will be paid through your paypal account within 48 hours. It pays anywhere between $2.00 to $20.00 per task. It is almost available in all cities of the USA. 

Clickworker:

Clickworker is an online platform which offers many tasks related to translation, writing, data collection, researching, text creation etc. The service is available in almost 136 countries. As a clickworker, you have to start with registering yourself as a clickworker, that also includes your qualification as a clickworker, and then bid on the job. Clickworker pays when your bank account reaches $1.00, and payments are made through SEPA bank account transfers and paypal. 

FieldAgent:

An iphone app that helps you find many small gigs to do in your desired area, like completing surveys, taking pictures, collecting audio and videos etc. Task are available anywhere from $3.00 to $12.00 and payments are made via paypal. It has also been featured on Forbes,  CNET and The New York Times. 

Amazon Mechanical Turk:

Here, at Amazon Mechanical Turk, you can make money simply by working in HITS-human intelligence tasks. You can work anywhere in the world and choose whatever HITS match your skills. Submit the task to the one who posted and when it approves, you get paid through your amazon account.

Shorttask:

This site divides individuals into two categories i.e. seekers and solvers. The seekers (companies or individuals) offer the task and the solvers solve the task. The solvers get paid once the seeker approves the task. thousands of small tasks are posted everyday like writing a review, transcribing a video, posting a blog, taking a photo, leaving a comment etc. You can withdraw your money once it reaches $50.00.

Gigcoin:

It is an online platform that can also be managed through iphone application. At Gigcoin you can apply for small gigs posted that match your skills such as blogging, writing, surveys, promoting a product etc. Payments are made fast and through paypal. Gigcoin even pays the paypal fees of its members. The minimum payout is $5. 

Gigwalk:

Gigwalk is a platform for workforce individuals based on mobile. It effectively manages distributed teams and collaboration with other workers just by using smartphones. You simply have to register, apply and complete the task. Gigwalk is available in multiple US cities and is featured by Forbes, CNN and Business Insider.

CrowdFlower:

CrowdFlower is yet another online virtual platform where you can complete tasks relating to data collection, designing, translation, content creation, internet search etc. It has around 5 million contributors worldwide.  

Microworker:

Microworkers is a virtual platform used by almost 700,000 users worldwide. It offers small tasks like filling out a form, promoting an app, leaving a comment, collecting data, generating content etc. Jobs are updated every four hour and the minimum withdrawal amount is $2.00.

DoMyStuff:

It is a virtual platform where anyone can bid for small tasks that might include mowing the lawn, picking up dry cleaning, finding assistant etc. You can find or post jobs based on location, rates and other limits.

Does anyone of you make money using these or any other platforms? Which companies work for you and which don't?

Freelancing And Freelancer Sites

Are you a freelancer? Or do you know who is called a freelancer and what does freelancing mean? Let me define what is freelancing and why the concept is being popularized day by day. A freelancer, as the dictionary definition describes, is someone who performs tasks, usually for multiple employers, over the course of a year. Freelancers are not considered as employees, hence, they can work for other employers and are permitted to work in their own way. This concept is called freelancing. Freelancers are can choose to work either full-time, part-time or on hourly basis. There are a variety of online jobs available for freelancers worldwide and anyone can earn income just by getting those jobs. There are many websites for freelancers, but the following ones are famous among freelancers worldwide due to their easy terms and payment security.

Freelancer:

Freelancer is another freelance sites that connects contractors around the world easily. It offers it services in areas like administrative support, design and multimedia, sales and marketing, customer support, database management, networking, software development etc. It is used by almost 8.2 million contractors worldwide and up to this day, almost 5 million jobs have been posted. The estimated combined value of projects is 1.2 billion dollars. 

Jobs are posted on the base of hourly and fixed rate and the target users are individual and small businesses. The service fee is 10%, while contractor's earning percentage is 87%. There is no posting and subscription fee.

Fiverr:

Fiverr is a great idea based on "offering a gig", what service you can offer for just $5. Every service offered at fiverr starts from $5 and contract winner can charge the client additional price for additional services not included in the $5 gig. 

Fiverr offers services in areas like writing and translation, video and animation, marketing, business and administrative support, research, programming and technology, advertising, graphic designing etc. Any seller can post as many gigs as he or she wants and have to wait until a buyer buys the gig. 

Fiverr is easy and convenient but it is relatively expensive as it charges 20% of the transaction amount as its service fee,for every $5 gig you sold, you get $4.

Elance: 

An Upwork company, Elance offers services in similar areas like customer services, information technology, sales and marketing, education and training, business support etc. It is employed by almost 2.5 million contractors around the globe for job offerings and to this date 3.5 million jobs have been posted. The target users are small businesses, enterprises and individuals. jobs are posted based on fixed and hourly rate.

The service fee is 8.75% and the transaction money is secured by Escrow Service. the contractor's earning percentage is 91.25%. There is no posting and subscription fee.

Guru:

Guru is a growing freelance community, with over 1.5 million members worldwide. It offers services in areas  similar to other freelance sites like education, programming, networking, information technology, customer support, software development, multimedia production etc. Up to this day, almost 1 million jobs have been posted and $200 million have been paid to gurus worldwide. 

Guru charges its service fee dependent on the membership level of the freelancer, i.e. basic and basic+ members pay 8.95% of the transaction amount as service cost, professional members pay 6.95%, business members pay 5.95% and executive members pay 4.95%.

Toptal:

Toptal is yet another famous freelance site that has expertise in the field of developers. It connects highly professional developers in the field of technology and engineering with businesses around the world. It claims to have the top 3% of the developers worldwide. Toptal's clients are famous national and multinational companies like J.P Morgan, Airbnb, Zendesk, Gucci etc. Toptal has it screening test for developers which they have to pass to qualify as a professional developer.

The pricing strategy used by toptal is based on the mutual consent of the toptal and its clients. generally it divides its pricing strategy into the following four categories;

1. $1,800 - $3,200+/week per full-time Front-End or Back-End engineer

2. $1,000 - $1,600+/week per part-time Front-End or Back-End engineer

3. $1,200 - $1,800+/week per full-time Quality Assurance (QA) engineer

4. $600 - $1,000+/week per part-time Quality Assurance (QA) engineer

Peopleperhour:

It is also among the top freelancer sites that offer services in areas like web development, information technology, administrative support, writing and translation, design and multimedia etc. It is used by almost a half million contractors worldwide and services are offered on hourly basis.

A 15% of the transaction amount is deducted as service charges and an additional 3.5% is deducted as employer commission, with remaining 81.5% of the transaction amount being paid by the freelancer.

Upwork:

Previously oDesk, Upwork is designed for enterprises, individuals, and small business users. It is an outsourcing marketplace that offers services in many areas including writing and translation, software development, administrative support, customer services, sales and marketing, networking, information technology etc. These services are listed and required by almost 3.1 million contractors worldwide and to this date 3.6 million jobs have been completed. Billions of dollars are paid annually to freelancers around the world. 

Anyone can post and register for a job free of cost. A fee of 10% of the transaction amount is deducted as commission for the services provided by the company. Moreover, contractor's earning percentage is 90%. 

99design:

99design is yet another freelance sites that provides a rich design services worldwide. Its service areas include designs for logos, websites, apparels, infographics, merchandise, books, packaging etc. employers need to select a level, based on their work requirements related to quality and quantity, and outsource their contracts worldwide. Designers around the globe will create ideas for the employers and the successful designer will win the contract. 

The pricing strategy varies depending on the level of your contract and the nature of the work. for example, logo design in bronze level cost $299, silver level cost $499, in gold level cost $799 and in platinum level cost $1199. The work quality and quantity varies alongside these factors.

There are many others freelance sites available, but these are the most famous and used by millions of people worldwide. They assure quality work and secured payment method. 

In the end, I would like to make certain concepts more clear and comprehensible.

Employer commission is a service fee the marketplace takes from the employer that is based on the total price of the project they are posting.

Contractor's earning commission is he total percentage of the list price for a service that the contractor will receive, after all applicable fees and commissions have been subtracted. Sites that have 100% contractor earnings percentage instead charge employers a fee to post a project or assignment.

If anyone of you has ever worked with a freelancing platform, share it your experience of working with our readers in the comments below.

Best Ten Sites For Selling Artwork

Are you an artist looking for making some money out of your art? Selling the art has never been so easy before than it is nowadays. The beginning of online virtual marketplaces has made buying and selling quite convenient and quick. Now anyone can buy and sell anything through these marketplaces. Artists worldwide also has started buying and selling their arts through these virtual marketplaces. Here are the best eight virtual marketplaces for selling artworks online. 

Amazon:

At Amazon you can buy and sell anything you love. Amazon Art Curators allow artists from all over the world sell their paintings, drawings, photography, prints and mixed media. Artists can choose what and how they want to sell. Prices vary accordingly. For example, artists selling more than 40 artworks are required to choose professional plan and have to pay $40.00/month as service charges plus a sales commission. The site also has experts from art, fashion and design who choose their favorite picks in the art gallery.

Artisouls:

Artisouls is virtual marketplace for selling handmade and vintage products. Artists can sell jewelery, health care items, furniture, apparels, craft supplies etc. There is no membership fee for listing items, rather there is only a 5% service charges on sales price.

Artpal:

Artpal is a growing community of artists for buying and selling art online. Artists can create their own gallery without any membership fee and sell anything they want (photography, paintings, sculptures, glasses etc). It's up to the seller either it prints and sells itself or just designs and let the company print and sell the art. If the seller decides to print and sell itself, the company retains 5% of the sales price as service fee.  

Creative Market:

Creative market is a website used by almost ten thousand independent artists to sell photos, graphics, templates, themes, fonts etc. Artists have access to their own gallery and can set their own price and change them anytime they want. Artists retain 70% of the sales price. 

Etsy:

At Etsy artists and craftspeople can open up their own online retail shop and sell their artwork that may include vintage items, handmade goods, designs, paintings, craft supplies etc. It only costs $0.20 to list the item until it sells and a service fee of 3.5% of the sales price when the item is sold. 

Red Bubble:

It is one of best artwork selling platform, with artists selling any artwork related to apparels, home decor, wall art, cases, stationary etc. Artists only have to to create designs and the company will deal with the rest of things_printing, shipping and customer service. Currently, artists on average make 17% profit margin of the retail price, but they are free to choose whatever profit margin they like.

Saatchi Art:

It is also among the world's famous online marketplace for selling artworks. Saatchi art allows artists to upload images of their artwork for free and sell them at their own price. Artists can make changes to their art gallery and price any time they want. Saatchi charges 30% of the sales price as it service fee.

Society6:

It is a growing platform which contains some cool pieces of artwork. Here, artists sell their attractive pieces of artwork for men, women, children and home-decoration. Artworks may include apparels, cases and skins, pillows, mugs etc. Young artists should give it a try.    

Yessy:

It is one of the oldest sites for selling art online. Artists can sell sculptures, carvings, illustrations, photography, jewelery, antiques, pottery etc. There is free 14-day trial, but afterwards an annual fee of $59.00 is applied. Yessy doesn't charge any sales commission. 

Zazzle:

Zazzle is an interesting online platform for creating and selling one's own merchandise. Artists can create their own unique merchandise design and upload it. The company will manufacture and ship the product on their behalf and shares a percentage of revenue with them. Artists can post any merchandise design from electronics, clothes, glasses, photos etc.

These sites are making great success among the masses of people and millions of people every month visit them and buy their favorite artworks online and easily. These sites allowed artists all over the world to make a good income from their unique arts.  

Best 12 Paid Surveys Sites

We all usually have a bit of spare time, with no realistic work to opt for. Why not we invest it and turn into cash. Online surveys is a great job for people who want to earn without making any hard efforts. Many big and small companies throughout the world invest billions of dollars annually to examine the market and its behavior. They infact want to know their customers and their shopping trends and patterns. For this they conduct research surveys which give them valuable information related to their customers and the market. Reaching the customers in the market and getting a valuable insight is not easy.

Finding this gap between the businesses and the customers, some people and companies have started creating a platform to connect both these entities-these are survey companies. Survey companies help other multinational and national firms in getting their survey research filled and completed. There are many survey firms in the market, but there are only some who are legit and does pay actually. 

These companies pay out a small fee for filling each survey form. Only one form is assigned to a person. The from-fillers are just required to give their opinions and get paid for it. Form-fillers can make hundereds of dollars every month with this technique. 

Few things form-fillers should know before they fill the form are 1. whether they qualify for the survey (as many surveys are restricted to ages, location, industry etc)? and 2. they should be honest while filling the form, otherwise their form will be rejected. 

These are some of the best legit online survey companies;


Global Test Market:

Super Pay Me:

Inbox Dollars:

My Surveys:

Cash Crate:

Permission Research:

Minds Pay Us:

Survey Savvy:

Vip Voice:

Ponit2Shop:

Earning Station:

Harris Poll:

Do these sites earn you some money of gifts? If you are using other sites, you may share them with our viewers.

Best Ten Sites For Website Testing

Do you know you can make money online just by giving your opinions about website design, quality, ease-of-use, performance etc. Companies want to know if their websites are user-friendly or not. They need assurance that their websites have quality content, attractive design and is user-friendly, as these are the factors that attract traffic to the website. If their websites lack quality content and design, they can lose traffic and, hence, money. For this reason they hire website testers to provide them significant insight into their websites-for the content and design being user-friendly.

So, what a website tester is expected to do?

A website tester is expected to examine the content, design and ease-of-use of the website and provide useful information to the company in how they can make positive changes to the website design and content. 

The things you need to be a website tester is you being Internet savvy, an Internet connection, updated browser, microphone, and basic English language skills. You may also need writing skills as some companies might require you to write the website reviews.

Here are the seven legit website testers platforms;

Analysia:

Analysia is a great platform for website testers. It just takes 15 minutes to complete a task on Analysia and for each task the website tester is paid $10.00. Anyone with an internet connection and a microphone can apply for the task. Payments are made via paypal.

Enroll:

With enroll, you can take website-testing tasks either your phones, tablets or desktops. Tests are assigned before website-publishing and each task earns the website-tester rewards which can be compensated for cash. Payments are made via paypal. Once registered, you will be invited for participation in tests via your email address.

Feedback Army:

The tasks are based on questions and testers are required to answer those questions. Each test is based on 10 questions about websites. You should have an account with Amazon Mechanical Turk before working for feedback army. Payment varies from website to website and are transferred, once the test is approved, to the tester's Amazon Payment account. 

Loop 11:

Anyone as young as the age of 14 can take tests and make $5.00 per completed test. Each test takes 10 minutes to complete. The site has also been featured by Mashable, Entrepreneur and GetApp.

TryMyUi: 

It allows testers to provide feedback on websites, concepts, designs, ideas, products, apps and stores. testers are required to pass a sample qualification test before receiving assignments. Each task pays $10.00 and take 15 to 20 minutes. Payments are made biweekly and via paypal.

Userfeel:

Userfeel pays $10 for each task website-testers take. The registration process also involves a sample test and once your registration approved, you will start receiving tasks through your email. Payments are made at the end of each week and via paypal. 

User Testing:

User-testing is available for every website-tester who can receive payments via paypal. Companies like Google, Airbnb, Walmart, Home Depot is using this site. Each task earns the website-tester $10.00 or in some cases even $15.00. Each test takes 15 to 20 minutes.

You Eye:

With YouEye, websites-testers can earn $12.00 per assignment. For receiving more tasks, a smartphone is recommended for the site's official app. Website-tester must be 18 years old.

WhatUsersDo:

WhatUsersDo pay around $12.50 per completed task and payments are made via paypal on the 25th of each month. Each task takes less than 20 minutes to complete. While doing the task, the testers activity is recorded. 

Userlytics:

With Userlytics, testers can earn by providing feedback on websites, prototypes, applications etc. Each test earns the tester $10.00 and payments are made via paypal. The presence of webcam and microphone is required for completing tests.

So have any of you ever worked as a website-tester. If yes, kindly share which site you work for and how is your experience. Your sharing will benefit our viewers and will be highly appreciated.