Affiliate Blogging and The Art of Slow Cooking

I’ve been researching on how blogs can be used as a means to promote affiliate programs because I’m pretty interested in how blogs seem to have some natural potential for building stable and long-term relationships between the affiliate and the customer.
Blogs grow over time and their accumulated content is a gold-mine for search engines and the targeted traffic they bring. While contextual Ad networks like Adsense are effective, passive ways of earning money from a blog, I think affiliate programs are superior in many aspects, particularly in terms of long-term profit.
Here are some reasons why.

• Higher earning potential – doesn’t only depend on ad impressions and clicks
• Better integration with a blog’s niche/content- No matter how you blend contextual ads, they won’t fit in completely.
• Earnings do not entirely depend on a blog’s popularity, Page Rank or number of readers
• Variety – There are a large range of products to suit every website niche.

Organic Blogs and Affiliate Marketing
In a recent post, Shoemoney offers an answer to the question of how to choose a CPA affiliate:

My approach is to build organic traffic to a niche and test different affiliates. Then when I find something that works I will put a lot of PPC money behind it. This is not the popular way to do it though because a lot of people will not put in the time and effort that it takes to build a organic site that will stand the test of time (not spammed to crap) and they want overnight millions. it just is not so.

Some background information. CPA affiliates or Cost-Per-Action affiliates refer to ad networks, retailers or companies that will pay you commission for every visitor you refer to their website, who fulfills a specific action such as subscribing to a newsletter or opening a new account. The more popular CPA affiliates include loan consolidation services and cellphone providers but are not limited to these categories.
When we relate Shoemoney’s advice to the area of blogs, this does suggest that real blogs with search-engine friendly content can be a effective long-term way to promote specific affiliate programs. I think the emphasis on an organic site (one that receives most of its traffic from search engines) is accurate because such a site continues to receive highly targeted traffic over time and doesn’t solely depend on ad campaigns for traffic.
Here are a few other reasons why I think organic blogs are an excellent ways to make money from affiliate marketing.
You can only milk so much out of a static squeeze page. Once a consumer has seen and dismissed it, there’s very little chance of them making a repeat visit. On the other hand, blogs can offer a variety of updated information and are a persuasive means that will eventually convert doubtful consumers into willing referrals.
A prime example of how blogs are rapidly used to promote affiliate programs can be seen in the massive number of blogs created to solely promote Agloco, a program that pays you to surf the internet. I ran a search on Google for ‘Agloco‘ and easily found several blogs in the top 20 search results. If you take a look at these blogs, you’ll notice that they update relatively regularly to generate buzz and dispel doubts, while actively calling for sign-ups.
Blogs are like slow-cookers. They work by gradually cajoling a visitor into action, while seeking to diffuse all misconceptions or hesitation surrounding a specific product. Blogs can also be persistent in a non-intrusive way. One page ads hammer the consumer with benefits and testimonials while the well developed blog makes friends with the consumer, saying “Here’s all I know about the product. Let me know if you need more help.”
Some thoughts on the Ideal Affiliate Blog
I’m planning to set up some blogs for some specific affiliate programs and so came up with a list of axioms I wanted to follow:

• The blog should use unique content as much as possible. Good for both search engines and readers.
• The blog must have a very strong niche that relates to the affiliate program in question.
• The blog must provide easy access to information that is perceived as authentic or even ‘objective’
• The blog should not run too many ads. Consumers tend to see over-monetization as profit > value.
• The blog must be up-to-date on the trends surrounding the niche. Outdated news doesn’t reflect well.
• The blog should practice invisibility. The consumer should not know that you are doing affiliate marketing, i.e. getting a cut of the product sold. Debatable.
• The blog should evolve seamlessly to include other product or market trends.
• The blog should have a personality and opinion. In the end, it’s a person-to-person recommendation that does the trick.

While not exhaustive, I think these points can help to determine the effectiveness of a blog that is solely monetized by affiliate commissions. While traffic is important for contextual programs like Adsense and Page Rank is vital for link selling, affiliate blogs need to focus more on persuasive copy writing, effective search engine optimization and most importantly, issues of trust between the customer and the affiliate.
Affiliate marketing with blogs is a fascinating topic for me, because blogs just seem to have so much natural advantage when it comes to building a consistent consumer base for affiliate programs. More on this topic to come.
If you’re interested in participating in a little affiliate experiment, please visit my post on how to make money with Pageflakes.

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Affiliate Marketing Tip: Use Unique Brand Names to Increase Conversion Rates.

I was checking my Gmail account when I noticed an interesting ad near the top of the screen. It was from a recruitment team that was seeking to hire professionals with an interest in marketing guru, Seth Godin’s work.
The copy for the ad read:

If you Read Seth I Want U: If you are reading Seth Godin’s blog I want to hire you!
The main reason why I clicked on the ad was because I am a regular reader of Seth Godin’s blog. After clicking on the ad, I was taken to a webpage which immediately requested for my resume and credentials. Talk about super targeted Adwords traffic!
Here’s a screen shot of the Seth Godin Ad. Click for a better view:

The advertiser got exactly what he wanted:

• A perfect candidate that is interested in Seth Godin’s work.
• A visitor that is looking for information related to Seth Godin.
• A visitor that is ready to consume any product or sales pitch concerning Seth Godin.

The advertiser could be trying to sell me Seth Godin T-shirts and I might even buy some if there was a convincing sales copy and offer price.
Why? Because the advertiser is appealing to me through a subject (Seth Godin) that I’m already familiar with and is of interest to me.
This proves what most expert affiliate marketers already know: that unique brand names or phrases are effective ways to presell a product or service through Pay Per Click Campaigns.
If you’re an affiliate marketer running a PPC program, you want value-for-money clicks that lead to conversions and not poorly targeted traffic that disappear when they find that your product or website is different from what they expected.

How Unique Brand Names Can Be Used in PPC Campaigns: An Example

Here’s an example. Let’s assume that I want to promote subscriptions to a popular independent rock music magazine.
Instead of using generic promotional terms like “Coolest Indie Rock Magazine Ever” I could try using unique related brand names or phrases to get targeted traffic.
For instance, I might use the phrase “Sonic Youth loves our indie rock mag“.
By doing this, I’m preselling the subscription through a unique brand name (the band, Sonic Youth), one that not only appeals to indie rock fans but will only be appreciated or understood by indie rock fans.
This ensures a very high conversion rate and allows you to get the best results from your Pay Per Click campaigns.

Another benefit of using unique names is that they tend to attract curiosity clicks. For example, If I didn’t know who Seth Godin or Sonic Youth was, I might still click on the ad just to find out more about the person behind the brand name.
This can be useful when you are primarily using Pay Per Click campaigns to generate awareness for your product, service or website.
Learning how to use unique brand names is a beginner’s trick that has helped me consistently in all of my affiliate campaigns.
Researching on relevant brand names can help you to maximize your Pay Per Click campaign potential while ensuring that you’ll only attract the most targeted and willing consumers.
Seeing the Seth Godin Ad just reminded me of this affiliate marketing tip and I thought I should share it with you all out there.
Have fun optimizing your PPC campaigns!

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Pre-empting the Buyer: How to Increase Affiliate Conversions and Advertising Sales

I recently signed up as an affiliate for Aaron Wall’s SEO Book (aff) and took a good look at the salesletter, which was apparently rewrote by Brian Clark late last year. The copy for the new sales letter was well done and I think the main improvement was the reduction in its length as well as the strategic insertions of recommendations from notable personalities like Seth Godin and Wharton Professor J Michael Steel.
A more subtle but equally powerful change was moving the specific call to query or feedback all the way down to the bottom of the page. Here’s a side by side comparison of the old (left) and new (right) sales letter.

The old newsletter puts a list of additional recommendations and reviews below the call to query and potential buyers who are as yet undecided might be swayed to click on them instead of the designated query link.
This is a bad move because these links point to reviews or webpages that may not be effective in taking advantage of the buyer’s interest in SEO Book. It also assumes that the buyer requires more detailed information or sales pitches when this might not be the case all the time.
On the other hand, the new sales letter removes all the external links and leaves the call to query right at the bottom. This is more professional and gives the effect that all information has been duly presented and laid out before the buyer.
Having had the impression of perusing all there is to know about the SEOBook, the buyer will be persuaded that clicking on the link is the final option available.
Here is a screenshot of what shows up when you click on the “if you aren’t ready to buy, click here” link:

Collecting feedback from your potential buyers or advertisers is a tremendously important process because it allows you to customize your product price or ad offering to suit their needs.
Implementing the Call-to-Query on your own Blog or Affiliate Landing Page
Here are two very quick and simple steps you can undertake in order to increase the likelihood of affiliate conversions and advertiser signups

1. Create a short one-liner that pre-empts the potential customer by suggesting that they are still indecisive about buying a product or committing to an arrangement. Include this at the bottom of your sales page or Advertising options page on your blog.
2. Develop a customized feedback page and point the link in the one-liner to it. For bloggers, I would suggest creating another Contact page with a customized message for advertisers. Something like Aaron’s feedback box would be ideal.

And you’re all set. Potential customers and advertisers can be rather hesitant when it comes to spending money and this little trick allows them to directly communicate all concerns they might have with you one-on-one.
This feedback loop also allows you to enter into a two-way negotiation process which ultimately gives you more willing and long-term buyers or advertisers.

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Six Powerful Blog Strategies that will Rapidly Increase Your Affiliate Referrals

Imagine this scenario. You’ve just came across an amazing website which offers a lucrative affiliate program. You signed up instantly as an affiliate and are itching to promote your referral link to as many people you know.
You hook up a new thread in a forum and insert your referral link after a short pitch, perhaps you’ll also leave a few comments on a few blogs with the referral link as the URL or signature.
You might even publish a short blog post which consists of nothing but a short opener, an excerpt from the website in question and your big fat affiliate referral link.
You sit back and eagerly check your referral stats. How many people signed up? How much am I earning? You set plans for tommorrow: maybe send some emails to people you know and create a banner or button for your blog. You probably think you’ve done a good job and are guaranteed a cashcow that will give you recurring earnings. Right?
Wrong. Promoting your affiliate link goes beyond the above steps, which are really promotional spurts directed at short-term gains. If the affiliate program offers recurring commission earnings, creating a focused, long term promotional strategy is of vital importance.
Six Key Strategies to Boost your Affiliate Referrals
Here are a collection of six points which anyone can use to increase their number of referrals for any affiliate program or website. These points apply across various industries and emphasize on long-term over short-term referral gains.
Note that they mainly apply to blogs, though they could easily be applied to other general websites.

1. Early Search Result Listings are Essential – Get Ranked Fast.
Being one of the first few people to write about a specific website or affiliate scheme will allow you to easily get ranked within the top 10 for most search engines. This is because there is very little competition for the specific term or keyphrase.
Another benefit of getting listed early is that people will usually do a search for a specific website because they need more details about it. You should aim to fill that information need because they’ll very likely sign up through your link if there are no other or very little sources available.
I’ve gotten over 1,000 Agloco referrals just because I’ve written a review of Agloco when it was just released a few months back.
I’ve not even bothered to update the review with fresh information and I’ve done absolutely nothing to increase my referrals. No forum spamming, no blog post pitches, no PPC campaigns, no email marketing, no article submissions. Nada. Nothing.
This was largely because I was ranked number one on Google for ‘Agloco Review‘ for some time. In fact, my post is still listed in the Top 5 results at the moment. This has allowed me to receive consistent search traffic everyday for several months.
Dosh Dosh also has strong result rankings for dozens of unique keywords, which ensures that I continue to make money through affiliate recommendations, even though my blog is completely free of contextual or banner ads.

2. Project Authenticity, Personality and Objectivity through Your Blog
Visitors who arrive your blog looking for specific information do not need another sales pitch. They’ve very likely been pre-sold, meaning that they’ve been persuaded to some extent by the website or business in question.
What they want is personal recommendations. Strive for objectivity and honesty when you are writing your review about the specific product. This means giving both good and bad points about a specific product.
Your review will be even better if you can include your personal experiences with the product in question. My Gangster Greed review is a good example of how I try to inculcate all these points.

3. Strive for Content Depth, Breadth and Uniqueness
Always try to surpass the other blogger that writes about the same topic by coming up with a review of far greater depth and detail. Explore questions which have not been addressed and link to sources which the other bloggers have missed.
Being unique and meticulous makes you a reference point and authority on the topic. This builds incoming links which will eventually help you rank well in the long run.
An example of this is my post on Adsense Wordpress Themes. The amount of material covered and the uniqueness of it (no one has ever done it before) has led a very large number of natural incoming links over time and has allowed me to consistently rank in the top five for several keywords.
Put yourself in the potential linker’s shoe. Would you rather send your reader to a short blog post with only 100 words on a product/website or you prefer to send them to a well-written 1000 word article which thoroughly examines the subject in question?
4. Optimize your Blog Post for Search Traffic
Writing with search engines in mind can make the whole article feel stunted and so I’ve never emphasized on stuffing keywords or phrases in specific sections of content. Don’t do it. It’s a waste of time and may degrade the overall quality of your post.
Demonstrating a personality that others can relate too is far more important when you are planning to increase affiliate referrals.
The only place where its absolutely essential to include your keyword or phrase is within the title of your blog post. Adjusting your post-slug and permalink to include the keyword structure is also helpful and can help to reduce the length of the URL as a whole.
However, pleasing the reader or potential referral is of utmost importance. Always try to target niche phrases that fit nicely within your article and if you really want to, buy or get others to include keyword links to your article.

5. Use Trackbacks Effectively to Generate Exposure
Don’t just come across a specific item and write about it as if you were the one discovering it. By referencing the original news breaker, a relevant link to your post will be listed beneath their original article in the form of a trackback.
This is a great way to get very targeted traffic because readers might need more information on the specific website/program. If your article is good enough, the blogger in question might even update the original post and include a link to it.
The trick to trackbacking is to reference as many relevant and high traffic blogs as possible. To keep on top of popular news from other high profile blogs, I suggest using content aggregators or meme trackers which allow you easily reference several blogs at once.

6. Leech Traffic from Relevant Blogs
This is a method that I have used for a while. Say you’ve just written a great article on a specific website or program and included your affiliate links. The next step is to promote your article through relevant niche blogs.
How do you do this? Use Google Alerts to set up notifications when bloggers write a post about the specific topic in question. This sends an automated email to your inbox every day or once a week.
You can then visit specific blogs and leave a relevant comment while discreetly mentioning your review. This is a great way to acquire potential referrals who are commitment-phobic and need more information.
Depending on the traffic level for each blog, you’ll tend to get a few visitors who will be interested enough to visit your website. Just remember to deeplink to the specific post and not your blog homepage.
This method also has the benefit of allowing you to easily stay in touch with the latest news concerning the specific program, which allows you to update your blog or website accordingly.
Another way to do this is to hang out at social websites like Digg or Reddit and visit blogs that are very likely to hit the homepage. Leaving an interesting comment will induce visitors to your blog. This is far less targeted than using Google Alerts but can lead to greater traffic flow.

Key Point Summary – A Checklist to Follow

• Write a blog post after you sign up for an affiliate program. Pick keywords or keyphrases that are likely to receive more search volume.
• Check if you are making a personal recommendation and come across as authentic/objective.
• Is your review detailed and unique enough? Does it cover new ground or offer new perspectives?
• Optimize your Blog post. Are the keywords in the title?
• Remember to use references and send trackbacks.
• Keep track of articles from other bloggers on the same topic. Have you set up a Google Alert or found a way to keep up with news on a specific topic?

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How to Use Blog Traffic Exchanges to Make Money with Affiliate Programs

The key to making money through affiliate programs or other forms of advertising is traffic, which is simply the sheer number of visitors who arrive at your blog daily.
In terms of affiliate marketing, the more visitors you have, the more opportunities or capacity you will have to recommend or successively promote any products, services or websites.
There are many different ways to market your blog and gain more visitors which will eventually allow you to make money through blog-based affiliate marketing.The use of blog traffic exchanges is one method you should consider.

How do Blog Traffic Exchanges Work?

Blog Traffic Exchanges are simply websites which operate on a reciprocal viewing ratio, whereby you’ll manually surf and visit various blogs in the network, in return for other users to visit your blog.
For example, by logging into a blog traffic exchange and visiting one blog in their network, I would earn one credit which means that I’ll get one visit in return from another blogger who is using the same traffic network.
This is the most basic principle of all blog traffic exchanges, although some exchange networks will allow you to buy credits which will translate to visitor traffic from other users.

What are the requirements to use a Blog Traffic Exchange?

The most basic prerequisite is that you will need to own a blog. Registration for these blog traffic exchanges are usually free and all you’ll need to do is to submit your blog and start surfing to accumulate traffic credits, which will ensure that other users surf and visit your blog as well.

Do I really need to use a Blog Traffic Exchange?

I would say that these exchanges are very useful for new blogs who need to get more exposure but established blogs with strong organic traffic from search engines, probably do not need to use them.
Note however, that this post is less about getting traffic or exposure to your blog and more about how to make money through the targeted monetization of blog traffic exchange visitors.
As such, it could apply for both new and more established blogs as long as the blogger in question is looking for a way to make money off their blog through affiliate programs.

Types of Blog traffic exchanges

There are several of them out there and most of the ones I’ve tried seem to have similar blogs on their networks. BlogExplosion and BlogMad are two of the largest traffic exchanges out there and I suggest only using them if you don’t have much time.
Here is the list of four blog traffic exchanges I’ve come across and used so far:
1. Blog Explosion


2. BlogMad


3. Blog Soldiers


4. Blog Advance

Benefits of Using Blog Traffic Exchanges

• Free exposure for new blogs. New blogs usually have very little referral or search traffic and the focus is on getting people to know your blog actually exists. Blog Traffic exchanges can perform this function and may even help to increase your initial reader base before organic traffic from search engines starts to kick in.
• Building long-term referral traffic. Traffic exchange visitors are all bloggers and are the people you want to attract when you are trying to build a much bigger readership. The more bloggers you have reading your blog, the more potential for incoming links and future referral traffic.

Disadvantages and Limitations of Blog Traffic Exchanges

Here are some points to take note of, if you are interested in using blog traffic exchanges for your blog. Only after taking these factors into consideration, should you proceed to the six steps that I’ve outlined in the later part of this article.

• Negative Effects on Publisher Accounts with ad networks

  Some bloggers have suggested that advertising networks like Adsense do not allow the use of traffic exchanges, because they generate artificial traffic and ad impressions.
  I have used blogs with Adsense on them in the past and have not received any warning. But this was probably because I was not actively using traffic exchanges on a regular basis.
  I would recommend that you email your ad network to confirm if they allow the use of traffic exchanges. I personally would not run any advertising programs while using these exchanges.
  If you want to monetize this traffic, I would suggest purely using affiliate programs for products or services.
• Visitor Traffic is Poorly Targeted Blog traffic exchanges are similar to StumbleUpon in that you’ll never really know what to expect. For some exchanges like Blog Explosion, you can choose to surf blogs only in a specific field but I’m not sure how many users actually use this function.
  Unlike search traffic, visitors coming through traffic exchanges do not require or seek specific information so anything you offer could be hit or miss. I suggest sticking to general topics if you are promoting affiliate programs.
• Limited Market Scope The traffic that you are trying to monetize is actually limited only to the users of each Traffic Exchange. This means that after consistently using each exchange for a while, the quality of the traffic as it relates to affiliate programs might decrease.
  One can only hope that by then, you would have build up a strong enough audience base which you can tap for future monetization efforts.
• Manual Surfing is Time-consuming Unless you buy traffic credits, you’ll have to manually surf other blogs through the traffic exchanges in return for other bloggers to visit your website. This can be a time consuming process and can also distract you from other tasks at hand.

How to Use Traffic Exchanges to Make Money from your Blog

Before I get into the gritty details on how you can effectively monetize blog traffic exchange visitors, I’ll be very clear on what type of blogs will work best for this.

• Your blog should have unique content and should not just be a feed scrapper blog which reposts articles and links. Spam and copyright issues are of some concern to blog traffic exchange networks.
• The blog must not be a sales letter or website in disguise. I’m referring to blogs whereby every single article sells a product or contains various affiliate links. Bloggers and exchange network admins can usually identify these sites as spam, not to mention that it might negatively impact the trust level of a new visitor.
• Blogs with cookie-cutter templates will not work as well as blogs that have unique and well designed themes. This is a simple fact because you only have less than 30 seconds before the visitor clicks through to the next blog. The design must magnetize and capture the blogger’s attention.
• The first blog post on the blog should not use excerpts or the more tag. The blog post should be displayed in full so there is less risk that the visitor will ignore it. Other non-monetized posts without affiliate links should be excerpted.

Six Steps to Easily Monetize Blog Traffic Exchange Visitors

The emphasis here for both new and established blogs is to ONLY start using blog traffic exchanges immediately after one has publish an article that promotes a specific affiliate program or website.
This is because your blog post (with affiliate links) will be right at top in your homepage and this is where most visitors will direct their attention.
Traffic exchanges are time consuming and if you have not written a post which promotes an affiliate program or product, I see no reason to waste your time on them because the monetization potential is just not there.
Remember, don’t use these exchanges everyday for every single new post you write. Only use them extensively after you write a post which contains affiliate/referral links that will allow you to make money through personal recommendations.
The emphasis is on getting visitor to read your post, click through on the links and proceed to either sign up for the recommended website or make a quick purchase.
Here are the six steps you should take:

1. Write a great post or review about a specific affiliate product or website. Offer an authentic opinion which provides both pros and cons of the program. Do NOT aggressively sell the product. Write naturally in a conversational style.
2. Remove all other advertising networks on your site. It helps to build a little credibility while centralizing focus on the article. You can always put them back up after you’ve done a few rounds of traffic trades.
3. Dress up your sidebars and the area after your post by prominently displaying buttons, banners or text links which either lead to a review page on your blog about the affiliate product or an affiliate landing page or original product website through your referral link. This is another net to catch visitors who don’t click through within the article itself.
4. Start to surf the blog traffic exchanges. Open up two or more exchange websites in separate tabs and start manually surfing. If you don’t mind spending money, an alternative would be to purchase some traffic credits.
5. Monitor the number of click throughs through basic stats programs like Google Analytics or MyBlogLog. Also check to see the number of signups or purchases through the affiliate center for the programs you’ve promoted.
6. Repeat the entire process if there is an acceptable number of conversions. A minimum of 5% conversion ratio, i.e. five new signups or purchases per 100 visitors over two days would be considered an appropriate standard.

Conclusion: Blog Traffic Exchanges & Monetization

We have examined the use of blog traffic exchanges from a very targeted perspective, which only emphasizes the importance of getting multiple visitors to view specific affiliate program recommendations on your blog.
As such, blog traffic exchanges could also be seen as blitz marketing tools which will allow you to get rapid exposure for a specific post within a short time frame.
It is important to note that the use of traffic exchanges should definitely accompany a well rounded monetization strategy that focuses on building consistent organic and referral traffic from search engines and other websites.

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Make Money with Website Templates – Template Monster’s Affiliate Program

Template Monster is a popular online store which offers readymade website templates for webmasters and businesses. Other products from their large inventory includes pre-made Flash templates, Wordpress and other CMS themes, logos as well as osCommerce templates for online stores.
Affiliates earn 20% commissions on all purchases made via their affiliate link or template shop. Templates generally range from $5 to $3500, which means that you do have a chance to make some substantial earnings.
I do like the fact that Template Monster’s affiliate program uses permanent cookies, which means that when someone visits Template Monster via your affiliate link, a cookie is set on their browser which allows you to get commission from purchases even a few months later when the visitor revisits Template Monster to make a purchase.
This is useful because the visitor may not buy something on impulse but may return to the site a while later to make a more thorough purchase.

What is the target market for Template Monster’s products?

I assume that the majority of the potential buyers would be businesses or webmasters who are establishing new business projects or ventures.
While there are CMS and blog templates, I doubt most bloggers would purchase them as there is a large variety of free Wordpress themes readily available. You might just do slightly better with bulletin board crowd, although they have their fair share of free templates as well.
Other web designers might also be a possible target market. Your affiliate links for Template Monster would perform well on websites largely dealing with webmaster, business or design orientated topics.
Similar to the affiliate program for Best of the Web, Template Monster could also be used as an add-on referral if you are providing a professional service (SEO and Marketing etc.) for a client.

How do I make money with TemplateMonster.com?

There are three main ways to make money with Template Monster:
1. Refer visitors through your affiliate link to the Template Monster website.
2. Set up your own online store with the ready made store templates and scripts from Template Monster
3. Refer other affiliates to Template Monster’s affiliate program. This is known as a Supervisor program and allows you to receive 25% of the sum they earn as commission.

What Payment Methods do Template Monster offer?

Template Monster will only pay out via four methods: Moneybookers, ACH transfer, check and wire transfer. The minimum withdrawal amount is $800 via wire and $100 for the other three methods. Payment is made on a monthly basis.

Affiliate Dashboard & Stats Tracking

Template Monster includes a pretty detailed commissions statistics program that is built in all affiliate dashboards. You can track your own and your sub-affiliates earnings as well as monthly traffic statistics for your template shop.
There is also an ad campaign tracker which is an analytic tool that allows you to gauge the usefulness of your advertising channels.
How this works is relatively easy: you’ll just need to include a modified link in the banner or promo ads that you buy on other websites and the campaign tracker will monitor the number of clicks and conversions from each advertising campaign you run.

Template Monster’s Affiliate Forum

What I really liked about Template Monster’s affiliate program was the forum which allows you to interact with other affiliates and discuss sales techniques or conversion rates.
You can also ask for reviews of your site and banner placement. Free and open to all registered affiliates, the forum has some useful information as well if you need tips on how to better your sales.
The only drawback is that most of the threads and discussions in the forum are months old which indicates that not many users are actively using the forum.

Affiliate Tools and Promotional Materials

The affiliate tools section for Template Monster are quite advanced and offer a whole range of promotional and conversion methods. For the basic affiliate, you can chose from a range of static or dynamic banners which you can simply copy and paste to your website or blog (An example of a static banner can be seen below).
If you are running your own Template Monster store, you can choose to establish your own chat system which connects your visitors directly with Template Monster’s live chat support. You can also turn on or off merchant systems and determine the price/commission ratio for sales generated through your affiliate links and banners.
An interesting feature is that you get pick and choose any template from Template Monster and pay for it using your commision while receiving a 20% discount. This is useful if you’re running new online projects and want to put up a new site template.

Other Related Affiliate Programs

Template Monster’s affiliate program is managed by MyTemplateStorage.com, a website which also manages affiliate programs for Site2You and Template Tuning, both of which are online website builders.
You’ll have access to the stats tracker and affiliate tools for both these websites as well through the MyTemplateStorage.com central dashboard.

How much will I earn with Template Monster?

While I’m unable to find any apparent faults with Template Monster’s affiliate program, do bear in mind that I’ve not used their affiliate program and promoted their products extensively and so I cannot comment on how well they convert as well as their potential for profit.
I will however be straight up with all of you who might be interested in signing up for their affiliate program so you’ll have no illusions about how much money you will make. According to the research I’ve done in their forums, the conversion rate for Template Monster seems to be around 1 sale per 1000 targeted visitors, with a lot more affiliates doing much worse.
By targeted visitors, I’m referring to visitors who arrive at your website through Pay Per Click ads or search engines through highly relevant search terms.This simply means that you shouldn’t expect a lot of sales unless you’re willing to spend time and money either targeting the right keywords and ranking for them.
PPC advertising will help but you’ll need to pick the right keywords and generally know how to manage your costs and campaigns.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are affiliates in the forum who reputedly sell 5 to 10+ templates in a day, with each individual template bringing in commissions of $30 to $600.
Like every other affiliate program out there, you’re likely to earn a lot more money if you are aggressive, persistent and skilled at the entire process of driving targeted traffic to your site.

Signing up with Template Monster

If you’re still interested in giving Template Monster a try, here’s the signup link. Note that this is a link for Template Monster’s affiliate referral program and you should be using a similar link (with your unique id) if you chose to refer other affiliates to Template Monster as well.
Do any of you have any experience promoting Template Monster’s products? For those of you who are web designers, are their products reasonably priced? I have considered purchasing some templates from their site and a second opinion would be very useful indeed.
**This article contains affiliate links.

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How Pre-sell Pages can Easily Increase Conversions for Your Affiliate Links

Making money from a website often entails the use of proverbial income generators like product sales, affiliate programs and on-site advertising.
All of these monetization methods rely on inducing the visitor to perform a specific action such as clicking on an ad or an affiliate link, purchasing a product or subscribing to a newsletter.
Your success in getting the visitor to act the way you want often depends on the visual structure (design/ad placement) of your website and the type of content preceding or surrounding the product or promotion.
The success of affiliate programs are especially susceptible to the influence of well written copy and the power of personal recommendations. Nothing is more effective when you want get others to act upon your affiliate link.

Why Direct Affiliate Links do Not Work Sometimes
Direct affiliate links are links which point directly to an external website, of which you are the affiliate. These links send traffic away from your website and the effectiveness of getting a visitor to convert on it depends a lot on the host website.
If the website in question has a poor landing page or is weakly designed, you’ve just lost a potential referral. I’ve seen many websites which are simply not designed effectively enough to accommodate an incoming visitor’s initial interest.
Sending them directly to these types of external webpages is akin to affiliate suicide and I highly recommend that you create a well written presell page on your own website for greater conversion rates and overall success.

An Example of an Integrated Pre-Sell Page that Works

Brian Clark from Copyblogger has used two presell pages which are well integrated on a sitewide level on his blog. If you take a look at the left sidebar under the ‘Resources’ section, you would notice two text links. One for Midphase Web Hosting and the other for Glyphius Copywriting software.
These two webpages each promote a specific product. The Midphase Web Hosting page is created using an individual page format whereas the Glyphius copywriting software is converted from a blog post in which Brian reviewed the software thoroughly.
As would you expect, both of them feature great copy and are good examples to follow if you are planning to create your own presell page. The Midphase piece is short and utilizes a scannable list format while the Glyphius article features a more detailed review, which carefully avoids over selling.
I remember that Brian used to run the Midphase hosting webpage as an 125 x 125 ad square on the right sidebar as well so keep in mind that there are several ways to highlight your pre-sell page once it is created.

Benefits of Creating a Dedicated Presell Page
The benefits of developing a pre-sell page dedicated entirely to the product or website you are promoting are many. Here are just some of the most important advantages:

• Attracts Search Engine Traffic. Creating a pre-sell page means that you’ve have a keyword relevant webpage that will show up on the search engines. If optimized well, this webpage will bring you some extra search engine visitors who might be searching for information on the topic.
• Leverages Existing Visitor Trust. The use of a personal voice in affiliate promotions is one of the main things often overlooked. If your overall website is well designed and genuinely offers useful content, it will invite trust from visitors. Creating a presell page and offering your thoughts on the product instead of blindly linking out to an external site capitalizes on the trust you’ve already gained.
• Makes it Easier for Off-Site Promotions. A presell page on your website makes it easier for future promotions. Using affiliate links on forums, blogs or other public websites makes you look like a spammer. Instead, you can drop a link to your webpage which clearly explains the product or program in question. You’ll also be driving traffic to your website instead of purely sending visitors to the affiliate website. This allows you to gain new blog readers, customers and list subscribers.
• Can be Used as Future Reference Points. When you are creating content for your website, you can insert a link to your pre-sell page and use it as a reference point. For example, if you’re writing an article about web hosting, you might like to drop a link to your pitch page, instead of linking directly to the host.

How to Create a Pre-Sell Page on Your Website
Creating a presell page on your website is a rather simple process and involves several steps that can be easily accomplished by anyone. They simply involve developing a webpage with your copy and promoting it visibly on your website.

1. Create a new webpage and include your pitch and recommendation concerning the product. You can also use an existing blog post as well although I would suggest using a separate Page.
2. Make the new webpage visible by linking to it through a graphic banner or text link. Be sure to make this link highly visible either sitewide or on a special ‘recommendations’ page.

Seven PreSell Page Guidelines to Follow
The effectiveness of your sell page depends on several factors and strong, enticing copy is by far the most important rule you’ll need to observe. Here are some guidelines you can use to create a great sell page.

1. Do not oversell. Try to provide a balanced perspective on the product. Projecting objectivity and honesty is usually the best approach.
2. No redundant hyperlinks. Don’t link to other articles on your website or other external websites. The only links you should include are your affiliate links. You don’t want visitors to get distracted and go elsewhere.
3. Use multiple affiliate links. Try to use the same affiliate link multiple times within the pre-sell page. A good start would be to use it at both the start and the end of your article. Vary the anchor text as well so they don’t look repetitive.
4. Try cloaking affiliate links. Cloaking your affiliate link is likely to improve your click through rate although a lot also depends on your overall site look/feel and its reputation in the niche. If you’re undecided, try going with the regular affiliate link for a period of time and then cloak it for a similar period to measure click through rates.
5. Keep it short. A pitch page should not be too long. Visitors usually click away if its too heavy to consume within a few minutes.
6. Focus on Usability. Write for scannability, use subheadings and bold specific keywords or phrases to help increase the visual impact of your copy.
7. Offer Benefits. It’s very important to make sure that the visitor understands how the affiliate program benefits him or her. If you would like to provide an additional incentive for signing up under your affiliate link, be sure to include it as well.

Now you have all you need..
Setting up a basic pre-sell page should take less an hour and it usually doesn’t require you to maintain or update it. If you’re interested in making the most out of the traffic your website receives, creating a presell page for your affiliate programs is one of the most important steps to take.
I’ll be taking the weekend to create some webpages for several affiliate programs on Dosh Dosh and if you have some time, try to do up a page or two on your website as well. It’ll be well worth your effort in the long run.

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Make Money with Website Templates – Template Monster’s Affiliate Program

Template Monster is a popular online store which offers readymade website templates for webmasters and businesses. Other products from their large inventory includes pre-made Flash templates, Wordpress and other CMS themes, logos as well as osCommerce templates for online stores.
Affiliates earn 20% commissions on all purchases made via their affiliate link or template shop. Templates generally range from $5 to $3500, which means that you do have a chance to make some substantial earnings.
I do like the fact that Template Monster’s affiliate program uses permanent cookies, which means that when someone visits Template Monster via your affiliate link, a cookie is set on their browser which allows you to get commission from purchases even a few months later when the visitor revisits Template Monster to make a purchase.
This is useful because the visitor may not buy something on impulse but may return to the site a while later to make a more thorough purchase.

What is the target market for Template Monster’s products?

I assume that the majority of the potential buyers would be businesses or webmasters who are establishing new business projects or ventures.
While there are CMS and blog templates, I doubt most bloggers would purchase them as there is a large variety of free Wordpress themes readily available. You might just do slightly better with bulletin board crowd, although they have their fair share of free templates as well.
Other web designers might also be a possible target market. Your affiliate links for Template Monster would perform well on websites largely dealing with webmaster, business or design orientated topics.
Similar to the affiliate program for Best of the Web, Template Monster could also be used as an add-on referral if you are providing a professional service (SEO and Marketing etc.) for a client.

How do I make money with TemplateMonster.com?

There are three main ways to make money with Template Monster:
1. Refer visitors through your affiliate link to the Template Monster website.
2. Set up your own online store with the ready made store templates and scripts from Template Monster
3. Refer other affiliates to Template Monster’s affiliate program. This is known as a Supervisor program and allows you to receive 25% of the sum they earn as commission.

What Payment Methods do Template Monster offer?

Template Monster will only pay out via four methods: Moneybookers, ACH transfer, check and wire transfer. The minimum withdrawal amount is $800 via wire and $100 for the other three methods. Payment is made on a monthly basis.

Affiliate Dashboard & Stats Tracking

Template Monster includes a pretty detailed commissions statistics program that is built in all affiliate dashboards. You can track your own and your sub-affiliates earnings as well as monthly traffic statistics for your template shop.
There is also an ad campaign tracker which is an analytic tool that allows you to gauge the usefulness of your advertising channels.
How this works is relatively easy: you’ll just need to include a modified link in the banner or promo ads that you buy on other websites and the campaign tracker will monitor the number of clicks and conversions from each advertising campaign you run.

Template Monster’s Affiliate Forum

What I really liked about Template Monster’s affiliate program was the forum which allows you to interact with other affiliates and discuss sales techniques or conversion rates.
You can also ask for reviews of your site and banner placement. Free and open to all registered affiliates, the forum has some useful information as well if you need tips on how to better your sales.
The only drawback is that most of the threads and discussions in the forum are months old which indicates that not many users are actively using the forum.

Affiliate Tools and Promotional Materials

The affiliate tools section for Template Monster are quite advanced and offer a whole range of promotional and conversion methods. For the basic affiliate, you can chose from a range of static or dynamic banners which you can simply copy and paste to your website or blog (An example of a static banner can be seen below).
If you are running your own Template Monster store, you can choose to establish your own chat system which connects your visitors directly with Template Monster’s live chat support. You can also turn on or off merchant systems and determine the price/commission ratio for sales generated through your affiliate links and banners.
An interesting feature is that you get pick and choose any template from Template Monster and pay for it using your commision while receiving a 20% discount. This is useful if you’re running new online projects and want to put up a new site template.

Other Related Affiliate Programs

Template Monster’s affiliate program is managed by MyTemplateStorage.com, a website which also manages affiliate programs for Site2You and Template Tuning, both of which are online website builders.
You’ll have access to the stats tracker and affiliate tools for both these websites as well through the MyTemplateStorage.com central dashboard.

How much will I earn with Template Monster?

While I’m unable to find any apparent faults with Template Monster’s affiliate program, do bear in mind that I’ve not used their affiliate program and promoted their products extensively and so I cannot comment on how well they convert as well as their potential for profit.
I will however be straight up with all of you who might be interested in signing up for their affiliate program so you’ll have no illusions about how much money you will make. According to the research I’ve done in their forums, the conversion rate for Template Monster seems to be around 1 sale per 1000 targeted visitors, with a lot more affiliates doing much worse.
By targeted visitors, I’m referring to visitors who arrive at your website through Pay Per Click ads or search engines through highly relevant search terms.This simply means that you shouldn’t expect a lot of sales unless you’re willing to spend time and money either targeting the right keywords and ranking for them.
PPC advertising will help but you’ll need to pick the right keywords and generally know how to manage your costs and campaigns.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are affiliates in the forum who reputedly sell 5 to 10+ templates in a day, with each individual template bringing in commissions of $30 to $600.
Like every other affiliate program out there, you’re likely to earn a lot more money if you are aggressive, persistent and skilled at the entire process of driving targeted traffic to your site.

Signing up with Template Monster

If you’re still interested in giving Template Monster a try, here’s the signup link. Note that this is a link for Template Monster’s affiliate referral program and you should be using a similar link (with your unique id) if you chose to refer other affiliates to Template Monster as well.
Do any of you have any experience promoting Template Monster’s products? For those of you who are web designers, are their products reasonably priced? I have considered purchasing some templates from their site and a second opinion would be very useful indeed.
**This article contains affiliate links.

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How Pre-sell Pages can Easily Increase Conversions for Your Affiliate Links

Making money from a website often entails the use of proverbial income generators like product sales, affiliate programs and on-site advertising.
All of these monetization methods rely on inducing the visitor to perform a specific action such as clicking on an ad or an affiliate link, purchasing a product or subscribing to a newsletter.
Your success in getting the visitor to act the way you want often depends on the visual structure (design/ad placement) of your website and the type of content preceding or surrounding the product or promotion.
The success of affiliate programs are especially susceptible to the influence of well written copy and the power of personal recommendations. Nothing is more effective when you want get others to act upon your affiliate link.

Why Direct Affiliate Links do Not Work Sometimes
Direct affiliate links are links which point directly to an external website, of which you are the affiliate. These links send traffic away from your website and the effectiveness of getting a visitor to convert on it depends a lot on the host website.
If the website in question has a poor landing page or is weakly designed, you’ve just lost a potential referral. I’ve seen many websites which are simply not designed effectively enough to accommodate an incoming visitor’s initial interest.
Sending them directly to these types of external webpages is akin to affiliate suicide and I highly recommend that you create a well written presell page on your own website for greater conversion rates and overall success.

An Example of an Integrated Pre-Sell Page that Works

Brian Clark from Copyblogger has used two presell pages which are well integrated on a sitewide level on his blog. If you take a look at the left sidebar under the ‘Resources’ section, you would notice two text links. One for Midphase Web Hosting and the other for Glyphius Copywriting software.
These two webpages each promote a specific product. The Midphase Web Hosting page is created using an individual page format whereas the Glyphius copywriting software is converted from a blog post in which Brian reviewed the software thoroughly.
As would you expect, both of them feature great copy and are good examples to follow if you are planning to create your own presell page. The Midphase piece is short and utilizes a scannable list format while the Glyphius article features a more detailed review, which carefully avoids over selling.
I remember that Brian used to run the Midphase hosting webpage as an 125 x 125 ad square on the right sidebar as well so keep in mind that there are several ways to highlight your pre-sell page once it is created.

Benefits of Creating a Dedicated Presell Page
The benefits of developing a pre-sell page dedicated entirely to the product or website you are promoting are many. Here are just some of the most important advantages:

• Attracts Search Engine Traffic. Creating a pre-sell page means that you’ve have a keyword relevant webpage that will show up on the search engines. If optimized well, this webpage will bring you some extra search engine visitors who might be searching for information on the topic.
• Leverages Existing Visitor Trust. The use of a personal voice in affiliate promotions is one of the main things often overlooked. If your overall website is well designed and genuinely offers useful content, it will invite trust from visitors. Creating a presell page and offering your thoughts on the product instead of blindly linking out to an external site capitalizes on the trust you’ve already gained.
• Makes it Easier for Off-Site Promotions. A presell page on your website makes it easier for future promotions. Using affiliate links on forums, blogs or other public websites makes you look like a spammer. Instead, you can drop a link to your webpage which clearly explains the product or program in question. You’ll also be driving traffic to your website instead of purely sending visitors to the affiliate website. This allows you to gain new blog readers, customers and list subscribers.
• Can be Used as Future Reference Points. When you are creating content for your website, you can insert a link to your pre-sell page and use it as a reference point. For example, if you’re writing an article about web hosting, you might like to drop a link to your pitch page, instead of linking directly to the host.

How to Create a Pre-Sell Page on Your Website
Creating a presell page on your website is a rather simple process and involves several steps that can be easily accomplished by anyone. They simply involve developing a webpage with your copy and promoting it visibly on your website.

1. Create a new webpage and include your pitch and recommendation concerning the product. You can also use an existing blog post as well although I would suggest using a separate Page.
2. Make the new webpage visible by linking to it through a graphic banner or text link. Be sure to make this link highly visible either sitewide or on a special ‘recommendations’ page.

Seven PreSell Page Guidelines to Follow
The effectiveness of your sell page depends on several factors and strong, enticing copy is by far the most important rule you’ll need to observe. Here are some guidelines you can use to create a great sell page.

1. Do not oversell. Try to provide a balanced perspective on the product. Projecting objectivity and honesty is usually the best approach.
2. No redundant hyperlinks. Don’t link to other articles on your website or other external websites. The only links you should include are your affiliate links. You don’t want visitors to get distracted and go elsewhere.
3. Use multiple affiliate links. Try to use the same affiliate link multiple times within the pre-sell page. A good start would be to use it at both the start and the end of your article. Vary the anchor text as well so they don’t look repetitive.
4. Try cloaking affiliate links. Cloaking your affiliate link is likely to improve your click through rate although a lot also depends on your overall site look/feel and its reputation in the niche. If you’re undecided, try going with the regular affiliate link for a period of time and then cloak it for a similar period to measure click through rates.
5. Keep it short. A pitch page should not be too long. Visitors usually click away if its too heavy to consume within a few minutes.
6. Focus on Usability. Write for scannability, use subheadings and bold specific keywords or phrases to help increase the visual impact of your copy.
7. Offer Benefits. It’s very important to make sure that the visitor understands how the affiliate program benefits him or her. If you would like to provide an additional incentive for signing up under your affiliate link, be sure to include it as well.

Now you have all you need..
Setting up a basic pre-sell page should take less an hour and it usually doesn’t require you to maintain or update it. If you’re interested in making the most out of the traffic your website receives, creating a presell page for your affiliate programs is one of the most important steps to take.
I’ll be taking the weekend to create some webpages for several affiliate programs on Dosh Dosh and if you have some time, try to do up a page or two on your website as well. It’ll be well worth your effort in the long run.

...تابع القراءة

Web Hosting Affiliate Programs: A Collection of Ways to Make Money Online

Web hosting is a very competitive market and affiliate programs are often created by web hosting companies in a bid to obtain more customers. According to each web hosting affiliate program, you’ll earn a commission when you refer a customer who purchases a hosting plan.
For web hosts, there’s nothing easier than getting other people to promote their web hosting services for them. The returns in investment for each new customer is usually high as well, because each signup gives the web host recurring income over the long run.
For webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers, web hosting affiliate programs can be a rather lucrative source of income.
You’ve probably seen many web hosting ads on numerous websites all over the internet. These web hosting affiliate programs work well for almost all types of websites, particularly if you are offering a site-building or website consultation service for clients or businesses.
One particular benefit of affiliate programs for web hosts is that they offer high commission rates which can range from a minimum of $60 to over a hundred dollars just for referring a single customer who purchases a web hosting plan.

How do I Make Money with Web Hosting Affiliate Programs?
There are several ways to make some money of web hosting affiliate programs. You can create a website or blog solely dedicated to web hosting or simply include the affiliate links and banners on your existing websites.
I would recommend creating a pre-sell page instead of linking directly to the web host. An honest and objective review of a web host you are familiar with usually does wonders in webmaster referrals.
You can leverage existing traffic from your website or use PayPerClick advertising to send targeted visitors to any specific webpage. The goal is to get as many interested individuals to click through on your affiliate links as possible.

Dosh Dosh’s List of Web Hosting Affiliate Programs
Here is a list of web hosting affiliate programs I’ve found to be the most lucrative. There are a great number of web hosts and I’ve only picked the larger ones with established affiliate programs and tracking systems.
In terms of sheer monetary potential, I would recommend going with MidPhase, DreamHost and HostiCan. If you are looking for second tier earnings, affiliate programs you can use include LunarPages, HostiCan and DreamHost.
1. BlueHost

By driving customers to sign-up at BlueHost.Com, you will receive $65.00 per referral. Through your personal Affiliate login and their online administration you can view click-through ratios of your links or banner promotions.

2. Yahoo

Yahoo’s program structure is simple: The more customers you refer, the more you earn. You get $60 to $70 for each Yahoo! Web Hosting customer and based on volume, you can make up to $100 per referral. Yahoo also pays 20% of the total sale for each Yahoo! Domains customer.

3. Hostgator

Hostgator utilizes a commission scale. Referring 1 to 5 customers a month will make you $50 per sale and 20+ customers a month will earn you $125 per sale. Payment is monthly via Paypal.

4. LunarPages

You earn $65.00 for every new customer you refer to Lunarpages from YOUR website. Refer advertisers to sign up for LunarPages’s affiliate program and earn $5 for every new customer they refer to LunarPages.

5. IX Web Hosting

Sign up customers through their affiliate program and receive commissions starting at $50 up to $150 for each signup (varies depending on the hosting plan and billing cycle). Commissions are paid no later than the first week of each month following the first 30-days after the sale that achieves the minimum level was made.

6. MidPhase

MidPhase’s affiliate program covers four different webhosts (Midphase, Autica, Thrill host and AN Hosting) and commissions range from $25 to $85 per sale, depending on which host you promote. Payments are made every two weeks via check. Cookies are set for one year and premium rates exist for premium publishers who are able to send over 20 signups a month.

7. DreamHost

You can choose to receive substantial one-time credits for each of your referrals, or recurring credits for every payment that your referrals ever make to DreamHost. For one time payments, a new customer you send to Dreamhost will make you $97 and each customer your referral sends will earn you $5.
For recurring payments, You’ll earn 10% of every payment that your referrals ever make and 5% of every payment that their referrals make – for as long as they remain customers too. Credits can be paid out via PayPal or check, or applied to a hosting bill with DreamHost.com.

8. HostiCan

Affiliates will receive $70 for the first 4 successful sales and then $90 per successful sale. Commissions are only paid for qualifying and approved sales. You will earn $5 extra for every sale that a sub affiliate makes for HostICan.
Commissions are paid one time a month for all verified and approved sales. Payment is made via Paypal. Performing affiliates have the advantage of earning $250 bonus for 25 new referrals per month, $500 bonus for 50 new referrals per month, and $1000 bonus for 100 new referrals per month.

Future Web Hosting Affiliate Updates
This post will be updated to include other web hosting affiliate programs I come across in the future. I’m quite sure that I’ll add a lot more web hosts to this article so do feel free to bookmark it for reference purposes.

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