Becoming an Affiliate to supplement your ebay income

I keep a personal blog, mostly to post pictures of my kid for her grandparents and relatives around the world. But what I didn't realize until just recently is that I was actually making money on it and didn't even know!
I got a check in the mail for $45.00 out of nowhere. At first I thought it was junkmail or some sort of offer, you know the ones that have "by signing this check you are agreeing to a contract", but then I realized that it was really MY money and that I had actually earned it with virtually no effort. When I started that blog two years ago, I signed up for adsense ads by google to be posted at the top of my blog. I set it up through blogger (my blog host) and forgot all about it. The ads are pretty small and since we are so used to seeing ads everywhere, I never thought about it again.
Ok, so taking almost 2 years to earn $45 is kinda crapy, but really, what did I actually do for that money? Nothing I wouldn't have done otherwise besides that initial set up.

What exactly are affiliates? It is simple. Companies are paying you to bring customers to their site. You do their ad work for them. This is not an easy get-rich-quick thing like some people might think. If you want to make real money at this you will have to work to find creative ways to get people to click (and buy) from the advertisers that you are promoting. This takes work. No company is ever going to just give you money for nothing. You have to bring them customers in order to get paid.

As I'm sure you have already noticed, I have ads here on my blog, I'll show you how I did that so you can do it too.
My brother is of the opinion that I shouldn't put up ads because he thinks I'm "selling out" but I figure... what is the harm? You, as my readers, don't HAVE to click them. Geez, you don't even HAVE to read this!
Here is the thing though, if I am telling you about something that is truely useful and I would have told you about it anyway, why shouldn't I get a cut for sending you to that site? right? I would have sent you there anyway, at least this way I might make a buck or two for my time.
Like Skype
for instance. Ebay has made it possible to add skype chat or skype calling right from your ebay listing. This is a nifty little tool and something that I signed up for right away. I feel that the quicker I can answer my buyers questions the more likely I am to keep them buying from me rather than my competition. So, if I am going to be writing about Skype
here anyway, and sending folks to go sign up, wouldn't it be cool to get a couple of cents for each person that I get to sign up? I thought so too. (click here to read my blog post on how to add it to your listings)

Here is what I did to become an affiliate:
1. I signed up for adsense. If you already have a google account, this will be easy. They will generate "content relative" links for you. This is the one that you just post once and don't have to do anything else with. Probably the easiest but pretty limited in what you can do. You can't put it in an email and you can only insert a limited number of links. This one has nothing to do with ebay but if you keep a blog or have a website, this is an easy way to make a little extra with virtually no work. They offer a google searchbox that you can add to your website and this has been the biggest payout from google for me personally. I've got a button on this blog that will take you right to adsense to sign up, however, according to google's rules, I'm not allowed to point you in the direction of clicking it. I just have to hope that you'll find it on your own.

2. I signed up for commission junction. Here is the site http://www.cj.com/. They are the ones who gave me all these colorful ads that you see to the right. They are also the ones that I have made the most money from.

3. Started putting links everywhere that is allowed. Then hope that people click.

Ok, so how you go about posting ads is completely up to you and your business strategy. You may not want to "sell out" like my brother says, but at the very least you should be earning money off ebay by becoming an affiliate. Ebay spends BIG bucks on advertising and when you advertise YOUR ebay auctions on your blog, website or wherever (outside of ebay) you could actually make money from ebay as well as making the sale!

Here is how to do it:
1. Sign up for cj
2. click 'get link'
3. in the search box type in 'ebay'
4. you will get results for all things ebay. Find the one that is just ebay (not stores, proshops, etc.) and click 'view links'
5. you will get a pop up describing the details of their advertising payouts. Then click to apply to the program.
6. Now, once you are approved you can view the links. If you scroll here there are many options of things that you can paste on your websites and all over. These are cool and if you are going to "sell out" than copy and paste away. You would use this same process for any other company that you want to advertise for.
7. Now, get out of there and go to http://affiliates.ebay.com/ns/Tools.htm and play around with the options there. You'll need your PID (The Publisher Identification #) handy. If you read my earlier blog post about using ebaytogo you'll see that you can create that same widget from this site instead AND get paid if someone buys!

For an example click here to see my myspace page (and while you are there, add me as a friend!). See that ebay-to-go widget there? If someone were to click that widget then go to ebay and make a purchase within 30 days I would get paid for it! If it is someone who has never used ebay before and I'm the one that got them hooked, I get $25!

See what I mean about advertising anyway? You are already doing it, or should be, so even if it is just a buck or two a week....it all adds up so go sign up now!

*Important note: Do not put the ebaytogo affiliate widget (or any other affiliate link) on your ebay pages, this is NOT allowed!