Now that you have your kiosk built, we need to look at how to make it work for you and turn a profit. This part is probably the most misunderstood concept of any Internet business, affiliate marketing.
There are several organizations that specialize in bring businesses and affiliates together. I use ClickBank and Commission Junction. You want to obtain an account with an organization that offers affiliations and start to make contacts. Do not pay for this service, because like everything else that is good about ecommerce, they are making a percentage of affiliate sales as well.
Once you have been approved by an organization to become an affiliate they offer text, banner, text and banner as well a RSS feeds. You will need to add them to your web site. Be sure to copy and past the affiliate link exactly as shown, because there is an account number within the script. The account number is how the parent company knows the referral came from your link.
Once you have your affiliates set up you can start turning a profit by satisfying your customers requirements. Take for instance you are working a small flower shop. One of your affiliates is a national flower retailer. A customer comes into your store and asks, “Do you ship to other states?” Your response should be, “No, but I do work with an affiliate that does ship to other states.”
Now, this is where you want to be careful. Your first instinct might be to tell them about your affiliate; however, you might lose any part of the sale. Instead, use your kiosk. Click on the affiliate link to enter their store, then work with the customer to pick out what they would want to order. Once they have made their selection, you want to treat the checkout like it was your own business by taking the order details yourself and entering them in the checkout screen.
With a little practice, you can have your kiosk with affiliates working to the point that people will start to wonder where you hide all your inventory. However, I would also suggest keeping careful sales records so that you can stock the more requested items and increase your profit margins through bulk purchases.
Hope these brief lessons help and remember the only limits are those self imposed,
Mikhail Kniaziewicz, MIS
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