A lot of people have been talking lately about the great benefits and money to be made from starting up your own membership site. Is it really going to make any difference to you internet marketing business though? This article takes a look at a few things you may like to consider before plunging into starting your own membership site.

Is it right for you and what you are trying to achieve? That really depends on what your aim is. Obviously you have become an internet marketer to make some money, preferably plenty of it.

Before we go any further, I do suggest that if you are working as an affiliate marketer spreading your net across many niches; don’t bother with a membership site. If your internet marketing efforts are concentrated more in one or maybe two niches then it may be worth considering.

To set up a really successful membership site you need a few things to get started. The first is content. There is no point having a site if there is nothing for people to learn or contribute too, especially if you expect to make money from it (and for internet marketers that is the general idea).

Most sites are set up with a public area, to entice viewers in, and a private paid area, where you start to make your money. The tricky bit here of course is that your public area needs to be attractive enough to bring people in, and your private area needs to offer enough of a quality attraction to make people feel it is worthwhile belonging, and for them to want to stay.

If you genuinely have enough expert knowledge about your particular niche you have a better chance of making your membership site. As the CEO or administrator your following will very simply expect this for your site to have credibility. There is the option too of course of finding another internet marketer to partner with you on the site so you are not carrying this load alone.

It is not an easy task to get a site up and going. You will need the right software and the knowledge to use it, or be prepared to pay for someone who does. Passwords tend to be a particularly tricky area to get right in terms of allowing people into different areas of the site. If you are pretty computer savvy and enjoy a bit of a challenge by all means have a go.

On the other hand, off-page optimization involves link marketing, monitoring your search engine rankings, and paid online advertising. Link building is about building a link neighborhood with other pages or sites with similar content as yours. Having web pages with high page rank to post a link leading to your own page will help boost your page ranking.

Perhaps some of these considerations seem a little off-putting, don’t worry. They are simply that, considerations. Many people are finding that setting up their own membership site is bringing a lucrative and steady income to their internet marketing business. It may well work for you too. Why not do a little more research and decide for yourself?

<p>Want to learn how to make money online? 

 

<p>Since it was introduced to the world in 1995, the internet has quickly changed the way we live.  Case in point: back in 1994, whoever thought we will be enjoying the latest album of our favourite pop star without having to go to a record shop?  Back in 1994, whoever thought that those voluminous hardbound encyclopedias would be next to obsolete?  Back in 1994, whoever thought that we can keep in touch with friend and relatives many miles away by writing them letters they can receive in a matter of seconds (or even less)?  Back in 1994, whoever thought that terms like downloads, uploads, Skype, Google, MySpace, and NSFW will be invented, and in fact, become accepted parts of our language system?

 

<p>The internet has evolved our lives in so many ways – including how we can make a living.

 

<p>Indeed, there are many, many ways by which one can earn from the World Wide Web.  If you want to learn how to make money online – legal and real money – then read on, dear friend.

 

<p>Below are some opportunities that are perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to make money online:

 

<p>Sell stuff over at eBay.  This is, without a doubt, the easiest way to learn how to make money online.  You can sell anything on eBay, the web’s largest auction site.  With more than 20 million page views per day, eBay is a great venue for whatever you may decide on selling.  Have some extra stuff lying around in the house?  Sell it!  No matter how worthless it may seem for you, it will be worth something for someone else.  Better yet, find a wholesaler who will agree to sell to you his products at wholesale prices without a minimum order and who will only need you as a broker for his marketing campaigns.  Such a wholesaler is called a dropshipper.

 

<p>Sell your own products.  Whether you can create physical or digital products (eBooks, special reports, software programs, etc.), you can sell them on the web via established merchant sites like the aforementioned eBay.com, or via your own website.  You keep all the profit!

 

<p>Sell another merchant’s products for some commission.  If you cannot, or don’t want, to create your own products, you can opt to sell someone else’s products and earn a commission per sale.  This is called affiliate marketing, and it can be one of the most profitable opportunities when you decide to learn how make money online.  For beginners, it is suggested that they join established affiliate networks like ClickBank.com and Shareasale.com to learn the ropes of affiliate marketing.

 

<p>Earn via Pay Per Click (PPC) programs.  Create a website or a blog.  Create an account over at Google AdSense or other PPC programs.  Integrate the user-specific code they will provide.  Drive traffic to your website or blog.  Watch as the PPC program displays contextually relevant ads that will allow you to earn every time a visitor clicks on them.

 

<p>Earn via Cost Per Action (CPA) programs.  The problem with PPC programs is that they only pay miniscule amounts per click.  If you want to earn substantial profit via this business model, you’d have to drive an amazing volume of traffic to your website.  CPA programs are different.  They will ask your visitors to perform a specific action – usually signing up to a mailing list – and they will pay you every time a visitor of yours fulfills such an a required action.  Payouts range from a few cents to as high as $5 per action performed.

 

<p>Sell your services online.  Can you write web content?  Can you write sales pages?  Can you create software programs?  Can you create fantastic graphics?  Can you build websites?  Sell your services via established freelancing websites like Rentacoder.com, Elance.com and Scriptlance.com.  Online freelancing is the new face of telecommuting.

 

<p>These are just some of the more popular ways by which you can learn how to make money online.  There are more, of course, but sticking with the above business models would be enough to guarantee for you some profit.

 
You are not alone if you feel overwhelmed when searching the web for opportunities to make money on the internet. You know you want to make money online at home but do not know where to begin.

Becoming involved with PLR products is a great place to start. These type of products allowing you to manage your online home based business in ways that you might not be able to do if you are creating products of your own.

PLR products are private label rights products you can purchase and use any way you want. You can market them anyway you wish, which includes putting your business name on them as well.

Many successful Internet marketers choose to alter their private label right products in various ways that make them unique. Many times this just means changing the way they are packaged.

For example, with products in grocery stores you see this happen all the time. Changing the packaging can improve the image of the product which ultimately is designed to help it sell more. This is generally fairly easy to do and can allow you to quickly be ready to start selling your PLR products and making money from them.

One of the best things about PLR products is a sales page is usually included in the purchase and you can change this to accommodate your personal business. This is a great marketing tool that you can use wherever you like.

You can use any search engine to find many assorted products. The hardest part usually is choosing a product. There are many paid membership sites that offer new private label right products on the monthly basis and many websites that you can join for free as well.

To make money on the internet you may wish to start by finding something that coincides with any business you may already have, or something that you have some knowledge about. This can also help you make a good decision If you believe in a product.

You can start selling these products immediately and there is no reason to wait. You will have everything you need at your fingertips, so there is no delay, you can begin to make money instantly.

You can easily use PLR products to make money on the internet. If you take the time to find a product you really love, you will make a great investment that will propel you into the business world you have always wanted.

No matter what you may have heard about home business internet affiliate marketing, it’s impossible for everyone to make 5,000 – 10,000 dollars a month, as there is simply too much competition. There is also no money that will fall into your hands without you doing anything for it.

Now, I am going to share you my recommended 8 sure-fire tips to make money from home business. You’ll discover those 8 sure-fire tips below that will help you make money from home business internet affiliate marketing with webmaster affiliates program on the internet.

With webmaster affiliates program, it really pays to work well with others. Also known as referral programs, webmaster affiliates programs are normally commission based sales. You’ll recommend a site to your visitors and then pick up a percentage of any sales that those visitors make. You’ll benefit from the commission and the merchant benefits from the sales.

If you already have a website set up, you can run a webmaster affiliates program from it, or you can simply build a site to promote a particular product or service. As long as it brings in more cash than it takes to build or run it, you’ll be fine.

With any webmaster affiliates program, you’ll need to be careful when you select a webmaster affiliates program. The benefit of a webmaster affiliates program will give you another way to make money from your users. Instead of selling them a product, you simply send them to a partner then take a cut of the profits.

Even though it may seem tempting to go for programs with the highest commissions, those programs won’t pay you anything if your visitors don’t buy them.

Below, you’ll find 5 great tips on internet marketing affiliate business to help you select a webmaster affiliates program that’s right for you:

1. Do not accept any less than 25% with commission. You can find many programs with great payment structures and high percentages of pay in just about any field.

2. Look for statistic pages that list the number of click through, sales, and earnings so you’ll be able to see how you are doing.

3. Always look for programs that offer a wide variety of tools to put on your web site, including banners, text links, and of course graphics.

4. Find out how often you’ll be paid and be sure that the payment schedule meets with your own expectations. Some programs will pay monthly, while others will pay quarterly.

5. Ensure that top level support is included. If they can’t answer your questions in a quick and timely manner, you don’t want to work with them.

Additionally, you’ll discover more 3 great tips of how to advertise those webmaster affiliates program and make money from home business internet affiliate marketing here.

1. Google, Overture and MSNAdCenter Pay Per Click Search Engine

Even though the days of free traffic aren’t completely over, they are surely fading away quickly. You can choose to work hard creating web pages that score well in the search engines, although it’s very hard to do.

By paying for clicks with Google, Overture and MSNAdCenter, you’ll have the top three positions on the search engines that matter the most. My recommendation is all you need to do is be at the top of Google, Overture and MSNAdCenter.

2. Your own email list

Sending offers to your very own email list is the ideal way to build freedom and residual income. Instead of sending traffic away then hoping for the best, you should instead have your own email list to which you are able to send multiple offers.

This is really importance for affiliate marketing entrepreneurs! You can use back-end affiliate marketing strategy to boost skyrocket your profits & affiliate commission through email promotion internet marketing.

3. Your own webmaster affiliates program

If you knew that each filled out form on your site generated .50 cent in revenue, would you still be willing to pay someone else .25 cents to generate that same traffic?

The most overlooked ways of generating traffic is having others generate it for you. There are many advantages to this method, including the fact that others will be getting your traffic for you.

When it all comes down to it, everything involves paying for traffic in one way or another. To make more money from home business, you’ll need to invest very wisely in advertising.

Once you learn what you are doing with webmaster affiliates programs, you can make serious money from home business internet affiliate marketing. If you are just starting out, you should always use common sense and not rush into anything. As you become more familiar with how things work, you’ll be well on your way to make money from home business – and enjoying making it. If you have to work hard, you’ll be glad you did.

Final thoughts, I believe that those 8 sure-fire tips will help you definitely to make money from home business internet affiliate marketing along with high quality webmaster affiliates program. All you have to do next is to take those tips into your action seriously!

Learn Affiliate Marketing to discover top inside tips, techniques and secrets of how to earn extra money online through your online home based business. You’ll learn a lot of ways to make extra money online. Also, you’ll save your time & money for your online home based business! You’ll discover great tips on internet affiliate marketing for your highly successful. Also, you’ll save your time & money for your trial & error.

Download free affiliate marketing guide ebook at: http://www.zMillionDollars.com/free-report. You’ll learn how to build highly profitable home based affiliate business. Also, you’ll discover top inside secrets of how to make money from home business through your home based affiliate business!

Read more articles about the best internet marketing strategies for your home based affiliate marketing business online and how to earn extra money at:

http://www.zMillionDollars.com/blog

*Reprint Policy: Reprint in full with writer’s name, contact information, active links and brief bio.

I want to know of some sites were i would be able to make some extra money no SCAMS please.

Paid to Click Sites are One of the Few Legitimate Ways to Make Free Money Online on the Internet! They are NOT a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme.
Ok, so anyone would love to get paid for surfing the internet, but it seems to good to be true. Most internet businesses or home businesses for that matter are pure scam. PTC advertising truly is the real deal. They do not offer anything over-the top or impossible, and the good ones are 100% legit.

Online Advertisers pay the PTC site for you to click on their ad. You have to view it for normally around 30 seconds, and you are credited with a portion of the money paid for the ad. This is how legitimate PTC’s work. If they are offering an extremely high amount for each ad, than it is most likely a scam.

If you are interested, this page will tell you everything you need to know to get started and make money using PTC’s.

I have put together a list of only the best Paid-to-Click sites on the Web, as well as some helpful info about each. You will find that I have included the amount and earnings for ads, the payout information, as well as links to site forums and payment proofs. This is all the info you will need to decide which sites are for you.

Each of these sites offers from $.005 to $.03 simply for viewing an ad. Spending only 10 minutes a day, with only 5 referrals, you could earn $180/month: the more time you spend and the more sites you join, the more you will make; there is literally no limit.

I am personally a member of each of these sites, and I do not promote any site which seems illegitimate in any way. All of them are 100% FREE to join. I only promote the sites that I believe in. If the site did not pay me, then I would have no reason to try to refer people to it, because I would just lose my money.

I strongly encourage anyone who signs up to be very careful and not to spend any of their own money until they have come to trust the site on their own terms, as there are some PTC sites that turn out to be a scam.

To get started, you should just pick a few of these sites and sign up: Its really easy. You can start earning in minutes.

If you are interested in learning more, or if you have questions about how it works, please read on. I have included advice, and NEWS at the bottom of this page. Enjoy, and thanks for visiting my site!

Before you start to Register your New Account to PTC or PTR, please visit PTC INVESTIGATION to know that’s SCAM or LEGIT, or you can ask them for that !!!

Copyright (c) 2009 Titus Hoskins

As we enter into what many enlightened souls are calling the most dire economic times since the Great Depression, online marketers need all the help they can get – regardless of the source. You have probably heard of Google; but chances are almost 100% certain, you have never heard of me. Lucky you!

Actually, the only thing you need to know about me is that I am a full-time online affiliate marketer and I make a very comfortable living from the web. Last year (2008), was my best year online so far, which left me scratching my head and saying what recession?

But that may be something of a false positive, as I will never know how much I could have made if the economic times had been good instead of bad. Plus, judging from my own limited experience, selling and marketing online may not have been hit as hard as those businesses in the real world in 2008, since consumers are doing everything to save a penny and shopping online has become a much cheaper alternative for many.

As we enter into these uncertain times, online marketers and webmasters need all the help they can get. Recently, Google mailed a small booklet to its Adsense users; in it Google gives “6 Top Tactics For Tough Times.” It is obviously referring to its Adwords PPC (Pay Per Click) program and clients but Google’s advice can be applied to your own general online marketing.

These tactics include: (quoting directly from the Google mail-out)

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.

2. Use Value-related keywords.

3. Ensure your ad groups are targeted and relevant.

4. Don’t waste money on irrelevant clicks.

5. Make it easy for customers to buy.

6. Focus your money on your high-performers. (End Quote)

Sound advice and I especially like the idea of focusing your marketing on low prices and savings mainly because people want bargains in tight economic times. I also like the fact that you must make it easy for your customers to buy… something as simple as putting your “order/buy link” above the fold can increase your conversions.

Also, targeting value-related keywords, is a very effective marketing tactic. Relating your keywords to “discounts, bargains, cheap, inexpensive, lowest prices…” will help increase your sales. So too, is catering to phrases that suggest the searcher is in a buying mind-set: gifts, presents, gift ideas, wedding gifts… shoppers searching those words are ready to buy.

Plus, focusing your time and money on your high-performers is solid advice. Sometimes succeeding online is simply finding a market niche that works/performs – then running with it. Once you have found the keywords and products that perform well with your site or sites – focus the majority of your time and energy developing those niche markets.

Now here are some of my most effective marketing tactics that have worked for me and tactics I will be relying on in the coming years – even in these hard times.

o Make Keywords Your #1 Goal

This is the single most important factor for my own online success. You have to make keywords and ranking high for them in all the search engines your main objective if you’re marketing online. Might sound obvious, but many beginning marketers don’t truly understand how important getting top rankings for your chosen keywords will be in your online success.

Target less competitive long tail (multi-worded) keywords to get started and slowly work your way up to more popular keywords. Center your marketing around getting those first page listings (Top Five) for your keywords. Achieve this goal, (especially in Google) and it will be almost impossible for you not to succeed and make a profit with your online marketing even in bad times.

o Autoresponders, List Building & Online Relationships

Keeping in contact with potential buyers is mission critical. You must use autoresponders to send follow-up messages to build trustful relationships with your potential customers.

So building a large contact list is essential. That’s why the social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace can be very effective marketing tools for building this online contact and trust. Truth be told, all these social networks are, more or less, just glorified autoresponders and list builders!

o Your Unique Selling Position

You must give potential customers some very good reasons for them to buy from you or your links. Offering special bonuses and discounts works wonders for your sales. Some of my most successful pages simply consists of coupons and discounts offered by different companies. If buyers can save $100’s OFF by buying thru your links, they will.

Always remember, besides looking for the best deal or bargain, consumers are also looking for a quality product. If you’re into affiliate marketing, only pick top quality products to promote. Picking top brand names also makes it easier to make sales. So too is only promoting popular online merchants like Amazon, can be an effective marketing strategy. Most importantly, always remember consumers are also looking for INFORMATION on the products they are considering buying, give them helpful information and you will succeed.

o Go With The Flow

If you’re marketing online, you have to follow what’s working for you. Most times you will try countless ideas or tactics – once you have found a process or system that works, really work it or scale it up. Making your first dollar is the hardest, but once you do something that earns you that dollar, just repeat that “something” a thousand times.

Tracking what works is very important so keep a close eye on your site’s traffic logs to find where your customers are coming from. Something like Google Analytics is simply priceless for “fine-tuning” your site and your online marketing. It will tell you what’s working and what’s not.

o Target Recurring or Residual Income

One of my most effective marketing strategies is to promote and sell products and services that give you a recurring or residual income. Make one sale and get paid for years or for the life of that referred client. Concentrate on services like web-hosting, telephone, marketing programs… once customers sign up to these services, they will likely keep them for years. I am still earning income from sales I made five years ago.

Building a large residual income could be the key to surviving in tough economic times. This will be income which will carry you or your business over the rough patches since it is based upon past performance and not on your current selling situation.

o Automate Everything

The real beauty of marketing online and using computers… you can automate just about every process in your marketing system. Make it a point of automating everything you do… use autoresponders to follow-up with potential buyers, use automatic check-outs, automatic reporting… just set-up your whole online marketing system that runs itself with little or no supervision from you. This will free up your time to concentrate all your efforts on marketing/promoting your site or product. Besides, nothing beats coming back from a vacation and finding out you have earned the cost of your vacation and then some – all the while you were lying in the sun and miles away from any computer.

o Find The Top Online Marketers

If you’re just starting with online marketing, you need to find the top successful marketers and “model” what they’re doing. This is relatively a new industry and you have to seek out the experts and pioneers who have set the groundwork. When I first started marketing online, I was quite fortunate to come into contact with some web marketing heavy-weights such as Marlon Sanders, Ken Evoy, Neil Shearing… and SEO experts like Brad Callen and Aaron Wall.

o Make Google Your Friend

Whether you love or hate Google doesn’t matter, you just have to make it your number one ally in your online marketing. Google has just about conquered the world-wide search market, Yahoo and MSN are still important, but Google is the deal-breaker when you’re selling stuff online. Consumers have enormous respect for Google, a number one listing for a lucrative keyword simply means money in the bank.

I have found using Google Search, Google Adwords, and Google Adsense have played a more than significant role in the success of my own online sites and marketing. Google tools such as Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Webmaster Tools… all have been invaluable and an enormous help in achieving my “web-based” lifestyle and livelihood. Of course, Google has also driven me around the bend more times than I can count, but no one is perfect. Besides, when it’s all said and done, anyone marketing on the web must truly embrace Google if they want to reach their highest level possible.

While Google has a strong focus on getting the best search results for users, it’s getting tougher all the time to get better results for your website with Google. for more help visit to:www.yourgoogleincome.com.Many smaller businesses with limited resources are likely to find themselves at a disadvantage due to the constant algorithm changes.

What will this latest change mean to you and your website? For some of you it will make very little difference, for others it will impact considerably because the number of pages from your website listed within Google’s search results will have diminished.

This article focuses on just one element of the March ‘06 “Big Daddy” update-the importance of getting external websites linked to yours, and how Google indexes websites across the internet.

Google uses link popularity as a measure to determine how often they will ‘crawl’ a website. Links have always been a strong measure of how Google ranks a website, but in the past this measure has been more geared towards determining PageRank and the order in which a web page is listed in Google search results.

What do I mean by indexing? Google uses an automated crawler called the Google to find websites across the internet. For new websites that are not currently indexed by Google, Google relies heavily on finding these new websites through links from existing websites within its current search database. For existing websites the Google visits websites already indexed within its database. If Google has already previously indexed a website, then it will generally be faster to index other pages within your website.

Google has introduced an additional complexity through its Big Daddy update. One thing many site owners have noticed since the end of March is that many pages from their websites have vanished from Google’s index. Google have said that with this recent update they are placing more weight on ‘crawling’ external links from websites that they classify as being important. The more external links you have pointing towards various pages within your site-not just your home page-, the more likely Google will crawl these pages and find other pages within your website.

Why are quality links so important? If Google doesn’t ‘crawl’ all your pages, then you will have no chance of having all your website content appear in Google’s search results. This means that you may have important information within your website that Google users will not find. At one stage it was enough to have your home page indexed and the rest of your website through a user-friendly website structure that the ‘crawler’ could follow. In the new environment however, that is no longer enough.

Note:” To show all of your results you will most likely need to click on the link of the last page that says     for more detail go to:www.youradsenseprofits.com.”repeat the search with the omitted results included”

External links pointing towards every single page within your website are not necessary, however make sure that external links point towards important pages within your website, and that your website structure is well linked to other parts of your website. The Google can easily crawl other pages from there.

An easy to follow navigation structure is vital for search engines, but more importantly for human visitors. Make sure that each page within your website has a clear link to the most relevant pages within the navigation structure. These individual pages should have clear links to relevant sub-pages. This way, you are satisfying both your visitors who are the most important when it comes to your website and the search engines.

The whole world has now centralized in six letters GOOGLE, the internet search giant. Co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, Google has introduced us to a new era of information technology. The word Google represents the infinite source of information the company is providing since years. One of the most trusted sources of information on the internet other than any other government agency Google is still expanding its services and information network.

Its nothing left to say about the search giant as it is the real internet king ruling the industry since its dawn. It has something new for the tech savvy. Google has always something more than what we think. It always stands a step ahead than any other internet entity.

Google is always known for its detailed search engine results. Results displayed by Google are more oriented towards technical information. Google’s results are highly relevant and have no room for spam. All the results are filtered at the level of relevancy other Black hat SEO techniques and the displayed ones are the best ones.

Google has always bought a revolution in the internet world whether it is in the field of search results or other internet

Google offers many services and features to consumers and businesses as well. Some of these services and features include Gmail, Google Mobile, Google Earth, and Google Sketch up.

Google is one of the popular search engines online. Millions of users’ daily use Google search engines to find relevant information to their search, or to sift through products, online auctions and so on.

Google offers the communities free e-mail accounts, free web pages and various other free items, which draws users to the search engine. At Google, you can also sign up at various programs or visit Usenet, bulletin boards, news boards and so on. Google offers the community frees news, quotes and updates on stocks exchange. Many stockholders visit Google search engines to get quotes, updates in stock exchange, and to read charts. The stockholders have many options at Google, which allows them to buy/sell or trade with fewer risks.

Community boards are available through Google also. Community boards allow users from around the world to market crafts, arts, music, images, software and more. The community can also post information at the boards, find help, and communicate with other users online. Community boards offer great opportunities to users, since it provides them many resources to help them market, stay updated and more. At the boards, users can play games at some areas.

Google also providers Internet users access to millions of open directories. The directories allow webmasters, Internet marketers, Internet businesses and so on invaluable tools that help them to promote their business online.

Webmasters, Internet marketers, Internet businesses can search for incoming, outbound, inbound, or other links of relevancy at Google search engines. The links are often collected to promote business or websites. In addition, Webmasters, Internet marketers, Internet businesses can use open directories to submit articles. This is another way to promote businesses. Most of the open directories offer free listings for articles.

Google has also attracted millions of users worldwide with its innovative Techno Serve. This page allows small businesses options in creating jobs, promote the growth of the economy and develop the new world. The server provides you with business plans, seed capitals and so on to build businesses.

Google created the Google Grants programs also. This program offers business free marketing tools and links them to other resources. Nonprofit businesses if selected can use the sites.

One of the nicer options Google has given to the community is the “Make-a-Wish Foundation.” The site opens room for grants to children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. Google also has a foundation to help people find support for disaster, epidemics, armed conflict and so on.

Google also provides the community free game sites. Users can go to the websites to play poker, chess, other card games, board games, pool, or whatever game they enjoy. Most of the games are free to users.

Not really, but it could make the job of an online affiliate marketer a total nightmare in the coming months… selling affiliate products on the web has just gotten much, much tougher.

Why?

Mainly because Google has taken Froogle, which it created in 2002 and re-named/re-branded it into Google Product Search. Now when anyone searches for a product on the web – Google Product Search will list the products and the stores selling them on the web.

Now it should be noted, Google doesn’t charge any fees for these listings and accepts no payment for products that show up first; nor does Google make any commissions on sales. Google makes its revenue by selling advertising via Adwords on the Product Search results pages. Any company can submit products thru Google Base to be included in Google Product Search.

What’s the problem?

Actually, there is no problem for the consumer who wants to find the cheapest price for a product. Google offers this great service which will help you find your product. It just cuts out the affiliate marketer who makes a living by promoting products on the web and receiving a small commission in return for their work.

But there are some very fundamental issues here that also cuts at the very heart of the Internet as we know it. Is Google changing the rules of how it does business by more aggressively targeting not only specific product keywords but much more broader keyword phrases in their organic search results with programs like Google Product Search? And they’re listing their links first in the organic search results or what everyone has come to believe are organic results. This argument is not new, Google has been taking those top spots for years albeit directing buyers to other companies with the best prices and offers.

However, is Google now not just targeting a product name or product – but targeting and listing in the #1 spot all the broader keyword phrases which have until recently been dominated by the ordinary website owner? And even in your own iGoogle personal search, you can NOT place your choice ABOVE this Google Product Link.

The real tricky question here: isn’t Google going from a search engine to a website creator and operator in this process? Is Google now not only providing the results; but is it now creating web pages to match those results? There’s nothing wrong with that, Google can do what it wants, but for the small affiliate marketer it means competition. Big competition. In other words, every website on the net now has Google as a potential competitor in organic search.

Of course, how far Google goes with this broader keyword targeting has yet to be seen. Only time will tell if Google does indeed have affiliate links and affiliate sites in its cross-hairs. Many affiliate marketers on the web will be waiting nervously for the answer to that question.

Again, most people would agree with what Google is doing, since most affiliate marketers only hype the products they’re selling and getting those affiliate based sites out of their search results and off the web may not be a bad move on Google’s part and for the web as a whole.

However, are consumers now getting the real information on products they’re buying? One of the great things about the Internet is that it has always offered various types of information and viewpoints on any subject matter – including the products that we buy on the web. By placing itself first in organic search results, Google is saying its information and listed products are the ones you should be getting.

Many affiliate marketers have spent years researching and studying a particular product niche and they offer valuable in-depth information on their sites about a particular product or service. They also offer comprehensive general knowledge about products, services and subjects that many searchers genuinely want to find when they search the web for information. It doesn’t always mean going directly to the merchant to buy a product, many shoppers want information first, then make their decision.

While others will argue what’s the big deal, isn’t Google also giving other search results besides the top spot? Yes, but as any marketer who has had a # 1 ranking in Google or any search engine for that matter, will know the top spot gets the majority of the traffic. So Google, by reserving the top spot for itself, will now receive the majority of the traffic, which it can exploit with its advertising.

Google is smart. Google has smart people. And smart people know the longer you have a web surfer on your site and not on someone else’s site, the more money you will make on advertising. By taking the top spot in organic search for every profitable keyword that’s searched, and keeping those searchers on web pages derived from those results, Google can create more business for itself. The poor affiliate marketer and every other website owner will just have to settle for second place.