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Christian InTech Articles - Affiliate Information

 

 

Informative Articles

7 Tips To Become a Master Affiliate
This are 7 useful tips that can really put you in the right direction to become one of the affiliate marketers that really make money promoting on the net products of other companies. 1- Keep in mind that becoming an affiliate marketer on the...

Affiliate Marketing Means Using Email Marketing
As an affiliate in an affiliate program you need to be good at affiliate marketing. One of the most important aspects of affiliate marketing is email marketing. Get it right and you will be a successful affiliate. Get it wrong and you will be just...

Affiliate Programs - Crunching The Numbers & Conversion Myths
All too often, many affiliate marketers discover that an affiliate program's promises of high converting sales simply never materializes. They followed all the instructions, used all the affiliate marketing tools & tips offered by the program,...

Don't Get Ripped Off By Affiliate Program Marketers
The "Internet Revolution" is here! One of the best ways to take advantage of it is to become an affiliate and promote other people's products. When you think about it affiliate programs are nothing more than joint ventures. You...

How To Select Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs offer most promising opportunities to earn money, to grow contacts and to establish yourself on the net. But this is easier said than done. There are so many affiliate programs available - genuine programs and the other...

 
Accounting for Affiliate Marketers

If you are an affiliate marketer, then you are in business. Therefore, you should treat it like a business. Keep in mind that Linkshare, Clickbank, Commission Junction and all the other affiliate marketplaces are going to report your earnings to the IRS.

Each of them requires that you provide a Social Security Number or EIN number when you apply with them. These numbers are used to report your earnings. At the end of the year, you'll receive a 1099 form which is the IRS earnings document given to Independent Contractors.

Since you have to pay taxes on your income, you should take care to make sure that your income is properly calculate. Remember, gross adjusted income is going to be the total amount that you earned - your expenses. For this reason, you really need to keep track of all of your affiliate marketing expenses.

Keep receipts and track all the following:

* Web Hosting Costs

* Affiliate marketing tools (such as your WordTracker membership fees, the cost of products like Adwords Analyzer, etc.)

* Any PPC advertising that you purchase.

Don't do as I have been prone to do and wait til the end of the year before you start putting these numbers together. You'll forget many and you won't be able to gain access to others.

For example, with PPC advertising, Google seems to keep records online forever. Great. But Overture only keeps the last 90 days and you can't - I repeat - You CAN'T get those records older than 90 days. (Ask me how I know :(

Getting receipts means that you'll have to think ahead. When you buy something


online, print the receipt page. When you subscribe to a service that may pull a fee from your checking account or credit card account on a monthly basis, make sure to opt in to any e-mail notification of transactions that you might be able to get.

Print everything out and put it in a folder for that years tax records. You won't regret it when tax season comes along.

You will also get a much better picture of how much money you're earning. I think a lot of affiliate marketers brag about their checks, but conveniently forget that out of the $10,000.00 they earned last month, they spent $8,000.00 for PPC advertising, $27.00 for Wordtracker, $100.00 for their web host, ect, etc, reducing their actual profit to enough to buy some bubble gum.

There's great software that makes all of this easier of course. Quicken or MS Money Home and Business editions or PeachTree accounting would all make the whole process of tracking these numbers much less painful.

Finally, there are real benefits (and some costs) to incorporating yourself. Incorporating changes the tax rules and create scenarios that let you put more of your profit into your pocket. They also help to shield you from liability. I'm not a lawyer, so I'd recommend talking to an tax law lawyer. I incorporated in Florida and the entire expense was about $495.00.

About the Author

Charles Waters discovered the wonderful world of affiliate marketing in 2003 and has never looked back. Today, he operates several successful money making web pages, including The Affiliates Home.