How To Best Select An Affiliate Program

How To Best Select An Affiliate Program 


Marketing products and services through the Internet is unquestionably easier and more rewarding compared to traditional marketing methods. With the millions of people worldwide getting online each day, there’s an enormous possibility for a merchant to sell his products and generate huge income. 

However, merchandisers are not the only ones who can benefit from online marketing. A booming industry nowadays, provides great opportunity as well to individuals as affiliate marketers. In affiliate marketing, an affiliate marketer doesn’t need to have his own products and services to sell. All he needs to do is to refer people to the merchant’s business site for them to buy the products and thereby, earn a commission. 

The key to an affiliate marketer’s success is to choose a good affiliate program and to employ excellent marketing techniques in promoting or selling the products to consumers. Why good and not the best affiliate program? There is no “best affiliate marketing program,” as one program might make one affiliate marketer a millionaire and the other a frustrated marketer. In other words, it can be a success to one and a failure to another. But there certainly is a good affiliate marketing program to start with. How to make it best would now depend on you. 

But before you think how you are going to make it best and financially rewarding, first think about how you are going to land on a good affiliate program with the thousands of affiliate marketing opportunities abounding in the Internet today. Try to look into the following tips and suggestions on how to best select the affiliate program that’s right for you. 

Information, that’s you need in order to make the right choice. It is helpful when you have already focused your search to a specific interest, which may be the theme of your website (if you already have one). In this way, you would be able to direct yourself towards a program that really matches your needs, wants and resources. It would be easier for you to eliminate options that are not suited to your own criteria for a good affiliate marketing program. You can join affiliate forums and learn some tips and get suggestions from experienced affiliate marketers. However, be wise enough to weigh their ideas before you buy them. 

The Internet Affiliate marketing program networks are good places to look for choices. Here, merchants and affiliate marketers like you meet. The merchants advertise their affiliate programs to interested affiliates who sign up in the network for free. Third party affiliate program networks are helpful since they provide you with access to a large number of advertisers (merchandisers) simultaneously. You can easily track and compare their sales records, performances, benefits, products and services. 

So now you have choices, the next question is which among those options is the right one. Here are some things to consider in deciding which to take and which to reject. First is the quality of the products and services. As an affiliate marketer your goal is not only to make visitors of your site click the link to the business site; but more importantly, to promote the product so they would buy it. If the customers are not convinced upon going to the business site, then you don’t earn. Make sure the products you are endorsing are worthwhile or in the business context, saleable. Ask yourself: if I were the customer, would I buy it? Would I recommend it to my family or good friend? If you can’t convince yourself or your family and friends to buy it, take a look at your next option.

Another is the affiliate program or the merchandiser’s history. Look into their previous and present sales data, their proven and tested affiliate marketing systems and their partners’ experiences with them.  Although, success of the program really depends on you, this one is still very important. The sales records don’t only show how good the affiliates are, but they speak about the products’ reliability, market availability and the company or the merchandisers’ reputation as well. Moreover, look into and carefully study the company’s compensation plan. Your purpose for joining the program is to earn, so make sure you’ll be paid for all your efforts fairly. 

If you do not have much time to promote intensively the affiliate products by creating banners, graphics and articles, choose affiliate programs that help you create these for your web site. It would be great if the company provides training on how to effectively market products online. Remember that affiliate marketing is a partnership, so make sure your partner is able to support you as you help him promote his products and services.

Take down all the advantages and disadvantages of each program you are considering so you can clearly see the difference among your options; then later, compare the advantages of the programs with your own checklist. Take time to gather all the info you need to choose the right program. Remember an informed choice is the best choice. 

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How to Become A Clickbank Super Affiliate

How to Become A Clickbank Super Affiliate


Making money through affiliate marketing is one of the most rewarding careers one could ever have. What’s good about this business is that anyone can join and make their way to success. Affiliate marketing has been known to be cost-efficient, assessable method of conveying long-term results. In fact, you can start even with a shoe string budget. And with affiliate marketing, you can have the benefit of working from home and enjoying the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself.

But there are also some people who failed in this kind of business. It could be because they lack knowledge and tactics. If you are a web site owner and you want to join in an affiliate marketing business, you should know where to get good affiliate programs.

Clickbank is an ideal place to start. Here, you can find one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the industry. You just need to visit their site, http://www.clickbank.com and secure a clickbank ID. From the Clickbank’s home page, proceed to “Earn Commissions” and look for the products and services that perfectly fit you and your site. These products are typically ranked according to their popularity.

Clickbank is one of the affiliate networks that serve as a 3rd party between the web merchants and the associated affiliates. It is responsible in providing the technology to deliver the merchant’s offers and campaigns. The affiliate network also do the job of collecting commission fees from the merchant and giving it to the affiliates involved in the program.

Clickbank provides you a large and increasing network of publishers or affiliates to tap into. To be more specific, clickbank has more than 100,000 affiliates who are experts in finding potential customers for your affiliate program. The reason why more and more affiliates are joining Clickbank is obvious – the process of gaining commissions in this network is absolutely fair and transparent. 

For web merchants, joining Clickbank is so easy. You just need to sign up in their site for free and allow them to sell your products. Keep up a promotional web site that gives your potential customers detailed information about your offered product or services. At your website, you must also maintain a comprehensive technical support pages for your product. In return, Clickbank will promote and sell your product, give customer service for your product, allow their affiliates to pass on traffic to your web site, enable you to encourage new affiliates to advertise your web site, furnish real-time sales reporting for you and the affiliates and send you and all affiliates a paycheck  twice a month. 

If you’re a Clickbank affiliate wannabe, you surely won’t find it hard to be a part of this network. First, you are required to place their link on your website and if you don’t have a Clickbank account, you need to complete the Clickbank affiliate form and create your own account. Then, if you already have a Clickbank username, you are free to choose whatever marketing tools you want to use bring in more clicks and generate more sales. After selecting marketing tools, you can now get your affiliate link.

That’s how simple it is to join Clickbank. But being a Clickbank super affiliate is no minor achievement. It means you need to possess the ability to sell lots of affiliate products. You also need to have expertise in search engine optimization, email marketing, newsletter marketing, reciprocal linkage, link exchanges and other methods of promoting your merchant’s goods and services. 

Among the secrets to become successful in affiliate marketing is to come up with good content based website and put your affiliate links in all your content. Your main purpose here is to give your visitors good quality content about the things they are interested in. Set aside the job of selling. It must be done by the sales letter page you are transferring them to.

Promote multiple affiliate programs in your website but don’t promote everything the world has to offer. Just choose the affiliate programs that fit your site and focus on it.  Then, it is advisable to automate the whole process, giving you more time for other ventures. Yes, you’ve read it right! Automation is another key to become a super affiliate. 

Of course, you have to spend more time in reading, learning and taking up the changes in affiliate marketing business. Through this, you’ll remain on top of the trends. If you are knowledgeable with online marketing, you’ll understand how important it is to stay up-to-date.  In this kind of business, what worked and what was accepted few months ago may not work at present. So always see to it that you know what’s new in affiliate marketing everyday.

It’s really hard to be a Clickbank super affiliate, but you shouldn’t say NO to the thought of giving up. Bear in mind that in affiliate marketing business, you need to develop persistence, patience and knowledge. These traits will teach you to carry on no matter how tough the job is. Also, check your statistics. This will help you find out what is working and what is not. Make necessary changes if needed but do it one at a time and be patient. 

Don’t forget that in affiliate marketing, everything won’t take place overnight. And it will not happen without blood, sweat and hefty time commitment. Again, just encompass patience, persistence and knowledge; then do above mentioned tactics. Before you recognize it, you will start gaining profits. Believe me, the fruits of all your efforts here in affiliate marketing will be way too sweet. 

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How Many Affiliate Checks Do You Want To Receive?

How Many Affiliate Checks Do You Want To Receive?


Affiliate Marketing is by far, one of the easiest ways to make money online. It is a revenue sharing business relationship between the affiliate who agrees to promote the products or services, and the merchant who offers them.

The affiliate advertises the merchant's products and services and gets a commission for every successful referral. Every time a customer is referred to the merchant's site, through the affiliate's efforts, and makes a purchase, the affiliate gets a share of the profit. No payment is due to the affiliate until successful results are realized. Compensation is based on either number of visits (Pay-per-click), registrant (Pay-per-lead), or commission for each sale (Pay-per-sale).

Affiliate Marketers can earn a few bucks to thousands of dollars with affiliate programs. The opportunity to earn in affiliate marketing can only be limited by the affiliate's determination, creativity and strategy. It is a brilliant way to earn online, and you do not have to produce your own product or service to make a buck. By advertising your merchant's products passionately, you get more in return. Profits in affiliate marketing usually start small but can get larger as the campaign starts to build up steam. 

There are many ways that an affiliate marketer can do to maximize their profits. If you ask any affiliate marketer how many affiliate checks they would want to receive, they will most likely want to get as many as possible. Some affiliate checks are small, amounting to nothing more than $25. 
While others are large and can easily reach the thousands and even more. Over time, these affiliate checks may build up to a really impressive amount. However, making a fortune in affiliate marketing is not instant. You should put in enough work and effort as well. You have to use your imagination to find more ways to attract more web traffic that can convert to sales for the merchant and profit for you as well.

How many affiliate checks do you want to receive? Most affiliate marketers will enthusiastically reply that they want to receive as many affiliate checks as possible. However, is it as easy as it sounds? Does joining many affiliate marketers guarantee more affiliate checks that really amount to something? The answer is No. Most affiliate marketers assume that joining multiple affiliate programs is a wise option. Because, it is very easy to join affiliate programs and there is really nothing to lose, affiliate marketers are tempted to join as many programs they can get their hands on. Thus, they fail to give their affiliate programs enough attention and work that they ought to receive. The maximum potential of the affiliate programs are not realized and the resulting income from these programs will almost certainly be disappointing.

The best way to achieve multiple streams of income is to concentrate on one affiliate program first. Choose a product or service that you can promote passionately. Pick a product in which you have complete trust. The best products and services to promote are those that you use personally. Your prospects will be able to sense your sincerity whenever you promote a product that you have experienced. This will greatly enhance your credibility as well as your product's marketability and will really encourage your prospect to purchase or avail of the product or service.

As soon as your first affiliate program is making a reasonable profit then you can proceed to joining another affiliate program and repeat the process. "Too much, too soon" is a common pitfall in affiliate marketing. Joining too many affiliate programs simultaneously in the hopes of having multiple streams of income simply does not work.

Focus first on one affiliate program and work on it so that it makes a good profit. Then, go find another promising program and give it your best effort. The question should not be how many affiliate checks you want to receive, but how many "high-paying" affiliate checks can you receive. The answer lies in your determination to succeed and determination to maximize your earning potential. With the right tools, the right actions, and perseverance you can definitely make a good profit out of affiliate marketing. 

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Here’s Why You Need To Use Landing Pages

Here’s Why You Need To Use Landing Pages


All the products that you want to sell online are ready.  You have already signed up with the Google Adsense program or with other affiliate marketing programs and you have already prepared the ad you want to post on your affiliate’s site.  Your mind is now set to being the next most successful online businessman.  But is there anything else that you might have forgotten to prepare?  Maybe none.  But how about your landing pages?  Are they all set for your business?

Landing pages are simply web pages where visitors are directed to whenever they click a result in a web search or whenever they click a web ad.  For affiliate marketing, landing pages would refer to the web page where you, as a merchant, would want your potential customer to be directed after clicking your ad on your affiliate’s website.  Landing pages are, at most times, nothing really different from other web pages in a particular website, especially if the said website is an e-commerce site.  Some online businessmen would even use the homepage of their websites as the landing page for their ads.  Are these businessmen making a big mistake?  Or should you follow their method in creating landing pages for their ads?

Well, you can always follow what most online retailers do, directing their potential customers to the homepages of their websites.  But if you want to achieve something more from your online business, and if you want to earn a lot of profits, you better create a special landing page for your web ads.  Why?  Here are a few reasons why you need to use landing pages for your web ads.  And take note, it would do you a lot better if you create a great landing page than a so-so one.

Reason no. 1: It is the only way you earn conversions in an affiliate marketing program.

There are a variety of affiliate marketing programs today, but most of these programs let the merchant pay the affiliate in a pay per click basis.  Basically, all you have to do is sign up with the program and submit your ad.  The program owner would then distribute your ad to various affiliates who would then place your ad on their websites.  Whenever your ad is clicked, a visitor would be directed to your landing page and you would have to pay the affiliate for his service.

As a merchant, you earn in an affiliate program through conversions—that is whenever a visitor that is directed to your site actually buys a product on your site.  Without these conversions, you actually earn nothing from the program.  Also, the more visitors that your affiliates have directed to your site, the larger would your expense be.  And the only way that you can recover from these expenses is through conversions.

Now, you sure won't get any conversion if you have posted an ad on your affiliate's site without an actual landing page for the potential customer to be redirected into.  It's just like advertising a product without actually having a store to sell your product.  Your advertisement may be enticing enough to encourage people to purchase a product, but without the landing page, how will they know how to purchase the product

It is therefore important to have landing pages for your ads because it is the only way for you to earn something in an affiliate program.  Without landing pages, all you do is spend money paying your affiliates without actually getting anything in return.

Reason no. 2: Other web pages may just not be enough.

Many people make the mistake of making their website's homepage as the landing page for their ads.  The same is true for those who make use of other pages like a "contact us" page or a product page.  Homepages are often designed to serve multiple users and contains a lot of links to other pages or to other websites.  The same is with the other two pages mentioned.  If you want to be successful in an affiliate program, we're sure that you don't want your landing page to cater to the needs of various people, most of which may not be really interested with your product.

When choosing a landing page, you must always have the customer directed into that page in mind.  Therefore, your landing page must be relevant to the keywords and the contents you placed on your ad.  It is also important that the landing page can induce your visitor to take action—that is to purchase your product or at least provide leads for potential customers.

Final Word

You probably entered into an affiliate marketing program with these things in mind: to save on advertising expenses and to gain more profit.  But if you get into an affiliate marketing program without actually having a landing page, you'll end up paying too much without getting anything in return.  So if you still don't have a landing page for your ads, you better start creating one now.  And don't get us wrong; it isn't enough for you to have just a landing page—it should be a great landing page!

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Google Adsense Profits Mixed In With Affiliate Marketing

Google Adsense Profits Mixed In With Affiliate Marketing


Are you a webmaster who needs funds to keep your website running?  Or is your website the only way for you to earn income?  Whichever you are, for as long as you are a webmaster or a web publisher and you need cash, affiliate marketing may work well for you.  With affiliate marketing, you may get a lot of cash pouring into your bank account easily.  And if your website is rich in great contents and you want to earn more profit, why not get into the Google Adsense program as well?

Why Affiliate Marketing?

Well, simply because affiliate marketing is the easiest and probably the best way to earn profits online, unless otherwise you are a businessman and would rather sell your own products online than advertise other businessman’s products on your site.  But even online retailers can benefit from affiliate marketing programs, because affiliate marketing actually works for merchants as well as it works for the affiliates.

Affiliate marketing, simply said, is a relationship or agreement made between two websites, with one site being the merchant’s website and the other being the affiliate’s site.  In the relationship, the affiliate agrees to let the merchant advertise his products on the affiliate’s site.  The merchant, on the other hand, would agree to pay the affiliate in whatever method they have agreed into.  This would generally mean easy income for the affiliate, as he would do nothing but place the retailer’s ad on his site.  This would also be very beneficial for the merchant, as getting affiliates to advertise their products would be a lot more affordable than hiring an advertising firm to promote their products.

There are a variety of methods on how the merchant would compensate the affiliate for his services, and for the webmaster, these methods simply translates to the method by which he would earn easy cash.  Among the more common methods of compensation are the pay-per-click method, the pay-per-lead method, and the pay-per-sale method.  The pay-per-click method is the method most preferred by affiliates, for their site’s visitor would only have to visit the advertiser’s site for them to gain money.  The other two methods, on the other hand, are better preferred by merchants, as they would only have to compensate you if your visitor becomes one of their registrants or if the visitor would actually buy their products.

Getting much profit on affiliate marketing programs, however, does not depend so much on the compensation method is it does on the traffic generated by your site.  A website that can attract more visitors would generally have the greater chance of profiting in affiliate marketing programs.

What about Google Adsense?

Google Adsense is actually some sort of an affiliate marketing program.  In Google Adsense, Google act as the intermediary between the affiliates and the merchants.  The merchant, or the advertiser, would simply sign up with Google and provide the latter with text ads pertaining to their products.  These ads, which is actually a link to the advertiser’s website, would then appear on Google searches as well as on the websites owned by the affiliates, or by those webmasters who have signed up with the Google Adsense program.

While one can find a lot of similarities between Google Adsense and other affiliate marketing programs, you can also see a lot of differences.  In Google Adsense, all the webmaster has to do is place a code on his website and Google takes care of the rest.  The ads that Google would place on your site would generally be relevant to the content of your site.  This would be advantageous both for you and for the advertiser, as the visitors of your site would more or less be actually interested with the products being advertised.

The Google Adsense program compensates the affiliate in a pay-per-click basis.  The advertisers would pay Google a certain amount each time their ad on your site is clicked and Google would then forward this amount to you through checks, although only after Google have deducted their share of the amount.  Google Adsense checks are usually delivered monthly.  Also, the Google Adsense program provides webmasters with a tracking tool that allows you to monitor the earnings you actually get from a certain ad.

So, where do all of these lead us to?

Where else but to profits, profits and even more profits!  Affiliate marketing programs and the Google Adsense program simply work, whether you are the merchant or the affiliate.  For the merchant’s side, a lot of money can be saved if advertising effort is concentrated on affiliate marketing rather than on dealing with advertising firms.  For the webmaster, you can easily gain a lot of profits just by doing what you do best, and that is by creating websites.  And if you combine all your profits from both the Google Adsense program and other affiliate marketing programs, it would surely convert to a large amount of cash.

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Finding Hot Selling Products to Sell

Finding Hot Selling Products to Sell


In order to locate products that sell online, we need to understand what people already want to buy. Finding a good choice of idea or product is always accompanied by interfacing the demand for the product in the current market and the level of competition or market share that the product will be having in the long run.

“What should I sell? What products are hot selling? These are the questions most people are trying to find an answer in order for them to make the definite decision. And if we really want to know the answer to this question, our only choice is to do some research. There are all kinds of twists along the road that may lead you to think you have a high-demand idea. We must be able to understand and satisfy the need, wants and expectations of our customers on a certain product that they’re trying to buy. This three are called the basic needs or minimum requirements in a purchase. Needs are the basic reasons or the minimum requirements consumers are looking for in a product or service. They are called the qualifying or “gatekeeper” dimensions in a purchase. Wants are the determining dimensions among many choices. Expectations, on the other hand, are values or intangibles associated with a product or service. Expectations are actually part of “wants” but they become extremely important when products or services are not differentiated.

For example, in reading a logic book, university students look for the following: Relevant logic concepts use of simple language, easy to understand and affordable prices. These similar ideas can be applied to Internet Sales as well. After all, the Internet is just another place to sell products. The basic concept of demand is the same there as it is anywhere else, and has been all the time.

Now, the second thing that must be considered in finding “hot” products to sell are the level of competition or the market shares do your product will have. Market share or level of competition means the ratio of your brand sales versus the total market sales. While companies would naturally define its target competitors, it is actually the consumers who ultimately decide the competitive frame, or the list related products or services that consumers consider when exercising their purchasing power. We must therefore choose the market segment where we can have a potential leadership or at least a strong challenger role. Because the overriding objective of getting into this business is not just to satisfy the needs and wants of our customers but to do so profitably better than his competition. Otherwise, our competition will end up satisfying the customers better than our own interest.

Third factor to be considered in finding hot selling products is finding out the general interest level about the product. General interest in a product helps us to gauge where our demand and competition numbers fall into the big picture. Simply saying, if there isn’t much demand for the product, and there isn’t much competition, it would seem that it might not be good a good put up for sale. But the research doesn’t stop here; there is one last thing to be considered to exactly find the hot selling products that you’ve been looking for. We must also learn how others are advertising those products. If there are a good number of them doing so, it may mean that it’s a good product to get into. Coming to the last phase of the process is analyzing and evaluating all the information that has been collected. We have to look at all of the data we have collected on demand, competition, and advertising, and make decision as how they all balance out.

And here are several factors or aspects that must be measured: (a) not enough demand means not enough people are going to buy (b) too much competition means not enough of a profit to go around (c) too much advertising drives up the price of pay per click ads, and competition as well (d) not enough general interest, combined with low demand, means there may not be a good market even if there is competition trying to make the sales.         
   

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Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Affiliate Marketer?

Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Affiliate Marketer?


Each of us has its own interest or has a hobby. Some love all kinds of books, music, and movies while others are into sports and traveling. There are also people who love to grow flowers and loves pets. These things help us to relax and forget our everyday problems and troubles and these things are common to people. But not everyone has a hobby that makes money for him/her except if you love your job.

Money making hobby could let you treat your family and friends with the extra cash or you can even quit your current job that you almost certainly hate. That is why many of us today go online to start a business; their reasons are either to supplement their income or to gradually replace their offline income from their job. Affiliate marketing is a great way to start in making money online.

Affiliate marketing is a revenue sharing partnership between a web merchant and one or more affiliates. The affiliate is paid a commission for referring clicks, leads or most often sales to the merchant. An affiliate’s advantage is that he can make money in a business where he doesn’t have the upfront costs of creating his own product, and he doesn’t have to worry about e-commerce, bookkeeping, or even customer support for it is the merchant’s responsibility.

Now, for sure you want to be an affiliate marketer with all that benefits an affiliate could get. But, do you have what it takes to be an affiliate marketer? Before you begin your venture into affiliate marketing, you need to decide first which area interest you. What products do you know the most and which products you could do the best job of selling? Once you discover your specialty, perseverance, patience, determination comes next. These are the qualities you should possessed to be a good affiliate marketer.

Too many online business prospectors lose out because they become impatient. You also have to know what your strengths are, the things in which you are good at and your capabilities and abilities related to your chosen streak. And the most important thing is you have to have a strong desire to succeed in affiliate marketing.

To be an affiliate marketer is not an easy task. You have to learn the techniques of marketing your product or service. You shouldn’t be looking at every chance because marketing is all about attracting you to look at this or that particular opportunity. To be a successful affiliate marketer, you should learn how to listen and to be taught because in life we need to learn skills to get by.

For an affiliate marketer, you should know how to market your site effectively, in will enable you to get thousands of visitors coming to your site which transforms into more sales. This only means that the faster you set up a website, the bigger your chances of making money online faster. You should avoid the same mistakes some affiliates make everyday, they are only building a short-term business where they just make a small sale. Make sure you do understand that you should be building a long-term affiliate business and not just something that makes you a few dollars on one sale. 

It is also better to have knowledge on how to upsell your visitors for expensive services. This will in turn make you become recognized as an expert in your field and making money will be easier. There are some people thinks that just by having affiliate links on their website will bring them good profits. This can have some truth to it, but then most successful affiliates still believe that making use of strong marketing campaigns for their affiliate programs is still important. But affiliate marketers become much more successful when they treat their customers or online visitors as friends. Make a commitment to establish relationships with your customers and especially with visitors to your site. It is very important for an affiliate marketer to have a good business relationship with customers or visitors. 

You should also be creative. The real key to being successful with affiliate marketing is to develop a good content based website and weave your affiliate links into all your content. You have to provide your prospects with good, quality content to keep them coming back to your site. So, do you have what it takes to be an affiliate marketer?

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Don't Make These Common 4 Affiliate Mistakes

Don't Make These Common 4 Affiliate Mistakes!


Myths concerning affiliate marketing are appealing and attractive.  People who do not know the entire system the wrong way round are prone to believing that it is something capable of giving them great fortune overnight.  Stories concerning affiliates who earn tremendous amounts of money swim in their heads, and while these stories are as true as they can be, there are those who believe that they are going to have the same fortune once they indulge in this particular business.

It is true enough that affiliate marketing is financially rewarding.  People who have gone through everything to be able to succeed in this business are reaping the seeds that they untiringly sowed.  Many of them enjoy the kind of existence that was not possible for them to have had under ordinary circumstances.  Having gone through the A-Z of affiliate marketing, however, these people are the ones who know that while such business is lucrative, there is absolutely no easy money in it.

Ignorance of this fact is one of the main reasons why there are people who fail miserably in the internet business.  There are those who believe in myths concerning the easy money involved in systems such as affiliate marketing.  They do not know that there are those who have wasted time, effort and too many resources in trying to pursue the life of ease that they believe this business will give them.  And so they go into affiliate marketing armed with nothing but myths and fantastical notions of wealth swimming in their consciousness, never realizing that they bound to make mistakes that would prove to be their downfall.

What may be the reason why in businesses such as affiliate marketing, many are called but few are chosen?  Perhaps the answer lies on the fact that many affiliates make mistakes that result from their ignorance of facts concerning how the entire business runs.  Affiliate marketing is not as simple as an affiliate promoting a merchant’s wares through his website and getting paid for it.  It is also about knowing the market and the customers at hand.

Discovering what the most common mistakes affiliates make can perhaps dispel the gloom about myths surrounding affiliate marketing by correcting some wrong notions about it.  It might also be able to make those concerned understand that like any other business, there are dos and donts involved in this one if they want to make each of their steps count.  The first common mistake affiliates make is their lack of knowledge concerning principles involved in their business.  This refers to the affiliate’s knowledge of search engines in particular.

Affiliate marketing involves advertising, and advertising through the internet could not have been better without the existence of search engines.  What every affiliate has to do is to make these search engines his best friend through studying search engine optimization closely.  This way, he is able to know what to do in connection with building a better website to ultimately use for his business.

The second is that affiliates make the mistake of stuffing their sites with banners that do not provide enough information about the product at hand.  The best way to battle this mistake is to provide good content hand-in-hand with such banners.  It is important for customers to know and understand the features of a product, and good content will be able to help them realize this goal.

The third is that there are affiliates who make the mistake of promoting only one product.  Consequently, customers are not given enough options to choose from.  There is also the risk of generating fewer sales as compared to having more options for customers ponder about.  It is always better to give them a few better alternatives than to give them only one.

The fourth is that there are affiliates who make the mistake of promoting too many products.  As a result, customers are confused and end up beyond making a choice.  It is perhaps good to give them only the best choices.  This is because it is ultimately up to them to judge which one is the best for them to patronize.

All in all, affiliates that are doomed to fail in this business are those who do not exert enough effort to understand everything involved in the industry that they are in.  Knowing their path step by careful step will prove to be beneficial to them, as there is no other way to succeed than to go through any path slowly but surely.

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Building Affiliate Marketing Websites The Easy Way

Building Affiliate Marketing Websites The Easy Way


There are some myths in affiliate marketing, which attract a lot of people to it believing they are true. First is they think managing an online business is easy and second, they think that one can make a fortune through online marketing in an instant. Probably not even 10% of those who are into affiliate marketing became rich overnight. There may be some who fortunately achieved overwhelming success in just a short span of time after setting up an affiliate program, but not a majority of them can confidently say they only had luck. Anyone who is successful in this kind of business would say he worked hard to get to where he is right now. Success in affiliate marketing takes time and hard work, but it’s worth it.

If you are planning to start an affiliate program, one of the things you have to consider is having your own website, not just an ordinary website but a professional looking one. How do you build an affiliate marketing website? What are the easy steps to build one? First, you must have already decided on the theme or niche of your website. It would be better if you already have an idea what products or services to promote as this would help you plan the design and lay-out of your web pages. The next thing to do is to choose a domain name and get it hosted. The domain name is a unique name used to label the actual address of your website on the Internet.  In deciding what domain name to register, look into the type of products you are endorsing and the theme of your site. Having the right keywords in your domain name would give you better chances of drawing more visitors to your website. Also, choose a top level domain or extension, such as .com because it is more popular. In selecting your web host, consider the security of servers and up time guarantees.

Now, you can start creating your webpages. Don’t be disheartened when you know a little in this field. There are page generation tools and fast launch sites available online; you just have to search for them. Countless online sources could help you build an affiliate marketing website, though you might need time to study and learn the whole process. This is one of the reasons why your site or the products you are going to promote must match your interest. Building your marketing website for the first time would be a lot more fun if you know very well the theme of your site. If you don’t have time to make your own website, you can use templates or purchase readily available websites. The latter, however, is a more expensive option.

Creating an affiliate website on your own would be cheaper and more interesting. In the process of building your website, you may also increase your knowledge in Information Technology and the use of computers, softwares and the Internet. As you educate yourself in these fields, you are increasing your advantage against other affiliate marketers. It helps a lot, though, if you already know the basics in web page development like programming languages and graphics softwares because you can make your site extra corporate-looking, more convenient to use or easier to navigate. Furthermore, if you are knowledgeable and skillful in this area, you can already concentrate more on the content of the page rather than the design.

The key to draw visitors to your website is to have high quality content; thus, the next thing you must pay attention to in building your marketing website is this. There may be several other factors that contribute to the success of your affiliate marketing site, but a good content tops the list. This is precisely the reason why users choose to enter your site. They want to get information and so when they don’t find it, they would definitely go elsewhere. Write interesting articles related to your theme as this would make them frequent your site. If you have already looked for affiliate programs that complement your site, add links to the business sites and other very good informative sites. Links contribute to how well you will be listed in major search engines as well. Also, create pages for the products you are endorsing, but don’t just promote the products by putting hyped-up ads. Keep your readers interested by injecting lots of relevant and useful information. This would make them click the link to the business site and buy the product. Remember that no good content means no frequent visitors, no sales and ultimately, no commission.

Make your site simple yet not without a touch of class in order to make it appear more of a business website rather than a personal website. This would be pleasing to the eyes and more interesting to browse. To help you with the design, you can check some successful online stores to get an idea on how you can make your site look better. Make sure you don’t place too many banner ads since these could distract some site users; and thus, instead of clicking your ad, they might just leave your site and look for other interesting websites. After all, banner ads are not the only means of advertising your products. Now your website is complete, submit its URL to major search engines to increase your traffic.

Grow from where you started. Learn about use of keywords for search engine optimization and apply them in your content. Update your site regularly or add new webpages. Make sure to inform your prospects about the latest updates in your site. You can use newsletters to accomplish this. The Internet offers a huge source of information about just anything, make use of it. Continue to educate yourself on how to improve your website and soon you’ll find yourself successful in affiliate marketing.

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Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer


Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner. The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant's side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.

Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits. Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort. You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping. These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

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7 Ways to Drive Laser-Targeted Traffic

7 Ways to Drive Laser-Targeted Traffic


An affiliate marketer may have all the things needed for him to be able to succeed in a business such as affiliate marketing.  He may have the necessary drive, diligence and perseverance to be able to understand how the system works.  He may have all the tools necessary in maintaining the business, including a really unique and interesting website which could earn him a fortune if only the whole world could see it.  However, all these would prove useless if he does not know how to drive traffic to his website.  His business would sink into oblivion together with all the sales, fortune and dreams that he might have realized if he only knew how to do this particular task.

Getting people who matter to see one’s website is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down.  The immensity of the internet as well as the affiliate marketing world has given birth to the fierce competition between affiliate marketers, each of whom has his own great product to offer.  With all the websites piling on top of each other, how would one be able to stand out?  The seven best ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to one’s own website would help those who are bent on sticking it out with this business wherever it is bound to take them.

The first step in driving traffic to one’s website is by relying on search engines and what they can do for the affiliate marketer concerned.  Because they are popular for driving free targeted traffic, they should not be ignored by all means.  Having top search engine rankings is vital in building popularity links, and the use of the right keywords is important in attaining this goal.  Once a website is on top of the list, it is easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it for himself.

The second way in driving traffic to one’s website is by contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership.  Locating websites that are related to one’s own website is the primary task.  Once there, he should be able to establish communication by personalizing everything as much as possible.  It is then possible to make reciprocal link exchanges between webmasters whichever way the affiliate marketer prefers.

The third way is through writing one’s own articles.  This is an effective way in promoting a website, because good content that are appreciated by readers will lead them to visit the writer’s very own website out of sheer interest.

The fourth way is through joint venture marketing.  This is one of the most effective ways of promoting a product or a service.  Having a partner through ad swap or link exchange is beneficial to both parties as it allows them to reach a wide customer base in a short amount of time.

The fifth is through joining affiliate programs.  Having affiliates to do the work means allowing them to bring tons of traffic to a website.  Skyrocketing sales would be realized as a result, and both the affiliate and the website owner will benefit from the situation.

The sixth is by having a list of subscribers that one can refer to every so often, because they are those which would prove to be valuable assets for the marketer concerned.  The use of autoresponders and personalized newsletters is one way of keeping track of them all, and holding on to them by letting them know about new products and services is an essential task that should be done by the affiliate marketer concerned.

The seventh is by knowing one’s market through and through.  It is important for traffic to be targeted to those who might have a special interest in the theme or topic of one’s website.  This way, a solid customer base is going to be created.  Once a potential customer shows an interest in a particular website by paying it a visit, one must not waste time in trying to show him that his effort is worth it.

Traffic generating strategies are important in trying to make one’s affiliate marketing career inch forward.  It is always advantageous to plan one’s moves in any business that he might undertake.  This is particularly so in affiliate marketing.  If one knows how to get people to see what he has to offer, then he is on the right track.

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5 Things You Must Have to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing

5 Things You Must Have to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing


The idea of being mere passengers on a ship meant to sail to the farthest points does not appeal to people who like to put their destiny into their own hands.  They have the desire of maneuvering the ships themselves, of being able to be the ones to take it anywhere they want to.  Being aboard a ship on its way to a particularly great destination is something each and every one of them dreams of, and the knowledge that they have the capacity to steer it themselves is what makes them actually want to.

Perhaps this is the reason why more and more people are succumbing to one of the most popular businesses around – affiliate marketing.  It is because in this business, there are no bosses to order the employees around.  There are no deadlines to meet and no clutter of work do to.  One only needs to be equipped with the tools needed to succeed in a business such as this, and he is bound to get what his heart ultimately desires.

Just what are the things needed to be able to succeed in affiliate marketing?  What must one have within himself to be able to do well in this industry?  There is a lot of competition involved in affiliate marketing, and to be able to rise above the norm, one must be equipped with just the right stuff necessary to propel him forward.  There are five things one must ultimately possess if he wants to achieve the glory he is yearning for in this business, and these five things are a must for him to possess to be able to stand out among the rest.

The very first quality one must possess if he wants to try his hand in affiliate marketing is the willingness to learn and be trained.  Treading through unfamiliar territory is scary stuff if one is not properly equipped, and he might get lost amidst a jungle of the unknown.  Learning the tricks of the trade is also an important aspect of the game, and one’s willingness to know it all will give him far better advantages in the business than he could ever imagine.

The second quality one must possess is the willingness to invest time and effort even if direct results do not seem at all apparent.  Although several months may pass without good news, it is important for one who has his foot in the industry to hold on and wait.  It is this quality which would save him from giving up after investing a lot of himself in the business.

The third quality one must possess is self-determination.  If one wants to conquer the affiliate marketing world, he must have the ability to push himself ahead.  Never having to say die is a quality each and every affiliate marketer should possess, and the ability to motivate oneself into scaling greater heights is an ability which would actually take an affiliate marketer there.

The fourth quality one must possess is discipline.  If one knows how to teach himself to work everyday with all the energy he can muster, then he is close to achieving what he has set his heart to having in the first place.

The fifth and last quality one must possess is optimism.  Negative attitudes and hearsays should not discourage an affiliate marketer from pursuing what he has to in order to make life better for himself and for everyone concerned.  Neither should anyone influence his attitude toward the business, because once in it, it is a must for him to be the captain of his ship and the master of his soul.

The ingredients to success in a business such as affiliate marketing are diverse and manifold, but the most important thing one needs to be able to make it big lies in himself alone.  It is he who has the capacity to do everything to be able to realize his prospects, and the desire which fuels his heart in doing so is the gasoline which should keep the engine going.

Affiliate marketing is all about putting one’s fate into his own hands.  The right attitude is the key to being able to steer one’s ship into that part of the ocean where a certain kind of serenity can be found, one that permeates the atmosphere as the ship sails calmly on.

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3 Necessary Tools for the High Rolling Affiliate Marketer

3 Necessary Tools for the High Rolling Affiliate Marketer


What does it take to become a successful Affiliate Marketer? What are the ingredients of an affiliate marketing success story? Is there a shortcut to Affiliate Marketing glory? All these questions play around in the minds of affiliate marketers who want to make it big in this business.
Although affiliate marketing is touted as one of the easiest and most effective ways to earn money online, it is not as easy as it sounds. The wise affiliate marketer plans every action and executes it the best way he can. He should also maximize the potential to earn by utilizing the right tools necessary for a successful Affiliate Marketing business. We have consulted some of the most successful affiliate marketers in the business and below are the top three necessary tools for a successful affiliate marketing business.

Important Tool #1: Your Own Website

The most important and indispensable tool in Affiliate Marketing is your own website. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website. Your website is the jump off point of all your marketing efforts. Thus, you must first build a user-friendly website, which will appeal to your prospects and encourage them to click on the links to the products and service you are promoting and make a purchase. Therefore, you must first concentrate your efforts in building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.

The most important thing you should consider is that almost all web users go online to look for information, not necessarily to go and buy something. Above all else, make your website full of original, relevant and useful content. People will love articles that are appealing and helpful. Keep in mind that, in the internet, content is still king and good quality content will not only build your credibility, it can also help you achieve a higher search engine ranking. By posting relevant and useful articles, you establish yourself as a credible expert in the field, making you a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is a good step in building up a loyal consumer base.

Important Tool #2: Incentives

Competition is extremely tight in the internet world. You must always be one-step ahead of your rivals to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market. Therefore, you must use every possible means to encourage people not only to visit your site but also to click and proceed to the websites of the products and services you are promoting. Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather prospects. Offer a newsletter or an e-zine. Better yet, offer incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can present free softwares, access to exclusive services and other freebies that will be helpful to your prospects.

Important Tool #3: Link Popularity

The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be emphasized enough. The all-important web traffic is at the top of the list of the most important entities in the internet world. Attracting people to your site should be the first step you should carry out. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use to determine search engine rankings. Therefore, to enhance your link popularity, you must launch an aggressive reciprocal link campaign.

One of the best ways to do this – at no cost at all – is by submitting articles, with your website's link at the resource box, to e-zines and free article sites. You will not only gain exposure, you will also have the opportunity to advertise for free, just include a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity is. Make your articles original, relevant and useful so that more websites will pick it up and post it.

These are but three of the many tools that an affiliate marketer can use to maximize earning potential. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by your imagination, creativity, resourcefulness and determination. You can always explore other ideas and adapt other strategies, which you think might help you become a high rolling affiliate marketer.

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Start an Art Collectible Hobby and Beautify Your Home

Start an Art Collectible Hobby and Beautify Your Home

Collecting is a fun hobby, and one of the most interesting things to collect are art collectibles.  Many different items can be painted with artwork and become an art collectible.  Hobby enthusiasts collect such things as saw blades, and wooden eggs which have had artwork painted on.  People even collect designer rugs as art.  Another art collectible hobby is collecting limited edition plates, thimbles, Christmas ornaments, and figurines produced by such companies as Bradford Exchange.  And of course, many people collect fine art paintings.

The person with an art collectible hobby will probably find his or her own favorite artists whose works they appreciate.  They can choose to focus on one particular artist, either past or present, or they can choose from the works of many artists.  On the other hand, they may collect art and art objects around a theme they enjoy, such as cigars, wild animals, or piano music. 

One may think of an art collector as a rich person who has the money to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an original Van Gogh.  A person of more modest means can collect art too, however.  Post cards are a good place to start.  Most art museum gift shops offer high quality, glossy postcards printed with some of their more notable acquisitions.  By buying those cards one really appreciates, anyone can have an art collection.

Ebay is a good source of art collectibles whatever type of art or collectible you fancy.  In fact, if you are just starting out, the choices and options can be overwhelming!  Just remember that you can sell your own belongings as well as buying those of others.  This should make the impact on the budget a little less powerful.  Other ideas for inexpensively collecting art collectibles are scouring flea markets, thrift shops, and garage sales.  You never know what treasure someone else may be getting rid of.

One nice thing about art collectibles is that artists can be found in every part of the world.  The art collector should scout the local art shows, museums, and artist's hangouts to find out just what sort of talent can be had less expensively and close to home.  Because of the local flavor of some artwork, art collectibles make good travel souvenirs.  For instance, the artist Linda Barnicott specializes in paintings of scenes, buildings, and landmarks found around  Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  Similarly, collectors can find local artist almost everywhere.

An art collectible hobby will keep you interested in life and give you a home filled with art masterpieces as well.  If you enjoy pretty and interesting things around you, consider starting an art collectible hobby today.

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Pengertian Zakat, Jenis Zakat, dan Hikmahnya

Pengertian Zakat Dan Hikmahnya

Kata zakat berasal dari bahasa arab "zakaah" yang artinya menurut bahasa tumbuh atau suci. Pengertian zakat menurut syara' ialah kegiatan mengeluarkan sebagian harta tertetu kemudian diberikan kepada yang berhak menerimanya dengan beberapa syarat.


"Dirikanlah sembahyang dan tunaikanlah zakat!" (QS. An-Nisaa : 77).

"Ambillah zakat dari sebagian harta mereka, dengan zakat itu kamu membersihkan dan mensucikan mereka, dan mendoalah untuk mereka. Sesungguhnya doa kamu itu (menjadi) ketenteraman jiwa bagi mereka. Dan Allah Maha Mendengar lagi Maha Mengetahui." (QS. At-Taubah : 103).

Abu Abdurrahman Abdullah bin Umar bin Khattab ra. Berkata, Aku pernah mendengar Rasulullah SAW bersabda : “Islam dibangun atas lima perkara : persaksian bahwa tiada Tuhan selain Allah dan Muhammad Rasul Allah, mendirikan shalat, mengeluarkan zakat, melaksanakan ibadah haji, berpuasa di bulan Ramadhan.” (HR. Bukhori dan Muslim).

Zakat terbagi menjadi dua macam, yaitu zakat fithrah dan zakat mal.


Zakat Fithrah

Menurut bahasa, zakat fithrah artinya zakat yang dikeluarkan pada hari raya Idul fithri, sedangkan pengertian menurut syari'at Islam adalah zakat yang diwajibkan bagi setiap muslim, laki-laki maupun perempuan, besar maupun kecil, yang memiliki kelebihan bagi keperluan dirinya dan keluarganya di hari raya Idul Fithri.


Dalam sebuah hadits dinyatakan sebagai berikut :
"Rasulullah SAW telah mewajibkan zakat fithrah untuk membersihkan diri orang-orang yang berpuasa dari perbuatan yang tidak berguna dan pada perkataan yang kotor serta untuk memberi makan kepada orang-orang miskin." (HR. Abu Dawud).

Syarat Wajib Zakat Fithrah

Zakat fithrah wajib dilaksanakan bagi orang-orang yang memenuhi syarat-syarat sebagai berikut :

    Islam.

    Orang tersebut ada (hidup) pada waktu terbenam matahari pada malam Idul Fithri. Dengan demikian orang yang meninggal sebelum terbenam matahari pada malam Idul Fithri ia tidak wajib membayar zakat fithrah, demikian juga anak yang lahir sesudah terbenam matahari tidak wajib dibayarkan zakat fithrahnya. Orang yang menikah sesudah terbenam matahari pada malam Idul Fithri juga tidak wajib membayarkan zakat fithrah bagi istrinya.


    Orang itu mempunyai kelebihan makan baik untuk dirinya maupun keluarganya pada malam hari raya dan siang harinya. Rasulullah SAW bersabda :


Ketika Rasulullah SAW mengutus Muadz ke Yaman, beliau bersabda : "Beritahukanlah kepada mereka (penduduk Yaman), sesungguhnya Allah mewajibkan kepada mereka zakat yang diambil dari orang-orang kaya dan diberikan kepada orang-orang yang fakir di hadapan mereka." (HR. Jama'ah ahli hadits).

    Adapun harta yang ada pada seseorang pada malam Idul Fithri untuk keperluan sehari-hari seperti meja, kursi, pakaian dan sebagainya tidak perlu dijual untuk membayar zakat fithrah. Orang yang memenuhi syarat untuk membayar zakat fithrah ia wajib membayarnya untuk dirinya dan semua anggota keluarganya yang menjadi tanggungannya.



Waktu Membayar Zakat Fithrah

Zakat fithrah ini boleh dibayarkan sejak awal bulan Ramadhan secara ta'jil (sengan lebih cepat) sampai dengan hari idul Fithri sebelum shalat. Berikut ini akan dikemukakan beberapa waktu pembayaran zakat fithrah :


    Waktu yang diperbolehkan yaitu mulai dari awal bulan Ramadhan sampai penghabisan bulan Ramadhan.


    Waktu wajib, yaitu semenjak terbenam matahari pada akhir bulan Ramadhan.


    Waktu yang afdhal, yaitu waktu sesudah shalat shubuh dan sebelum shalat Idul Fithri.


Dari Ibnu Abbas ra, ia berkata : Rasulullah SAW telah mewajibkan zakat fithrah untuk membersihkan orang-orang yang berpuasa dan untuk memberi makan orang-orang miskin. Siapa yang melaksanakannya (mengeluarkan zakat fithrah) sebelum shalat hari raya maka yang demikian itu termasuk zakat yang diterima, dan siapa yang mengeluarkannya sesudah shalat hari raya maka yang demikian itu termasuk sedekah biasa." (HR. Abu Dawud dan Ibnu Majah).


Mustahiq Zakat Fithrah

Mustahiq zakat fithrah artinya orang-orang yang berhak menerima zakat fithrah. Orang-orang yang berhak menerima zakat fithrah menurut pendapat yang kuat adalah golongan fakir miskin. Hal ini sesuai dengan hadits Rasullullah SAW, yaitu :

"Rasulullah SAW telah mewajibkan zakat fithrah untuk membersihkan diri orang-orang yang berpuasa dari perbuatan yang tidak berguna dan pada perkataan yang kotor serta untuk memberi makan kepada orang-orang miskin." (HR. Abu Dawud).

Cara membayar zakat, baik zakat fithrah maupun zakat harta boleh secara langsung kepada mustahiqnya, atau kalau di suatu tempat itu ada panitia penerimaan dan penyaluran zakat, lebih baik pembayaran zakat itu melalui panitia.

Harta yang dikeluarkan untuk zakat fithrah adalah makanan pokok yang berlalu di negara/daerah di mana wajiba zakat tinggal, bisa berupa beras, gandum, sagu, jagung dan lain-lain. Menurut suatu pendapat, zakat fithrah boleh dibayarkan dengan berupa uang yang telah ditetapkan.

Dari Ibnu Umar ra, ia berkata : Rasulullah SAW telah mewajibkan zakat fithrah pada bulan Ramadhan, sebanyak satu sha' kurma atau gandum atas tiap-tiap orang muslim merdeka atau hamba sahaya, baik laki-laki maupun perempuan." (HR. Al-Bukhari dan Muslim).

Ukuran jumlah yang dibayarkan zakat fithrah sebanyak satu sha' sama dengan 3,5 liter (2,5 kg) beras.


Zakat Harta (Zakat Maal)

Zakat harta ialah kegiatan mengeluarkan sebagian harta kekayaan berupa binatang ternak, hasil tanaman (buah-buahan), emas dan perak, harta perdagangan dan kekayaann lain yang diberikan kepada yang berhak menerimanya dengan beberapa syarat tertentu.


Syarat wajib zakat harta adalah sebagai berikut :

    Islam

    Baligh

    Berakal

    Merdeka

    Milik sendiri

    Mencukupi satu nishab sesuai dengan jenis yang akan dikeluarkan zakatnya.

    Telah mencukupi satu haul (satu tahun) kecuali untuk buah-buahan (pertanian), atau harta temuan, tidak harus menunggu satu haun, dan untuk bintang ternak yang wajib dizakati ialah yang digembalakan di padang rumput.


Macam-macam Harta yang Wajib Dizakati dan Ketentuan Nishabnya

a. Emas, perak dan uang
Nishab untuk emas adalah 20 mitsqal atau sama dengan 93,4 gram, zakatnya 2,5%.

Nisab perak adalah 200 dirham atau setara dengan 624 gram, zakatnya 2,5%.


Jika emas atau perak telah mencapai atau melebihi dari ukuran nishab dan telah satu tahun, maka telah wajib zakatnya, dan jumlah kelebihan tersebut harus diperhitungkan juga. Misalnya jumlah emas sebanyak 100 gram, maka perhitungannya adalah 2,5% dikalikan 100 gram = 2,5 gram. Yang dikeluarkan zakat bukanlah potongan/bagian dari emas tersebut, melainkan nilai uang yang setara dengan jumlah emas yang harus dikeluarkan.

Nishab dan jumlah yang harus dikeluarkan disetarakan dengan nishab emas dan perak.

Rasulullah SAW bersabda : "Apabila engkau mempunyai perak 200 dirham dan telah cukup satu tahun maka zakatnya 5 dirham dan tidak wajib zakat emas atas kamu hingga kamu mempunyai 20 dinar dan telah cukup satu tahun maka wajib zakat padanya setengah dinar." (HR. Abu Dawud).
b. Harta Perdagangan
Jika barang-barang perdagangan dalam satu tahun ternyata nilainya seharga emas yang wajib dikeluarkan zakatnya, maka barang perdagangan tersebut wajib dikeluarkan zakatnya. Hal ini sebagaimana sabda Rasulullah sebagai berikut :

Dari Samurah, Rasulullah SAW memerinthakan kepada kamu agar mengeluarkan zakat dari barang yang disediakan untuk dijual." (HR. Ad-Daruquthni dan Abu Dawud).

c. Zakat Hasil Tanaman
Buah-buahan seperti kurma, biji-bijian yang mengenyangkan seperti beras, gandum, jagung dan yang semisal wajib dizakatkan jika mencukupi nishabnya. Zakat buah-buahan dan biji-bijian tidak perlu haul (satu tahun) tetapi dikeluarkannya pada waktu panen. Allah SWT berfirman :

"Dan tunaikanlah haknya di hari memetik hasilnya (dengan dikeluarkan zakatnya); dan janganlah kamu berlebih-lebihan. Sesungguhnya Allah tidak menyukai orang-orang yang berlebih-lebihan." (QS. Al-An'aam : 141).

Nishab zakat hasil tanaman adalah sebanyak lima wasaq, sebagaimana hadits Rasulullah SAW :

Dari Abu Said Al-Khudri ra, sesungguhnya Rasulullah SAW bersabda : "Tidak ada zakat pada barang seperti tanaman dan biji-bijian yang kurang dari 5 wasaq." (HR. Al-Bukhari).
Dari Ibnu Umar ra, dari Nabi SAW beliau bersabda : "Tanaman yang dialiri dengan air hujan, mata air atau yang tumbuh di rawa-rawa, zakatnya sepersepuluh dan yang diairi dengan tenaga pengangkutan zakatnya seperduapuluh." (HR. Al-Bukhari).

Keterangan :

1 wasaq = 60 sha', sehingga 5 wasaq = 300 sha'
1 sha' = 2,304 kg, sehingga 300 sha' = 691,2 kg = 6 kwintal 91 kg 200 gram

Zakat yang harus dikeluarkan :

Jika penyiraman menggunakan air hujan, mata air atau tumbuh di rawa-rawa sebesar 10%.
Jika penyiraman menggunakan tenaga pengakutan sebesar 5%.

d. Zakat Binatang Ternak

1) Unta
Seseorang yang mempunyai 5 ekor unta ke atas wajib mengeluarkan zakatya dengan aturan sebagai berikut :

5 ekor unta zakatnya 1 ekor kambing
10 ekor unta zakatnya 2 ekor kambing
15 ekor unta zakatnya 3 ekor kambing
20 ekor unta zakatnya 4 ekor kambing
25 ekor unta zakatnya 1 ekor unta berumur 1-2 tahun
36 ekor unta zakatnya 1 ekor unta berumur 2-3 tahun
46 ekor unta zakatnya 1 ekor unta berumur 3-4 tahun
61 ekor unta zakatnya 1 ekor unta berumur 4-5 tahun
76 ekor unta zakatnya 2 ekor unta berumur 2-3 tahun
91 ekor unta zakatnya 2 ekor unta berumur 2-3 tahun
121 ekor unta zakatnya 3 ekor unta berumur 2-3 tahun

Kemudian untuk tiap-tiap 40 ekor unta zakatnya 1 ekor unta yang berumur 2-3 tahun dan untuk tiap-tiap 50 ekor zakatnya 1 ekor unta berumur 3-4 tahun.

2) Nishab dan Zakat Sapi atau Kerbau
Nishab zakat sapi atau kerbau ialah mulai dari 30 ekor ke atas dengan rincian sebagai berikut :

30 - 39 ekor sapi/kerbau zakatnya 1 ekor anak sapi/kerbau yang berumur 1-2 tahun (tabi')
40 - 59 ekor sapi/kerbau zakatnya 1 ekor anak sapi/kerbau betina yang berumur 2-3 tahun (musinnah).
Untuk selanjutnya tiap-tiap 40 ekor sapi/kerbau zakatnya seekor anak sapi atau kerbau betina yang berumur 2-3 tahun (musinnah).




3) Nishab dan Zakat kambing
Nishab kambing mulai dari 40 ekor kambing dan zakatnya 1 ekor kambing berumur 2-3 tahun (ma'zun). Selanjutnya diatur sebagai berikut :


40 - 120 ekor kambing zakatnya 1 ekor kambing berumur 2-3 tahun.
121 - 200 ekor kambing zakatnya 2 ekor kambing berumur 2-3 tahun.
201 - 300 ekor kambing zakatnya 3 ekor kambing berumur 2-3 tahun.
301 - 400 ekor kambing zakatnya 4 ekor kambing berumur 2-3 tahun.
Untuk selanjutnya setiap bertambah 100 ekor kambing, zakatnya 1 ekor kambing.



e. Nishab dan Zakat hasil tambang
Hasil tambang berupa emas, perak dan sebagainya apabila sampai memenuhi nishab sebagaimana nishab emas dan perak maka harus dikeluarkan zakatnya seketika itu juga, tidak usah menunggu satu tahun. Adapun zakatnya adalah sebesar 2,5%.


f. Nishab dan Zakat barang temuan (luqathah)
Barang temuan berupa emas atau perak jika mencapai satu nishab harus dikeluarkan zakatnya seketika itu juga sebesar 20%. Ukuran nishabnya sama dengan emas dan perak.



Mustahiq Zakat

Mustahiq zakat harta adalah orang-orang yang berjak menerima zakat harta, terdiri dari delapan ashnaf (golongan). Sebagaimana firman Allah SWT :

"Sesungguhnya zakat-zakat itu, hanyalah untuk orang-orang fakir, orang-orang miskin, pengurus-pengurus zakat, para muallaf yang dibujuk hatinya, untuk (memerdekakan) budak, orang-orang yang berutang, untuk jalan Allah dan orang-orang yang sedang dalam perjalanan, sebagai sesuatu ketetapan yang diwajibkan Allah; dan Allah Maha Mengetahui lagi Maha Bijaksana."

    Orang fakir, yaitu orang yang tidak ada harta untuk keperluan hidup sehari-hari dan tidak mampu untuk bekerja dan berusaha.


    Orang miskin, yaitu orang yang penghasilan sehari-harinya tidak mencukupi kebutuhan hidupnya.

    'Amil, yaitu orang-orang yang bertugas mengumpulkan dan membagi-bagikan zakat kepada orang yang berhak menerimaknya. 'Amil dapap disebut juga panitia.

    Muallaf, yaitu orang yang beru masuk Islam dan imannya masih lemah.

    Hamba sahaya (budak), yaitu orang yang belum merdeka.

    Gharim, yaitu orang yang mempunyai banyak hutang sedangkan ia tidak mampu untuk membayarnya.

    Sabilillah, yaitu orang-orang yang berjuang di jalan Allah.

    Ibnu Sabil, yaitu orang yang sedang dalam perjalanan (musafir) seperti dalam berdakwah dan menutut ilmu.


Hikmah Zakat

    Sebagai ungkapan syukur dan terimakasih kepada Allah SWT yang telah memberikan bermacam-macam kenikmatan antara lain berupa kekayaan.


    Dengan zakat, orang yang tidak mampu akan tertolong sehingga mereka dapat melakukan kewajiban-kewajibanya.

    Zakat mengandung pendidikan untuk menjauhkan diri dari sifat kikir dan ssifat-sifat lain yang tercela.

    Zakat dapat menciptakan hubungan kasih sayang dan saling mencintai antara orang kaya dan orang miskin dan juga dapat menghilangkan kecemburuan yang mungkin akan menimbulkan kejahatan.

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