I'm going to be writing a series of articles about what I've come to call customized replicated websites, for lack of a better term. I'm sure there is a particular name for this, but I'm not aware of it at this time.
An example of this kind of site is Affiliate Showcase. I've been a free member of this site for a couple of years and I'm just now coming to understand how these sites work.
I'm a pretty bright guy, but I've failed to understand the bigger picture until recently.
Basically, as I understand it now, someone creates a site -- in this case an affiliate directory that lists thousands of affiliate programs. Then, they offer a free site to anyone who signs up. This free member can modify any affiliate programs to which they belong so that the link has their affiliate code in it. Anyone who purchases from that link earns the free member a commission. Anyone who signs up for an affiliate showcase of their own will inherit the links from the person who refers them.
This means that, assuming I'm the first one to sign up, my free site will inherit all the links from the site owner, which I'll call the top-level.
I can change as many links as I want and I can join as many of the programs as appeal to me. I can also suggest new affiliate programs and they'll go into the database with my affiliate code, if accepted. This means that some of the links on my page are second-level (the ones I modify) or top-level (the ones I add).
(Please note: This has changed since the last time I checked a few months ago. Now, only paid executive members can add links to new programs.)
If you follow my link and get a free site of your own, your pages will inherit the top-level links of the site owner, the top-level links of the programs I'm first to suggest, and the second-level links that I modified.
Thus, I, and you, are free to customize our replicated sites with our own links. We are free to suggest new programs that are not in the database.
But, any links that aren't modified or added, inherit the top-level links from the site owner/creator. I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing. In fact, I think it's proper for the creator/maintainer of the site to be compensated for the work done to create the system and to market it. That's what affiliate programs are all about.
Since I'm free to modify the links I want to, and I'm free to join any of the affiliate programs that appeal to me, then I can get into the compensation chain. When you sign up below me, you can modify and/or join any of the programs you want and insert yourself into the compensation chain.
And so it goes. Someone signs up under you and someone under that person, and so on. Each replicated site inherits a mix of your links and links modified or created by your upline.
By advertising your page, you are marketing for not just yourself, but for those who are in the upline -- and this is normal, too. Some programs don't let you build downlines. Some offer two-level downlines. Others offer multi-level downlines. By advertising one page, you can market a wide range of programs, some of which you'll earn from, and others your upline will earn from.
Obviously, the individuals or team that create the site and hold the top-level positions are in line to earn the most commissions. But, generally, that's not the only income stream. Most of these sites, including Affiliate Showcase, offer paid membership subscriptions. Some offer two or more different paid subscriptions with varying features.
With Affiliate Showcase, you can upgrade to Pro or Executive levels, and each offers more customization of the featured ads on the home page of the site. If you are a free member, you can't modify the most prominent ads, so your upline (all the way back to the first paid member who placed the ads) are the only ones who can earn from transactions initiated by those ads. If you want to replace the ads, you must upgrade to paid status.
Since it's an affiliate program, the person who referred you will earn a percentage of your upgrade payment as a commission. Paid members earn a higher percentage than free members.
Again, I don't think there's anything wrong with this, it's just not obvious the first time you are exposed to the site -- at least, it wasn't obvious to me.
Since the large ads on the home page are the ones most likely to grab your attention, I would think they would be the ones that earn the most. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm considering upgrading my membership to see how well it works.
Two years ago, when I signed up, I had no traffic to my sites, not much experience with affiliate programs, no experience with multilevel or network marketing, and not enough money to upgrade to paid status, so I never really marketed the Affiliate Showcase site.
Now, I'm going to advertise it and see what happens. Since I've joined several hundred affiliate programs during the learning phase of my online marketing business, I'll search for those and upgrade my links. I probably won't add many programs if they're not already in the database.
As an experiment, I'd like to invite you to follow the link and sign up for your free Affiliate Showcase site. Sign up for any of the affiliate programs that strike your fancy, and be sure to modify the link by clicking on the edit link and adding your affiliate code.
Let's see how many levels deep we can build this network in the next six months. Let's also see if we earn enough income from our experiment to make it worthwhile to upgrade to pro status. This is especially useful if you are an affiliate with SFI Marketing Group or Cognigen, both of which are in the database. Search for the program and edit your link so that anyone who signs up under you will inherit your link code.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be talking about other sites that I've found that follow this or a similar system, and we can see how they work, too.
At this point, I'm not asking anyone to upgrade to paid status, unless you can afford it and feel it is worth the risk. In that case, it's up to you.
I'm mainly wondering what happens as we get more people signing up for the free sites and then promoting them.
I'll report back as I see any results.
Over the next few days, I'll be introducing sites that are designed to increase traffic to your sites, build downlines, offer free advertising, and more, and some of these programs are already listed in the Affiliate Showcase.
At this point, I'm not entirely sure it's worth the effort, but I've been talking to a couple of people who swear by it.
My main strategy is still to build sites and blogs with good content and optimize each page for good search engine placement. But, I can see the benefit of trying some of the customized replicated sites, too.
Feel free to tell me your experiences with these types of sites and what you think about them.
11:14:32 AM 
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