Messianic Torah Portion is not supported by paid advertising. Instead, we earn referral fees through affiliate links. It’s officially known as Affiliate Marketing. Here is how that works.
The Affiliate Marketing Concept
Someone searches for information on the weekly Torah Portion from a Messianic perspective using a search engine like Google or Bing. They find MessianicTorahPortion.com and visit us. Or, maybe they follow a Facebook post, or perhaps they’ve been here before and bookmarked it. There are any number of ways a person could end up here at Messianic Torah Portion.
While here, they decide to check out the Walk! Series of Messianic Devotionals and click the link. When they do, it takes them to Amazon where they can read about it and, if they want, can order it. Amazon knows that they came from Messianic Torah Portion, so when they purchase the book we get a small commission fee. If they buy anything else at the same time, we earn a commission fee for that as well. None of it affects the price they pay. Messianic Torah Portion doesn’t sell anything, collect money or deal with shipping; we just send people to Amazon.
In our case, the items are small so the commissions are small, and I don’t actively try to market products. I’m not in this to make money, so if I get enough to pay for keeping this site going, that is good enough.
Affiliate Marketing as a Business
For many people who do Affiliate Marketing, their website is a business. They work hard to research products or services and write about them, and when someone visits their website they are able to find good, factual information about something. Then, by following an affiliate link, they are taken to an online source where the product or service can be purchased. In doing so, they earn a referral fee from the seller.
It might not be a $12.99 paperback book. It could be a $600 television, or a $1500 electric guitar, or maybe a $2800 riding lawnmower or $8000 vacation package. The possibilities are nearly unlimited.
To get started, you need a website – one that is properly designed to attract readers and that has good content. The search engines index the site and when someone searches for that product or service, the best websites come to the top of the list.
It isn’t easy and it isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. But if you want it and are willing to invest the time and effort, it can be profitable – and fun.
Wealthy Affiliate
I learned how to do this through a company called Wealthy Affiliate. WA has step-by-step training on how Affiliate Marketing works and on how to properly set up a website. The WA platform will help you build your site using WordPress. It has been said that WordPress powers almost 40% of all internet websites, and two-thirds of all CMS (content management system) websites. And WA has powerful state-of-the-art servers to host your site. Finally, WA Site Support will quickly resolve any problems you encounter and the WA community is great at helping each other with training, tips and ideas.
You can try it for free here. And yes, that is an affiliate link. The first month of a paid membership is heavily discounted, and if you decide to do that Messianic Torah Portion will earn a small referral fee. Now, let’s be honest, you aren’t going to get much for free. But you do get the chance to look around, and if it seems like something you might like to try, then sign up for that first month and get full access to the training. After a month you’ll have experienced building a website and interacting with WA, and you can decide if you want to continue establishing a business. If not, you are under no obligation to continue. Just cancel.