Well, you have to start somewhere! The easiest first referral to get is going to be someone you know, especially family. He or she trusts your opinion, and therefore if you tell him something’s worth signing up for or worth buying, there’s a good chance he’ll listen to you. So, the obvious choice is to refer someone you know, right?

Wrong. If you refer someone you know, no matter what the product or service, he will think of you as the go to guy or gal when something goes wrong. If your friend feels he’s been cheated out of money or time, you’ll be the person he complains to. In fact, it can hurt your relationship. If you’re ever going to refer a friend or family member to something, do it in a passive way. Let them make the choice by sending them a link in an email. Just do it in a way that won’t make them feel obligated to do what it is you’re referring them to do.

The best first referral is someone you don’t know. How do you do this? Well, this is the complicated part. The best way to refer someone you don’t know well or at all is to post a link on your social profile. Whether you like it or not, a lot of strangers view your profile. What better way to mooch off the stalkers than to post a referral link? Plus, even the people you know will view this link and will most likely click on it because they’ll be interested in what you’re affiliated with. I mean honestly, don’t we all “FaceBook stalk” once in awhile? Wouldn’t you click on a link if it was in your friend’s profile?

How about other ways to get referrals? You’ll have to wait for the post! I’ll put the link here when the post is up.

Let us know how it goes getting your first referral!

Most of you are probably thinking, “Flurbl is a work at home site… don’t they rely on gaining affiliates to keep going?” We have a few affiliate links in some of our posts, but they don’t nearly pay the bills. If we made a site solely dedicated to gaining affiliates, basically a list of affiliate banners, I’m sure that we would make enough money to keep the site up. Personally, I don’t agree with making a site with just affiliate links with the only intention being to gain referrals. It just seems like a cheap, effortless way to try and make some money.

Gaining affiliates is a hard thing to do. Gaining quality referrals that actually make you money is even harder. The best affiliate programs to sign up with are the ones that pay you per sign up. This ensures that no matter who signs up through your link, hard working referral or not, you will earn money. Unfortunately these affiliate programs are hard to come by. It’s understandable as to why such programs are so rare; people would just pay someone who never intends to be a quality member to sign up with that site just to gain a few cents.

The most popular type of affiliate program is the one that pays you a percentage of what your referral makes. It’s a pain in the butt to find quality referrals that will actually make you money with these programs. The best way to gain these quality referrals is to solicit your friends and family.

Your close friends and family are your best shot at making money online. I know, you’re probably thinking what a cruddy thing it is to use your close friends and family to make some money; but hey, think about this way… If it’s a good site that makes you money, they should be able to have the chance to make money too and you can benefit a little.

Using Facebook and MySpace are great ways to gain referrals for affiliate programs. There’s no easier way to connect with your friends than a social networking site. People are much more likely to give a site a try if one of their friends recommends it. Try sending out one of your affiliate links in a message to your friends on a social networking site. You’ll probably gain a few referrals right there.

Should you create a website dedicated to earning referrals?

Yes and no. I know, not the answer you were looking for. If you’re trying to gain affiliates for PTC or paid survey sites, I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you use a free hosting service. The cost of hosting and domain registration is not offset by the amount of referrals that you’ll earn, unless you have a very popular website. However, if you are trying to gain referrals for a company selling a product, such as hosting, it may be beneficial to create a website.

Just remember; only quality referrals make you money. This is one situation where it’s quality, not quantity.