So You Want to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing? Read This!

With all the hassle about the recession, job layoffs etc. more and more people look into either making some additional income or even becoming completely financially independent. Online affiliate marketing is a good way to start your own business without the expenses and troubles associated with starting a traditional brick-and-mortar business. But before you start, you need to know a few things.

• Don’t think that affiliate marketing is easy or that it will not require any time investment and effort on your part. Don’t trust the “gurus” talking about only spending 15 minutes a day - they may be at that stage but if you’re only starting, you will need to put a lot of effort into it to make it work.
• Don’t put all your eggs into the same basket - even though it may take more time and effort, try at least a couple of affiliate programs to see which one will work better for you.
• Start by promoting the offers you are genuinely interested in - be prepared that you will have to write and talk about these offers and of course it is much easier to talk about the stuff you know and like.
• Take other people’s feedback about a product’s conversion rates with a grain of salt - you can promote the same product but you cannot copy their sites, get the same traffic they are getting and so on hence results will vary. On the other hand, DO listen to what people say about their marketing methods, tips and tricks where it applies to your product and your market niche - these tips can be very helpful and save you a lot of your own trial and error.
• DO learn at least a bit about SEO and PPC - these are the main methods you will use for promoting your sites and products.
• Keep track of what you are doing and analyze the results - this will help you fine tune your affiliate business.
• Every product will most likely convert sooner or later - it’s a numbers game, a conversion depends on the traffic - how much of it you get and how targeted it is. However, you need to define for yourself what is the acceptable time and effort investment for the commission you would be getting. Some sites and/or products may convert at a rate of 1:10, others may convert at a rate of 1:50,000 - but if that 1:50,000 converting product brings you a commission of $10,000 you may still be interested in pursuing it.
• When starting with any new product, research your market. See how much competition you got, see what they do, what works and what doesn’t.
• Besides putting your effort into promoting the products, you can also build yourself a passive income source by building your affiliate downline - here are my downline building tips along with a list of affiliate programs I know of that have a downline option and pay you for sales made by affiliates you have recruited.

And remember - whatever you do, be persistant and determined to succeed. Don’t give up and then it’s sure to work for you!