Affiliate Marketing Income

When the internet first became a commercial resource, only medium to large size companies could take advantage of the money-making opportunities the web provided. While amateur webmasters could get a site up; having products, a merchant account, ordering resources and more prevented many smaller businesses or individuals from joining in on the profits.

The emergence of Affiliate programs has changed all that. With affiliate programs you don’t need a product. You don’t need a merchant account. You don’t need a way to take and process orders. All you need is a website (and sometimes you don’t need that… you can add your affiliate links to emails).

Don’t think you can handle creating a website? Think again. With free blogging resources, you can create a web presence in as little as five minutes. Better yet, its free. Signing up for affiliate programs is free too making affiliate marketing one of the most affordable ways to get started at making money at home.

Come up with an idea. Choose any topic that interests you and that you know a lot about. Did you know there is a website selling tumbleweed? That tells me that any topic you can think of can be successfully marketed on the internet. What is your work now? Can you translate that information to something helpful on a website? If you work in a doctor’s office, you could have a website to help consumers through the process of going to the doctor…. And explain why patients have to wait so long! What are your hobbies and talents? Are you a craft person? You could create a site with craft tips and ideas. What are your interests? And so on. Brainstorm all sort of ideas. Don’t worry if it’s already on the web… that just means it’s a good idea. It doesn’t matter who had the idea first; you can still get traffic to your site and generate money.

Create and post your site or blog. You can set up a blog for free at Blogger or Wordpress. If you plan to customize your blog or use Google’s Adsense (another great free money generating resource), I’d recommend using Blogger for a hosted blog. If you want to build your own webpage or host your own blogging script, you can get templates and installers through hosts such as Hostgator. Its extremely affordable and easy to use. Whether you create your own website or use a free blogging service, I do recommend buying a domain name. It will make it easier to market your site as well as help you look more professional. I use Godaddy.com to manage all my domain names. Again, its very affordable.
Join affiliate programs. There are many ways to do this. Some of the best resources for affiliate income are Click Bank, Refer-It LinkShare, or Commission Junction. Chose Affiliate programs carefully. Sign up for those that fit your website content. Pay attention to how you’re paid. Are you paid when people click on your link or when they sign-up for something? My favorite book on making money with affiliate programs is
The Super Affiliate Handbook which provides guidelines for choosing affiliate programs.

Add links to your blog or website. When adding affiliate links to your website, don’t just use the banner ads. While these make your site look colorful, they don’t have as good as click through rate as adding links in the body of your website text. For example, let say you are doing a website on gardening. You may have a Flower4U.com banner link on your page for which you get paid $1.00 when people sign-up for a free newsletter (this is a hypothetical example). However, you will likely get more response when you add the link as a recommendation (from you the garden expert) on the webpage. “We have found the resources such as the free newsletter at Flowers4U.com (link) very helpful.” Why is that? People who go to your site are not looking for ads, they are looking for resources and information from an expert. When you give them a resource, they trust your judgment. Because of that, you do need to be sure you are recommending good products and services.

Promote Your Site! You may have the best site there is on your topic but if people don’t visit, you won’t make money. To market your site you will need to do more than list your site on search engines although I do recommend you do that. Also consider offering free information or newsletters, using a signature line in your email, and networking with others. The Internet Marketing page at Work-At-Home Success offers information, ideas and resources to help you market your website for free. Your marketing is not a one-time deal. You need to make a plan for regular promotional activities and stick to it.