Capitalize on Your Hidden Talents and Earn Extra Money

One famous American writer who always fascinated me was Ernest Hemingway. His writing style was always crisp and authentic. He really knew how to capture a reader's attention. Surprisingly though, he never really thought of himself as an accomplished author. In his own words, "We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

If you're reading this, presumably you are trying to find your hidden talents. As an aspiring businessman, you'd like to earn extra money. Perhaps you've never written much, but would like to now. Maybe you enjoyed writing about something that stirred your imagination years ago, but it's long forgotten now.

Speaking personally, I really enjoyed writing creatively in younger years. Since then, unfortunately, most of my hidden talents have been left in the attic.

Another celebrity made this observation, "If you're going to be a writer, just write." Seems like a great place to start, as an apprentice. Together, let's try to develop a writing style that's stamped with our own unique signature.

HIDDEN TREASURES LYING WITHIN:

Why not start with some honest self examination? Ask yourself these pertinent questions:

"What inspires me?"

Anything we're passionate about is worth sharing with others. Don't be afraid to capitalize on yours. When you write about some personal interest, your enthusiasm will shine through. The Internet is saturated with people looking for great ideas and solutions to their problems.

"What great ideas can I share with others?"

Assuming it's something you know and care about, almost anything will do. A person who educates others about basket weaving can succeed just as much as an expert on nuclear medicine.

" Can I overcome my fears and earn extra money doing this ? "

All of us have a naturally tendency to avoid risktaking. Fortunately, those willing to take a chance on themselves quickly find their hidden talents. With some practice and dedication, almost anyone can earn extra money doing this.

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME

The inspiration for this concept came from a movie called "Field of Dreams". It's full of great ideas and inspirational messages. A story about superstars from a different era who had a chance to relive their passions one more time.

At first glance, creating your own articles may not seem nearly as dramatic. Don't forget that many of these stars from the past started in the minor leagues, just as you are doing now.

Once you've found your niche, the real work begins. It starts as you jot down 15-20 ideas that you could easily communicate. Following this will be research on relevant keywords and keyword phrases that will form the basis of future articles. At this stage, you'll use resources like Google Keyword Tool and Search Engine Optimization to gauge both the demand and competition for your chosen specialty.

Seemingly impossible? Only so if you are left alone. Fortunately, by capitalizing on web-based resources you'll uncover great avenues that help you along. In addition, your affiliate companies will offer you further training and personal guidance.

Every business has its growing pains and yours will earn extra money before you know it. Look back on your progress six months from now and you'll be amazed at the progress you've made. Hang in there, the best is yet to come.

CAPTIVATE THEIR ATTENTION:

Everyone can develop a writing style to captivate the attention of Internet consumers. Many of the successful ones use simple concepts that you can also use effectively. Here are a few great suggestions I came across myself while surfing the net.

"Write in an easy, informal way"... Lengthy, highly technical articles may bore some people to death. In your articles, try to engage your readers as though they were close friends.

"Use dynamic words that convey action or feeling "... Words that help people visualize concepts are more effective than those which are dated. To make your writing really stand out, keep a variety of resources handy. A Thesaurus always comes in handy, and you can also download similar web-based tools.

"Relax and let your mind do the work"... Ever wonder why you get all these great ideas in the middle of the night? Your brain is more relaxed then. Great writers like to put their thoughts on paper, and then leave the article sit for a few days. You may find similar inspiration yourself while listening to music or out walking.

Finally, let's focus for the last time on our hidden talents. It bears repeating that "we are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

I'm convinced that if it was good enough for Ernest Hemingway then it must be good enough for me."

Doug Jefferson recently retired from a lengthy career as a "Retirement Income Specialist". Now a home-based entrepreneur, he continues his passion to help baby boomers and others in retirement achieve financial comfort and stability.

Commissions in Affiliate Marketing - Is It Worth It?

A few day's ago I downloaded a book from Amazon.com written by Ian Daniel titled, "E-Commerce Get It Right." The book contained some very useful information pertaining to e-commerce and marketing. One of the areas I've been wrestling with is what exactly to sell and how to best market it. I know there are countless articles, books and videos on the subject and you can get your head turned in several directions all at once if you're not careful.

Affiliate marketing can be a lucrative strategy but for all the success it can bring, if done incorrectly it can fail miserably. The basic formula is that a website owner (myself) will host another company's links, banner ads, or other product information on their own site. If a visitor clicks on these links and makes a purchase, that company pays the hosting company a fee. In essence affiliate marketing is a revenue sharing arrangement.

Affiliate programs have grown quickly since their inception. The e-commerce website, viewed as a marketing toy in the early days of the Internet, became an integrated part of the overall business plan and in some cases grew to a bigger business than the existing offline business. For affiliate marketing to work on your website you need to offer products or services that are related to your own content and ones that your visitors will be interested in buying. Now I'm looking for good affiliate marketing programs that add value to my website and ones that pay high commission rates. It takes hard work, knowledge, and time to see the financial benefits of a successful affiliate marketing program. Since I'm just starting out I'm anxious to see how all this will play out.

The industry has four core players: the merchant, the network, the publisher and the customer. The market has grown in complexity to warrant a secondary tier of players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third party vendors. The market has grown in complexity and until a couple of days ago I had very little idea as to the potential affiliate marketing can have for ones business.

The growth of the Internet has made affiliate marketing a necessary facet of a web advertising campaign. This popular approach is indispensable in selling products and services to an online audience. Fundamentally, you can grow your business and make significant money without ever having customers in the traditional sense of the word. You can reap huge financial rewards from affiliate marketing if it's done correctly but not everyone shares the same level of success

Share The Wealth: Lucrative Ideas For Affiliate Marketing

Are you a good at sales? Would you like to make money online? Try affiliate marketing! Affiliate marketing is a system that allows you to receive a percentage of profits from businesses who you refer clients to. In this article, you'll find some great tips that will help any aspiring affiliate marketer get started.

Starting with Amazon Affiliates is a great way to be introduced to affiliate marketing as they provide you literally with everything you could potentially need. Cutting your teeth with them will show you what you should look for in additional affiliate programs, and you'll be better able to avoid scams.

When you have established yourself in niche affiliate marketing, and you have a good customer base, start thinking about other aspects of your niche that might draw a different, unique demographic. Now that you have some customers, you can enlist their help in finding others who might be interested in this new and different slant on your product.

A great affiliate marketing tip is to work with a company that offers a life time commission. With a life time commission, if a customer purchases a product a year later, you'll still make money from the referral. There are still a lot of companies that offer a life time commission, so do your research and try to find them.

Comprehensive reviews will boost reader trust in what you write, so include every last detail. Talk about for whom the product would work best and who it wouldn't, if there is such a group. For example, a tool which would work great for right-handed people might not be as functional for someone who is left-handed.

Try to find an affiliate program that supplies training. It doesn't have to literally be a training course, but they should at least offer a user guide which walks you through the process of adding their content to your website. They should also provide you with knowledge about what helps sales and what turns buyers off. This will save you a lot of grief down the road!

When searching out which affiliate network you want to work with, you should first start by looking at what it is you want to do. You will want to figure out what you want to concentrate on or what your specialties are and then, when you do, find the affiliate networks that deal with that. It will help limit how many networks you will have to research.

When choosing an affiliate to work with, you should always be cautious of those requiring a minimum quota. This means you'll be working very hard for possibly very little return. Stick with compensation per every sale and not compensation per a number of sales or referrals. There's just no money in it.

If you are email marketing as an affiliate make sure that you are keeping track of your best emails. In many cases many of the people receiving your emails will unsubscribe and you will be left looking for new customers. Be sure to use the best performing email and hope for the best.

If you are reviewing a product that you have not purchased, make sure that you always include examples of how it works. You always want to give screen shots of the product, other reviews from users (with permission), and other vital information about the product. As an affiliate, you should be really informed about any product you promote.

Affiliate programs that offer front and back-end offers are worth a second look. Back-end offers can net you money for years to come depending on the life cycle of the product. Affiliates offering back-end money are harder to find, but they are worth the work. Receiving multiple commissions from one customer will keep the money flowing.

You need to know HTML to successfully run an affiliate site. If you have a web site then you must learn, at the minimum, how to make simple changes and upload the changes. The one exception to this is your site has been designed by a professional. Yet, there will always be a need for some changes. The question you have to answer is, do you want to pay for, and wait for, a designer to do a simple alteration which could take you minutes?

With a little hard work and some great programs, anyone can make affiliate marketing work for them. Now that you've read the advice offered in this article, you know just what to do to make your affiliate marketing efforts a success. All that's left for you to do is get started.

Don't Make The Same Mistakes As Other Affiliate Marketers

Out of the numerous of making money online, many people are embarking on the journey of becoming an affiliate marketer. It is an extremely worthwhile and powerful method to use if you are looking towards setting up an online home based business. Affiliate programs are easy to join, profits are easy to make and commission is paid out on a regular basis. However, there are several pitfalls which need to be avoided if you are to create a successful business. Don't make the same mistakes other affiliate marketers commonly make. Consider and avoid the following three common mistakes.

1. Do not choose the wrong affiliate programs.
You must take time out to do some research instead of just joining the first ones you look at. A lot of people make this mistake in the rush just to get started earning money. This is the "bull in a china shop" approach so try not to get sucked in. Research will be time well spent in the grand scheme of things. Consider promoting products you already have an interest in and knowledge about, then find out about how much demand there actually is for such products.

2. Do not join too many different affiliate programs.
When starting out, people are so keen to get the money coming in that they make the easy mistake of joining too many different programs. Yes, it would be fantastic to have multiple streams of income right from the start, but you will find that your time will be spread too thinly to give each one of them any kind of justice. It is much more sensible to start promoting one (possibly with a fairly high commission rate) concentrating all your efforts into promoting it fully. When you find you are making reasonable profit, you can then start to think about joining other programs. There is no rush - affiliate marketing is going nowhere!

3. Remember to carefully research the credibility of the affiliate programs.
Most people forget to do this important task and it is just so easy to do. Check out the testimonials existing customers have submitted - people are always willing to let you know about their experiences. Do they recommend the products or services offered? Another method of doing this is to look for forums / blogs or discussion boards, where people are usually very honest about their customer service. Positive feedback will prove how reliable, trustworthy and credible the program is.

Best Affiliate Program

Today, making a personal website is as easy as going to the store and buying food. Free web hosting sites that provide you with ready-made templates and free storage are readily available on the web. If your website has a distinct content and can be considered a resource site then most likely you will have a consistent number of traffic and readers, with this your site can definitely earn money. If you have not heard of affiliate marketing, it is simply getting paid by a business if you send traffic or generate sales for their product or service based on your marketing effort.

There are thousands of affiliate programs accessible online that you can sign up for, thus it is important to determine the best affiliate program available. In an affiliate program you as the publisher come to an agreement with the merchant website as to how commissions are obtained, computed and given. In one of the set-up, publishers like you display links or adverts that connect prospective customers to the business or merchant site. If it is a Pay-per-Click contract whether or not your website visitor buys from the merchant or not you are still guaranteed a commission based alone that your readers have clicked on the link.

Other affiliate programs require a sale to be made for the affiliate site or your site to be paid, either way a variety of affiliate methods are provided by different affiliate programs. So, how do you find the best affiliate program that suits you?

1. It's all about the money

To be completely blunt about it, the purpose you want to join an affiliate program is to earn money which is undeniably the goal. Since there are affiliate programs no matter where you look on the internet, the first basis would always be what percentage are you getting, or what's in it for you. There are affiliate programs that might as well not pay you with how little they give to their affiliate sites, compared to established programs. One of the best affiliate programs in the industry is by Empower Network. They give up to 100% commission to their publishers. You can get from $25 to $4625 for each sale. With that, you definitely need to read the numbers.

2. Understand the Scheme

With affiliate programs there are 3 ways that earning would come about; Pay-per-click, Pay-per-Sale and Pay-per-Lead. You must understand how each works to choose an agreement that is best for your website. In Pay-per-Sale, when customers coming from your website buy from the merchant site you either get a percent from sale or a fixed commissions, while on Pay-per-Leads the business will pay you for each person that signs up with their information making them prospective buyers. Having the right knowledge and idea as to how each agreement works will save you a lot of hassle and misunderstandings in the future.

If you know the basics to finding the best affiliate programs on the web then you are pretty much ready to venture into this business. As much as possible find a program that is not too complicated and would give you enough training to fully equip you with things you need to know. Like Empower Network, they teach those who sign up with their program to understand how it works, build and run a business online and offline while living the life.

Online Affiliate Marketing

It is a fact of life that everyone has to earn a living, even the richest people all around the world work day in and day out with their multi-million businesses. Work is in the normal ecology of things that it would be impossible for anyone to just stay at home and do nothing. But, in modern times that the internet and technology have brought convenience at the top of its game, it is no longer impossible to work in the comforts of your own home, by just having a computer and a good internet connection. The internet has become a universe of its own where what people do in the real world can be done virtually. Even the business sector shifted marketing efforts online from the traditional media. Online affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based advertising method that businesses do to get them known as well as give business to independent owners of the website.

It is easy to put up a website and get it running for people to see, and there are moneymaking opportunities if you sign up for online affiliate marketing. The more you get to promote a business through the content of your website; you can get commissions either based on a sale made, directed traffic or turning a random visitor into a business lead. Earning potential is greatly high on affiliate marketing, like Empower Network, one of the best affiliate programs to date; they pay their affiliate sites from $25 to $4,625 per sale and up to a possibility of a 100% commission. But, how do you prepare to become a publisher for a merchant site, and assure that both you and the business will earn and not waste time and effort? Here are some things to consider:

    If your knowledge about online affiliate marketing is equal to a cat's knowledge about astrophysics then you need to get your resources ready. Get the right kind of training that will arm you with all information that needs to be known. Never go into a business venture when the only things you know are what you heard. You would never go bungee jumping unless you know how the cable is tied right? Some online marketing programs like Empower Network are one of those companies that provide good training. Be wise and don't leave anything to chance. Read books, research online and watch videos on what the experts have to say.

    Upon conceptualizing your website, create a layout that will give you enough space for whatever you are advertising and to where you will display your content. No one likes to read much as well visit a website that is disorganized and one that looks like an ad catalog. Affiliate programs will also look into this to consider whether or not you could be a viable publisher. The more you take time to create a perfect space that's easy on the eyes, the more people will take notice of your material.

    Target a specific topic or concept for your online space. How organized your space looks is as equally important as how organized your content is. Consistency and cohesiveness will attract a certain kind of audience. If this is properly identified, affiliate marketing brands or products relating to that will be more specific and target driven.

Online affiliate marketing could be your kind of tea as long as you know the right kind of scones to complement it with. You can even earn more than what you may possibly earn from your average day job and that could be your reality. Imagine the time you can spend more with your kids or on your other interests if you are making a living on your own allowable time frame and not a rigid 9 to 5 work schedule.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

A lot of people spend a good chunk of their day online; some do it for work while others do it to relax and communicate with others. Millions of people have joined social networking sites while others have gone to blogging and putting up their own personal websites. But, did you know that in all the hours spent online from writing a blog post or updating a website you can also earn some money? Affiliate marketing is one way you can profit from your blog or your website.

So, what is affiliate marketing? To define it simply, affiliate marketing is when a business or brand pays an affiliate when a customer buys from the business due to the promotion of the latter. Meaning, if an affiliate site or your blog markets a brand and consumers buy it because of your marketing efforts, you then get paid by the brand. If you want to know more about what is affiliate marketing or you want to earn from this marketing style then you can join different affiliate programs offered online. There are a series of programs that you can sign up for like Empower Network. Known to be one of the biggest affiliate programs online, you can earn from $25 up to a whopping $4,625 per sale you make. In some ways affiliate marketing is often confused with other internet marketing schemes due to some overlapping qualities in its promotional methods. In various advertising methods like Pay-per-click, Search Engine Optimization, display advertising and e-mail marketing these are also used in affiliate programs, although what sets it aside is the use of product reviews on posts as well as promotions done by an affiliate site on the product or service offered by another independent business.

There are a variety of approaches how an affiliate program can help you earn for your site, like Empower Network they can help you generate a full percent of commission from sales. In this system of marketing there are different roles played for by different parties; the business/brand, you as a publisher and the customers. With this system there are also different levels of how you can earn. If the contract between you as publisher and the business you are promoting is based on a pay-per-click scheme whether or not your customer buys from the business, the fact alone that they have clicked an advertising then you as promoter already gained that commission.

If affiliate marketing is still a very vague concept to you yet you are interested to make money using this marketing strategy for your blog then it is wise to join a trusted affiliate program that you can find online. Like Empower Network, they will not only provide an upline for your website but before the program starts you will get extensive training. Through this you are not left alone to find your way in the dark and you are protected from online scams that will just rip you off with your money.

Affiliate Marketing Network With Different Solutions

Affiliate Marketing is simply a way to assist a business in selling their products and services to others and selling individual product of the company. When you start that and the other party makes a purchase, you receive a free or commission for your referral.

Affiliate Marketing is a very large business. This is simplest ways to make money through affiliate marketing because there are hundreds programs if not thousands of affiliate programs that you can sign up with and start making money immediately. Because most of them are free to join and any one start work on affiliate programs. According an affiliate marketer, you market a company product service and if you send them a customer for making a sale, you are paid a commission.

If someone is starting work on advertising and spending money in particular market there has a good chance for making money. Because you do not need you are own product, need to ever talk to customer, need to stock inventory and you do not need to worry about selling a product. When you are spending money in more product then there has good chance for earning money.

Here are four benefits of affiliate marketing:

1) The Power of the Internet: It works for you 24 hour. You can place ads on various marketing platforms, some free and some paid and can generate a sale which leads to a commission any time. This is really a good beauty of affiliate marketing and best way of making money when you are not doing job outside.

2) Work from Home: Most people unhappy with their jobs, unemployed record is very highs and every one want extra monthly income. So this is best process for earning money online if you are unemployed and can work at home.

3) No Product to Create: When you are joining affiliate programs, you can choose product which you want to promote. And here is not any type issues for product you can easily select product and can promote them.

4) Start Up Cost Are Minimal: Most of professional marketers will have their own domain name and hosting package. All are fairly inexpensive business when starting online business.

There are thousand of affiliate programs you can join and earn commission when one of your customer buys their product. In mostly cause of commission range 25% to 50%. Some commissions are a one time deal and some are monthly.

Beat Other Affiliate Marketers By Using Camtasia

Affiliate Marketing is one of the most popular methods of making money online - great if you are considering setting up your own home based business. But you have to remember that competition is fierce and you must use all options available to set yourself apart from the rest. I am about to share an absolutely fantastic way of doing just that!

How about creating, recording and publishing your own, high quality videos with Camtasia? Before you dismiss this wonderful idea, thinking it's not for you - well that's the mistake other affiliate marketers are making. You should grab this opportunity and make the most of it! Don't be afraid to give it a go! Video marketing is fast becoming an important of both online and offline marketing as it immediately engages all the senses. Imagine your customers watching your products in use and then clicking the "Buy Now" button. Isn't that what you are striving towards?

To put your mind at rest, you do not need to have any previous experience in this area. Camtasia offers step by step guides and tutorials to take you through the processes and are with you all the way. So how does it work?

• Camtasia allows you to record your actual desktop activity with just a click saving you the hassle of compiling and saving your own files. You can capture Powerpoint slides and demonstrations too. These can be enhanced by adding music or having themed or animated backgrounds. There are so many possibilities.

• Your videos can easily be converted to web pages, ready for your visitors. Nowadays people are more likely to remain on your site longer if you have video productions rather than just lots of text which they can become bored reading. Sad, but it's a fact! Demonstrations of products work really well. This also cuts down on returns and refunds as your customers are being shown exactly how to use the products. It also has the benefit of educating your customers before they even reach your site.

• Make sure your videos are visible by adding them to content pages on other authority websites too. They can also be added to any blogs. Remember everyone who watches your video is a potential customer.

Although this may be a new venture for you, it is one that is very much worthwhile researching and trying out for yourself. This could just be the piece of jigsaw you've been missing!

How to Make Money Thanks To Affiliate Marketing

How much do you know about affiliate marketing? If you have any kind of experience with selling products or feel passionate about a certain hobby, you could easily become a successful affiliate marketing agent. Read this article to learn more about affiliate marketing programs.

What kind of products would you be interested in selling? Feeling passionate about your products and being knowledgeable about these products will definitely help you generate more sales. However, you have to keep in mind that you will be more successful if there is a large target audience for the products you are selling. Do not attempt selling a product if there is no demand for it, regardless of how passionate your feel about the product. Take the time to learn more about different products test them and compare prices.

Once you know what you want to sell, you should compare different programs offering these products. You should know that some programs are much better than others. In fact, certain programs make money by requiring members to purchase large quantities of products instead of actually selling items to customers. You should look for a program with a good reputation, quality resources, a wide selection of products to choose from and competitive prices. Find out how you will get paid and how the program will keep track of the sales you generate. Read reviews and talk to affiliate marketing agents to learn more about different programs.

Define your target audience. Use the resources offered by the program you joined to learn more about your customers and do some research on your own. It is important that you adapt your strategy to your target audience. Keep in mind that your target audience can evolve as new trends appear. Stay up to date with what interests your target audience and which technologies these people use. You need to find an efficient way to reach out to your audience. If you find that your customers are likely to shop online, create a blog or a site, join social networks or create a newsletter. If your customers do not shop online, find events you can attend to present your products.

Make plans for the long term. You might not generate a lot of sales at first, but you will never be successful if you give up right away. Keep track of your results by using a visitor counter for your site and looking at the statistics your program gives you access to. You should establish monthly goals in term of sales and outreach. Experiment with new strategies if you feel like you need to reach out to more people and work on improving the relationship you have with your customers, for instance, by offering gift cards or free samples. Measure the impact of each strategy and do not hesitate to abandon the techniques that do not work.

You should consider joining an affiliate marketing program if you are ready to commit to this activity. You will find that selling products for an affiliate marketing program is very rewarding and even fun.

Tips on How to Make Money Using Affiliates

How much do you know about selling products? If you are interested in joining an affiliate marketing program, you should read this article to learn more on how to make money using affiliates.

Do not sign up for the first program you find. Some programs are much better than others since they offer better products and higher commissions. It is in your best interest to find a program that offers quality products at an affordable price. Read reviews about different programs and talk to members. Test products if you can and compare prices on the market. Make sure the program you join has excellent customer service and an efficient way of tracking the sales you are responsible for.

Select your products carefully. Do not hesitate to sell more than one product as long as you can put together a catalog filled with products a certain niche will be interested in. You could, for instance, pick a hobby or an activity and sell products related to this topic. Look for products that come with refills, accessories and upgrades so you can keep selling more products to the same customers. Learn as much as possible about the products you sell and keep in mind that it will be easier for you to convince your audience if you are passionate about the products you sell.

You should consider using the Internet to promote your products. A lot of programs will give you commissions based on the number of customers who purchased products after following links you placed on your site or blog. You should create a quality site or blog filled with useful content as well as information about the products you are selling. Keep customers interested by updating your site or blog regularly and giving them the possibility to stay in touch with you by joining your newsletter or subscribing to your updates on social networks. Focus on writing and sharing quality content so you can build a reputation as an expert on your topic.

Even though a lot of affiliate marketing agents use the Internet to sell products, you should not hesitate to extend your marketing campaign. Attend events where you will be able to meet potential customers and do your best to build a solid network of partners and potential customers. You will be able to convince a lot of people to buy your products if you develop a good sales pitch and can present your products in an interesting way. Look into developing a branding strategy to get customers interested in helping you sell your products and talking about your products to their friends. Start by attending local events, fairs, trade shows and conventions. Do not pass on an opportunity to talk about your products in public since this is the best way to become popular.

Follow these steps to develop your own affiliate marketing strategies. Keep track of your results and set goals for marketing campaigns so you can always improve your strategies and generate more sales.

10 Steps to Become A Great and Successful Affiliate Marketer

As much as we hate to admit it, there's no getting around it - the world revolves around money and those that make a decent income are able to enjoy not only the necessities but those little extras as well. One field that is enabling people to earn an honest and lucrative income is affiliate marketing. Not only does it offer flexibility and the ability to use your marketing and sales skills to help customers and business owners, it also offers passive income and great income. However, it is a very competitive field and there are many people trying to make a living off affiliate marketing. So, what makes some people successful whereas others' can't break the affiliate marketing code?

Here are 10 tips from successful marketers:

1. They choose the right product. Most marketers base their choice on products that interest them or that compliment other products they are endorsing. The problem however is that sometimes this is simply not good enough. Instead, it might be better to focus on products that fulfill a desperate need to a consumer or a product where there is not much competition.

2. They choose the right niche. Some niches are way too competitive and some have too much competition. By targeting the right audience, preferably an audience with a desperate need and money to buy the product to fulfill that need, marketers can make steady commissions. In addition, marketers should focus on complimentary products so that you can also cross-promote so that you leverage your marketing efforts to make even more income.

3. They don't give up easily. He or she uses analytics and any other marketing software tools. In addition, they are well versed on online and offline strategies including display ads, SMS text marketing, social media marketing and more. They are also well versed on SEO and killer copy as well. They realize that it takes various marketing methods to hit that "sweet selling spot."

4. They know their target market. Marketers who understand who their targets are better able to sell products to them. That is, by knowing who might be interested in your product, they can grab their attention and market to their specific needs. In essence, they can hit those selling points that will engage customers and make them want to purchase the promoted product or service immediately.

5. They build credibility by choosing high quality products that will meet their target's needs. In addition, they avoid wishy-washy marketing machinery and take their time engaging the customer. They realize that more than 68% of customers shift their loyalties due to trust issues.

6. They use powerful and engaging content to keep subscribers and customers interested. More than 90% of the successful marketers use engaging content to build strong relationships, build stronger brand awareness and boost their chances of earning more commissions. They use content that is timeless, borderless, and global, and they also use current events that are relative to the products they are promoting.

7. Understand, use and measure Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Successful marketers know what sells and they can sell it fast. In addition, they factor in the commission value and their costs per sale when deciding whether an advertising campaign is worth the effort. This way, they only promote the best products.

8. Use online videos and social media marketing. They understand the power of videos and use it to their advantage. In fact, researchers found that 34% of professional marketers are able to generate leads just by using Twitter and of these leads; the average number of closed deals was over 20%! These marketing experts understand that social media is the best way to make products go viral and they consistently tap into this marketing strategy.

9. They are hungry for sales but patient. Successful marketers realize that affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. Instead, it is a real career that takes hard work and effort. With sustained effort and seeing the bigger picture, they work hard and wait for the profits to roll in. They make changes to their marketing strategies and aren't complacent.

10. They use an effective marketing style. Finally, successful affiliate marketers never copy other affiliate marketer's style. Instead, they develop their own signature campaign because it makes them stand out. Sometimes they don't reinvent the wheel; instead they put their own spin on the marketing campaign so they can get those sales.

In conclusion, affiliate marketers can become great income producers if they choose the right products, market and niche, build credibility, use powerful content, videos and social media, understand key performance metrics, are hungry for sales but patient, and use an effective marketing style. So if you decide to try yourself in the affiliate shoes, you should look for the reputable affiliate marketing network company which could help you achieve your goals. One of them is Click2Sell.EU which offers products for affiliates to promote and tools how to do it successfully.

For the end, whether you choose affiliate marketing or not, the result will almost always depend on how you run your new business. Because at the end of the day, it's your output that will ultimately determine the amount you make.

Promote Residual Affiliate Programs To Earn Additional Income

If you are planning to go online to make money selling products and promoting events and programs, you would do well also by becoming an affiliate marketer and promote residual affiliate programs to earn additional income.

You can become an affiliate marketer when you sign in to an affiliate program in order to promote a product and direct traffic to the merchant's website. If that effort converts into an action like an opt in, an email, or a purchase of the product or even giving a simple postal code, you can get compensation. In fact there are many ways of compensation terms; like percentages of commission, large commission payments, lifetime commissions and many other benefits.

With some affiliate products, you can even get lifetime commissions too. But although all these benefits can add up to a considerable online income, you can be even more profitable by considering the promotion of residual affiliate programs.

Even though usually, residual affiliate programs don't pay big percentage commissions for sales directed by the promoter to the merchant's website, it is a mistake not to use them to earn additional income. Do you think it is a correct decision to ignore these kinds of affiliate programs?

Well... for sure you would be leaving money on the table if you don't promote them. Why? Because with residual affiliate programs you would be getting paid ongoing and regular payments as opposed to just one time commission for an ordinary affiliate commission.

If one merchant pays you $55 for getting a customer buying his product and another gives you $5 for every single customer that subscribes to that product on a monthly basis, it is easy to see there is opportunity with this model to earn a lot of money too; you'll get paid for as long as that subscriber stays with the product, if this product is for example, some video making teaching course.

You can earn considerable income with the one time commission model of affiliate programs, but don't forget residual affiliate programs and your income will be much greater.

Affiliate marketing in general, as a business model, is great because it is so much cheaper to run and operate than an offline business model and much less risky as well since you are never likely to incur in great costs or need large sums of money or personnel to run your business. You can run your business online, with the use of a PC and working from your garden or in the kitchen, without the need for much space for inventories or maintenance of any kind.

Hardly any kind of customer-affiliate interaction is needed, since it is the merchant's website normally that takes care of the customer's needs. You as an affiliate, only need to promote de product, to guide the customer towards making the purchase and the rest is done by the merchant or product owner.

You can later go on to make your own products as well and get your own affiliates too to promote them. This will cost more time and effort, but the rewards will be much greater and of course well worth it. Your sales can be increased so much more with the help of your affiliates as well as with your expertise as a previous affiliate, still promoting other people's products and being a promoter of residual affiliate programs too.

Affiliate Marketing - How to Be Successful in This Game

Are you looking for a viable way to make money in today's suffering economy? Do you enjoy promoting other people's service or product oriented business? Would you be open to being paid a hefty commission for your efforts? Are you knowledgeable about marketing trends? If you answered yes to these questions, you may want to delve into the very lucrative field of affiliate marketing.

But what is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is when a business owner hires a marketing professional to spread the word about their business in exchange for a commission of any sales that the affiliate marketer generates from his/her marketing efforts. For instance, let's say that you're an affiliate marketer for Amazon. Well, you set up a few sites and promote their products. Well, every time someone purchases an Amazon product from your site, you get a referral commission. Amazon makes money, you make money for the referral and the customer gets the product.

Still not persuaded that affiliate marketing works? Consider these stats - according to Forrester Research, a firm located in Massachusetts, an online seller will increase his chances of earning more by 16% annually by using affiliate marketing on top of his existing marketing strategies.

One key factor that is burning the affiliate marketing candle so bright is the shift in consumer buying behavior. Nowadays consumers enjoy shopping via mobile devices like phones and tablets. This growth in e-commerce was almost non-existent a few years ago but now, it makes shopping easy-peasy. Affiliate marketers who employ SMS text advertising, display advertising and other mobile-friendly marketing methods will increase their bottom line figures tremendously.

In a just released report, "Online Holiday Shopping Forecast and Trends," eMarketer has announced the expectation for online shopping to reach $54.47 billion just in this upcoming holiday season! This would be equivalent to a 16.8% increase in sales from 2011 for the period of November and December only and it does not include travel.

Key Factors To Remember

So, if you're a marketer that is interested in playing the affiliate marketing game, you must put in a lot of work and effort to make your commissions. Here are a few strategies you can employ:

Choose partners carefully. Only choose companies that have proven track records for paying their affiliates on time. Make sure they have a solid reputation and have a great product. After all, you won't make any money selling crappy products that don't work.

Review your links regularly. Since you are basically paid an affiliates commission based on the amount of revenue you generate, you must be able to track your sales. As such, it is extremely paramount that you only deal with companies that have a solid affiliate tracking feature in place. In addition, you must regularly review your links and tracking codes so you have a better idea of what marketing method is working and which ones are a bust.

Keep good records. Know which products you're promoting and how you're promoting them. You may also want to use accounting software to help you monitor your income. Then, you can easily spot whether you are being paid properly paid or not.

Keep your content fresh and interesting. As a matter of fact 40% of online buyers are more likely to consummate a sale if they like what they read. Content is a vital key in affiliate marketing. Avoid misleading readers in any way because this will backfire with bad feedback. Keep in mind that Internet users are always on security mode alert for scammers. Your honesty and integrity is going to establish you as a credible and reputable affiliate. And that promotes loyalty, effective Word of Mouth recommendations, repeat sales and more profits.

In conclusion, affiliate marketing is a great way to make money. Since you don't have to create a specific product or service, you aren't limited in your income potential. Just remember that not every product is worthy of your marketing efforts. If you want to find and choose established partners, review your links regularly, keep good records and have fresh and interesting content you should find online affiliate program network for that.

Using An Affiliate Marketing Network To Grow Rapidly

An affiliate marketing network has more to do with the companies that are looking to market their goods and services, than with the affiliates themselves. Think of it as a chain where the company is at one end, and a large number of affiliates are at the other.

If a company tried to manage all its affiliates simultaneously, it would have to build an office just to manage them all. An affiliate marketing network takes care of some of these issues. As the company begins to expand its affiliate population, there can be tens of thousands of clicks to monitor, and keeping track of all the sales and commissions can become a huge task. Add to this the issue of payments. Any legitimate affiliate marketing program is critically dependent upon timely payments being made to their affiliates.

You can imagine the number of checks that have to be printed and dispatched, or the electronic transfers that have to be affected. To further add to this confusion, different affiliates may prefer different modes of payments. Any company that tries to keep track of all this, is sure to get bogged down in detail. That's where an affiliate marketing network comes into play.

It handles all the issues related to the managing of affiliates. It provides a layer of abstraction between the company and the thousands of affiliates it uses. The manufacturing company just interacts with the affiliate marketing network interface, and hands them a payment every week or month.

Thereafter, it internally keeps a record of all the affiliates and the work they've been doing and works out the payments for each one. Even as affiliates join and leave the network, the parent company is insulated and can afford to concentrate on doing its core job of producing of high quality products and services.

There's another advantage of an affiliate marketing network. Affiliates don't scout for opportunities and interact with companies. In all probability, they don't have time to deal with individual cases. The affiliate marketing network handles the negotiation and the terms with the manufacturing organization, and affiliates are saved from all that so they can concentrate on making their websites as attractive as they can be.

Working with an affiliate marketing network is probably the smartest thing you can do while you're setting up your website. You can be sure of receiving timely payments and great assistance as you make your presence known online.

Learn how to easily start driving more traffic to your website today. Increased web traffic means increased sales. Give your website that much needed boost. Get totally unique and quality visitors to any website, blog or affiliate link you want starting today. Click here to start sending laser-targeted traffic to your website now.

How To Accomplish Your Affiliate Marketing Goals

A combination of a firm belief in yourself, combined with a few affiliate marketing techniques, can establish a flourishing affiliate business for you. Affiliate marketing involves getting paid for referring visitors to the website of the product you're promoting. However, it's not as easy as it sounds. The following techniques can be learnt from a huge internet resource, and applied to your business freely. What makes an affiliate business succeed isn't money, but careful planning, the correct approach and lots of sweat.

Among the top affiliate marketing techniques, the first is having some kind of training in affiliate marketing so that you can choose the right products and methods from the thousands available online. Although free methods are available, not all of them guarantee success. In fact, some of them can actually cause you to lose money. Enlist in the proper affiliate training that's based on years of research and practical trials.

Article marketing also lists among the top affiliate marketing techniques. It's a boon for those who have a sound aptitude for creative writing. This mode of advertising is free, and the articles written can be placed on your product affiliate website, blogs and in article directories. These articles have a great impact on your visitors to direct them to your product website.

Your website can (and should) be a squeeze page where the visitors are asked to opt-in before proceeding. Their e-mail addresses gathered in this manner forms a database of subscribers, that can be used for subsequent communications. This method has a 2-way advantage. First, it carries out your product promotion and second, it helps you make money.

Among the most recognized affiliate marketing techniques, is the use of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. This directs a visitor to your website by listing it among the top search results, when specific keywords are entered. Another technique used commonly by affiliates is PPC or pay-per-click advertisements. This is a unique mode of advertising where you pay a certain amount of money if and when someone clicks on your ad. The headline of your ad accounts for 80% of its effectiveness in generating responses.

The above techniques should be seriously considered in your quest to succeed as an affiliate marketer. Most of them don't cost anything, and have tremendous value that can worth thousands of dollars if used correctly and persistently. Utilize these tried and tested methods to avoid falling flat on your face in your marketing efforts.

Do you need more traffic to your website? Send up to 250K unique visitors to your website quickly and easily. Increased web traffic means increased sales. Give your website that much needed boost.

Affiliate Marketing Programs Explained

Affiliate marketing programs need to be given a great deal of attention, because the success of any program depends on how well it's advertised. The more time you spend in promoting your products and services, the better your chances for success will be.

If your business isn't producing any profits you need to market it more. Because most affiliate marketers don't study their target market and don't analyze their website statistics, they have no idea what visitors want or where they're coming from. But it's actually easier than they think to market the kind of products and services that their target audience desires.

One of the most important aspects is to ensure that the products you market, are relevant to the content and theme of your website. You probably won't have a good conversion ratio if your website is about sports, and you're marketing pregnancy clothes. It'll be easier if you concentrate on one particular sport. You might want to promote golf, and promote golf clubs and other golf accessories for example.

It's important to promote only quality products from reputable merchants, if you intend on enjoying success in affiliate marketing. Promote products and services that you've used before and liked personally. It's just as important that your visitors be impressed by the merchant's website.

You've pre-sold the product to them, now the merchant's website must take it from there and close the sale for you. Use appropriate keywords (especially long-tail keyword phrases) that are equally effective as the main keyword. Affiliate marketing works only if you're able to drive heavily targeted traffic to your website.

Search engine optimization and using keyword rich quality content are absolutely essential. You can build links and leads by using promotional and informative newsletters, e-zines, submitting value-laden articles to article directories, utilizing viral videos, podcasts, RSS feeds and PPC ads.

You can also start a blog or join a forum related to the products that you promote. It's also a good idea to be a member of blogs that are related to your products. Ensure that all your posts have links pointing back to your website. Make sure you don't sound like an advertisement. Gain the trust of people by making unbiased and highly informative posts.

Once they recognize you as an expert, they'll trust the recommendations you make about the products you're promoting. Social networking websites have been used in affiliate marketing, and can be a great way to drive targeted traffic to your website. Producing short promotional videos that are social media optimized, will drive the kind of targeted traffic to your site that you want and need.

What To Consider Before Joining An Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn an excellent income, but there are a few factors that need to be considered before you start joining various programs, and begin promoting products. It'll be a very profitable venture once you know how to select the right products, and market them extensively using the right strategies. Below are 9 effective marketing techniques you'll find invaluable.

1) Promote products that relate to the content on your website, and use keyword rich content to make your website search engine friendly.

2) Select products from reputable dealers and ensure that the merchant's website is impressive.

3) Select products that are popular and can sell quickly. Marketing products and services that are hard to sell, but pay high commissions, may not be a good idea when compared to marketing products that are easier to sell, but pay lower commissions. Slow nickels are better than fast dollars.

4) Compare various affiliate programs and select merchants who pay good commissions. This arrangement may not work out if merchants don't pay at least 50% in commissions for each sale generated from your website, but as stated previously, make sure the products can be sold as quickly as possible.

5) Make sure you understand the merchant's payment plan, and select merchants who payout on a monthly basis. Check to see if you must earn a certain amount in commissions before you can be paid. You must be able to view the statistics page easily, and make sure the merchant updates this information regularly, to give you an idea of how successful your marketing tactics are.

6) To market effectively, you'll need to have a reliable support staff available that will answer all your questions. They must offer commendable support services enabling you to clear doubts and misgivings, and solve problems quickly with the least possible delay.

7) It'll be helpful if the merchant supplies you with a variety of banners, graphics and text links to use on your website. Marketing tools have to be used aptly in order for them to be effective. Seek a program that provides them as well as educates you on how to use them. Study those who are successful and learn how they became successful.

8) A fast loading website is absolutely essential, so keep the graphics to a bare minimum.

9) Some affiliate programs offer guidance on what marketing strategies have been successful for promoting their products in the past, while other programs may send out useful tips each week or month via their newsletter.

Affiliate marketing can be a highly profitable business, as long as you know how to drive targeted traffic to your website to pre-sell products. Some marketers create websites based on the affiliate products or service they're promoting because they've earned huge profits in the past.

There are affiliates who've earned as much as $1 million a year just by promoting various products and services. But just like any legitimate business, it takes a lot of hard work, attention to detail and of course, marketing to be highly successful in this particular niche.

How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog Today!

One of the top questions asked by all new internet entrepreneurs is "How do I get more traffic to my website or blog?!" Rightly so as without visitors to your new domain, you can pretty much count on it failing!

The challenge is knowing where to begin when it comes to generating blog traffic. What usually happens is we end up in the AdWords 'Cycle of Death'! We create our website, spend a lot of money creating AdSense ads, then end up running out of money. All while generating very little to no traffic. This is actually quite common for internet business owners. There are actually some tried and true methods we can use to avoid these mistakes and start out right!

We can actually use a 'not-so-secret-secret' to generate traffic and increase sales that successful internet business owners use all the time! No gimmicks or crazy initiations. We'll just need to block off a little time and get to work!

The first thing we need to do is determine who our customers are. If we don't know who we are selling too, and what their internet patterns are, sales may fall flat. There are a couple tools we can use to find out this information. The first is Google Trends. It is free, and we can use it to find information on keywords related to our website and who is looking for them. This also ties in with the Google AdWords Tool. We can use this to help refine what keywords are more popular for our niche or product.

Our next step is to start marketing to our audience. This is where we will establish a wider presence on the internet to help generate website traffic. Now that we know all about our audience, and the keywords they like to use, we can start writing content-rich articles and place them on article sites like EzineArticles and Go Articles. We will submit to as many sites as we can to build our 'authority', and to give us an opportunity to show our article resource box to the world! The resource box is where we get to put links directly back to our website so our customers can go to our site as soon as they read our article.

Finally, you will start generating traffic to your articles using email marketing and supplemental traffic sources. Also, using supplemental sources like YouTube, social media like Facebook and Twitter posts, can generate a 'buzz' around your site that can generate website traffic consistently.

If we follow these simple steps, we should be able to generate a decent amount of traffic to boost sales and get our website off the ground! You just have to realize it will take a little time. Stick to the strategy, and the traffic will follow!

Work From Home by Making Money Online

There are various ways to make money online. Online jobs are available by the thousands, but most people turn to the internet for financial freedom. If you swap out a regular 9-5 job for a regular online job, it lets you work from home, but it's still not an upgrade. If you want to become an online entrepreneur, you need to have money work for you and not the other way around. So what is the best way to start? Many people think it requires a lot of money to start your own business.

Affiliate marketing is by far the best way to start making money online. Affiliate marketing is all about selling other people's products. When you sell other people's products, you don't need to spend time dealing with customer orders, customer support, creating the product, and investing a lot of money to do all of those things. When you sell other people's products, you have to work hard for your money, but when you get it right, the commissions start coming on completely on autopilot.

Affiliate marketing requires the ability to generate a lot of online traffic. Without traffic, you have no business. Getting traffic is not the only component to the formula that will make you rich online. You have to have targeted traffic, and you must be able to convert that traffic into buyers. You can pay for targeted traffic by running pay per click ad campaigns, but when you are starting out, you do not want to take this monetary risk. Getting free targeted traffic is the best way to start making money online.

To get free buyer-targeted traffic, you need to rank high in the search engines. Search engines like Google are used by tens of millions of people on a daily basis, if not more. In order to take advantage of all of these potential customers, you have to put in the work to get your website to rank at the top for popular and targeted keywords. Google offers a free tool to tell you exactly how many people are searching for certain keyword phrases. If you just search for Google Keyword Tool in Google, it will come up.

Once you have found a main keyword on which you want to focus, you will have to build your online business around a relevant niche and incorporate that keyword, along with a handful of other relevant keywords, into your website. You need to have a good keyword density in the content on your website. For a small website, a keyword density of between 2 and 4 percent is enough. You do not want to go over that keyword density for more than four or five posts on your blog or website.

When you have your website optimized for the search engines, or what is known as local search engine optimization, you are now going to need to focus the majority of your time on building backlinks and interacting with other entities in your niche. Building backlinks is referred to as external search engine optimization, or SEO. Backlinks can be built in a variety of ways, but you want to stick to quality content. You do not want to spam when you are building backlinks, and it is always best to manually create them rather than using automated software.

Your Online Business: The 10 Most Important Questions

It has been said that over 90% of small businesses fail within the first five years of getting started.

I can tell you from experience that the first five years can be very tough if you are underfunded and are new to what you are doing.

When I started online I had $14 to my name and a burning desire to make a living online. But I was new to online business and that made things very hard.

Fortunately for me (sounds odd to say it that way) I was so sick that all I had was time. If I was awake I was working. Thankfully, we made it into the 10%

How can you put yourself in the 10% who make it and avoid being in the 90%?

I believe one factor is to ask better questions before you start your online business.

I strongly believe that most people start a business (especially online) without really having enough facts to make that move. It's incredibly easy to buy a product on impulse and think that the act of purchasing has put you into a business.

We have all been there. I have... many times!

The reality is often different. Buying a product can be very casual. If you ask anyone who has succeeded in business, from Apple to your favorite online teacher, you will discover that it takes much more than one purchase to build a real business.

    Here are the questions I would ask if I knew what I know now and were starting over.

1. Who is my ideal customer?

Knowing who your ideal customer is is vital to your success. After all, just as you can't hit a target you cannot see you will be hard-pressed to make sales unless you can identify your perfect customer.

Here are a few questions to ask about your ideal prospective customer.

    Are they a man or woman, or does sex not matter?
    Do they need to be in a certain income bracket?
    Is it important that they have, or don't have, children?
    Is location important? Will you be selling a location-specific product or a language-specific offer?
    Does age matter?

These are just a few examples. The more you know your prospects, the better job you will be able to do with your marketing.

And success in business is mostly about marketing, especially online. Great marketing can sell even marginally good products. Poor marketing would fail to sell the fountain of youth.

2. What do they want?

Notice this because it matters... a lot. I said what do they want, not what do they need.

The #1 lesson I learned in my many years of sales training was this - people buy with emotion and justify their choice with logic.

Most of what people buy is based on what they want, can afford, and fits their self-image.

3. What do they need?

Knowing both what your customer needs and wants is vital. This will help you tailor your sales message, inform your decision about advertising resources and more.

If you really think about needs vs. wants you will find that your product is almost certainly one that people want, not one they need.

Selling to needs and selling to wants is much different, so please take time to think this one through.

4. What are they being offered now?

Once you know who your ideal prospect is, and what product you intend to promote to them, it's time to do some market research.

Just do some searching on Google as you think your customer would do. Then visit some sites (I usually visit 100 or more) and see what they are offering.

HOT TIP: Make notes of the URLs in Evernote (or bookmark them) as you go. You will want to revisit some of these sites later to see what sales approach they are using.

Ignoring what your competitors are doing is bad business. Copying what your competitors are doing is bad business too.

The Secrets To A Profitable Affiliate Marketing Business

It's no longer a secret that affiliate marketing is a highly profitable venture. It's a burgeoning market, where one needs to sell the parent company's products. It's the affiliates who promote and sell the products, and in return, get a share (at least 50%) of the profits through commissions. However, the most important step is to not push your product through a large number of affiliates. A properly planned strategy is required before launching the product on the internet or engaging affiliates to promote the product for you.

An online business is a great way to supplement your income. You'll also get to pursue your hobby and the marketing program helps promote your product in a good way. The higher the price of a product, the greater the commission is for the affiliate. There's no need to build any type of inventory for the products.

Since affiliates usually start an aggressive promotional campaign before the launch of a product, customers may not be unable to access the site when the product is available. As a result of the traffic snarl, many potential customers may give up the idea of wanting buying the product because of the hassle incurred. Thus, it's important to have a good idea of the traffic expected, so the site can handle the high volume of visitors.

Improper documentation about the product leads to uncertainty about the utility of the product, as well as the mode of using it. For example, if you launch a health product, then it's important to describe the method of its use, its benefits and side effects, if any, etc. Thus, the secret to a successful affiliate marketing business is to do your homework well before launching the product. The infrastructure has to be properly set up so that one can use the strategy to the maximum extent.

There are a few secrets to a prospering marketing program which if followed, will yield good returns. To start with, think and decide upon the areas that interest you. Deliberate on the products that you'll be comfortable promoting.

When you zero in on a few of these products, do some brainstorming in deciding on the final one. Which product will generate the maximum sales revenue? The product should be a niche one to give you a good market. But at the same time, you don't want to select a product where the audience for it is scarce. Once the product phrase is finalized, a combination of patience, perseverance, hard work and determination will be required for the next step.

Business is all about ups and downs. Patience is one of the uppermost requirements for a successful venture. Weigh the pros and cons, your strengths and weaknesses and then decide on your niche. Remember, hard work never fails. Learn new marketing skills.

Observe your competitors. Check out the strategies that they've adopted to promote their products. You must first listen and learn to effectively and creatively sell your products. Don't expect fast money overnight, because it's not going to happen.

When Affiliate Marketing Is Like Buying a Used Car

Have you ever bought a used car?

I have and believe it or not I only had one bad experience. I've lost count of just how many new and used automobiles and trucks I've owned-but I was only burned once.

We were looking for what we thought might be something close to a luxury car... close, but not the real thing like a Cadillac or Mercedes. We found a car advertised by owner in our local newspaper. The young lady we talked to said the car actually belonged to her brother, and she was helping him sell it. It was 5 years old but only had 27,000 miles on it.

Let the buyer beware

We bought the car and within a month the water pump quit. After replacing that we had frequent over-heating problems. Next to go was the battery and it needed a costly tune up. One day while rummaging through the glove box I found an old North Carolina State Inspection report tucked away in the Owner's Manual. It showed that at a previous inspection, the car had over 150,000 miles on it.

Since we bought it from a private individual we had little recourse-plus she (and no doubt her brother) had moved out of the area.

"Let the buyer beware!"

Watch out for Internet Clunkers too

Back in 2009 I decided to take a shot at starting a home-based business to supplement my income. With absolutely no clue as to what was available, I searched online. On a website I had come to know and respect I found an ad for a home-business opportunity. The sales (pitch) page made affiliate marketing sound like a dream come true, so without further hesitation, I whipped out my VISA card and spent $47 for an immediately-downloaded Ebook. This Ebook explained that affiliate marketing requires no cash to get started. But reading it cover to cover left me with more questions than answers.

The first thing I could think of as I read through it was, "I just bought another 'Low-Mileage' used car.

As time passed and I succumbed to a couple more "Get Rich Quick." "Make $10,751.36 in just 30 days," offers and their useless Ebooks, it began to look like affiliate marketing is just one big low mileage car after another.

Listen to voices of experience

Those folks who have been affiliate marketers since back in the 1990s told me that over 95% of beginning marketers quit after less than a few months. Well DUH! Is it any wonder? But you know what? Here it is now 2012, and I've been at it now beginning my 4th year and I'm well past the pain of leaky water pumps and dead batteries.

The point I'm making here is that this concept of affiliate marketing is really based on sound business principles-if you run it like a business. The basics of getting started are quite simple and do not require a degree from the Wharton School of Business. And you can start a business like this on virtually no up-front cash.

Trial and Error

Granted, I depended on trial and error for well over my first year. And, yes I was often discouraged to the point that I considered, "Pulling the rip cord and bailing out."

Some very wise person once said, "If you fail to plan-you are planning to fail." Well... I was obviously without a plan-so I changed my tactics.

Tips Leading to Success in an Online Business

    The best way to be successful is to study how others became successful. I studied, "Think and Grow Rich," by Napoleon Hill. Despite the fact that Mr. Hill published this all-time Best-Seller in 1937, its message is just as relevant now as it was 75 years ago.

    Through hours of Internet research I found some of the top websites that get thousands of visitors month after month. Replication is the best form of flattery so my plan was to "copy" the work others had done before I came along. By copy I really mean to follow their lead by doing similar things without plagiarizing or duplicating them.

    I began my online business using websites. I learned later that "blogs" are far more effective as business tools than websites. So One-by-one I scrapped my websites and constructed blogs.

    I learned that for any online business to succeed, people searching the Internet need to be able to find it. This is where the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others come into play. Continuing research gave me the knowledge of how to create blogs that would position my blogs close to or even ahead of some of my competitors-like having one of my blogs appear on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

    To get recognized by the search engines, you must have a good understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google and others can be your friend or enemy in this regard. Better to be a friend!
    Once a plan is in place, it requires frequent maintenance of your blog, or as in my case-multiple blogs. (At this writing I have about 70).

Have I mastered the secret for creating untold wealth as an Internet Marketer? NOPE! Not yet. You see I am not a quitter. I am determined to succeed. I have a plan to succeed, I have the tools to succeed.

Part of the "secret" of being a successful online business owner is to first believe in yourself!