An Affiliate Marketer from the Ground Up

Affiliate Marketing: How to Get Started
By Jinger Jarrett

Affiliate marketing is the easiest way to start a business online if you don't have any specific area of expertise you can sell.

There are many reasons, but here are three reasons I would start market affiliate programs:

1. You don't need to create your own products,

2. You don't have to deal with customer service very often, and

3. You can create a business on just about any topic you want, including a hobbie.

Affiliate programs generate billions of dollars every year in revenue. There is plenty of room for growth, and so anyone can make money. If you're looking for an easy way to start a business online, affiliate programs are your answer.

When starting an affiliate business, there are three things you need to do to get started:

1. What will your topic be?

The first thing you need to do is write down several topics you're interested in. This can be anything. Don't limit yourself in this stage of your business. You're just getting started, so right now is the time to let your imagination run free.

Once you've chosen several topics, you want to do keyword research. Look for what's called "Long Tail Keywords". These are usually keyword phrases that have three or more keywords. Some of these you will be able to use. Others you will need to discard.

Then compare the amount of searches to the amount of results you find in the search engines. If a keyword phrase is really competitive, you may want to discard it.

What's important here is that you remember there must be an audience for whatever you choose to market. Also, since you're starting an affiliate business, you're not limited to the number of topics you can promote. It's a good idea to find three to five topics you are interested in and then diversify.

(Free keyword research tools are readily available throughout the internet. Do a search in your favorite search engine for "free keyword research".)

2. Will you build a website?

Although some would tell you that building a website is absolutely crucial to your affiliate marketing success, it really isn't. There are plenty of marketers who send traffic directly to the merchant using pay per click, or some other marketing technique that doesn't require a website.

The purpose of your website is what's critical here. You can build a site as simple as a one page lead capture page to capture email addresses. Give your visitors a free report or some other bonus for joining your list.

Personally, I've found that building content sites work much better for affiliate marketing because you can offer your visitors multiple products related to a topic. You can also add a subscription box to your website to build your list at the same time.

3. How will you promote your new business?

How you promote your affiliate website depends on several factors. Do you like to write? Does the technique you have chosen require a lot of time? Do you have some spare cash you can use to promote your new business? If you do, then you can combine your

marketing with simple websites and earn your first commissions in days.

Internet marketing techniques to consider are: search engine optimization, forums, article writing, pay per click, and free classifieds. These work well with affiliate marketing. Choose one and try it for awhile. When you feel comfortable, choose another and add it to your marketing plan.

Before starting an affiliate business, you should consider these factors. After all, if you're

looking for an easy way to start a business online, and you want to start earning quickly,

affiliate marketing is the way to do it.

Article Source: http://www.affsphere.com/Internet-Marketing/Affiliate-Marketing-Income/Affiliate-Marketing-How-to-Get-Started.html

If there were any statistics on the subject, I would venture to say that probably more
than 90 percent of the people that decide to make money on the Internet go about
it in the same, predictable, usually failing way...at least starting out.

Although it sometimes takes a while before you find exactly what's going to work for
you in your quest to generate an income online, many individuals never get to that point.

The vast majority of would-be online marketers usually follow the same time wasting,
poorly producing, depressing path. It usually involves getting some web hosting, registering
a domain, and hopefully at least getting to the point of setting a blog up. However, some never get past reading the massive amounts of ebooks, reports, courses, and all the other material that everyone of us is force-fed daily.

Even if the potential business person does manage to get a site up and running, the extent
of their marketing effort usually involves signing up for a few affiliate networks, hooking up
with a few merchants and posting some banner ads on their site. Admittedly this writer was
guilty of such methods initally.

You must get past the idea of making massive amounts of money by doing nothing more than
installing WordPress, putting up the ads, and waiting for the money to flow into your PayPal account. It just doesn't work that way.

There are many, many individuals out there that have made a lot of money online. Some have even made it very quickly and without a tremendous amount of effort...just don't expect it.

Reading the ebooks and other documents, especially the free ones, are a great way to educate yourself, but you'll soon find that most are just the same regurgitated information being published by another person trying to do the same thing that you are.

I do give them credit for at least getting an ebook finished though, most never make it that far.

The message here is, as the title suggests, find something that will be different from all the others. Make it truly useful, something specific that the reader can do right now and get results. This, of course, is assuming you're just going to take the same worn out Internet marketing trail that most others do. Ideally you should do what most people agree is the best way to success online.

Find a niche, preferrably something that you're passionate about, start researching everything you can about the topic, and if there's the demand to support an income for you, concentrate you efforts primarily in making this your main source of revenue. This doesn't mean put up one site, on one niche, and never do anything else. I would recommend having as many possible streams of revenue as you can. If you find that you have a knack for writing ebooks, especially if they're good enough to sell, then by all means do it. You can, of course, be writing ebooks, training courses, reports or case studies on just your niche, or niches. The information doesn't have to be on affiliate marketing or making money online. There's plenty of people doing that.

The reason for this article is because this writer knows first hand how disappointing starting an online business can be. I was guilty of all the common problems, and was about to give up until I started opening my mind to other things besides the 'WordPress with banners and wait tactic.'
I still have several blogs, and yes they have ads on them, but even with the AdSense and everything else I can think of to make money from them, that will probably never be my primary focus for an online business. Of course there are many individuals that make lots of money from a single blog.

Luckily I found a niche that I'm already fairly knowledgeable about, has good numbers as far as supply and demand, and it's something that I've always been very interested in.

So if you do have a WordPress blog going...fantastic, you're already way beyond what most people do. If you're just sitting and waiting for the money to start rolling in though, you're probably in for a major disappointment. However, don't misunderstand, if you've started a blog on a niche like I mentioned, and you're continously adding quality content, you may very well succeed. Just start doing everything you can to generate traffic to the blog, and always keep your eyes and ears open, and you mind thinking of what else just might work.

Lastly, avoid the many out there only after your money. There are some very good products and services, but until you know exactly what you need, I would seek out only free information. There's a welth of knowledge to be had without spending a cent. When the time comes to buy, you'll then be better prepared to make an informed decision on your purchases.

How to Detect an Online Business Scam
By Jim Janowiak

It is sad this article needs to be written. Unfortunately there's lots of worthless information in this market niche. The "Black Hats" are out in every marketing niche but it seems they like the online business or work from home markets the best.

The problem is that if you get burned a few times you may think everyone is trying to scam you. This is not the case. Thousands of people are building solid profitable businesses from their home and enjoying financial freedom, not to mention freedom of time.

There are some sure fired tips you can use to spot the scam offers right up front. If you are new to the online business internet marketing niche, here is what you should be on the look out for.

The first red flag is the promise. Does it sound too good to be true? We have all seen the marketing copy that states fast money. It goes something like "You will be earning $10,000 a month in 30 days". We all wish that were true, but it's not. Every legitimate online marketer has spent a year or more to get to that level. Watch out for the promise. If it promises fast money and little or no work or "we do all the work for you", forget about it. Great copywriters make it tempting, but it's just not true.

The next telltale sign is the offer. Beware if it goes something like this, "This offer will be gone in 24 hours". If it is a legitimate product or service, then the seller wants to sell as many as possible and certainly would allow you to take your time to evaluate the offer. Now, there can be a cut off for services but not for digital and non-digital products. At least this is another red flag.

I'm sure you have seem these offers that tell you the offer will be gone in the next five minutes. Then there is a clock counting down next to the buy/submit button. Go back to that offer tomorrow and the clock is still ticking. Red Flag.

So let's say you are deciding whether to purchase an offer and you're just not sure if it is a legitimate offer by a legitimate company. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers known as ICANN is in charge of administering upper level domain names. They in turn, assign regional companies to register names.

Here is what you do. Go to the whois lookup. You can just Google it. Every website has to be registered. There you will find the information on the company or individual. If the name, address and contact information is not there, you have another red flag. If you can't find the contact information on the website or it doesn't match the registration, you have yet another red flag.

There is no need to purchase any product or service online with a scam company. Today, there are many great online marketers that are legitimate. They will give you their full contact information.These are the ones that deliver good products and services because they want your business over the long run. They want word of mouth. The only way to build a solid online business that performs, makes money, and lasts, is to do it the correct non-scamming way. You are now armed to detect and avoid the scammers.

Article Source: http://www.affsphere.com/Business/Network-Marketing/How-to-Detect-an-Online-Business-Scam.html

Jim Janowiak is an internet business coach working with Best Internet Business Builder group. For no BS straight to the point info visit;

Best Internet Business Builder

questions@bestinternetbusinessbuilder.com

I've only been involved in affiliate marketing for several months now. However, it has been long enough that I should have started to see some significant profits, at least I believe I should have anyway.

I have make a little money, as I've posted here, but nothing close to where I would have hoped to have been by now. My technical skills suck, that's a given, but what really bothers me is that I've yet to really find the basic, necessary training information that I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, there's many, many great forums, blogs and other sites aroung the Internet, but I was wanting one site that would take me, a beginner, step-by-step through the process.

Finally, today, thanks to an email from Pepperjam Network, I found out about AffiliateClassroom.com. It's creator, Anik Singal is a very successful affiliate marketer, and has set up this great site for those of us like me, in need of HELP. Read his story in Businessweek here, he's a finalist in the '2008 America's Best Young Entrepreneur of the Year'. Sir Richard Branson is also involved, and he's a name that people stand up and take notice of.

I won't drag this out, just read about Anik, in case you don't know who he is, then check out the AffilateClassroom here. There's a $1 (14)-day trial offer, so I don't see how you can go wrong. Also, if after the trial period you decide you don't like it for some reason, they will give you a full refund (within 30 days). You can also cancel at anytime...no questions asked. I've just signed up and it looks to be GREAT.

I just finished reading some posts over at NickyCakes.com. That guy is funny, not to mention he tells it like it is...no BS. I won't go into details about whom he was talking, but I just read a post that really opened my eyes. A guy/blog that I really thought 'had the goods', is nothing more than a little fish in a huge pond. Not to mention, according to what I read, a little less than honest.

I've mentioned here in the past that, as of this post anyway, I'm still new in the affilate marketing industry. I don't claim to be some super affiliate or an expert in any field. If I mention a compamy, product, ebook or anything else, it's because I've either bought and/or used it, or I know for a fact that it's not a scam.

If you look on the home page of my site, presently I have neverblueAds and PepperJam NETWORK affiliate network banners. I've been signed up with both for a while, and although you probably don't need me to tell you, they're both top-notch companies in the business. I know I can put those banners there and there's no chance of someone emailing me one day saying 'those jerks ripped me off.'

I also have a TigerDirect banner there. Last year I probably spent around $2,500 (at least) at TigerDirect, mostly in parts building (2) new PCs, (2) LCH displays, (2) MP3 players, software...man, that might even be higher. I know, for a fact that their prices, service and everything else is the best. Believe me, I wouldn't part with that much money without doing my homework.

I mention Blue Host and HostGator in my blogroll, but you what ? I've got accounts with both of them. I

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You've probably all heard of Squidoo by now. If you haven't I can guarantee you that you will, eventually.

Regardless, if you haven't set up a lens yet (Squidoo page), then you should get started now. I first signed up back in Feb. '08, and like so many other potential Squid people, did nothing. I kinda messed around with it, but never really got anything together worth publishing.

I've been taking another closer look at the whole concept and have new respect for the idea. I also have seen some of the money that others have been making, so I'm sure that didn't hurt . There are some making an income that puts my 'real' job to shame.

One of the great things too...it's all free!! This is the brainchild of Seth Godin, a true genius in most things Internet, especially making money, and he's hit it big here. What I really like about Squidoo is that it's not only fun, potentially very profitable, but most all of the pages are very entertaining, useful and/or educational.

After I started really checking things out, I found many, many pages that have been very beneficial in my endeavors to make money online. I just started reading more about Squidoo about a week ago, and have only set up (1) lens so far, but I'm excited about it, and I will be continuing with more.

I've never been a good writer, or even creative, but I think that anyone can come up with some ideas for lenses, even though I am struggling a bit. It's hard to believe that some of these people have HUNDREDS of lenses going, and they're still adding more.

I believe if you keep at something you will eventually get there. That's my plan with Squidoo. I don't have a lot of time to put into it, but I will do it when I can. It would be great if I could quit my job at the end of the year, but I think relying just on Squidoo might be pushing it a bit. I do have other irons in the fire also. Of course if someone was very creative, I'd bet in (6) months time they'd be able to get a full time income from Squidoo alone. That would be an exceptional case though to be sure.

I should mention that income is generated by sharing in the Google AdSense profits of Squidoo as a whole, and also any affiliate products that you chooses to offer. You would, of course, get the entire affiliate commissions. The Google profits are divided among the many page owners, the more higher-ranked pages you have, the more of the profits that you'll receive.

So head over to Squidoo.com and get started making a lens, it can be about just about anything that you can think of (almost). Gotta hobby ? Make it a Squidoo lens. Know about real estate investing ? Another lens. Are you a great cook with a head full of recipes ? Maybe several lenses there. You get the idea I'm sure.

Also, check out the different groups, the top 100 and other lists for your specific interests, or just for new ideas. There are so many pages there that I'm sure that you'll be able to find countless resources. There's even lenses for getting ideas for lenses, not to mention everything that you could ever want to know about using Squidoo.

Lastly, I ran across this great resource for Squidoo. There are many swearing by it, and since you're just starting out, there won't be anything here that isn't very useful. Click here to check it out.

Happy Squidooing!!...see you there.

P.S. Just click anywhere you see 'Create a lens' to get started.

I was just roaming around, bouncing from one site to another, mostly looking at the Affiliate Marketing/SEO type stuff. As much as I'd like to be a major player in the field, in all honesty I'm still learning myself. I guess if you get to the point that you no longer feel like you're still learning, it's time to hang it up though.

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