Six Ways to Jump Start Your Affiliate Marketing Career

By Nicolette Goff

So how do you make money online? One of the most simple ways (note, I said simple, not easy) is to become an affiliate marketer. Just what does that entail? Affiliate marketers promote other people's products, and are paid a commission for the sales they generate. Kind of sounds like any sales job, doesn't it? So what's the difference?

Most affiliate marketing is online marketing. You advertise. People click on your ads, and perhaps decide they need that product, and buy it. You're paid the commission. So what's the big deal?

Affiliate marketing is all about learning how to advertise. Affiliate marketing ensures that you are paid only when your marketing results in a sale. Affiliate marketing is often called, "performance-based-marketing", meaning you don't get paid until a customer buys something.

So, really, it's all about advertising and marketing.

Whoa, you say! I don't know anything about advertising. I just know how to sell. Well, the secret here is this - you can't sell if nobody can find your product online, so get over it. Huge learning curve ahead! This is where a lot of wannabe affiliate marketers hang up their spurs, and join the 95% who don't make it.

The real idea of advertising on the Internet is attracting people to click on your ad link, and thus get to your sales site. The site does the selling.

So, how can you get enough targeted traffic to make a difference? How can you get highly interested people to buy your affiliate product in sufficient numbers to meet your goals? What makes some affiliates earn thousands while others struggle to earn hundreds?

Affiliate marketing is an awesome opportunity for those who are self-motivated. Knowing how to get those prospective customers is paramount, so you really need to focus on finding out how to reach them. No one method is enough to build a profitable affiliate marketing business. Here are six ways you can begin online:

1. Create a unique webpage or monetized blog just for your affiliate marketing. Promote multiple affiliate programs in your website but don't promote everything the world has to offer. Choose the affiliate programs that fit your site and focus. And set up an opt-in box, so you can create a database of possible customers. Give them a reason to enter their basic information.
   
2. If you already have a website, then place advertisements on your website. Affiliate advertising is one of the FREE ways you can start making income on your site. But make sure the product you're advertising has some relevance to your main site.
   
3. Start a blog, a Squidoo lens or a Hubpage, and link your entries to the product you're advertising. Make sure again that there is some relevance to content.
   
4. Start writing articles, and submit them to the top article directories. Make sure you read the guidelines provided by the directory. Directories such as EzineArticles.com offer great assistance to a beginning writer.
   
5. Research e-zines and choose one or two to advertise in. This is very targeted advertising with a high success rate. You'll be offered a choice of advertising types - solo ads, top sponsor, middle sponsor, etc. You will need to start budgeting here - this is paid advertising.
   
6. Join social networking sites and make post videos about yourself, your sites and even your products. Join forums and post comments - pertinent ones - so you can be viewed as an expert.

There is no single method that a successful affiliate marketer will use to market a product or attract traffic. Promoting online is a process that requires time and effort. Focus your marketing efforts. Get started by choosing one of the six advertising and marketing approaches above, and learn to master it. And when you've done that, go on to number two.

Between gardening, painting, traveling and home renovation, and enjoying her two granddaughters, Nicolette Goff markets and posts on several sites on the internet. If you're as busy as she is, you will enjoy the audio titles on her website, http://hearsaybooks.com Experience affiliate marketing at its most effective at http://www.zerolimitscash.com - take a ride through the Funnel.