So you want to start a career in affiliate marketing on the internet. You have read the stories of how several marketers are making a living marketing on the internet with some marketers making a lot of money. Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for the marketer and the product vendor. The marketer makes a commission selling products he did not manufacture or store and the vendor has an active sales force. By far the most popular form of affiliate marketing involves digital products that can be delivered by download immediately.



Affiliate marketing is doable. Affiliate marketing is simple but not easy. Many successful marketeers became successful after much trail and error and some failures. The following 3 basic step will start you off in the right direction.

Decide on a niche or product. Although it is not absolutely necessary it is best to select a niche that you are familiar and comfortable working with. For instance if you select pets as that is your specialty you then need to narrow the focus to a specific type of dog or maybe to specialized dog training.

You then need to determine the number of people to market to in that niche and if those prospective buyers actually spend money. One way to get an idea to the size and the buying habits of the people is to do an internet search to determine the number of marketers marketing to that niche and what they are marketing. Very few marketers to a niche does not always mean a wide open opportunity for you. It may mean nobody buys.

Look for affiliate vendors. The next step is to select a vendor to represent their products. Some places to look are Clickbank, Commission Junction, Associate Programs and you can also use an internet search to find vendors. Type your keyword+affiliate in the search box. You should have several to choose from. You should look for vendors that have an attractive commission structure( around 50% for digital products) and have sales material available in the form of sales letters, prewritten articles and sample ads and emails. It is sometimes wise to contact the vendor to determine committed to assisting their affiliates.

Promote your site The vendor will have a sales page on the web for you to direct your leads to for more more information and place an order. It is usually best to direct them to your squeeze page first and ask them to opt in so you can send them more information. That way you are developing a mailing list and will be able to correspond with the vendor concerning orders.

There are many ways to promote your affiliate business. It is beyond the scope of this article to adequately cover this subject. There is a lot of help available on the internet. A good way to begin the study of product promotion is to join forums devoted to affiliate and/or internet marketing. I will recommend 2 forums, there are several. Conqueryournichemarketing and associated programs. I have found them very helpful. Be sure to read the rules of the form as some have requirement that others do not have. Some sites on the internet have tutorials and even video tutorials available.