I discovered affiliate marketing in 2005. Affiliate marketing is marketing other companies products, and driving traffic to their websites through links on your website. A company like Walmart or eBay gives you an individual link to add to your website to generate traffic, and they pay you a commission or a percentage of the sale. There is no big secret to affiliate marketing. There is only learning how to drive traffic to your websites. You also need to learn what makes people buy or sign up for an offer, what makes good sales copy, how to write effective articles, and what are the most effective keywords to optimize your website.

I started by taking online college classes to learn how to design websites, and I would use any easy template to create HTML wonders on Geocities. I had tarot card websites filled with a twinkling star background, and another time, I went for a template where I created at least fifty different handmade wreaths with artificial flowers, took pictures of them with an old webcam, and somehow made a decent website with them. The tarot card website generated over 100 visitors a day because I had advertised "free tarot card readings", and when I got all of the visitors information like email address, name, and astrological sign, I did the reading and had no idea of how to turn them into customers. My lame offer of a full tarot card report for $25 generated no sales. Because I was making no money, I was discouraged. I felt like all of my efforts were for nothing. I underestimated that I was creating experience for myself to eventually become a full-time Internet marketer.

In 2005, I started to learn more about everything Internet marketing related. I would read every and anybody's blog. I would sign up for free ebooks, and participate in Internet marketing forums. It always seemed as if no one really wanted to give me the whole story. There was one exception. I have found that the Black Hat Marketers are more than willing to give you all of the tools you need to get traffic the wrong way. What I mean by the wrong way is, like everything else in life, shortcuts will eventually come back to slap you in the head. With Internet Marketing, Google usually does the slapping. Trust me, I have been slapped hard by Google many times.

This year, I vowed to do things differently. I have joined an Internet Marketing support group that finally gives me all of the answers I need. The Wealthy Affiliate program has saved me so much time and grief. If I have questions, I simply sign in, go to the forums and ask away. Someone always gives me a complete and honest answer. Wealthy Affiliate is wonderful, and it's only about $30 a month. They give me web hosting space, software tools to write articles faster, an 8 week action plan, blog space, keyword tools, an easy website creator, access to a great forum with other internet marketing experts, and so much more.

I have finally started to thrive, and become inspired everyday with the Wealthy Affiliate program. Instead of making a few sales every month, I have started to generate sales on a regular basis. These sales pay my bills, buy my groceries, and fund my Internet businesses so that I can take my profits and grow them exponentially every month.

The interesting thing about the Wealthy Affiliate program is that they not only appeal to people who have been doing Internet marketing for years, they can take anyone with an interest and help them to make money consistently. My Wealthy Affiliate program membership has paid for itself many times over. Now I get more free ebooks, videos, tutorials, even massive keyword lists, website building software, article creation software, question and answer sessions in the forum, and 24 hour a day support. I really could not ask for more, and I can finally confidently say that I have the real tools that I need to become a really successful Internet marketer.