Affiliate Marketing

This is done by placing banner ads or text links on your website, blog or newsletters. If a purchase is made, you are paid by the advertiser. The website or blog owner is simply referring customers to the online merchant and being paid a finder's fee when a sale is made. There is no selling or paperwork on your part. Your site visitor clicks on the link, they are taken to the merchant's site, the customer makes a purchase, and you are compensated. Kinda of nice, huh?

Is is easy to get started? Yes. Are the bucks going to immediately start rolling in? Probably not. Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to generate income from your blog or website but the key to reaping the financial rewards from an affiliate program is TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC, and more TRAFFIC. If very few people are visiting your website or blog and if visitors are stumbling upon your site with no reason to return, it will not be successful.

How Do You Get Started?

Determine Your Niche

Assuming that you have your website or blog created (if not, I can help you with that...), you probably have already determined your niche - or the market that you are targeting. For instance, if you are a graphic designer with a website marketing your graphic design services, you will probably want to promote ads from affiliates that offer products and/or services that are related to your business. As a graphic designer, products and services such as software, web hosting, design services are some of the affiliates that would compliment your site well. Notice with this website, the banner ads are related to the type of content on the site.

Sign Up with an Affiliate Marketing Company or Directly with the Merchant

Many online merchants partner with various affiliate companies and some merchants go solo. For example, if there is a store that you would like to partner with and want to know if they participate in affiliate marketing, just do a Google search. For example, if you Google "Macys affiliate," you will see the following:

 If you click on the link, you will be directed to an affiliate marketing company called Link Share. You will first need to set up an account with LinkShare. You will be asked to provide the standard information (name, business, etc) but you will also need to provide either your social security number or your tax ID number so that you will be able to be compensated once you start referring customers.

 There are many affiliate companies out there have partnered with all types of industries - retail, services, e-books, software - any type of product or service you can think of is is available. Some of the affiliate marketing companies are:

• LinkShare
• Commission Junction
• Share a Sale