Affiliate Marketing For Newbies Part 1

Most online successes today have something to do with affiliate marketing. It's basically selling someone else's product and earning commissions for it. Some earn a decent extra income. But a few who know the ins and outs earn as much as $100,000 a month. Two guys who recently introduced their system to so-called marketing gurus claim they are earning $100,000 a day!

I'll be making a series of articles about affiliate marketing so you guys will know what to watch out for and how you can earn a decent income from them. I will only pass the info along. I will never claim I've earned so and so dollars from any program I'll be mentioning here. However, if i decide to join or purchase a method, I'll be more than happy to share a review.

So off we go. Here are the first things to take note of when you decide to become an affiliate marketer.

1. Set a goal

Like most endeavors, it's always best to know what your target is. Like any soldier who goes off to battle, you should always be aware of your mission. The means to carry it out is up to you. For example, to earn extra income to pay for the mortgage could be a goal. It's short-term but a goal nonetheless. Once you've set the goal, you'll get a definite idea of the amount you want to raise and the time frame you want to achieve it in. That will also help narrow down the choices of what program/method to use.

2. Choosing a product

There are literally so many products and programs you can sell as an affiliate. Choosing one depends on the following factors:

a. Compensation - find a program that will pay you the most for the least amount of work. That's the bottom line. You don't want to work your butt off for something that pays you $2 for every sale. Luckily for you, most affiliate programs and products pay handsomely. Some pay as much as 75%!

b. Marketability - make sure the product you're selling has significant demand for it. How do you find out? Research. Products in Clickbank for example are tracked on every sale, enabling affiliates to know what the best sellers are. But be careful. You don't want to market something everybody is selling (unless you have a method to beat everybody to the punch). You might just get disappointed. Best products to sell are the ones that just got released and have had great pre-launch marketing. In other words, products that people are itching to buy prior to release. If you get a jump on everyone, you'll get a windfall of sales.

c. Familiarity - great marketers often perform well regardless of the product. But if you're just starting out, try to go with something that you're familiar with. If you're a musician, maybe you can be an affiliate for concert tickets or maybe musical instruments. If you're a big NBA fan, sell NBA merchandise. These are often hot all-year round. The trick is to stand out from the crowd especially if the product is popular.

Next time, I'll be listing down the sites where you can find products to market and how you can market them to achieve the best results.