Best Affiliate Marketing Tips

While many Internet marketers-both seasoned and wannabee gurus-will tell you to start off your online business by being a reseller of affiliate of others, you may be wondering "why should I?". Why not just start your own online business straightaway instead?

Here are a few good reasons an affiliate marketing business may be the best place for you start out with.

• Little or No Money: With affiliate marketing, you won't need a penny to be "in business." This is because, a lot of times, joining an affiliate marketing program is completely free. All you have to do is fill out a simple form with your information and a referral ID (used in tracking your traffic and sales) will be created for you-most times, right away. And then you can start promoting the product or program. So, whether you are completely penniless or almost moneyless, you can still sign up with and make money with affiliate marketing.


• Little Experience:Like I said above, you can be a member of the "Johnny Q public" and still make some money promoting other people's products and programs. This is quite different when you are promoting your own products or programs where you will have to worry about creating sales copy, promotional emails, endorsement letters, product security and delivery and a whole bunch of other things. With online affiliate marketing, you won't need to do any of these, because-a lot of times-the product owner will have these already made for you to use. You just need to take them, use them and cash the checks. It is that simple.


• Risk-Free:While running your own Internet marketing business will require you to take a lot of risks for the products, as an affiliate marketer most of these won't be your own cup of tea. However, you may still be liable if you knowingly join and promote and illegal product or scheme.


• Experience Builder: While raking in some affiliate marketing income, you will also be learing a lot about building a lucrative online business. This is because, most times, the owners of the program that you are promoting will be sending you emails, guides and a lot of tips on how to effectively promote their products. You can use these same marketing tips for most other products or programs. You just have to customize them to that niche market and you are good to go. The affiliate program owners will, in a way, be mentoring you for success both now and when you start to create and market your own products.

Note: All Internet marketing products and programs are NOT created equal. There are the good, the bad and the downright ugly ones-all out there and courting you.

So, what should you look out for when choosing the right affiliate program or product to promote?

Here are a few pointers:

• Conversions: It is not just enough that a product or program that you intend on promoting is a high-ticket item (that is, its sales price is quite high, think in the hundreds or thousands). You should make sure that its targeted customers are actually buying. Normally, you should look out for a conversion rate of 3% or higher, though this will vary for different niche markets, seasons of the year, etc. But make sure there is a minimum percentage of your traffic that will actually be converting, so that you don't just waste your time.


• Commission Rate: Commissions range from (usually) 5% to 100% (no, that's not a typo). This will depend on the product owner's marketing system, possibility of having other products that he will be promoting to the customers after the initial sale (called upsells) and his motives for recruiting affiliates; for example, he might just be interested in building a list, so the initial income from that product is not his main concern.


• Market Share or Demand: Before jumping on the bandwagon and promoting an affiliate program or product, you should find out if there is a hungry market for it. If most members of that niche market actually spend money for the solutions that they are seeking, then it could be worthwhile to spend your time and energy one. Just make sure there are enough prospective customers available to make your time and energy worth the effort.


• Your Own Values: This one is more of a moral issue than a monetary factor. There are many types of products and programs being promoted online-ranging from the most obscene to the highly religious-so you should choose one that you know you will be comfortable being associated with, no just for the sake of the money involved. The purpose of building an online marketing business is to create more free time for yourself, not more worry sessions.

There are basically three different types of affiliate marketing programs, based on the way thye pay commissions.

These are:

• Recurring: These are affiliate programs that pay you for referring a paying customer as long as they remain a paying member. This means that if the customer is biiled every month, for instance, then you will get a commission every month that they are billed for. Examples of these programs include some monthly hosting companies, membership sites, etc. The beauty of this is that you do the work (referring the paying customer) once and you get paid continuously for as long as they maintain a paid membership. Beautiful, right? I think so, too. :)


• One-time: Here, you only get paid once: when the customer you referred buys the product or program that you are promoting. Not bad, too if you do your homework right and have a continuous stream of visitors coming through your affiliate link.


• 100% Commission: Owners of these types of affiliate programs are usually more interested in building a mailing list of proven buyers rather than have a need for the initial money that comes in when a sale is made. In such a case, you may be required to buy the product first (which is usually very affordable) before you qualify to promote and earn 100% commissions on it. But if you come across a quality product, this will be a very lucrative affiliate marketing business system to make money from online.

There are many affiliate marketing directorries online where you can find hundreds or thousands of products and programs to make money from. Below, I have included a list of some of the most popular ones online. But do note that you shouldn't waste your time browsing through them, rather decide on a niche market to be involved in and go in there to choose matching products to promote.

Some of the best affiliate marketing directories online are:

• Clickbank.com


• PayDotCom


• Commissions Junction


• Associate Programs