Income Idea #1: Affiliate Marketing

Overview:

Did you know that most people who are making money online do not sell their own products or services, know very little about technology, and in some cases don’t even have a website?  It’s true - they engage in something called “Affiliate Marketing” and it is one of the best kept secrets on the Internet.

Right now, there are literally 10,000’s of completely legitimate companies that are willing to pay you commissions for sending them qualified traffic.  You don’t have to be an employee of their company, and you don’t have to have a company of your own; you just need to know some basic principles of how people look for things online.

How Affiliate Marketing Works:

Many companies have what are called “affiliate programs” that you can sign up to either through their websites directly, or through an affiliate network that matches companies like them to people like you.  From there, you are given access to special links called “affiliate links” that you can use to send traffic to their sites and track your performance.  If traffic you send results in a sale, the companies will pay you a commission – sometimes up to 75-90% of the purchase price - and all you’ve done is matched an online shopper with a product or service they were looking for in the first place.  You can do this in literally any industry, with thousands of products and services to choose from.

Income Potential:

According to eBay, 2009 will be a huge year for Affiliate Marketing, as companies all over the world look to slash their marketing and advertising budgets and look for promotional methods that guarantee a positive ROI.  This industry represents an opportunity with unlimited income potential, and has made millionaires out of many.  Most full time affiliates make $100 - $3,000 / day, and can do so from anywhere in the world.

How You Can Get Started:

1)    Knowledge and Mentorship

The concepts are very easy to grasp, but there is so much information out there you can get sidetracked chasing the next new thing in affiliate marketing.  Do NOT be fooled.  Learn the basics of free traffic strategies (ie: SEO, article marketing, email lists), and paid strategies (ie: Pay-Per-Click marketing), and look for communities of professional mentors, not self proclaimed gurus or new product launches proclaiming paths to easy riches.

The best places to find knowledge and mentors are:

• Opportunity.com
  Great Place for newbies to start, as it teaches all the fundamental techniques of Affiliate Marketing, AND provides specific market research telling you which products are good to promote, in which industries, right now.
• The Wealthy Affilate
  The best site for newbies with no budgets.  Teaches free techniques, has an 8 week step-by-step action plan to get you started, and has a community of professional affiliate marketers that will answer all your questions along the way.

• PPC Coach
  The best site if you’re looking to spend a little money on paid traffic strategies this site releases a new strategy each month you’re a member, and also has a community of professional affiliate marketers that will answer all your questions.

Both sites are paid memberships, but are worth every penny.  You get all the info you could ever need to make a full time living online, you get to tap into the collective wisdom of people who have been doing this for years, and are eager to share.  This will save you thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours, and massive headaches.

2)    How to Find Affiliate Programs

There are two ways you can sign up for affiliate programs:  independently, and through an affiliate network.

Companies that offer independent affiliate programs that you can sign up for right from their sites are fairly easy to spot.  Next time you’re searching the Internet and come across a site you like, scroll to the bottom and see if there is a link for “Affiliates”.  Follow the steps to sign up, get access to your affiliate links, and begin promoting them.

If you would prefer to sign up to an affiliate network and find products or services to promote that cater to your interests, you can do that too.

Here is a list of recommended affiliate networks that you can get accepted to.

3)    Technical Requirements

Very low.  You need a computer, a connection to the Internet, and some basic knowledge of blog software (like Wordpress) at the most.  Everything else you can learn easily.  There are many different techniques in promoting affiliate links, ranging from email, to direct linking, review style sites to article marketing - but none of them require a high level of technical knowledge to get started.

4)    Tools

After you get the basic mechanics of it all, you can invest in products that help automate some of the tasks for niche selection, keyword searching, etc – but you can do a lot of this manually during your start-up phase, so don’t get sucked in to buying tools you don’t need until you’re making money here.

Resources:

• Opportunity.com
• Wealthy Affiliate
• PPC Coach
• Five Star Affiliate Blog (The industry hub of the affiliate marketing space)
• Why Affiliate Marketing Will Be Big in 2009 – article by eBay Partner network