If you are wondering how to get started with affiliate marketing, you have probably read something about generating a second passive stream of income. This was an idea popularized by Robert G. Allen in a best selling book, although he didn’t go into much detail about how to do it. Here’s what you need to get started.
First of all, you need a website. Some companies will allow you to link to their sites from a social network or blog. Others require that you have a website, up and running, before you can even apply to become an affiliate. They may offer you templates to use as well.
If you don’t know anything about building websites, there are a number of different software packages that make the whole thing easy. So, step number one of how to get started with affiliate marketing may be to buy and download a website software program for beginners. If you are already a pro or you already have a website, then all that you need to do is find some programs and apply. Most people start out with Google Adsense.
Google Adsense allows you to earn a few pennies every time someone clicks on an ad that they see on your page. They place targeted ads on your website, using their meta-crawlers to determine what your site is all about. They provide a lot of help and advice in getting started with their program. You can also earn by referring people to sign up for their program.
The next step would be to find more programs using Clickbank or Paydotcom. What you should look for are companies that you would be interested in writing about and/or promoting.
Healthcare, for example, is a popular topic. People often surf the web looking for information about dietary supplements and herbs. There’s big money in weight loss programs, too. Whatever you do, you want to find programs that are closely related to what your website is all about. Otherwise, you won’t get very many people to click-thru, which is the only way that you’ll earn.
Once you pick your niche, look for a program that offers substantial commissions, quality products that will sell, and an attentive, helpful affiliate manager. If you can find a program that pays residual income, that would be ideal. So rather than a one time payment, you would get paid month after month, year after year for as long as the customer orders products from that particular company.
Those are just the very basics of how to get started with affiliate marketing. Start small, find one good program, and then add additional programs as you get more comfortable with how it all works.
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