Internet Marketing - Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

Affiliate marketing is promoting someone else's product or service and receiving a commission when a sale is made. It is using one website to drive traffic to another. It can be a great place to start for beginners since you do not need your own product to sell. Another advantage is that you don't need a great deal of money to get started. Although affiliate marketing is well suited for beginners, it is certainly not for beginners only.

Types of Programs

In House Affiliate Programs - Individual companies.
Affiliate Program Networks - Companies that manage affiliate programs for other companies.

Types of Payments

Standard - You only earn commissions on the products you sell.
2- Tier - You earn commissions on products you sell, as well as products other people sell.

Types of Products

Physical Products - Actual products that the customer buys.
Information Products - E-books, digital audio or video, or software.
CPA Offers - Cost Per Action is where you earn commission for each specified action such as a form submission, an entered email, or signing up for a free trial.

Getting signed up

There are hundreds of different product and service manufacturers looking for affiliates to market their products and services for them. Most affiliate programs are free to join. When you sign up, you will get a unique ID or code to use in your links so you get credit for a sale. Be sure to check out the payment schedule. Some pay monthly, per quarter, or only once you have reached a pre-set limit. They may offer to deposit your commission in your bank account, mail you a check, or only pay through a PayPal account.

Some affiliate networks include:

ClickBank.com
CommissionJunction.com
PayDotCom
Amazon.com

Product promotion

Choose a niche, a domain name, a hosting service, and then affiliate products to promote only to customers who are interested in them. Affiliate marketing can be done without a website, but is not recommended. 

Some other choices are:

Niche sites and blogs
Email and newsletters
Article marketing and eBooks
Social media
Online banner ads
Pay per click
Videos

You may choose to use all of these methods to promote your products. Affiliate marketing can be very rewarding and is a good way to start your internet marketing business. The amount of income you make will depend on how much time and work you are willing to invest.