Affiliate Marketing Knowledge Bank!

Internet marketing is now a Billion dollar a year market. Within this market, Affiliate marketing is gaining momentum. If you think about it, what other job is this easy? You do not need a website just an email address and most are free. You do not have to store or purchase a product or service, in most cases. There is no overhead, you're a sole proprietorship.

All you have to do is sign up to be an Affiliate of a product or service, attain your special link that identifies you, have a Paypal account and then begin promoting that product or service online (in most cases). Tell me, what is easier than that?

When most internet marketers start out they are all over the map in terms of the tools available to them and the channels they are marketing in. Spurred on by "gurus" they may try using every marketing trick at once: Adwords, Adsense, blogs, forums, Click Bank, mass emailing's, ebooks, you name it. This leads to a lot of time and money spent and concerns about how to get it back.

What is it about Affiliate marketing that entices someone to start? Is it the money, the potential freedom or is it something else altogether? Affiliate marketing is nothing new to the Internet and has been around since it's inception by Amazon (did you know Amazon was the instigator of Affiliate marketing?).

Did Amazon know at that time what a future stage it was setting for the average Joe to start a profitable business online? Maybe, maybe not, who is to say? What transpired is something to definitely marvel at.

If you want to become an affiliate, you first need to choose either a product you want to sell, or an account management service. You will end up with both, but the choice of one will determine the choice for the other. If you choose the product first, the advertiser will direct you to the account management service that they already work with. If you choose the account management service first, they will provide you with a list of merchants that they do business with.

So how does the average Joe find more out about this limitless market? There are plenty of newsletter's individual's can sign up for to get the latest info on this market. One of these can be found at http://www.platinumaffiliatemarketing.com/Newsletter.htm .

It is one among a true plethora of newsletters about this subject. It is a good idea to be on a number of lists when first stating out to get a better idea of how things work and to get different perspectives. One thing is for sure; the market is on fire and has no end in site.

To see if your favorite product or company offers an affiliate program, go to their website and check the menu bar or the bottom of the screen. Look around for the word "affiliate". Click on that link, read about their program and requirements, and fill out their application. Some companies require specific types of websites to place their links on. They will email you all you need to know to get started.

If you don't know what specific product you would like to promote, or if you want to promote several, I recommend browsing the participating merchants on the account management service's website.

Now that you have your feet under you, however, it's time to go back and revisit other affiliate programs and marketing methods. Your desktop may already be littered with ideas you "meant" to implement. If you ever run short of new ideas don't be afraid to improve an old one: Re-read those ebooks you spent money on before you knew better.

Dust off your blog. Re-write your sales letter. Pick up a few new affiliate programs.

Very quickly you'll find that having a little experience puts everything into a new and more profitable context. Techniques that were total failures before will yield results when nourished by your hard earned marketing savvy.

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