The Internet is full of thousands of examples of people that have made more money than they ever could imagine, all through affiliate marketing. In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is promoting someone else’s business, product, services, etc., and is almost entirely a digital craft. Marketing is done through a variety of methods like placing targeted ads and building email lists. Websites want traffic and are willing to pay you substantial commissions for successfully attracted business.

If you have no marketing experience (or really, no experience at anything business-related), fret not! People are often surprised by how simple affiliate marketing is to pick up and get started. Since the work you do to market is all done online, affiliate marketing allows you to become your own boss, work when you want, and depending on how much initiative and resolve you have, earn upwards to a six-figure salary or more. That is full-time pay for what often feels like relatively easier work, and indeed, one can even automate the process of affiliate marketing and be making money whenever, wherever.

So where do you sign up? This article contains the first two steps you need to get started, including the basics, the tools, and guaranteed success tips.

     1. Understand your role as an affiliate marketer.

Remember that your primary goal as an affiliate marketer is to gain money by promoting another person’s product, service, and/or website. This can be done a variety of ways, such as pay per click, but the most common payment method is a sale commission.

Sales commissions can be exceptionally high, and depending on the price of the product you are promoting (and of course, how successful you are at promoting) that means big bucks for you. You earnings are guaranteed through the use of hoplinks--when a particular person clicks a special link provided to you by a company for a certain product, and ends up making a sale, then you get paid.

Online programs such as Clickbank University provide useful instruction with additional clarity on these aspects of affiliate marketing, as well as useful tips on developing a marketing strategy.

     2. Find an affiliate product to market.

You should find a product that you are personally interested in and will be motivated to promote. The product should also coordinate with whatever marketing strategy you are employing. For example, if you have a blog dedicated to golfing, then you should probably be promoting golf equipment.

A website isn’t necessary to promote someone else’s product, although it admittedly makes it easier. You can promote as many products for as many companies as you want, but some companies will not allow you to be an affiliate unless you have a successful website. Also, you may be only be able to target certain product niches, and promoting even one product can be an extensive process, especially the first time around.

In any case, try to have an idea of what products or services you might be promoting before creating your website or starting a campaign, because naturally, your website and campaigns should reflect an interest in whatever the potential customers are interested in.  

If you are unsure of how to find affiliate programs or take advantage of available product promotions, simply Google it. Search for an exact product (if you know one) or topics that are industry-specific, and follow it with affiliate marketing. The aforementioned ClickBank.com is an excellent affiliate aggregator, as well as Commission Junction (cj.com). Affiliate aggregators are programs wherein marketplaces advertise available affiliate marketing jobs available. Programs such as these make it especially easy to be an affiliate marketer, with ease of payment options.

Getting started with affiliate marketing may seem intimidating, but remember, every successful journey begins with the first step. Just keep making steps forward and eventually, you will be smash success. Good luck out there!