Make Money As An Affiliate

Have you ever wanted somebody to just go ahead and tell you straight out how to make money online the easiest way possible? If you are looking for a simple way to start earning on the internet, then affiliate marketing is your best shot.

Thousands of people have been successful making money as an affiliate alone, without the need in tinkering with all the other ways of making money online.

In fact, if you've been browsing the web all day and learn nothing else but what I'm about to say a few sentences from now, you're better off than most people I know who only end up confused and still running in circles waiting for the next opportunity to happen to them.

Affiliate marketing is defined as an "internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts".

Let's make it simpler. When you step in the shoes of an affiliate, your role is mainly a satisfier of two needs: The customer's (looking for what they want) and the merchant's (looking for referrals or sales). You act as a middleman and tie those two together. In the process, you receive a commission, which varies depending on certain factors (e.g. what kind of product (or service) you are offering, how much it costs, how much is your percentage of the total cost, etc.), but basically you are rewarded for every successful transaction made.

The potential is unlimited as you can be an affiliate marketer not just for one but for many businesses! You can promote a lot of things, and the challenge is mainly finding the best channel to target your market and cause them to perform the specific action that the merchant wants done, and as much as possible on a consistent and daily basis.

Before I tell you how to start making money as an affiliate, it is best to properly introduce you to the industry's four key players, which you should always be familiar of:

1. Merchant - known otherwise as the Retailer or Brand.

2. Publisher -which informally is called the Affiliate.

3. Customer - do I have to elaborate who this guy is and his crucial role in the industry?

4. Affiliate Network -this acts as an intermediary between the merchant and the publisher. It's main purpose is two-fold. It allows publishers easy access to find and participate in affiliate programs suited for their needs and wants, and at the same time gives merchants the capability of reaching a larger audience by attracting affiliates to sell for their products or services. It also acts as a security for both parties when it comes to payments and commissions.

The last player mentioned is a key element when you are starting your affiliate marketing career. Finding the best network is not that complicated, but if you are not careful you can easilybe led into networks that will only waste your promotional time and efforts. This can lead into stressful stuff such as your hard-earned commissions not being paid out in time, or not at all.

Two of the most reputable affiliate networks that you can trust and count on is Clickbank and Commission Junction. They are cornerstones when it comes to the industry and have helped a lot of merchants, publishers and customers meettheir goals and fulfiltheir expectations. As an affiliate, you can find almost anything under the sun to sell included in these two networks.

Clickbank.com mainly focuses on digital products. These are things that you can instantly have immediate access from point of sale. Most of them come in the form of downloadable ebooks or guides(e.g. dating, dog grooming, specific diseases, energy saving devices). A huge percentage of people starting out their affiliate career often choose Clickbank.

Commission Junction (CJ.com) on the other hand mostly has physical products. You can market a wide variety of vitamins, appliances, clothes, jewelry, sports equipment, etc. The main difference between the two is CJ has more stringent qualifications before they approve you as an affiliate. And when you're inside the network, not all the products are easily available for you to sell. Most of them also require the specified merchant's approval. But once in, expect a lot of opportunity for you to "cash in".

The registration or signing process for both networks however, are fairly easy and best of all - free. You may be required though to provide your own website or blog at CJ, but aside from that, the networks have step-by-step guides which takes less than 15 minutes to be a member or submit membership.

After that, it's all a matter of going to the marketplace area, finding your first product/s to promote, getting your own personal links for them, and coming up with your own promotional strategy.