How to earn money with Affiliate Marketing ?

        Affiliate marketing is one way to make money online for those who want to derive an income from their web use. An affiliate marketer promotes specific products or websites in exchange for a cut of the profits from the web traffic she generates. Any time the recommendation/web traffic from an internet affiliate leads to a sale, the affiliate earns money.

Decide on a business model. There are two primary business models that prospective affiliate marketers choose between. The first is a resource site, and the second is a review site. Which model you choose will depend on your familiarity with the products or services you advertise.

• Resource sites typically embed a merchant partner's website in an affiliate link or banner advertisement within how-to articles and posts. This business model requires frequent updates and fresh content to ensure that customers return to the marketer's website on a regular basis.
• Review sites feature reviews of products/services that the marketer has tried and can attest for. Each product/service review includes a link or banner ad that will take customers to the merchant partner's website.

Create a website. In order to work as an affiliate marketer, you'll need your own platform on which to post links and advertise for your chosen products or services. If you already have a website or blog, you can use that platform to begin earning additional income as an affiliate marketer. If you do not yet have a website or blog, you will need to create one.

• The advantage of a blog, such as Blogger, is that it's free to operate, whereas some websites require a fee to operate. However, sites like and Hostgator offer website services that are relatively inexpensive to operate, and may look more professional than a personal blog.

Select a niche. Most affiliate marketers choose a niche, or area of specialization. Before you begin marketing products or services, you'll need to find an area you can easily work within to advertise.

• Your niche doesn't necessarily need to be an area you're already an expert in. You can also choose a specialized area which you're enthusiastic or interested in learning more about.

Choose products and services. Once you've chosen a niche in which to work, you're ready to start finding products and services to promote on your platform. The products/services you choose to promote, as well as how much work you'll have to put in, will vary depending on your chosen niche.

• A company like Commission Junction is ideal for marketers who want to promote more traditional products/services. Commission Junction is involved in a diverse range of potential advertising opportunities, which may be ideal for newcomers to the field who haven't narrowed down their niche yet.

Find and work with affiliates. Affiliates will help grow your business and help you tap into web traffic. There are many ways to meet and engage with affiliates, but the best way to access desirable affiliates is by building a reputation for yourself. You can do this by developing a popular blog or otherwise earning a large online following, or by becoming a published author of a book or article.

There are other ways of meeting affiliates, of course, and each method will vary in its success and required effort.

Thanks.

Priti