Before your actually create your own website, you can have a list. Simply use one of free autoresponder or list server companies that are available, such as:

- FreeAutoBot: http://freeautobot.com - Get Response: http://getresponse.com - Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com - Topica: http://topica.com

One of these will get you started until you start making some money and can afford to go "pro." Most free autoresponder options will have ads on top of each message you send out.

When you have your website finished, put a subscription box on every page. You never know where your site visitor will be coming from so you'll want to cover all bases.

3. Submit free and paid solo, top sponsor, and classified ads to newsletters that are in your affiliate product's niche. Most affiliate marketers are doing this already but are making two major mistakes:

1. They use "canned" ads that affiliate program company provides. Re-write ad in your own style. Make ad different and unique. For a few minutes of work you will get a much better response.

2. They don't mask affiliate link. I would say that 90% of ads that get submitted to my newsletter still have affiliate ID showing. I have preached this many times but it bears repeating. Mask Your Link! Even if you just use a service like http://tinyurl.com or http://snipurl.com, it will save you from having your affiliate ID ripped off by someone else. Besides, your link will look a lot more professional and will meet line length guidelines that most publishers require.

The best affiliate marketers have their own domain name and website. But these tips should help you get your start in affiliate marketing.

Commonly traffic to merchant sites is measured and affiliates can clearly see conversion rates. Meaning, they track percentage of people they are referring, and how much of it results in earned revenue. If affiliate finds a very low conversion, they will find a better way to monetize that traffic, quite possibly with a competing merchant product.

In order to be a successful affiliate, affiliate site needs to either have tons of traffic or target a specific audience, frequently one untapped by merchant. It has been my experience, closer affiliate site content resembles merchant products, higher likelihood of a good conversion rate.

Once you are committed to idea of affiliates, next step is to determine kind of tracking system you are going to use. Sales can be tracked by HTML code, which is placed in a shopping cart or on 'order confirmation'/'thank you' page, and cookies, which are created after customers click on a banner ad. Cookie killers have been a problem for affiliate industry. Software vendors have an advantage over other merchants in that new technologies allow software developers to better control compensation. Vendors can 'wrap' their software insuring that their affiliates are compensated for referrals, even if customer downloads a trial version prior to purchasing. Buy now buttons in software have affiliate ids imbedded in download. Combined tracking systems have more success than those that rely on a single tracking technology.

In order to develop a successful affiliate network, merchants must realize that affiliates spend ad dollars on site, and product promotion. If affiliate is not compensated fairly they will not remain in merchants network. The bottom line is that affiliate relationships are partnerships, when both sides feel situation is fair and equitable relationship will be a success.

About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.feedforall.com , http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com and http://www.small-business-software.net