If it ever was that easy it certainly isn't any more, there's a lot of competition & intense bidding for keywords. There are big corporations bidding on anything that moves & paying tens of thousands of dollars every month for number one listings.

Just in case you weren't getting message. Google changed rules. Now Google will only list one ad for each domain name in any given set of results. If you've ever searched for something obscure and found three or four ads telling you it can be found on eBay you will understand why they did this. The result of this change is that you almost certainly now need your own website to succeed.

But never fear, there are still opportunities for little guy to earn big.

You just need a plan to maximise revenue from everything that you do and from every visitor that passes through your online real estate.

Here are my top five tips steps for maximising income from affiliate programs.

#1 Sell to a niche. I know you've heard that message a thousand times before. There are hundreds of guides to niche marketing online and you might be forgiven for thinking it's just latest big hype. But fact is if you choose a small market you can focus your product more precisely on your target market. If you get this right more of your visitors will think that your recommendation was written just for them and for their situation. The result? More of your visitors will buy.

#2 Always collect contact details from your visitors, if they don't buy today many will buy tomorrow or day after. If you have a responsive mailing list, you have an asset that can earn you money on demand. All lists start small and small lists can earn big money.

The general confusion seems to lie in misunderstandings surrounding definition. Guaranteed Signups (GS) are prospects that sign up for your Affiliate program, they are usually intended for free signups. In other words, they are leads. Guaranteed Paid Signups (GPS)are prospects that sign up for your program and purchase an upgrade within alotted upgrade period. Guaranteed Paid Signups are also sometimes called guaranteed paid upgrades.

The differences should be clear from above paragraph, but as you can see; it can be confusing at first glance. Particularly so for Internet Affiliate newbies (eNewbies). This confusion or thin line differential is what makes it easy for misrepresentation that is rampant in this arena. That is, companies or sites that sell this service play word games in their Sales Ad copies to make sale.