What type of markets am I talking about? Well, there are quite a few. Industries like travel, web hosting, and dating come to mind. One just has to look at typical commissions being offered to marketers to promote these types of products to realize that there is quite a large mark-up on these services, and therefore mounds of competition.

However, there is one industry that trumps them all: financial industry. Whether it is mortgages, loans, or investments, there is simply no other market that even comes close to amount of fierce competition and ultra-high commissions than financial products. The financial market that I'd like to discuss in this article is credit card market.

"In Short, It's Where The Money Is... Literally."

Credit card companies have been marketing their cards online since early days of affiliate marketing. Back then, they had affiliate programs that would pay out anywhere from $10 to $20 per completed credit card application. With increased competition, and more people putting their trust into web than ever before, this situation has drastically changed.

Now, online marketers can pull in a commission of around $30 to $40 for each referral and completed application. This is more than double commissions being made as recently as five years ago, and more accurately reflects high profit margins and lifetime value of customer to credit card company.

So what should you do to promote your affiliate programs? Here are five methods which have succeeded for millions and can succeed for you, if you choose to follow same steps as those millions before you!

#1 Create your own marketing affiliate program materials.

Many people use marketing materials provided by program they signed up for. Guess what? Thousands of people are using those same materials, those same ready-made websites and those same advertisements. People are easily bored and those ads get old really, really fast. Create something brand new and all your own!

* Create your own promotional website instead of using a stale, pre- packaged website. This is not very expensive and returns can be huge!

* Create your own brochures and pamphlets. Whether using email or mailing materials to prospects in old-fashioned way, be sure your material is fresh and new.

* Create compelling business cards. The business cards you hand out to contacts that you network with should also be fresh, new, and cause person reading card to feel compelled to contact you. A simple byline such as "Information on Becoming an Overnight Success" can be all it takes to make that person call you for more information.

* Write original articles and submit for publication to ezines for exposure of your fresh material.

#2 Generate Leads from an Opt-In Email List

Sure, you can buy names from email lists, but are those people even interested in type of product you have to offer? Probably not! Create an opt-in mailing list by allowing prospects who come to your website to choose to receive a free newsletter. This gives you opportunity to include information in newsletter about your products. Why is this best way?

* Allows contact with people who have at least some interest in product you are promoting on your website

* Generates mailing list for future products you may promote

* Saves tons of money compared to buying mailing lists!