Affiliate marketing refers to
promotion of products or services through affiliates. Affiliates are usually other webmasters and ezine editors who choose to act as sales people on behalf of their principals for a commission on every sale.
There are mainly two types of affiliate marketing programs: one-tier program and two-tier programs. In one-tier programs affiliate earns on a per referral basis and cannot recruit sub-affiliates to assist. In two tier programs not only affiliate earns from his/her direct referrals but also gets a percentage commission from referrals by co-affiliates who join program through him/her. It is also possible to have multi-tier affiliate programs but these are not yet prevalent. If you are an online entrepreneur or marketer and you have your own website then you can also promote your business and increase your sales through affiliate marketing. You will need an attractive and genuine product plus credible sales copy plus appropriate software to set up an affiliate marketing program. Set out program's terms and conditions,frequently asked questions and online registration form and post them on your site and let prospects read and be able to join if they are satisfied with your affiliate program.
Apart from providing details about your affiliate marketing program on your website you need to send out word out there that you have a lucrative and working program. Of course you could advertise in ezines or through ezine ad networks and high traffic websites. You will also need to register your program with affiliate program directories and networks such as www.associateprograms.com and www.comissionjunction.com so that prospects searching for new opportunities can find yours. You could also write reviews and articles and post them in free articles databases and request editors to publish them in your ezine.
If you have no products of your own and no website but want to earn money marketing affiliate programs you can set yourself up and succeed as an affiliate marketing. You would have to learn ropes of online marketing and invest time, money and efforts to earn legitimate income from promoting other people's products.
You can look for a product(s) in high demand, register as an affiliate and start promoting products using various marketing strategies. How do you know what is in high demand and what can be a successful product to market could be found mainly through considered research. It is generally accepted that information products such as ebooks, special reports, etc sell well on internet. To discover what particular infoproducts are suitable for you, conduct some research at online marketing forums such as www.warriorforum.com and www.ablake.com. You can read existing messages already posted there and ask questions to find out more. You can also search at affiliate program network sites such as www.commissionjunction, www.associateprograms.com, www.clicbank.com and www.google.com.
