01. Pick a niche
The first thing you must to do before you venture into affiliate marketing is to pick a niche. A niche is simply a topic or an area of interest which you like and are really knowledgeable about. Settling for a niche you like enables you to speak to a particular target audience instead of trying to talk to everybody thereby dissipating energy needlessly. Some examples of very popular niches are:
Food
Drinks
Business
Family
Entertainment
Automobiles
Finance
Health
Travels, etc
For full effects, each of these broad niches can be further broken down into sub-niches. If you are a beginner, you are best advised to settle for a narrower sub-niche instead of focusing on a broad niche where your knowledge and expertise may not be fully convincing. Another advantage of having a narrow niche is because it allows you to focus on a much targeted customer base. Instead of focusing on Health for example as a broad niche, you can decide to target dieting, weight loss, skin care, health supplements, etc, etc which are narrower but still on health matters all the same.
02. Build a website or a blog around that niche
After settling for a niche of your choice, the next thing you must do is to build a website or a blog around that niche. The website or blog now serves as your online promotional base for the business. If you want long-term success in the business, having a website or a blog gives you an indispensable advantage. With them, you derive the freedom to connect with your readers with a view to giving them helpful and fresh information on a regular basis. That way, you can build a subscriber base and follow-up with them until they trust you enough to follow your recommendations as they come from you. If you have your own website or blog, instead of sending visitors directly to an affiliate offer, you can direct those visitors to your own website or blog where you can convert them to loyal followers through your email list. A reliable email list allows you to promote many other affiliate offers through your email list thereby expanding your business exponentially.
03. Join Affiliate Programs
There are many credible and reliable affiliate programs online. Search and locate them, making sure you understand and agree with their rules of engagement before signing up. If you have your own website or blog, the next step is to sign up for affiliate programs and start making some money as you promote products out of your website or blog. Be sure you select only good, proven and effective products to promote. Doing so will enable you to hit commissions real quick. That is what most affiliate marketers really want, making real money from commissions.
