10 Steps Necessary for Affiliate Success

10 Steps Necessary for Affiliate Success

1. Set Goals. -- This is important and really needs to be done first. I wasted weeks because I didn't do this FIRST. It's hard to if you've reached your destination, if you don't know where you're going. Keep a notebook...'get it in writing'. You're going to get 'information overload', even if you pay for a top program...the information comes pretty fast and furious...and you might get lost if you don't write it down.

2. Start out with 'small expectations'. If you go too 'great' you might get discouraged and give up on your goals. So, if you set a goal..to earn $200 or $300 a month, with your affiliate marketing, Adsense, etc...you've given yourself a workable place to start. You can increase your expectations as you learn and refine your knowledge and experience in affiliate marketing.

3. Discover your niche(s). What are you 'good' at, interested in, passionate about...? What is the one thing that others seek advice from you on? If you just can't find something from doing a little self-examination, go visit Clickbank and search their marketplace. You don't have to join to see what different products they offer, maybe something will strike your fancy there.

4.Get familiar with Google AdWords and Wordtracker and refine your keywords.

5. Take your niche and build a website around it. You can start with a blog, then expand it to build a Squidoo lens, do a little article marketing and then set up a website. This is where the keywords come into play.

6. Join an affiliate program, or two, or more. You will get 'automatic approval' from some of the merchants in the programs but, other merchants (with the exception of Clickbank) may want to review your sites before they give their approval. Once you've been approved, start putting the links in your blog, lens and on your website.

7. Start getting yourself 'out there'. Participate in forums, join social networks, visit other blogs and leave comments. It's time to start 'mining for gold'..and quality links that lead back to your sites are as good as gold.

8. Set a schedule. So that you don't overwhelmed or distracted by 'too much information', set a schedule. How much time daily/ weekly are you going to devote to your affiliate marketing? Don't go 'overboard' or 'underboard'..be fair to yourself and be fair to your new 'venture'.

9. Once you have one or two niches going, the blog, the lens, the website are all set up..start all over again and build more niche sites. You increase your odds and you increase the possibility of making a decent income.

10. Keep learning. But, don't sign up for every 'get rich quick' program that comes along. Chances are better that you'll make a lot more money on the programs that don't make the 'get rich' promises. I'll be listing some of those programs here soon..so you can check them out and decide for yourselves.