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Starting out in Affiliate Marketing can be a daunting experience, especially if you have little or no knowledge on the subject and with the world economy in it’s present state, more people than ever are trying their hand at it in a bid to subsidize their current income or even try to make it their full time income. You very quickly come to realize that the Internet, whilst being a pot of gold for some, can also be a mine field for others.

• So how do you overcome the obstacles set before you?

Well, the first thing you need is an understanding of what “Affiliate Marketing” is.

• What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing simply put, is where someone like you or me, will try to sell products or services provided by others and for which you get paid a commission. Commissions in most cases, are only paid to you on completion of a sale or a paid subscription to a site or service. There is absolutely no requirement for you to carry any product stock nor will you need to pay shipping charges etc. If the products you are promoting have these associated costs, the costs are paid for by the supplier you refer your client to. This factor is one of the main attractions of affiliate marketing.

The next bit of food for thought comes when you are deciding on which products or services to market.

• Which products or services should I promote?

Deciding on which products to promote needs a certain amount of research if you are going to be successful. There are a number of factors to be considered when deciding and these will be affected by your overall strategy or game plan. If for example, you just want to make a commission on sales of fast moving products and you are simply happy to receive a commission on this basis, then Companies such as Amazon would maybe suit your requirements. If on the other hand, you want to make a serious business out of affiliate marketing then finding affiliate programs that offer a passive income for years to come is the way forward for you.

Maybe the most crucial part of your research to find products to promote, is finding a product or service that is in high demand. What do people want? What are they searching for on the Internet? Answer these questions and you are half way to being successful.

• What does “Passive Income” mean?

In affiliate marketing, a passive income is a recurring income / commission paid to you, when someone you have referred to a site pays an annual or monthly subscription. This can be a subscription to maybe a training school such as the “Niche Power Group“, license fee or paid membership site etc. Each time the client you referred pays his/her subscription, you get paid your commission. In many cases, this may be as low as a few $’s or £’s per month, but your commission is guaranteed as long as your client renews their subscription. As time goes by and you become more successful, these “passive” amounts soon add up to what can be a phenomenal income.

• How does “Affiliate Marketing” compare with “Multi Level Marketing (MLM)”

Some people get confused between MLM and Affiliate Marketing. The difference between the two is fairly straightforward.

In affiliate marketing, you promote the product or service of someone else and get paid a commission, be it a single payment or recurring (passive) income, there is usually no need to make contact with your client.

In Multi Level Marketing, you will also be paid a commission for introducing your client as in affiliate marketing and indeed a passive income as long as your client pays their monthly subscription. Here now though, is where it gets interesting, as your client refers others to (usually known as an opportunity) the program, you get paid a further commission. This commission is usually paid out on a matrix several levels deep. For a fuller explanation of this visit Global Domains International or GDI which is one of the longest standing and respected MLM opportunities.

The downside of MLM, is that having referred your client to the opportunity, in order to be truly successful, you need to keep in contact with your client offering encouragement and advice to them in order for them to recruit others and so build your down line and subsequently your commissions. This can be very time consuming. Having said that, you can format a tutorial for them on auto pilot with an auto responder such as Get Resonse which I use. This reduces your time spent, but you should always keep in contact with your down line to help with any problems or query’s they may have. If you are prepared to do that, you will be successful.

Now you have a better understanding of the differences between MLM and Affiliate Marketing and you have maybe decided which products or services you would like to promote, it is time to put you plan into action.

• But where do I start?

I can only advise you from my personal experiences and tell you that the Internet truly is a minefield where you can get not just your fingers burnt, but also your wallet too. I started out with the Plug-In-Profit site by Stone Evans. What is unique about the Plug-In-Profit site or PIPS as it is widely known, is that it is totally FREE to join the only cost being the hosting of your website and domain. PIPS gives you a free tailor made website which comes pre-loaded with various Affiliate programs as well as MLM programs. You also get a comprehensive tutorial on how to market your website and also how to make changes to your website to make it unique. There is a review on PIPS which you can read here.

• I want a Mentor

Okay, you’ve made your mind up! You want to start, but you would rather start by having a mentor guide you through each step of the way. I can relate to that and I am happy to pass on to you my personal recommendation of the Niche Power Group. This is a group of 5 mentors, each experienced in various aspects of affilliate and MLM marketing who each give you their personal attention in the areas of their expertise from researching a niche or opportunity, search engine optimization, getting visitors to your website and marketing methods in general. These mentors, collectively are second to none and if you follow their advice, you are sure to fast track your success.

I hope this article has been of some benefit to you and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post them here.

To your success.

Graham Maddison
Copyright © Graham Maddison-2009