How Super Affiliates Make the Big Bucks Affiliate marketing has been around for a long time. Even before the Internet, some businesses would pay referral or finder's fees to people who referred new customers. But the Internet has expanded the concept through affiliate marketing and has made it possible for anyone to make money online. Unfortunately, affiliate marketing is not well understood, which is not surprising considering how it is marketed. Some deceptive marketers sell affiliate training, but call it "typing", "data entry" or "rebate processing" jobs, which is not what affiliate marketing is about. Many super affiliate gurus sell quality informational programs, but they sometimes give the impression that affiliate marketing is a set-it and forget-it job. They fail to mention that they can set-it and forget-it because they hire people and use expensive systems to manage their affiliate business. You can do that too, but until you are making enough money to hire people, all the work needs to be done by you. With that said, there is much to learn from the super affiliates. If you want to make a living from affiliate marketing, you should implement the same strategies used by super affiliates. Super affiliates... 1. Verify their idea is profitable. They do this by researching the keywords related to their topic using Google's Keyword Tool or Wordtracker to find out how many people search the words each month. They also check out the number of websites that are ranked for the keyword and what the sites do to make money. 2. Choose a niche topic of interest to people who need to buy something to fix their problem. A niche is a narrowly defined group within a larger group. Despite being a smaller group, niches tend to make more money than general topics. But not only should the group be targeted, it should be a group that has a problem that an affiliate product can solve. For example, teenagers with acne is a niche topic targeting a group highly motivated to spend money to fix the problem. 3. Focus on building a list. There are many ways to promote affiliate programs including squeeze pages and blogs, but the super affiliate views these methods as ways to develop an email list. The super affiliate asks visitors to his squeeze page or blog to join his email list in exchange for something free such as a report. Having a list not only allows the super affiliate to promote his affiliate product if the visitor doesn't buy the first time he visits the site, it also allows him to promote other related products. In fact, super affiliates make most their money from their lists. 4. Market, market and market some more. Affiliate marketing, like any other business venture, requires marketing. People can't buy affiliate products or services from you if they don't know about you. Super affiliates use a variety marketing techniques to get people their websites including search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, article marketing, videos, and joint ventures with other affiliate marketers that have a list. Many people looking to work at home gauge a program by how much can be made. Affiliate marketing like many other work-at-home options can make a great deal of money; however, like other work-at-home options, most people don't make anything at all. Success in affiliate marketing depends on you. It requires that you do the research and implement proven strategies established by super affiliates. About the Author: Leslie Truex is the author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible (Adams Media). She has been telecommuting and running home businesses for over 15 years and helping others to work at home since 1998. She conducts Work-At-Home Success University that includes courses in affiliate marketing. Get work-at-home jobs, money-making tips and other resources for free at http://www.WorkAtHomeSuccess.com
