by Alexander Bee

In the coming days and weeks I will publish a sequence of articles trying to cover all steps to a lucrative business of affiliate marketing. This is the first article and it is intended to explain the idea of affiliate marketing to people who are just starting to look for information on the subject. I will also show some ways to find a product to choose to promote.

This article is not meant for skilled marketers or for people who are familiar with affiliate marketing and with the process of identifying products to promote, as it will discuss only the very basics. Hopefully some of the future articles will cover advanced steps, which even veteran marketers will find beneficial.

Let me begin by answering the question “What is affiliate marketing anyway? I like to compare Affiliate Marketing to the California Gold Rush. The treasures are there and they only need to be discovered. However, to get to the point: if you are an affiliate marketer of a certain product, the merchant or the product publisher will pay you a commission each and every time he or she makes a sale as a result of traffic you have sent to their sale page.

The “product” may be physical – from a bar of soap to a private plane; it may be digital – anything one can instantly download from the Internet: ebooks, software, video courses etc.; and it may be a subscription or a registration to a newsletter or a list. Tens of thousands of companies pay their affiliates a commission for a sale, a registration or a lead.

As I said, the treasures are there, all over the world of affiliate marketing. The question is how one discovers it. It is a fact that many newbies in this field find that their first step – choosing the right product – is the hardest step on the road to successful affiliate marketing.

I will show you a few ways to find it:

1. Think of a product that you have purchased online and were very happy with. Try to become an affiliate. Visit the product’s web site or sales page and click on the link to the “affiliate program.” You can read there all the details you would want to know.

2. Think about your hobbies. Subjects you are really interested in, such as sewing, poker playing, gardening, anything. You may know a lot about your hobby and perhaps you are a member of some forums. This will come very handy when you are ready to promote the product you choose. For instance, if your hobby is poker. You play with friends on weekends; you watch the TV poker shows. Search for a poker learning software or course that you can easily promote.

3. Do a little research on the Internet. Think of products that do very well in the United States but are unknown to Europeans, become an affiliate and promote the product using Google Adwords campaigns in Europe. You can do the same with a product that you’ve discovered in Europe, or any foreign country, and promote it in North America.

4. Talk to your children and/or other teenagers and try to find out what their newest fads are. Teenagers are great customers.

5. Read popular magazines and see what new fashions and products they report about.

6. And let’s not forget the obvious: register to become an affiliate at Commision Junction, ClickBank and other Providers of affiliate programs. Search their marketplace to find their best selling products.

In Article 2 I will describe the second step on the way to rewarding affiliate marketing.

About the Author:
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