Affiliate Projects for Beginners
– and Super Affiliates

Internet affiliate marketing (IM) is an exciting, lucrative but also competitive business. There are, however, many 'niches' and untapped markets to sell into – even for newcomers. Keep your eyes open for the latest and best ways to make regular commissions online by getting in early and ahead of the competition.

Become an affiliate for and be paid by reputable companies for selling their products and earning high commissions – all over the world.

How To Become a Successful IM Affiliate; if I Can, Why Not You?

Back in 2005, I managed to convince myself (being taken in by the hype of some slick marketers) that forex trading was a way to earn easy money from the internet. I started to make thousands of dollars, but only on paper with demo accounts.

Feeling superbly confident, but with no spare cash, I managed to talk a friend into lending me $500 to open a 'mini' account with a forex broker. I blew all $500 in less than a month, mainly because I didn't really have a clue what I was doing. In spite of learning a lot since then, I still only 'dabble' in forex and stock trading. Plenty of people make money from it but for me it's a bit complicated and I don't like the risk involved. 

More than that, I found an easier, better and more exciting way of earning much more than I was ever likely to by trying to win with trading. After about one year (and a fair amount of work, I must admit) I was making a good living as an online marketing affiliate, mainly from promoting forex and stock trading courses and services (see more below).

Although that was the start, I haven't limited myself to financial products. I soon discovered that there's a whole world of things to sell, all from the comfort of home almost anywhere in the world, and you don't have to create (or buy) any of them yourself! I've never looked back. Before the end of the first year I was making 5 figures (USD). Now it's approaching 6. For some people, $100,000 a year is not a fortune, but for millions of others it certainly would be; in fact many, especially in developing countries, do not believe it is possible to earn that sort of money.

The truth is, though, that it is and there are internet millionaires and quite likely a few billionaires. They don't all need to show off with pictures of mansions, yachts and Ferraris. Fortunes have been made by ordinary people – some very young – who have started out with little or no capital. They live in many countries besides the USA too. Where you live has little or no effect on what you do.

To me, at this stage of my life, "success" and "financial freedom" means having enough monthly income to cover all the bills and expenses of myself and my dependents in my chosen life style, and the ability to put extra money in the bank (or in investments like gold bullion) for the future. Affiliate marketing does this for me and more.

How does Affiliate Marketing work and how are you paid?

Affiliate sales are simple in concept, made using automated programs.

No products to buy, stock, receive payment, ship, support or return.

No personal contact necessary between affiliate and vendor (seller) or affiliate and purchaser (buyer) who is often unaware that a 'middle-man' is even involved.

Transactions (order, payment, delivery, even returns) are all handled by the publisher usually through an independent third party 'shopping cart' and affiliate program management system. This automatically allocates affiliate sales commissions at the stated rate and terms. You can monitor this process. Depending on the program, regular payments are made by check, ACH direct deposit or wire transfer to your bank or payment processor account such as PayPal, AlertPay and others.

Generally as an affiliate you don't necessarily need to know everything about what you're promoting. You certainly don't have to be an expert or guru. Once you start affiliate marketing you will see the same principles apply to all markets. Some are less competitive than others. Some appear to be saturated (but it's not true). The idea is to find a few 'niches', learn what you need to and start making money.

Where did I begin my affiliate education?

Admittedly, the easiest part of being an affiliate is the sign-up process. Actually making some money needs a bit more effort on your part! If it didn't, every internet marketing affiliate would be rich and many are not. Just like financial market traders! It usually takes time too, especially if you're a beginner. You may also aspire to becoming one of the online marketing elite – a Super Affiliate. It is not so far out of reach.

Most people simply do not know where to start or how to promote their new affiliate marketing business. Unlike forex trading though, while it may take a while to learn to make (or lose) money, but with high risk, with affiliate marketing you always have full control of your spending and there's no need to spend money you can't afford.

Nobody, in spite of promises or guarantees is going to have a successful business without spending something. And there is no way you will make thousands of dollars when you start. It's just not possible even with unlimited time at your disposal. You will in fact need a few dollars available ($50 or $100) and some spare time, but you can still keep your regular job while you are learning the basics.

In September 2009, I was recommending anyone who wanted to get into affiliate marketing and learn how to make passive online income, to invest invest in a the recently published complete course offered by the well-known and respected Ewen Chia. Although a citizen of Singapore, this young man's reputation has spread far and wide. His is a global business, as is all internet marketers'. There is simply no better value on the internet today than Ewen Chia's just released Secret Affiliate Weapon 2.0.

I was unable to resist getting this myself (I have bought other products from Ewen – his printed book is a great read and reference source for me as well – if not only for his great prices) as I saw that there was just so much good stuff for all levels of affiliate, from someone thinking about it or just starting out – and even the old hands who know what this business is capable of producing in terms of income – for life if you do it right as Ewen has and continues to do.

Is there another, faster way, you ask?
Not everyone has the time to spend on this conventional type of approach which does take quite a lot of application and hard work. I have since learned about a 'Fast Track' method that actually produces results a lot more quickly. Learn more or click the 'Sniper' ad further down this page on the right.

Banking your earnings, then getting them as cash – anywhere

Affiliate marketing is a truly global business and can be based anywhere there is an internet connection. Here's a typical example: I am British but I live in SE Asia, making a good income from affiliate sales all over the world. I just made $700 selling a $2,000 American training course to someone from Sweden now living in Spain. We don't know each other and have had no direct contact. The money was automatically paid into my US bank account. I can get the cash using my VISA card at any ATM. US citizens will probably have tax liabilities wherever they live, but many others do not. It depends on your nationality and country of residence.

There's nothing stopping you from moving somewhere else, though! All you need for business these days is access to a computer; it's not even necessary to own one yourself. A 'smart phone' may be all that you need. Mobile phone connections are often easier than finding a direct internet provider in many developing countries.

Good affiliate programs (there are many scams, by the way) pay either by PayPal, check, direct deposit or wire transfer to a bank account. You can use PayPal money to make online purchases but if you want your earnings as cash you will need a bank account somewhere, preferably with an ATM card. If your country allows PayPal accounts to be linked to a bank account, getting your cash is easier especially if you have an ATM cash or Visa/MasterCard which is usable internationally.

Unfortunately some potential affiliate marketers live in countries where this is not possible and international money transfer is difficult or not allowed. Certain countries allow PayPal accounts to be opened but they cannot be linked to a bank account from where the money can be withdrawn as cash.

One alternative many (including me) have found invaluable is a USA bank account for non residents. This has a Visa card which can be used in ATM cash machines all over the world. The account is free to open and there are no bank charges or other fees for the first year. After that there are ways of keeping it free indefinitely. Get more details on my US Non Resident Bank Account report. It's normally $8.95 but I will give it to you free on request if you join any affiliate program I recommend. Email me and let me know the ones you have joined from this or another of my pages.

Why am I happy to give you my report free, you may ask?

Because there's another aspect to affiliate marketing and that's 'second tier' commissions. Basically if someone joins an affiliate program through your link, any sales they make (for which they will get the full commission) a percentage will come your way too. So when you choose programs like these, you automatically add another 'stream' to your income - without actually doing anything! I wrote the banking report myself, so giving it to you as a 'thank you' for becoming my sub-affiliate really costs nothing and I may enjoy some extra commission from the programs I'm recommending if you're successful. Everyone wins, and the publishers are more than happy to increase their affiliate numbers!

Remember that all administration and commission payments are managed securely and automatically by the publishers and affiliate programs. You don't have to do (or pay) anything except monitor your performance statistics and earnings to see how much you are due to be paid. There's nothing sweeter than waking up each morning and checking to see what you made while you were asleep or partying the night before!

The best way to get started is to...   

Start writing (or speaking!) for your own website or blog

Most website owners, including budding affiliate marketers start creating web pages or blogs or submit articles about some topic they are knowledgeable about or interested in, sometimes passionately. Others choose a new topic that they research thoroughly and find there is a market for a related group of products which have affiliate programs.

TEXT PRODUCTION FOR A VARIETY OF PURPOSES

Even if you've never owned a domain name or built a website, it's really not difficult. When you've done it once, it's plain sailing.  If you're unsure whether to use your domain name for a conventional website or a blog format such as WordPress, then I would recommend the latter.

But whatever your intentions are to make money online, one way or another you will need to use text – and quite a lot of it.

WordPress (free to use and most web hosts have automatic installation) sites are easy to build and manage and your choice of appearance or 'theme' determines whether it looks more like a blog (posting and inviting comment) or a normal website.

There are so many ways to improve and attract customers to a WordPress blog, both free and/or cheap add-ons called plugins and widgets. Even more importantly, the 'theme' (the way your blog appears on the web) has a great effect on visitors to your site. If it's a plain 'WP default' theme, everyone knows you are new at this. Free and paid-for themes are easy to find, but why not personalise the look of your site to reflect its topic with a matching theme? You can do this for under $10 with a copy of WP Minisite Themes.

For adding content quickly, I thoroughly recommend the WP Robot which will actually create multiple pages of posts for you, and include your affiliate links too. A simple start would be joining Amazon as an associate They have millions of products you can sell. Commissions are relatively low compared to some of the other programs I describe, but it's a great way to start. Visit the Lunatic Studios site where they sell WP Robot. If WordPress site automation is your thing, you'll love it!

CHOOSE THE RIGHT TOPICS – popular, but not much direct competition

Before you actually do all this you need to prepare by finding a suitable 'niche' or topic for your web presence. On a piece of paper, make a list of topics you could write about from your own knowledge or experience; everyone has some pet topic or hobby. There are almost certainly products related to it that you will later find, promote, sell and earn commission from. If not search Google to see what's selling.

Using any text editor like Notepad, Wordpad or Word itself to create pages of simple, unformatted text which will eventually become part of a website or blog devoted to that topic. Each page should relate to and include keywords for a 'sub topic'. Don't worry about formatting or trying to make it look nice. That comes later. The important thing is 'content'. Content is and always will be king on the internet. However, there's are a couple of adjectives that need to be added and they are 'original' and 'unique'. This is important. To keep the search engines happy and index your pages, you need to provide unique content for your websites, blogs or articles that you write and submit (or copy from somewhere else!) to directories in order to get links back to your sites to generate traffic.

Article Writing is a topic on its own and will not be covered fully here, except to mention that if you do use this popular method of 'spreading the word', then there are several tools that will make your life easier and save hours and hours of valuable time. These include article writing and re-writing programs and article directory submitters. Re-writing is also called 'spinning' and it means producing several – even hundreds of – versions of basically the same article to avoid duplication and plagiarism (unauthorised copying of another person's work).

There are several of these programs I have bought and tried myself, but without doubt, The Best Spinner lives up to its name. It's quite amazing (just watch the video on the sales page) and for the $47 price, is a 'no-brainer' for anyone who produces text for any purpose whatsoever – especially for someone whose English grammar and vocabulary are lacking or English is their second language. Get Best Spinner and you'll never be lost for words!

To get you more interested in the benefits of writing, download a free guide called "Just Write It" for some further inspiration.

English is not the only language you can use? Even better; the market is wide open
If you have no personal topics and/or cannot write well enough in English (or your own language – remember there are 'foreign' language markets that are lucrative too), then you can choose any topic that might earn you money and harvest existing related articles from various and excellent free sources. You either modify these yourself or use an automatic editor. You can even translate them to a different language before posting them on your site. Take this one step further and produce multi-lingual sites.

'Spreading the word' to potential customers

Once you have armed yourself with 'ammunition' there are numerous ways to get your message around the whole planet, the best being your own website(s). The World Wide Web is not a misnomer; there are over 220 countries with internet access.

Registering domain names and getting web hosting for them then uploading your pages are simple procedures. You simply visit a such as HostMonster (one that I use) or HostGator (both have similar offerings, including your first domain name free, so have one in mind; HG is slightly cheaper. Fill in your personal details, pay by debit or credit card, possibly PayPal, and get easy instructions to access your account. Otherwise 'point' domain name(s) you have already registered elsewhere such as GoDaddy.com, Spry.com or NameCheap.com to the host's server and you're ready to upload pages. Tutorials and FAQs are available on the sites.

Traffic, traffic and more traffic

One way or another (and there are quite a few) you need visitors to your website or blog. This is known as internet traffic. You cannot sell anything if you don't have potential customers. While there are countless people ready to buy solutions to their problems, they need to know about you and what you are offering that's better or cheaper than someone else's product or service.

Your own sales marketing campaigns can be supplemented by sending emails to friends or other contacts who have a possible interest in whatever it is you want to promote. In my case it was initially financial market trading products. However, having your own blog or web site allows greater exposure to potential customers. Sites can be free if necessary, but there are better alternatives that cost only a few dollars and there are valid reasons for choosing them.

Look for independent product reviews, forum comment and users' opinions. Forums and user groups are sources of potential new business for you too. Preferably write your own reviews, or at least modify others' texts enough to make yours look original! Publish information on your website or through emails to your contact or subscriber lists. But never spam!  

HERE'S AN EASY WAY TO GET FREE TRAFFIC TO ANY WEBSITE

Build up a list of contacts or subscribers

One of the most important requirements for successful affiliate marketing is having a mailing list usually built from from visitors to your web pages. You can offer those who join your list free items such as reports or other incentives at low cost or even for free. This is the quickest way to build a list of prospective customers, who, if you treat them with respect will begin to trust and purchase from you. And they come back for more! Using a managed service like AWeber, you can monitor exactly how your subscribers respond to your marketing emails. You can try it out yourself for free.

Here is what you might want to have on your own web site, and if you subscribe to mine, you will receive useful tips and information from me, but only if you give me permission to add you to my list:

UNIQUE SHORTCUT TO LIST BUILDING

There are several conventional ways of building  a list of prospects and therefore potential buyers, but here's something truly unique I recently discovered. It is easy to implement and doesn't cost 'an arm and a leg' at just $47. Even if the title might not mean much to you now, take a look at Software Submitter Pro. Note that the program contains great instructional videos for the software; the downside for those with slow internet connections is that it is a 147MB download.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The two most common ways of website selling are either paying Google or someone for PPC advertising – or, cheaper, even free, by using the search engines to generate visits originating from keyword searches on Google, Yahoo, MSN and many others. That takes time unless you really know the ins and outs of SEO mastery.

Here's how to get good, no-cost high rankings from major search engines and the smaller ones too. I have been using Keyword Country for over two years now, and it has brought thousands of extra new visitors to my sites. Ones I didn't pay a cent for. They came simply from having high rankings on Google and other main search engines for carefully selected keywords. which I knew had high search numbers.

You can certainly use PPC programs like Google AdWords to drive traffic to your own site or direct to the publishers' sales pages. However, you need to know what you're doing because it can be expensive.

Build links to your websites or blogs

Having independent websites 'hyper-linking' to pages on your own is a well-known, important way to increase your number of page visitors (and ultimately customers). There are many methods of website traffic generation, such as posting text with a link to your page or site on blogs, social networking sites, article sites, review sites, ezines, placing classified ads in digital or printed newspapers and magazines, leaflets, flyers, even on notice boards at your local supermarket or shopping and community centres.

However, while these methods are effective they can also be tedious and time-consuming ways to get links back to the page where you are ultimately trying to sell products and generate commissions for yourself as an affiliate.

Site links can also be bought, but beware. Much of this is detectable and your site can be excluded by the search engines. As opposed to two- or three-way reciprocal links bought through link exchanges or 'farms', the best ones are one way back-links; these are far more likely to give the big search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing etc) the idea that your site has genuine content that is sought after by others, and they promote your pages as a recommended source of information on a particular topic or keyword, by placing them in the top ten listings of searches.

An easy way to do get these one-way links is with recently-introduced back-link generation software. Links from relevant sites can be placed automatically on every page of your website. This will work over a couple of months to slowly but surely (in a natural way that goes unnoticed by the SEO 'spies') significantly improve page ranking and search engine listings. You can try this service free for 2 weeks too, without paying anything upfront. We use this ourselves now and it does work.

Are you prepared for all the above?

As you have realised by now, there can be quite a lot of work involved – and it may take some months before you start to see some reward for your efforts. If, like most people these days, you want to see faster results, then check out a new program I discovered in November 2009. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg and could be more in line with what you are looking for. It's called the Google Sniper.

Otherwise as I mentioned above, take a look at ContentWebsiteBuilder. If nothing else it's an ideal way to see what you can do with a domain name, hosting and a few clicks. By the way if you buy the program you can create and view your website online even before you own a domain name or have hosting. It's like Flight Simulator for Websites!

HOT TOPIC #1: Forex and stock market trading products

Whether or not you are a stockmarket or forex trader yourself, you can offset trading losses with virtually no outlay. Just a little effort can make you hundreds (even thousands) of extra dollars within weeks – there's no upper limit. You may well decide, as I did, that your chances of making money are greater than if you trade!

If you want to promote forex or stock trading products, check out some of the recommended publishers with affiliate programs on our Forex Affiliate page. Get as much information and free resources offered by those publishers both to their potential customers and their affiliates. Learn how a Super Affiliate recently made over $50K from one of the programs I recommend there.

HOT TOPIC #2: Lotto/lottery syndicate player/affiliation

If you like to gamble, even if it's just buying lotto tickets, there's something just for you, and it's really easy to promote, even to friends and family. Most people know that the chances of winning a large prize are increased significantly by joining a syndicate where several people share the winnings from many tickets. Apparently 25% (1 in 4) of large lottery prizes and jackpots are won by syndicates.

Join this fully automated system (optionally as a player AND) as an affiliate and your chances of earning money are increased even more. Use your earnings to buy more tickets or take them as cash.  The e-lottery syndicate scheme is a Member of and operates under the auspices of the Lottery Council of Great Britain in conjunction with the UK National Lottery, EuroMillions which is played in nine countries: UK, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Irish Republic, Portugal and Switzerland; and also the Spanish Lottery. All above board; no scam!

If you only want to join a lottery syndicate and wait for a prize, sign up here, but you can also make extra money by promoting Lotto to others. Click below:

HOT TOPIC #3: Dating site promotion

While this may not appeal to all potential internet marketers, people all over the world are wanting to meet new friends and potential partners online. We're not talking sleazy sex here. People of all ages, nationalities, ethnic groups or religions, young, old, retired, fat, slim – you name it. They join sites and you get paid. They buy related products, you get paid.

One of the best-known affiliate programs in the 'dating game' is FriendFinder.com which has dozens of different sites for all types of people, all over the world. With the right techniques you can make a lot of money for doing very little work.

How to become a Forex and Stock Trading Affiliate

and

The Difference between Affiliate and Super Affiliate
 

FTC Disclosure: I am happy to tell you that I use affiliate links on this site and if you follow my recommendations, I will be compensated by the vendor. You will pay the same price if you buy direct. However, your support will be appreciated and let me know I have done my job encouraging you to earn money from affiliate marketing too!

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