A Newbies Lesson In Affiliate Marketing

I have been interested in affiliate marketing for some time now. The thrill that I see is that you can market online to produce sales for either your own product/service or that of someone else. While that may not excite some, the profit potential is unlimited and if it brings an end to the j.o.b. (working for someone else) then all the better. Heck, with today's gas prices, who wants to drive 40 miles to and from work?

To get started, if you don't have your own product or service, you must do your research. Do a simple Google search on affiliate products and find a product or service that you are passionate about. If you are not passionate about the product or service, how can you expect to sell it? Next, go to Amazon.com and ebay.com and look at the hot products. Don't stop there. Check out Lycos.com and Yahoo.com as well. Now that you've got an idea about what you would like to sell , take note if there is an audience for your product/service. After all, number one you want traffic and number two you want conversion or sales. Now you need to find a way to promote your product or service.

In my own research, I ended up at some review sites which tended to promote one affiliate program over another or used a sales letter to push you towards signing up with their affiliate (so they make money after you join). Some have snazzy video testimonials while most show copies of checks either earned by members or the owner. So, again I hopped on Google and looked for reviews on affiliate programs. After all, I want to learn how to best market a product while getting traffic and sales. A lesson learned is that there are scams on the internet. I found three different affiliate programs that looked reputable and received good reviews. In no particular order.

1. Day Job Killer
2. Affiliate Project X
3. Profit Lance

When all was said and done I chose Profit Lance.

This affiliate seemed to be the best of both worlds. People are making money and it teaches you how to market (Adwords, Adsense, blogging, ezine articles, forums, etc...) on the internet and it gives you products in which to promote. Between the Getting Started section and Essential Steps, you will soon come to understand how this marketing thing works and what has caused you to purchase products over the internet in the past. In addition, Profit Lance gives you projects to complete. Its like being told what to do every step of the way. Best of all, they encourage you to come up with your own product.

Hey, I'm new at this thing and this is Day 1. Profit Lance offers so many features, including videos, ebooks, and tutorials that it will take a while to learn the system. In other words, this is not a get rich quick scheme. My understading is that Mike (the owner) regularly updates the site to give you the latest and greatest marketing tools.

As for me, I am definitely a newbie to affiliate marketing. As for lessons learned, I recommend to fully research the product that you intend to sell and research ways to market your product. I'm happy that I will be able to learn and earn through Profit Lance. I've setup my clickbank account and I'll keep everyone updated as to my progress.

By: Pauly

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Paul Tomlinson is an entrepreneur, a newbie affiliate marketer, and owner of Fox Valley Property Solutions. Profit Lance: pauly99.netsalaries.com/hop