My friends, Anthony Jonas & Kayla Prather recently penned this article and agreed to let me post it on this site. So, without further ado:
As an affiliate marketer, your choices of products to promote are endless. Depending on your interests, you can team up with merchants or product developers in almost any field imaginable.
Interior decorators can affiliate with window and drapery companies, furniture manufacturers, carpet companies, and custom builders. Dog breeders can affiliate with groomers or trainers. And Internet marketers can affiliate with eBook authors, traffic resource owners, software resellers, or promotional products. The list of products to promote is limited only by one's imagination and creativity.
Here are the steps to creating your affiliate marketing business:
1. DECIDE WHAT NICHE YOU WANT TO PROMOTE
The first step in deciding what to promote would be to decide if there is a particular niche or interest about which you are passionate. It always runs true that it is much easier to promote something
you love. Are you a dog lover, a quilter, a do-it-yourselfer, an Internet "junkie" or a parent who has found a fabulous product that you want every other parent to know about? Choose where you want
to go with your affiliate marketing business.
2. DECIDE HOW YOU WILL PROMOTE
Next, decide how you want to promote your business. Are you going to build your own website? Are you going to use a template site? Will you be promoting offline and online or promoting one or the other way exclusively? What different types of products can you add to your line? As a dog breeder, you could connect with groomers, pet food manufacturers, trainers, pet toy manufacturers, poop scoopers, veterinarians, boarding kennels or pet sitters. As you can see, the list can be quite extensive.
3. DETERMINE HOW YOU WILL BE COMPENSATED (DEPENDING ON YOUR NICHE)
Many of the people and companies that you connect with will have a specific compensation plan in place. In fact, this is the norm. You should be prepared to suggest a compensation plan to any vendors who do not have one in place, or an alternate plan for those vendors to whom you can really provide quality traffic or that you have some special talent or skill.
4. SETUP YOUR WORKSPACE
Remember also, that a home office can consist of whatever space you can carve out of your current living space. If you have a spare room to set up in, that's ideal. You can decorate it with the excess furniture you have at hand, or pick up some type of second-hand office furniture. It's not necessary to purchase a lot of expensive items. Make do with what you have or what you can acquire inexpensively. If you don't have a spare room, a dining room table to work on, a corner of your bedroom or whatever
space you can create will work just fine. After all, many exceedingly wealthy entrepreneurs started out in their garages.
5. PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE!
While it is pretty easy to set up an affiliate marketing business, understand that it also requires work in order to be profitable. Whether you are working online or offline, you will need to actively promote whatever product or company with whom you've chosen to affiliate. No work means no income.
Even though the old saying "it takes money to make money" is true, you will want to operate out of profit, not out of pocket. Therefore, be cautious of what you are spending in promotions until you are able to start earning an income.
6. REAP YOUR REWARDS!!!
All work and no play makes for a 'JOB' without the benefits, so be sure that you enjoy your newly generated income. Take time to smell the roses, spend time with your loved ones. Use that extra income to relieve your financial stress, take a vacation or buy someone a gift and most importantly, don't forget to get something special for yourself.
With these steps in mind, you can easily create a profitable business from the comfort of your home. Whether you work your home business full-time or part-time to start, you will have an affiliate marketing business you can look at with pride.
Sincerely,
Anthony Jonas & Kayla Prather
Kayla Prather | 1531 Country Club Rd | Lake Charles, Louisiana 70605
