First things first, we thank Kristen Arnold for hosting our kick off post!

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Web based business owners have a big challenge on their hands. They have to get the word about their products and services out to their potential customers. Web advertising is expensive and there are no guarantees that it will be effective. By offering an Affiliate Program, sellers have found a way to let others do the advertising for them and only pay for actual results.

With a special tracking system attached to their shopping cart, they are able to pay a percentage based or flat fee commission to the affiliate partner that refers a customer sale or subscriber sign up. Because they are paying for results, not just exposure, they can afford to pay their affiliates handsomely for their successful efforts.

Simply put: You spread the word about someone else’s stuff, when someone you tell buys that stuff – you make money.

You Don’t Have To Be Big to Be an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate Marketing is an equal ground opportunity for small content publishers to pursue since success is tied to making highly relevant recommendations. If you know your readers well, you can introduce them to the products and services they want and need and enjoy the resulting commissions.

Of course, the larger your audience, the larger your potential paycheck – but be careful not to despise small beginnings. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Your first experience with Affiliate Marketing could be as simple as telling your readers about the products you like. For example let’s say you have purchased one of the Moms Talk Biz productsand were really thrilled with the content it contained. You want to recommend the resource to others so you sign up for the Mom’s Talk Affiliates program and write a review that includes your affiliate link.

Your readers check out your review, click on your link and some decide to make the purchase. Hurrah! You just earned a 50% affiliate commission on those sales.

There are affiliate programs for all kinds of products and services, so anytime you’re thinking about making a recommendations, it pays to check for a good complimentary program to sign up for.

Being successful as an affiliate marketer takes time and some trial and error. The good news is that there are lots of tools, tips and tricks of the trade that we can share with you and we plan to do plenty of that during the Affiliates Blog Tour so be sure to follow us on to the next stop.

Tishia Lee, Affiliate Manager for Mom’s Talk Affiliates and Kelly McCausey, owner of Mom’s Talk Network are touring the work at home web with great tips on affiliate marketing, check out the full tour schedule here.

Post from: Online Business Marketing For Home Based Businesses

The Affiliates Blog Tour Begins: What is Affiliate Marketing