I've tried Google Adwords before, but didn't make much.

I'm hoping someone can give me some honest tips and advice on how to make some money being an affiliate. I know its possible, as I worked for an employer who paid out wicked amounts of money to affiliates. I just have no idea how to start, and exactly what to do.

I do have a blog that I would like to place some ads on, do you know what the best way is do to this?

PLEASE do not respond with any "opportunities" where I can make millions per day. I am not interested. I'm only interested in people who are affiliates and make some honest money at it.

I appreciate your help !!
Pamela
Freelance Virtual Assistant

Hi Pamela,

My journey as an affiliate has lead to to believe that helping others is the best way to profit as an affiliate. That and finding reputable affiliate companies to partner with.

I get most of my affiliate leads online because I took the time to learn about internet marketing and because I joined an affiliate program that trained me to be successful in the long run and though consistent effort, not through a "get right quick" mentality.

Internet marketing takes time, consistency, and the right methods to start generating affiliates in your chosen program.

Once you have them you have to be able to help, train, and encourage them until they are also making money and seeing results. This not only helps your affiliates to be profitable, but it helps you too.

Once you get the ball rolling you will become smarter and better and will be able to automate a lot of business tasks.

my 2 cents.

Wow... I didn't know it was such detailed work. All I hear are people posting affiliate links and making tons of money.... All of this is so confusing to me, I hear different info from everyone I speak to!

I appreciate your honest and information.... How does one get started with affiliate marketing? What does it involve?

Thanks,
Pamela

Hi Pamela,

I'd say the first step is deciding what type of affiliate you want to be. As in what are your interests? There are affiliate programs in tons of niche markets. Some more competitive than others but you always benefit from doing what you love. I like to make money, so I chose an affiliate program that would allow me to do that.

I'm a simple guy .

I belong to an affiliate program that promotes items that include includes popular vitamin supplements, cleaning products, magazines, books, , website domain name registration, high-quality pet care products, delectable coffees and teas, plus state-of-the-art wireless telephone services.

It's a great program for getting started in affiliate marketing as well. If you'd like to find out more about it you can send me a private message, and I can send you some detailed info.

Well I have a lot of interests.... I'm a Virtual assistant and have worked from home for a few years. This blog I have was made to help people find legit things to do from home, especially mothers, since the economy is so bad lately - I want to help people work from home and avoid scams.

Other interest/area of knowledge would be children, pets/pets health, herbal/natural health, etc. My problem is finding a niche that is highly searched people, most of my interests aren't "popular"!

Pamela.
I don't agree that your listed interests (children, pets/pet's health, herbal/natural health, etc.) are not popular. People are searching for these topics all the time. (You can find out the exact number of searches on a keyword by using the free google keyword tool.) However, you need to get exposure for your particular blog. . . You can do this in a number of ways. You've already gotten off to a good start by joining this forum -- you can use the signature of your posts here to link to your blog. Also, have you tried writing and submitting articles on your interests to an article directory such as EzineArticles.com? People, myself included, are always looking for good information. The way that the articles you write gives your blog exposure is that you can post a link to your blog in the Resource Box of each informational article you submit. Best of all, this whole process is free, requiring only some time and dedication to write good articles. I'm just getting started with this, but it looks promising. I hope that you find this information helpful.
Kazuo
science teacher
West Burke, Vermont

I've used Google Adwords since I started with my affiliate program and it has been quite successful. The key is to learn how to use Adwords to your advantage. There are some tricks to drive quality traffic to your web site. You might want to invest a small amount of money to get some training on how to use the product.

There are other ways to get free traffic to your site too and I would suggest doing those as well. But nothing beats PPC for getting the kind of traffic you need to make the kind of cash you want, even if you want to just make some extra cash every month.

Hope this helps.

Any REAL affiliate program takes detailed work. You simply reap what you sow.

The real keys to affiliate marketing is finding a niche, good keywords for that niche, and driving traffic. A good program will show you how to do these things. It will require invested time on your part, as well as time to let the marketing strategies work.

There is definately money to be made in affiliate marketing, but it will require WORK.

Chris