Understanding Affiliate Marketing as a Newbie

Affiliate marketing is simply the business of selling a merchant’s product or service that you do not own and receiving a percentage of the sales value as commission.

A merchant is the owner of the product or service. You, who market and sell the product or service, on his behalf, is the affiliate. In other words, an affiliate is a commissioned marketer. That is, no sale no commission.

Sometimes, there is a third party to this merchant-affiliate relationship. And that is a third party affiliates processor. This is a company set up independently and solely to manage merchants products and services on their behalf. Thereafter, the third party affiliates processor opens up opportunities for affiliates to sign up for their program to enable affiliates sell merchants’ products and services for a commission.

The third party affiliates processors do this by charging set up fees and percentages of sales value fee on every sale made for the merchants. The merchants enjoy this arrangement because it is hassle free.

If you have been online for any length of time, you may be familiar with these third party affiliates processors. www.clickbank.net www.paydotcom.com www.cj.com

Some third party affiliates processors specialize in managing digital products only, others in physical goods and others a mix of digital and physical products. As an affiliate, it is free to join most of the affiliate programs which authorize you to sell merchants products and services. When you join any affiliate program, you are vetted with the information supplied by you and approved by giving you a unique ID as the case may be.

With your username and password, you can log in to the merchant’s or third party affiliates processor’s website, search for products that are of interest to you and promote. You can do this by simply studying various indices like:

how convincing is the merchant’s sales copy.
how tailor made is the merchant’s under consideration.
the affiliate commission receivable on each sale.
the residual or recurring nature of affiliate commission from every sale made or another affiliate(s) referred to the merchant.
the ease of commission payment. Is it by check, electronic payment like PayPal or what?
how supportive is the merchant to his or her affiliates by providing marketing and advertising tools and resources in order to facilitate affiliates sales.
etc

Strictly speaking, the crux of affiliate marketing

is how good you are in the science and art of marketing the merchant’s product or service. That determines the success or failure of your affiliate marketing venture.

There are time tested marketing methods that always work. What you do is simply picking up any or all of those methods, add your own unique twist or creativity to it and begin to use it to promote the product or service. To be frank with you, it is very difficult to market and make a sale online. Here is why.

Some affiliates who know their onions make bogus affiliate commissions daily while the “affiliate crabs” waste advertising dollars, their time and efforts without making a red cent. The difference is as a result of:

the timing of their marketing efforts. For instance, a very good product or service will not sell again if you market it to a target audience who have already bought that same product before.
Marketing a product to the wrong niche market will not make you a dime as an affiliate. If you have a weight loss e-book and you take it to a market of slim people you are sure to hit a brick wall.
Marketing a high ticket product to low income earners is a misnomer. You won’t make any sale, believe me! The willingness to buy may be there but the ability to buy will not. It is ability that makes you a sale. Simple and short - the low income earners cannot part with what they do not have.

From the foregoing, do you know the “secret of secrets” shortcut to making gobs of affiliate commission as an affiliate marketer day in day out? It is simply by doing thorough market research on your target market.

As a newbie, if you miss this first step you will stumble. This is neither prophecy nor soothsaying. It is a fact I know which I am sharing with you.

Again, there is nothing esoteric or divine about how to conduct successful market research on your target niche market.

Just follow the research guidelines discussed extensively in the

E-Book

and you are sure to exceed your remote expectations in record time. I am speaking from my own success and experience online.

Ewen Chia is one of the most successful internet marketers worldwide. His Newbie Cash MachineTM E-Book

will bullet proof your internet marketing success journey and give you a sense of belonging in dollars worth.

If you have been working online expecting to make serious money and nothing to show for it, then you will really appreciate what I am talking about. It can be devastating. And more devastating when you hear an 18-year old college student raking in $48,000 or more monthly when you are not even making $20 commission on a sale.

But you can start earning cool cash in affiliate commissions by simply laying your hands on Newbie Cash Machine E-Book now.

Remember, you will always succeed if you work hard and smart enough. There are lot of money to be made in affiliate or internet marketing.

About the Contributing Author:
Oseremen Aigbokhae is a Business Consultant, Freelance Writer & Marketer. Get his free report: "How to Make $1,000 or More Monthly Online" HERE. Check it out NOW before it is gone.