When anyone starts off with internet marketing, it’s always difficult to think of what to sell or offer to visitors. You either don’t have the initial capital to manufacture the product, not enough knowledge or you simply don’t know what the heck to do. Even if you do have an idea, how would you handle the logistics, assuming its a hardcopy product. Ifs its software that people can download, do you know what people need? This is where affiliate marketing can be really handy. Sure you don’t get the full profits but many companies these days offer products where you receieve 50% of the commission (which really aint that bad).

Here’s a few pointers if you are planning on going down this avenue of online marketing:

1/ Research the trends - This sure is a must with any business let alone online affiliate marketing. From a search engine perspective, you can do keyword research through tools online such as wordtracker or overture keywords. This will reflect on what people are looking for online. Its a good idea to also do a bit of offline research. Watch a few ads on television, read marketing magazines, ask friends and family what they’re interested in, keep an eye out on modern day developments and possible needs. At the end of the day, however, what really counts is you alone. You need to be passionate and become an expert in the field you choose to market. Follow the trends.

2/ Use Affiliate Portals - I personally stick to one or two affiliate portals where many major companies join to promote their products. Checking and deleting 50 emails per day is already so time consuming. I don’t want to be checking 50 different affiliate sites to see how much money I’ve made (or not made). Some sites I visit regularly and trust are:
ClickBank
JoeBucks
Commision Junction
LinkShare
Performonics

3/ Hide Your Affiliate ID - People are getting real smart these days when they buy products. I know myself, when I look for SEO or PPC books, they usually come from a few gurus at Clickbank and there’s always an ID number within the link. Obviously, I replace that ID number with my own number to get the best deal (call me tight and greedy) and the commission into my own account. If you’re selling products and theres an obvious ID number visible to users, hide it with the following html code:

<a rel=”nofollow” href=”Your Affiliate ID URL here” onMouseOver=”window.status=’Enter the text you want to appear’; return true;” onMouseOut=”window.status=”; return true;”>Enter link text</a>

This will hide it immediately so that cheeky shoppers won’t know where to sign up for the affiliate program. You can use other techniques if you like. Just do a quick search in Google.