Its a well known fact that people who work in sales always have the potential to make a lot of money. Getting a job in sales, well that isn't always the best thing to do. For many people the negatives outweigh the positives, cold calls, the long hours, the quotas, and of course putting up with constant rejection.

What if there was a way to become a salesperson for hundreds of different companies with hundreds of products and services, with no quotas, no boss and only working a few hours everyday from your home computer.
This is what is like to have a home based business working with an online affiliate program

Background

An online affiliate program is an easy business to start. There are hundreds of traditional brick and mortar companies, as well as thousands of online companies who are looking for people to sell their product or service. In fact, there are some that have no outside advertising and only advertise through the efforts of their affiliates.

Almost every affiliate program is free to join and many of them accept nearly every applicant, regardless of whether you have a website or not. You don't need experience in marketing or sales, or educational background, all you need is knowledge of what you are selling and the desire to work.

Most programs even do half of the work for you by creating banners, content, and advertising tools that help sell their product, all you have to do is find the market, online and even sometimes offline.

Getting Started

Selecting the affiliate programs to work with may be the most difficult part. Most online based companies use affiliate marketing but choosing the right one for your business can be difficult. Assuming you already have a computer and you are online, the first thing you want to do is choose the best affiliate program based on your own knowledge and experiences.

If you are financially inclined then maybe programs involving money, credit, banking, and real estate are the best for you. If you are outgoing then maybe programs for concert tickets, nightlife, travel, dating, and relationships would be your strong suite.
You get the picture, your chances of succeeding come with choosing the right programs to promote. Notice I say programs, its better to not have all your eggs in one basket, promoting multiple affiliate programs is a great idea, and based on the goals you set for your business you should choose several that fit your strengths in marketing them.

Target Market

In affiliate programs the way you make money is to drive people to spend money with another business. There a couple of aspects that you need to know to increase how much money you make. One aspect is knowing who the market is of the product or service you promote and the second is knowing what method you will use to reach them.

Although you do not need a website to start your own affiliate business, it is recommended you have one. You then have the standard methods of advertising online such as pay per click programs, search engine marketing, banner advertising, and even writing articles and blogs about your products. How much you want to invest will determine what methods you use but I would suggest using up all of your free advertising channels before paying.

The Bottom Line

How much can you make with an affiliate marketing business? Its completely dependant on your work ethic, the time you spend learning your products and the target market, and the programs you choose to promote. There are affiliate marketers who make a few hundred extra dollars a month promoting one or two products, and there are some who promote dozens of products and make thousands a week. This is a very good business for people who work full time jobs to make some extra money but its also a very lucrative business because you basically have very little startup cost, overhead, or expenses.

You will maximize your profit by choosing products you are familiar with because its easier for you to know your target and how to reach them. Combine that with using free advertising techniques and you are talking about making some serious money.

Summary and Recommendations

The best way to make money with an online affiliate program is to select those which you have more knowledge and experience. Remember it's better to start with more familiar products because you know what compels you to buy them. They have affiliate programs for just about every type of product you can buy from traditional type stores, and many exclusive online products.

Familiarizing yourself with advertising online will help build your business and lower the costs you may incur. The time investment will most likely be higher initially but once you have a system for promoting you will spend less time. Online affiliate programs are not costly to start or to operate and can be highly profitable.