Affiliate marketing has been a hot online business for many years and many have taken advantage. Affiliate marketing is a great way to start a home business and can begin with devoting a little spare time each day till things take off. One factor which separates the professional from the novice is the ability to get the sales and diversify between many different but related programs.

Affiliate sales are simply selling other companies products independently and collecting a commission for each sale. Commissions vary from product and industry but real money can be made. "Super Affiliates" have been known to make over $50,000 a month from a single affiliate program. These "super affiliates" understand a couple basic concepts that many seem to miss.

To start a home business in affiliate sales one needs the ability to sell to visitors and sell different items. Many affiliates make the mistake of just throwing up some affiliate banners on a worthless page and only one product from one merchant. This is a conversion killer and no affiliates make the big bucks in this manner. People use the net to gather information and entertainment on what they are searching for, in order to be a successful affiliate the your first job is to supply the demand. When someone uses the net to search for information on Caribbean cruises they are not looking to find a page which has a picture of a cruise ship and a big "Click Here To Buy A Cruise Trip," but somehow this is what so many affiliates do. Think about it, if you were looking to take a cruise vacation would you blindly click on some link you found online and book the trip?

Understanding the needs of visitors is very important to an affiliate's success. The good affiliate would instead have a web site or section of a web site devoted to Caribbean cruises. The pages of the section would be filled with information about Caribbean cruises such as best places to go, best cruise lines, tips for a first cruise and top places to go on a cruise. The affiliate would then make their recommendations on these concepts by slipping in a small link. The affiliate would also use only affiliate programs which related to the topics they are covering and that are highly regarded affiliate programs to be involved with. This means that research would have been done to assure that the products they are affiliated with are top notch and top companies in the industry. Failure to do this would mean the affiliate is making ill informed recommendations and unhappy customers will not return or even will spread negative instead of positive buzz for the business.

Another important aspect of affiliate sales are the need to diversify affiliate programs. This means that just joining one Caribbean cruise program is not enough. Maybe some customers are not ready to purchase the cruise vacation but would enjoy a travel guide or book on cruises. The affiliate recommends their favorite books and guides of the subject. Maybe a visitor already has booked a cruise and is looking for things to do in the areas such as scuba diving lessons, dining and entertainment in the places they will be visiting along the way. The affiliate recommends accommodations for the islands, scuba lesson businesses and top rated restaurants. The affiliate will now have the multiple revenue streams coming from related products and services on a tightly conceived topical theme.

This makes it easy to start a home business the right way from the beginning. With the pages of the site or sections being focused on topics which web surfers are looking for and then supplying the information they are in demand of means credibility is being established. Then as the credibility is gained the visitors are willing to purchase the recommended products and services from someone they now believe to be a reliable source. Picking the top affiliate programs will assure the customer needs have been met and they will return as well as recommend the site. By following this method and avoiding the pitfalls many other affiliate marketers fall into any one can start a home business which will work. Al enjoys writing articles with helpful advice on subjects and topics as a Start A Home Business Start Up for his web site dedicated towards how to start a home business fast. His site includes free content with a lesson plans to help everyone learn how to make an income from home using the Internet and web sites built around a profitable theme.