5 Steps to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

Online Advertising offers an easy way to start generating a passive income starting today. There are many avenues to Online Advertising, but in this article will will be focusing on Pay Per Click (PPC) model. The PPC model is the most basic form of online advertising after Cost Per Mille (CPM), which is a benchmark to calculate the relative cost of an advertising campaign for 1000 views of an ad. This tutorial will show you how to set up a simple direct link system using an Affiliate Network and an Advertising Program.

1. Gather your Information

In order to start you need 3 things:

1. An Email Address

Don’t Have One? You can sign up for a free email address with Google, Yahoo, or MSN Hotmail

2. A Credit Card

Don’t Have One? Apply for one online! Visa, MasterCard, American Express

3. Time and Perseverance

Don’t Have it? Don’t let anyone fool you. Most quick money scams are just that, scams. You might get lucky and be making $10,000 a week after 2 months, but most people have to refine their skills. Having realistic expectations will help you to not get discouraged. Perseverance is the key!

2. Join an Affiliate Network

What’s an Affiliate Network? An Affiliate Network is a broker between you and companies trying to sell products and services. They will provide you with ads, reporting tools, and are the people who send you the cheques. Joining a network is free and they also provide a great deal of help. Below is a list of some of the Affiliate Networks: Advaliant, Affiliate Fuel, Azoogle, Blue Lithium, Copeac, CPA Empire, Jar Media, Motive Interactive and Market Leverage

3. Join an Advertising Program

What’s an Advertising Program? Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN all offer advertising programs. Perform a search on any of these sites and you will see a “sponsored link”. People pay search engines a fee every time someone clicks on one of these ads. Prices can range anywhere from 1 cent a click, to over $100 a click. You will have to deposit money with the Advertising Program in order to purchase ad space. Below is a list of some Advertising Programs: Google Adwords, Yahoo Overture and Microsoft AdCenter

4. Start a Campaign

Now that you’ve joined an Affiliate Network, you will have access to hundreds, possibly thousands of Products and Services that you can begin advertising. Search your Affiliate Network for the best product or service you can find, and create a commission referral link. This is the link that potential customers will click, and if they purchase the product or service, you will get a commission.

Now go to your Advertising Program and create a new campaign. It will ask you for your link, a title and description for your ad, and keywords. The keywords determine when your ad will show. For example, if your keywords were diet, or fat loss, then when someone performs a search for those words, your ad will show as a "sponsored link". How much you pay the search engine for your click determines what position you will receive relative to other ads. For example, if you are willing to pay 5 cents for a click, but someone else is willing to pay 6 cents, their ad will show above yours.

5. Sit back and wait for the cash to come rolling in

Not quite. Now that your ad is running, you should monitor it. Try optimizing your ad with a more enticing title and description or changing the keywords. Advertising is more of an art than a science, so you will have to refine your skill and keep a close eye on your different campaigns.

Thanks for reading this article and we hope that it has helped you on your way to a passive income through Online Advertising. Please leave any comments, questions or suggestions you might have below.