Are there legitimate ways to make money online? The answer is simply yes. However there are many different avenues in which to pursue an online home based business. The way I recommend getting started is affiliate marketing.
So what exactly is affiliate marketing you may ask? Well the basic definition is performance based marketing in which a business rewards affiliates for each buying customer brought about by the affiliates own marketing efforts. The best way to describe it is to think of yourself as a Salesperson (affiliate) for a company (merchant). When you make a sale for that company they pay you a commission. The great part of affiliate marketing is that all your marketing is done online. You don’t have to meet with people or make phone calls, you are simply directly people on the internet to your merchant’s site, and when they buy something the merchant pays you.
Affiliate marketing works for the merchant and the affiliate. To the merchant, they gain free advertising to a large market, which increases their chances for more sales. The more affiliates they have, the more sales they can expect. By getting affiliates to market their products and services, they save time, effort, and money in looking for possible markets and customers. When a potential customer clicks on the link in the affiliate’s website and purchases the product, or recommends it to others potential customers, the merchant increases his chances of making more sales. Also, the affiliate marketer benefits from each customer who clicks on the link in their website and who actually purchases the product or service provided by the merchant. The affiliate gets a commission per sale, which can be a fixed percentage or fixed amount.
If you decide you want to become an affiliate marketer and are ready to start your own home based online business, I recommend the following three steps to get started. First, is to find a particular niche you are interested in or passionate about. By focusing on a specific area you know well will help you do your best with much less effort. It will also help you add a personal touch to your website, and give your visitors an impression that you are an expert in your field. In this way, you gain their trust and eventually encourage them to buy the products you are promoting.
Second, is to find good paying products or services related to your interest and create a website. The key here is, be wise enough to choose the right one.
Thirdly, now that you have decided on the product or service you want to promote, you now need to create a web site with a good domain name and get a reliable hosting provider to host your website.
Keep in mind, there is no quick and easy path towards success. Affiliate marketing may seem very easy due to numerous encouraging testimonies online, but it entails great deal of hard work and persistence. Having brought you back to reality now, I want to be clear “YES YOU CAN MAKE MONEY ONLINE.” However, it is hard, but not difficult. What I mean by this is, there is a basic formula and if you follow it you can create a successful online business. BUT, there is a lot to learn. I’m not kidding; it is like going to college all over again. Most people fail to make money online because once they see all they have to learn and do, they are simply not willing to put in the effort to work that hard to educate themselves. As long as you are willing to learn, then you can learn it. Also, you must realize this is a business and it will take your time to run a business, so if you are unwilling to dedicate your time to create and run a business, then an online business, or any business for that matter, is not for you. However, if you are willing to educate yourself and work hard, and want to be able to work from the comfort of your home then affiliate marketing may be for you. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it, just like everything else in life. Be creative, be smart, and patient and you can achieve your goals.
To your online success.
Rachel Keele
Internet Marketer