How do I get started as an affiliate?

It’s a question I asked on a weekly basis. How do I get started as an affiliate. Here are my three main suggestions for getting started as an affiliate;

• Think about your skills and knowledge. Don’t go with the latest affiliate ‘trend’. To be a successful affiliate you will need quality content related to the affiliate programs you choose. So think about the topics you know and will enjoy writing about and become a niche affiliate in those 2-3 topics. Once you develop your affiliate skills and knowledge consider branching out.

• Come up with something unique. Your affiliate platforms (i.e blogs, ezines, newsletters, websites) should stand apart from the rest.

• Create a website. I suggest using wordpress. HostGator is a great host that offers one click wordpress installation. GoDaddy is a great source for registering and managing all of your domains in one location. Affiliate Theme is a great simple Premium WordPress Theme developed for affiliate websites.

• Select Affiliate programs: Pick a few affiliate programs that fit your site and audience. Start with a few and write your content to suit the affiliate programs. Don’t simply put up banner ads and expect sales. It will take some time for your content to spidered and your SEO strategies to start working so be patient.

• Learn about SEO: You need to know hoe to get traffic to your website. SEO doesn’t happen over night. Quality organic (unpaid) traffic to your affiliate websites takes time to build.

• Affiliate Training: I am not big on affiliate training. More important then training is spending time creating valuable content and working on your SEO. However, if you are new to the idea of affiliate training I suggest looking at: Affiliit.

Also call on the affiliate managers of the programs you are promoting to offer you affiliate training and resources. This is their job as an affiliate manager.