As much as others highlight the 'easy money' aspect to you, affiliate marketing in fact involves hard work and persistence.
Also, while there are many dabbling in affiliate marketing, only a few make the cut as "super affiliates", and actually earn dollops of cash from it.
But don't be deterred.
You too can make the millions, simply by following the steps of a successful and proven strategy, outlined below.
Step 1: Be Clear in Your Objectives What do you want to achieve with your Affiliate Marketing Program? Increased sales? Increased traffic? Wads of crisp hard notes? All of the above? Once you have your broad objective clear, you could fine tune your overall affiliate marketing strategy accordingly.
Step 2: Compensating Your Affiliates Also be clear on both the modes as well as the basis of compensation for your affiliates.
Will you pay them per click or per sale? Do evaluate the pros and cons of each.
Also consider the options of either paying a fixed percentage or a fixed amount.
Lastly, you could have a cap in terms of an overall payout threshold which you will give to your affiliates.
Step 3: Budget Your Program Do not go overboard with expenses related to your affiliate marketing program.
Have a certain budget in mind, and stick to that.
Remember, that your program could in fact be self-funding, and over a short time period generate profits for your website.
Step 4: Research Online Website Categories For your affiliate marketing program, you might want to look up suitable website categories.
These would be those which you feel would make ideal affiliates.
Also, consider the profile of visitors to these sites.
Follow the above mentioned steps sincerely, and reap the rewards of an enriching and profitable program.