If you’ve spent any amount of time online pursuing opportunities to make money online, you know that affiliate marketing associate programs are very popular.

Affiliate online opportunity programs are very appealing to those looking to make money while they learn Internet marketing. Affiliate programs are free to join and easy to sign up for. This makes them especially attractive to moms looking to work at home and others looking to work at home part time.

In fact, it’s so easy to set up an affiliate Internet marketing web site, that you’ll find plenty of them online promoting everything from kitchen appliances to online dating.

There’s nothing wrong with this, except the illusion of making easy money with an affiliate marketing mlm network or any affiliate marketing opportunity is more myth than reality. Most affiliate web sites make very little money – if any.

Why is this?

I think it’s because it’s so easy to sign up for a bunch of affiliate programs and throw them on a web site, BEFORE you learn how to really build and promote a proper affiliate site that’s capable of producing an actual profit. So, unless there is a real effort to use target marketing and promotion, these sites usually flounder and fail to attract much attention.

The simple truth is that the Internet is the ultimate information super highway and most people won’t take the time to stop by your little shop of affiliate wonders to look at all your affiliate links.

Aw, don’t be so disappointed.

The truth is that no one wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves “I’m going to visit that little obscure site promoting xyz products today and buy a few of those interesting products they’re advertising.”

The reality is that most people could care less about your site and your dreams of making money online with your affiliate programs. No, Most folks are looking for specific “information” about a product or service and they won’t waste much time surfing around to find it.

So, the web sites that smartly use keywords to write appealing copy for their affiliate sites, that gives visitors the information they’re looking for, will have a much better chance of attracting visitors. Of course, this also depends on how nice your site is to look at, and whether it’s a virtual affiliate farm or a legitimate site that promotes a particular niche product.

The best affiliate programs are ones where the vendor (affiliate) also has an attractive, easy-to-navigate, give-the-customer-what-they-want, and easy to order type of web site. Also, these vendors are very helpful and supportive to their affiliates.

Another important truth is that you should resist the temptation to promote lots of affiliates on your web site. This is the dreaded “affiliate overkill” syndrome. You should especially stay away from affiliate programs that have absolutely nothing to do with the theme of your web site – these will not attract any interest from your visitors.

So, the bottom line truth about affiliate programs is that, although they are easy to set up, it’s really not very easy at all to make money with them. This is true even if you’ve done everything right. It takes a lot of patience, tweaking, and testing to nurture your affiliate site into an income generating profit machine.

But, don’t let this discourage you from jumping into the affiliate marketing waters and getting your feet wet. The more you do, the more you learn.

And that’s the truth.

Shared by Donna Monday – After much trial and error, I’ve managed to set up some nice affiliate sites. You can see two of them here:  http://www.1-love-rings.com, http://www.last-minute-hawaii-cruise.com

Do you go through affiliate programs like most people go through pairs of socks? Many Internet marketers do. In fact, 97% of all Internet marketers never make a single cent advertising opportunities on the Internet. They jump from one opportunity to the next and never see results. If you want to break free from this cycle of failure– if you want to earn a living off of your Internet ventures–continue reading. I will tell you exactly how you can earn money from any legitimate affiliate program.

In order to get the most information from what I am about to explain to you, you must accept that these methods are not intended to be “secrets.” These are scientifically-proven, best-practice methods that all top marketers use. If you want results, you will have to do and continue to do the following five things:

1. Know your product. Do not advertise for a product or affiliate program that you are not currently using. I cannot even count the amount of affiliate programs and product offers I have rejected immediately from people who know very little about what they are actually promoting. If you want to make money selling a product or service, you have to use it, understand it, and be able to convince your prospects that they should own it. If you yourself do not believe in it– because you have not even tried it–then you will have a hard time convincing anyone else it is worthwhile.

2. Know your field. You must continually become more knowledgeable about the market in which you are selling your product or service. For instance, I try to read at least 50 pages on Internet marketing each day to complement the marketing I do. This keeps me learning about my field. The best part about this is that you can do it without spending any money at all. The Internet is loaded with free content sites where you can find free ebooks and special reports on any subject. The Internet is also loaded with affiliate program promoters who are out-selling you. Use google to find these sites and then reverse engineer them–pick apart the source code, page setup, and content layout to find out how you can become more like your competition who is outselling you.

3. Focus your efforts and limit your innovation. As much as “limiting your innovation” may go against your business instincts, it is an absolute must with a limited marketing budget. Figure out what works for you scientifically by measuring your advertising results. When you find something that works, stick with it. If you are getting traffic from reciprocal links, continue to build them. If you are getting constant sign-ups from your newsletter, improve your newsletter and order more leads. Do not stray far from your original plan. Preset the amount of innovative ideas you want to try out each night, but center your marketing efforts around getting better results from methods that have already worked for you.

4. Spend money wisely. The Internet is loaded with scams and bad information. It is really easy to be tricked into blowing money on “get rich quick” schemes and information that you can find in free resources. I personally have spent thousands of dollars needlessly. But do not get me wrong; I am not saying there are no legitimate affiliate promotion services or information products out there: I am saying that the vast majority of them do not work as well as they say they do. So hold onto your cash. When you find a product that multiple people have personally recommended to you, then consider buying it. Otherwise, conserve your cash for purchasing services or products that will produce hard, definite results, such as email leads for your newsletter or phone leads you can contact personally to promote your program.

5. Remember that your success is dependent on your choices and your work alone. If you get upset about not becoming successful with a specific affiliate program, do not blame the program–blame yourself. Do a thorough analysis of what you could be doing better and how you could be making quantitative progress every single day. There are people who do not pay any money at all for promotional services and yet are still able to make a living just from using free tools on the Internet. If they can do it, there is no reason at all why you cannot. Joining a marketing group or forum in your field will help you realize this reality. Seeing and talking to people who are succeeding in your field will remind you that it is entirely possible to make money online without having a million dollars to begin with.

While there are some “secrets” to getting more sign-ups and site visitors, the bigger part of affiliate program marketing is following a sound business plan. If you keep the five concepts I have listed above central to your marketing campaign, you will not fail. But, if you continue to market sporadically–switching from product to product and method to method–you will never break out of that 97% who never make money.

Shared by Isaiah Hull – publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter that focuses on building successful internet businesses and promoting affiliate programs. Stop by http://www.workathomerightnow.net or send a blank email to mailto:workathomerightnow.com to receive a year’s subscription for free