What's the absolutely simplest way to begin Affiliate Marketing?

Get a good trainning program or ebook or something and learn. Then apply what you have learned.
You need a plan, a system, and stay focus.
Study the different strategies and methods available and implement what better works for you.
Don't just try to do whatever somebody tell you, first learn (I insist) how the whole thing works.

I have setup another website today, here is the exact steps I have taken to get it up and running so hopefully it will help you understand where you can go next with your website.

Keyword research, hosting (already had), ordered a domain name, installed wordpress, found and installed a wordpress theme, installed my wordpress plugins (all in one seo and sitemaps for now), went over to warriors for hire forum and hired a writer for 1000 word product review and 10 articles.

Then tonight I have finished off creating my youtube channel, twitter account and facebook fan page (along with graphics) and some design pieces on the website along with a quick keyword rich article I knocked up myself.

As soon as the articles are ready the real work begins with video creation, article spinning and submission along with tons of social bookmarking.

There is no easy way to get involved with affiliate marketing and hard work is needed to get a website up and running. Outline above is the 'simplest' way of getting your feet wet in this biz IMO.

Although if you have little or no experience in affiliate marketing I would get a system and stick to it. What I have outlined is what most people will teach you in most courses but with alot more detail when it comes to choosing your niche and keywords etc.

You got some great information and advice in this thread.
Unfortunately, now days, it's not so simple anymore so you better stick to a blueprint that will show you what to do, step by step.

I will not repeat what others have said before me but add to it that it all starts (even before the plan) with the proper state of mind. I always love to quote: "In order to have more you need to be more" (emphasis on the "be").

Wishing you success,
Ely

A Big tnx to you all for the insight that you have given.

I thought you can have a great biz plan when the whole picture is quite clear. The alternative is, having a flexible plan of action, in the interim, since you do not really know where you are going. This plan then changes as the situation demands.
As concerning the question Alexa Smith asked about what plans for the website, the website was targeted at sending bulk sms, as a way of generating quick cash whilst learning the best strategy in the internet business. I was informed that it's better not to crowd your mini-website with different programs.
I am expecting another website that I outsourced to move into Affiliate Marketing in a few days. I guess I'll have to just adapt to whatever I receive and trust to learn a few other lessons i need, in my way to the top.

Hi Oloore,

Read this thread by I can write, should help you


http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...nvestment.html

This really is the easiest and simplest way to get started

Pete

First off, find a group of people that has a problem, need or desire. Build a list by YES creating a viral ebook or some kind of give away. If you don't want to write it yourself, then you get buy some PLR material and change it.

Within that starving market you have found, either create a product or become an affiliate. The product needs to fill the void of the need or desire. As you build your list, you can offer those that opt in your product.

It IS simple but takes a lot of work. As far as taking time, yes it takes time to build a business. Unless you get luck, you aren't going to become a millionaire overnight. That isn't the norm. The best thing to do is get educated in this business and then try implementing what you have learned.

Get an affiliate link to something and put it somewhere people might click it. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, your blog, wherever. Anywhere you can put a link.

Repeat, but not to excess. Don't use too many in the same general area, and don't use the same one every single time.

Everything else is subtlety.

Great advice in this thread already.

Alexa has the golden point, what is your plan?

Do you have in mind what it is you want your site to achieve for you?
Michael then gave you a simple walkthrough of how it can be achieved
quickly once you know what you want.

Outsourcing should not be taking ages unless you have specialist
requirements, scripting etc.

Just to confirm some of what has already been said, then to add a litte,
this is how I would approach this.

1) Understand your target market. This means you know what you are
getting into, you know your competition, you know at least the outline
keywords you want to go after in organic SEO

2) Get a domain name that is relevant. Do not keep piling totally different
projects into the same domain name.

3) Get unlimited hosting. This will allow you to add more niche sites later
as and when you want. For $14.95 per month investment, its a steal anyway.

4) Install a wordpress blog and have someone set it up to be best optimised
for you if you do not know how to do this yourself

5) Plugins that you need to consider. PLatinum SEO Pack, SexyBookmarks, WS-Spamfree,
Adsense plugin (if you want money from this source), Menubar4.4 if setting
your own menu on the blog, Exec-php if you want to run script code from blog.

6) Whilst the above is happening, you should have prepared around 10 starter
articles as a minimum (or had them written for around $75).

7) Open a Twitter account, facebook and if you have time squidoo lens and
hubpage account for this project.

8) Have 2 months worth of articles unique and ready to post to ezinearticles
each week to link back to varying posts on your blog.

9) Rework the articles already on your blog to go to squidoo, plus link relevant
posts, videos, and material to your squidoo lens, then back to your blog

10) Prepare and schedule at least 2 weeks worth of twitter posts at hootsuite.com (free)

11) Prepare your facebook pages with relevant material, posts to other sources
on the web, like video etc and keep it light.

12) Change your signature file on relevant forums and be active in your useful posting

13) Keep tabs on advertisers using spyfu.com for keywords and volume, regularity of
advertising.

14) Research more keywords that are relevant to your initial findings using Google
Keyword tool and wordtracker.

15) Begin a schedule of writing or outsourced topics related to those new keywords
but keeping consistency to your niche.

16) Set up Opt in on your blog to begin building list, update them when making new
posts.

17) Consider new options such as affiliate marketing, creating own report and products
to benefit from new traffic source you have created.

18) Explore other traffic sources such as video marketing, classifieds, banner ads, guest blogging etc.

19) Stick at it, do not get side tracked to "other money making opportunities"


Hope that helps give an overview.

Martin

OLOORE, the most important thing is your taking action and moving forward. Keep the momentum going and break away from the crowd . Goodluck to you.

There are many suggestions here..... All I can say is pick one and stick with it for a while and see what develops. Don't go jumping on all strategies as you will only finish step one out of ten. Goodluck...

hmmmmmmm..... a very sharp and detailed response..... Good call Tygrupe....

For affiliate marketing you need to look at your strengths and weakness and how long you are willing to wait to see results. If you have plenty of cash to burn the possibly the ppc/ppv route but I do not recommend it.

The easiest entry into affiliate marketing is usually through article marketing. Im going to tell you right now that if you want results you are going to need to dig deep down and pound that content out there. But before you do that you need to:

1. Find a proven step by step process of getting the results you seek. There are plenty of gems in the forums if you look around long enough.

2. Tell your self that you are going to stick with the proven plan of attack for at least 30 days.

3. Understand that your hard work will pay off if you stick with it.

When you are in the correct state of mind, you can then begin implementing your chosen plan of attack until those 30 days are up. With article marketing you are going to have to be consistent if you want results.

After 30 days or so you should have more than enough data to tweak your system if necessary. Affiliate marketing changes rather quickly so it is important to keep testing so that you aren't stuck in a rut.

It is important to understand that the best way may not be the simplest way. However, I can appreciate that if you are just getting started with affiliate marketing you do not want to be overwhelmed.

While long term I advocate building a list in a specific niche, creating a product funnel, learning multiple traffic generation strategies, etc. I would say the best way for a newbie to start out is to simple register with clickbank.com and begin writing articles.

Make sure that you conduct proper keyword research (Use the search function of the forum to find threads on the subject) and then write articles for keyword phrases that you can rank for.

Since you already have a website you can link your articles to that site, or if you decide to go a different direction you can always create a decent looking blog with blogger in 15 minutes.

This is pretty much what I did, and I consistently earned over $1,000 a month when I was starting out.

It seems like you are a very pro active person which is good, because i think that lack of action often hinders affiliate marketers-to-be.

Stick to one plan, there's a ton of marketing strategies you can employ stick to one. If blogging is your point of attack then stick to it and once you get good at it, move on to newer strategies.

I would also cover your bases and learn the basics. Picking up an affiliate marketing guide might not hurt just to get a handle on things. Don't expect it to be overnight though. There's several things you need to learn starting out keyword research, finding niches, monetizing your sites, copywriting, ad networks ect...

No one will give you an exact guide to accomplish success but there is more than enough information here and elsewhere to get the job done so dont worry about learning, as long as your motivated to learn and take action, you'll do fine