Looking to make an income online? Got a computer / laptop and an Internet connection? Then Affiliate Marketing could be the simplest and quickest path to fulfilling your dream.

Here, you'll discover the 6 simple steps that will take you from complete beginner to Affiliate Marketer in as little as 48 hours.

WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING?

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing system where a product vendor pays an "affiliate" a commission when someone buys their product. That "someone" having been referred to the sponsor by the "affiliate."

And it all happens online: You have a web presence, usually a website, that you attract like-minded visitors to, where you "warm them up" to the idea that the product you're promoting (as an affiliate) is the perfect Answer to their pressing problem or need.

That "product" could be physical (books, CDs, DVDs, clothing, jewelry, natural medicines, etc.) or digital (e-books, e-reports, software, online courses / trainings, etc.).

When your visitor clicks on your affiliate link (on your site) they are redirected to the vendor's site, where the vendor will close the sale; A lot easier after you've warmed them up! When your site visitor buys the vendor's product you get paid a commission.

For example, if the product cost $ 100 and you get, say, 50% commission, you'll get paid $ 50! And all for, basically, introducing someone with a pressing problem or need to someone who can fix that problem.

Affiliate marketing is ideal for beginners starting out online as it has a very low barrier to entry: it's a very simple process that does not need any particular technical skills, and it does not have to have your own product, and it doesnt Cost the earth to get started. In fact, you can get going for less than $ 20!

And, you do not have to do selling, or fulfillment, or keep stock, or deal with payment systems, and you do not have to deal with customers; The vendor does that.

All YOU need is an Internet connection and a computer / laptop and you're good to go.

AFFILIATE NETWORKS

Because affiliate marketing is so profitable for both affiliate and vendor, over the years many "affiliate networks" have sprung up to help both affiliates and vendors manage their affairs much more efficiently and easily.

Vendors can attract affiliates by advertising their products on these networks and affiliates can easily find products to promote. Once an affiliate decides to promote a certain product the network assigns an affiliate link / ID so that sales of that product can be linked back to the affiliate.

The affiliate network also takes on responsibility for managing the flow of money between vendor and affiliates either by electronic transfer or check. It also charges a small fee to both vendor and associate for the service.

There are many affiliate networks to choose from, but a beginner to affiliate marketing can easily get started with "ClickBank" and / or "Amazon."

GETTING STARTED WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING

1. Choose Your Niche and Product

The first step is to decide which niche you wish to operate in. A "niche" is a group of people with very similar interests, eg gout sufferers, broken relationships, looking for car insurance, how to make money online, etc. But, of course, it also has to prove "buyers" in it in order to make money.

So how do you find a profitable niche with lots of profitable products you can promote?

A very quick way to do this is to search affiliate networks for niches that have several products that their stats tell you are selling well. If there are lots of products that are selling well, you now know that the niche is a profitable one, and, the buyers in that niche like those products.

In other words, there's no second guessing; You know for a fact that you can make money in that niche and you know for a fact which products are successful, unlike if you had to develop your own product!

Once you're happy with a product, you sign-up as an affiliate for it and are given a unique link that you place on your website. When a visitor clicks on that link they go to the vendor's sales page where, if they buy, you get paid the commission assigned to that product.

2. Get Your Domain Name

Before you setup your website you need to get a domain name based around your niche. For example, fastgoutcure.com, weightlossforseniors.com. Get the idea? This will become your website "address."

Two of the most popular domain registars are "GoDaddy" and "NameCheap."

3. Get Hosting

Next, you need to get hosting for your website. This is where all your website files will be stored and secured. When someone enters your domain name in their browser they will be directed to your website.

There are very many web hosting companies out there, but you can not go far wrong as a newbie by going with "HostGator."

4. Set-Up Your Website

You then need to set-up your website . This needs to be highly relevant to, and laser-focused on, your chosen niche and product. For example, having a website about "arthritis" and trying to promote a product that cures "gout" will however rank well in the search engines nor make sales.

Although gout and arthritis are linked medically, most people do not know that, so they'll be searching for "arthritis" solutions or "gout" solutions and Google will present webpages on their search results that reflect that. So always stay laser-focused!

You need a platform or specialist software to build your website. The most popular platform today by far is "WordPress" which is free. Most good hosting companies like HostGator allow you to select WordPress directly from within your hosting control panel in just a couple of clicks.

5. Add Great Content

There's a saying in marketing that "content is king!" I like to say that "GREAT content is king!" So the content on your website has to be highly relevant to, and laser-focused on, your niche, such that your site visitors get great value (and know they great value) from it.

For example, if your site is about "gout" you write content about what causes it, its symptoms, how it's diagnosed, how it's treated, any natural remedies, any specific diets, lifestyle changes, and so on. Give top tips, some recipes, the latest studies, news, etc. That is, keep adding "value."

6. Drive Traffic (Visitors)

Now, you can have the best website in the world, the best product (s) to promote that will definitely, absolutely, help your target audience; But, if nobody ever lands on your site, you might as well not have bothered!

So getting visitors (called "traffic" in Internet marketing) to your website is absolutely critical to your success and to helping all those people who are searching for a solution to their problem.

There's basically two ways to get traffic; "Pay for it" or "get it free".

Paid traffic is things like advertising on other niche websites, Google, Bing, Facebook, etc. You can also pay people who have large email lists in the same niche as you send out a promotional email of yours to their list.

But paying for traffic may not be the best option when starting out because you really need to know what you are doing because it's very easy to get "burnt" when you do not.

Free traffic comes from things like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which is the art of getting your website on page 1 of Google, Bing, and other search engines.

You can also get tons of free traffic from posting great content (with links back to your site) on Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. When people click on your link they end up on your website.

You can produce simple, short, YouTube videos that can drive traffic to your site via your site link in the video description.

One very popular way to drive free traffic to your site is to post comments on blogs and forums in the same or similar niche to you.

Another very simple way to get free traffic is by publishing short articles in Article Directories such as EzineArticles. The article you're reading right now is an example of this technique.

This also has the added benefit that other website owners in your niche are allowed to copy and publish your article on their sites, but they must leave your website link intact so that you can get free traffic from THEIR site too!

So, here's your affiliate marketing checklist:

1. Choose Your Niche and Product

2. Get Your Domain Name

3. Get Hosting

4. Set-Up Your Website

5. Add Great Content

6. Drive Traffic (Visitors)

If you're a beginner to affiliate marketing do not be overawed by all this; It really is very easy to get going. Anybody, and I mean anyone, who has an Internet connection and a computer or laptop can be up and running, ready to start taking decisions, in as little as 48 hours. And all without any previous experience.