Although I have been trying my hand at affiliate marketing for nearly two years now, I still consider myself a beginner.  I do actually make money from a few different places now.  Maybe not the $500 – $1000 a day that many claim to make.  But I do make some decent money.  Enough to make a difference in my own household.

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced affiliate marketer, you know that a big part of your strategy for ranking your keywords is to create backlinks.  Lots of them.

In my own quest to do so, I contemplated trying one-way links several times.  Being a beginner who had been overloaded with people trying to sell me this and that….I was hesitant.  But, the price was right and I decided to give it a go.

I signed up and created my articles complete with my desired backlinks.  I then allotted my desired amount of links to each one.   Within days I noticed a jump in my search engine rankings.  Yes, it did work for me.  I noticed a jump of 2-4 places for each.  Now, my chosen allotment was 50-100 each (I wanted to help a few different keywords/sites)…so if you choose more, you may have even better results.  The jump in rank was good for me.  But I rank on page one generally anyway.  I am not afraid to put in the work on my own.

The only problem I encountered was that some topics were taboo (not a big deal) and that if I wanted to add additional blogs to the network (this is a way to earn more insertions/backlinks), then I would have to host with another hosting company for each one.  This does not work for me.  I found it annoying.   When I asked the help desk about getting around this, I was told it was the only way.

So, if you have a few keywords/sites that you want to help, it may be worth it for you.  If you host with more than one company…it is definitely worth it for you.  If you are on the fence and want some good backlinks…give it a try.

Anyway, you just have to see this.  It is so amazing.  This 16-year-old girl makes a ton of money with affiliate marketing.   She will show you the proof…Teenagers Make Money!

Anyway, I could go on and on about this girl, but you have to see this.  And if you have a teenager or a college student or even a pre-teen, this may be the incentive to get them started with making money online.  Anyone can do it.  Imagine giving your kids the gift of future financial freedom.  They can start affiliate marketing now with this girl’s system and be set through high school, college and the rest of their life.  What a great gift.   Check her out HERE.

When you first start out, there are so many products to promote that it is easy to become scattered.  You build up a little of this and a little of that.  But what you really need to do is to focus on one product and a couple of long-tailed keywords and promote like crazy.  Get this term to the top of page one of the search results.  It takes work and commitment, but you will notice great payouts.  Don’t move on until you have your terms at the top.  Focus, focus, focus..that is where the payoff lies. One product, one term at a time.

The great thing about beginning affiliate marketing while you have a job is that you will be financially able to take the time to build up a substantial income.  In fact, in a year or so you may be able to quit your job!  Imagine working from home instead of commuting to a job that you don’t truly love.

If you work an hour or more on your days off on an affiliate marketing career, you can build up something big and make some real money.  It just takes work and a lot of stick-to-itiveness…I know that is not a real word…but you get my point.

Start now.  Put in an hour every weekend.  Sign up for the Squidoo course if you don’t know where to start.  Put in 30 minutes at the end of the work day.  Whatever you choose, you can make money on your days off if you want to.  It is up to you!

You don’t have to go to an office.  You can spend just as much, or as little, time with online marketing as you please.  The more you put it, the more you get out.  You can make additional income or fun money when you decide to begin your online marketing career.  And you will do all of this on your schedule as you enjoy your retirement!

Don’t trust in online marketing? Do you feel that you would have to compromise your values?  Do you wonder if you would become a spammer?  Don’t worry.  This can be an honest job that you can be proud of.  There are reputable companies to work with such as Amazon and Clickbank.

Don’t know where to start?  Sign up for notification on the next Squidoo training course on this page.  We hate spam.  We would never be part of a scam.  And best of all, you can check it out at no cost to you!

Don’t let negative self-talk stop you from becoming successful online.  You can do this!  It is ABSOLUTELY possible to earn money from home.  If you have eight hours to work on this, use them.  If you have one hour a week, work on it for one hour a week.  Over time, you will have something that is working.  Who knows?  You may have enough going in a year or so that it really makes a big difference in your life and finances.

Don’t let fear of the unknown paralyze you.  Do some keyword or product research.  Build yourself some lenses one at a time.  Just get going.  You may be very pleasantly surprised with what you have accomplished in a small amount of time.

With affiliate marketing, you get out what you put in.  If you work hard for a year or so, you will reap the rewards for years to come.

It takes work.  It is not always glamorous.  It takes repeating the same steps over and over.  But it is all worth it.  I like not having to depend on anyone else other than myself.  I like knowing that if I put the time in, it will pay off for me.

So, the answer is “no”.  Affiliate marketing is not easy.  But it does reward hard work.

So, back to the business at hand.  What is affiliate marketing?  Affiliate marketing is an honest way of making money online that pays you well.   You can make as much money as you would like as long as you are willing to work hard.  There are no free rides.

When you agree to become an affiliate for a vendor, whether they are selling an e-book or a physical product, you get a percentage of each sale that you help to create.  When you send a potential customer to a vendor’s website and they purchase something, you get your commission.  You don’t need to make hard sales, you don’t need to contact anyone personally or on the telephone, you just gently persuade people to go check an item out.  You let them know how much better their life would be with a certain product.

How do you do this?  You write articles, send website visitors and more.  And, no, you don’t need to spend money at first to make money.  Sign up for the next beginner’s Squidoo course here on this page to get started.  We will contact you when the next class is going through.  We limit each class to 100 as we try to interact during the time the course is in progress.  What is affiliate marketing?  Find out with this course and start making money!

I started a little over a year ago.  I am not one of the people who got in on the ground floor.  I just learned as much as I could and found my own way.  I do a few different things to make money online and they work for me.

It is all about finding what interests you.  Find something that you can stick with for the long haul.  Find something that you can complete from start to finish.

Many of the people you find online are the guys who got in a long time ago and don’t really seem to be actually doing the things they are trying to teach you.  Yes, they know a lot and we can all learn something.  But some internet “gurus” are living off of their email lists at this point.  I prefer to learn from those who don’t flood my email trying to get me to buy things daily.  I want to learn from someone who is still actually “doing” what they are teaching or selling.

Now, I am sure that those with huge email lists and tons of followers make good money off of their email lists or they wouldn’t continue using them.  I just have a preference to learn from those who are still figuring out what works with the things I do.  I don’t live off of an email list.  Not to say that it is not a small part of the huge puzzle I am putting together to create MY personal online marketing life and income.

But I have went off from my original post.  Yes, there is plenty of room for you to make good money.  There is more than just one way to make money.  Learn all you can and find a few things you will put together to create your online income.  Or, find one you really love and really go at it.

What I am trying to get across is that you can make money.  Learn the different ways to make money, find something you love and GO FOR IT!

Over time, I plan to go over the things that I have found that have potential.  I hope to shorten the amount of time it takes you to start earning a real income.

So, don’t wonder why use Squidoo…wonder why someone wouldn’t!