Making Money Online From Affiliate Marketing

The internet has opened up a whole new way for people to make money.

And while it's definitely not the get-rich-quick scheme that some claim it is, affiliate marketing is a viable option in making good money online.

Here's a definition of affiliate marketing, but in a nutshell, I've found affiliate marketing to work best like this:

1 - Find a hot new product that's on Amazon (my favorite affiliate marketing program) and set up a website around it -- like the set of 90 DVD movies from United Artists' collection featured on Oprah's 2007 "Favorite Things" Show.

2 - Link to it as much as you can to get it listed in Google -- or indexed, as they say.

3 - Practice search-engine optimization to get as many people searching for that product as possible to your website about that product. (I find that naming the URL with at least "Buy[HotNewProduct]Online.com" in the domain name helps you get those customers that are ready to buy.)

4 - Then, based on Amazon's performance scale, you get a cut of the money paid by customers -- it's your tip for bringing them those paying customers.

For example -- and I find it's worth it to set up a website around a hot new and expensive product to make it worth your while -- say you start pitching a sought-after product that costs $1,000.00 each. If you're on the 7% scale of the performance pay, you'll get 70 bucks for every paying customer that buys one thru your direct link.

Sell 100 of said product units in one year, and that website has made you $7,000 for the year -- and only cost you around 10 bucks for the domain name, maybe $120 in hosting fees and your blood sweat and tears in setting it up.

Of course, not all products are that hot -- but some others will surprise you in how well they sell. Get a good 10 or 20 or more websites churning out the dough every year, and you're on your way to becoming a well-paid affiliate marketer!

Elderly Wii Players - Older people are buying and playing Nintendo Wii...

This is the cutest story about elderly folks playing Nintendo Wii, a video game that forces you to get up and be active as you pretend to hit tennis balls, play a round of golf, bowl a turkey, etc.

So if you're thinking of buying grandma or grandpa another sweater this year, you might want to think again and order a Wii console online while they're in stock.

Make More Money Online by Starting a Niche Website

Instead of setting up a website that contains everything but the kitchen sink (those kind are great, though, for freedom of posting whatever you want) -- consider setting up a website devoted to a narrow niche.

I recently set up a website all about where to buy Nintendo Wii console and accessories online, partly to take advantage of the huge interest in Wii, which is outselling many other game consoles.

My dad should love the yoga pose (he inspired me to try yoga) found in the Wii Fit game promotion, with a release date and available to buy in the US in 2008.

My other reasons for setting up the site were that our family plays our Wii game pretty often and I'm getting in-depth knowledge of the Wii.

So take whatever you own or love to do -- especially if it's an emerging market, product or service -- and set up a website around it.

Then pitch the products via Amazon, load it up with Google Adsense, get good links from other websites to yours, verify the site thru Google Webmaster Tools and upload a sitemap, visit Digg.com and submit your URL, write up good SEO'd posts and wait for the dough to roll in.

Post a lot and have fun!

New i-9 Form - Dept of Homeland Security Releases New i-9 Forms

Read all about the new I-9 form released by the Dept. of Homeland Security here, because I sure as heck know little about it.

Amazon Associates Affiliate Program - Blog about products, get paid when people buy them...

If you're interested in making money with the Amazon Associates Program, first join it for free and login here.

Then, read all you can on Amazon's website about the associate programs specifics, and read my 6 tips to making more money with the Amazon Associates program.

Okay..so the pic above is actually of me holding my first check from my Kontera earnings, because my Amazon Associates earnings are deposited straight into my bank account monthly -- as will be my Kontera earnings starting this month.

Happy Money Making!