Affiliate Marketing And All Fired Up

All Fired Up with Internet Home Business Ideas

GotDot profiles Bob Ahearn an installer, who felt the fire under his toes, burning, itching to do something with affiliate marketing. Pressures at work kept him back from diving into it right away. Sometimes life gets in the way of pursuing dreams. But, now Bob’s all fired up and is helping others explore Internet home business ideas, making their own niche with affiliate marketing. As Bob says, “There’s so much room on the Internet, anyone can blaze a trail. The earning potential is so hot.”

Affiliate marketing is booming. In fact, the National Retail Federation's Shop.org cites that affiliate marketing is one of the most effective methods for enabling online retail commerce, a $95 billion industry. And, according to Forrester Research, the industry is expected to grow to approximately $230 billion by 2008.

Well known name brand companies such as National Geographic, Major League Baseball, American Express, Disney and thousands of other companies have affiliate programs and are happy to pay affiliates to refer customers.

What is an affiliate program?

An affiliate program is a business relationship where one website owner (a “merchant”) agrees to pay another website owner (an “affiliate”) a commission simply for referring customers.

Merchants typically manage their affiliate program by joining a commission network such as Commission Junction or LinkShare who provide third-party tracking and infrastructure or by purchasing and installing specialized tracking software on their own server.

See Commission Junction and LinkShare for a list of merchants who are looking for affiliates to promote their products and services.

How Bob Ahearn got started with affiliate marketing

Three years ago, Bob met James Martell, an entrepreneur, successful affiliate marketer of over 70 specialty shopping sites and author of the James Martell’s Affiliate Marketers Handbook. Bob got intrigued with James’ Internet home business ideas and started building websites.

Unfortunately, demands at the day job interfered with Bob’s plans to accelerate his affiliate marketing venture. But Bob’s fascination never wavered over the next two years. Bob says, “Finally, I couldn’t say no anymore. The work excuses just didn’t cut it. Now, I’m all fired up, and the money’s hot.”

In the latter part of 2002 Bob read the Affiliate Marketers Handbook. Bob says, “James doesn’t hide anything in the book, what he tells you to do, really works, and the support with his affiliate buzz audio newsletter is great.”

Bob adds, “The book’s step by step approach is right on, it’s like 2 +2 = 4, so if I do this that’ll happen and again and again…I’m just amazed at how much the handbook gives away, but that’s James, he really wants to help people succeed.”

Key Steps from the Affiliate Marketers Handbook

Step number #1 Getting organized -– James’ book explains how to get and stay organized with all the tools and tips you need to begin your business such as: how to organize your office and paperwork.

Bob says, “Setting realistic goals and making a daily commitment really helped give me the push I needed.”

Step number #2 – Selecting the right industry –- There are tons of merchants to choose from, some are bigger money makers than others. Selecting the right industry is the hardest part for many. James provides strategies for focusing on an industry and taking the guess work out of it.

Bob says, “Right out the gate. I chose cell phones ‘cause of the money. My second site, the road report I’m passionate about. I love driving and knowing what’s happening on the road ahead.”

Bob follows the same methods for web site construction developed by James Martell. These principals are incorporated into Bob’s successful series of specialty shopping sites featuring: satellite tv offers, cellular phones and car loans.

Step number #3 keywords-the search engine building blocks -– Making money on the Internet is all about placement and being seen. To be successful at marketing you need keywords that people use for looking things up on the search engines. That’s how your site gets noticed. James provides a proven formula for choosing keywords and producing keyword focused content.

Bob says, “What James teaches with keyword placement is right on the money. It’s the law of averages just like what used to happen when my wife and I had a retail store. The more people that visited the store, the more money we made. In retail the slow traffic days kill you, but on the Internet, everyday is a good day, when you have top positioning on the search engines.”

Step #4 - Choosing a template -- Learn how to build a professional looking website. You don’t have to be a techie or a website designer. With affordable website templates, you simply add your own content to create a professional website.

Visit www.work-at-home-net-guides.com to see additional steps included in James Martell’s 8-step system™.

Got Dot: What was it like launching your sites?

Bob says, “In January of this year I started working on my sites, spending a few hours each day after work and on the weekends. By April the income started rolling in at $400/a site. It’s been continuously rising ever since. In July it hit $1500 a site. The past three months it’s been at $2000 per site and the money keeps growing. There’s nothing like affiliate marketing, I can make money in my sleep.”

Recently, Bob and his wife started helping Carlye a friend at work, get into affiliate marketing. She’s a single mom with three kids, that’s struggling to make ends meet. At first Bob says, “Part of me was hesitate to share the goldmine with others, but it’s ok to share it, some people will take it and make money, others won’t get started out of laziness. The best thing about helping Carlye is it’s so refreshing to give back, James’ helped me, and now I’m in a position to help others.”

Got Dot: What are you plans for the future?

Bob says, “By June 2004 I’m quitting the day job and want to really grow the affiliate marketing business, make it the firestorm it’s been itching to be. And with more time with the kids, I’ll get a spark under their toes too. My kids are 16 and 12, they’d be a natural at affiliate marketing, what better way to build for their college tuition. The internet is our revolution and it’s the kids’ wave to ride. They’re smart kids I know they’ll take to it like wild fire.”

Here are Bob’s tips and techniques for success:

• Take affiliate marketing seriously. Schedule an hour a day if that’s all the time you have and honor the commitment. It’s your appointment for financial independence. Make the appointment and start building.
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• Consider affiliate marketing as a continuous process. Start with one website. If you earn $500 from that site, then figure out how many sites you need to reach your desired income level. Build another site and another. Keep up the momentum.
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• Work for the future. Know that whatever time you put in now is money down the road. It’s your future your building, not the bosses.

Bob says, “Once you get that fire under your toes, just go for it, and don’t hold yourself back. The beauty with affiliate marketing is that once you light the fire it just keeps building.”

Bob Ahearn followed a simple 8-step-system™ for affiliate marketing created by James Martell , entrepreneur, successful affiliate marketer, and developer of over 70 specialty shopping sites, and, is also in the business of teaching people how to make money at home