“Tell me the secret to being a successful affiliate marketer!” I get this type of email on occasion. I always dutifully read the email and send a polite reply. In the reply email I always try to stress the following points:There are no secrets in affiliate marketing! I don’t care what the guru’s tell you. Being successful in affiliate marketing isn’t a matter of luck, or the result of some type of magical wizardry. Being successful in affiliate marketing involves knowing the ingredients that makes other affiliate marketers successful. One of the common threads that I have observed in all successful affiliate marketers is their ATTITUDE toward their affiliate marketing business. Jim Martell, Rosalind Gardner, Jim Edwards, Allan Gardyne and many other highly successful affiliate marketers, that you may not have even heard of, all LOVE affiliate marketing. They have the passion a burning desire to be successful in their affiliate marketing endeavors.Passion for affiliate marketing has to be the one key ingredient to achieving success, not only in affiliate marketing, but in any pursuit you undertake in life. Without a passion for your affiliate business, you are traveling down the road to failure. Your passion is what will keep you moving forward one tiny step at a time when your affiliate marketing business is going through difficult and trying times. That same passion will be the key factor in ultimately moving your affiliate marketing business toward the rewards of financial success!Do you have this type of passion? I don’t know. Only you can answer that. I do know that without belief, interest, and determination you will never develop the passion that pushes other successful affiliate marketers to extreme heights of affiliate marketing success.Let’s take a look at some of the traits that will fuel your passion to be successful in affiliate marketing:BeliefDo you believe in the opportunity you have to be successful with affiliate marketing programs? If you don’t, then you need to start right now. You MUST believe that you will be successful in your affiliate marketing efforts. How do you get this belief? Simple, do some research on affiliate marketing. You will find that many ordinary people, like you, can and are doing quite well in the world of affiliate marketing. Some people who were once in the same position you are in right now are earning thousands of dollars a month through their affiliate program marketing efforts. Don’t be fooled into thinking that only the Cream of the Crop, the Super Affiliates with their names plastered all over the internet are the only ones making money with affiliate marketing. That isn’t the case. Many people you have never heard of are making a very nice income from affiliate marketing; they just choose not to attract attention to themselves.What is your goal for your affiliate marketing business? Maybe you can’t answer that right now. Do your research. Set a reasonable goal for this month. Write it down. Do everything in your power to make that goal a reality. Once you’ve achieved that goal, move on to your next goal. You have to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run, eventually you will be off and running. Affiliate marketing is a marathon, it isn’t a sprint. Pace yourself. These frustrating days you may be experiencing now will soon be a distant memory. BELIEVE that you will be successful. It can be done. It isn’t going to be easy, but then again anything worth having is going to take time and effort.InterestAs an affiliate marketer you have to have a genuine interest in the merchant products that you are promoting to your prospects. To me, it means you should own and use these products. Why? You can give your prospects a fair and honest evaluative review of the product or service. Point out the features that make this particular product unique. Stress the benefits that your prospective customer will receive by using this product or service. The benefits that you have derived are probably some of the same benefits that your prospects are looking for. They need validation!Think of it this way. If you have a genuine interest in the product and service you are promoting and you own and use the product for your own benefit, you have the advantage of putting yourself in the shoes of your prospective customers. You will become acutely more aware of their needs and are in a much better position to answer those needs.You can truthfully share your interest in the product and experiences with the product. Even the most casual and curious browsers will be attracted to your product because you wrote a review or gave a testimony to a product you already own and use! Honest reviews and powerful testimonies about the benefits of a product or service are two of the most powerful tools that you have in your affiliate marketing arsenal. Use them often and use them wisely. Remember, your credibility is at stake!DeterminationBe Determined! You must set your chin and be determined to succeed in your affiliate marketing business. I am a huge College and Pro football fan. I am firmly convinced that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the world champions today because of the determination of their head coach, Bill Cowher. He willed that team to victory throughout the playoffs and the Super Bowl. He was not daunted by several previous setbacks in AFC championship games. He found new and better ways of getting the job done. Today he is a world champion.You can do the same with your affiliate marketing business. You cannot get too high or too low in the world of affiliate marketing. Don’t let a few setbacks get you down. Chalk each set back up to a lesson learned. Go back and rework your idea or plan. Find another way of approaching a problem. Find new and better ways of promoting and pre-selling your affiliate products.When belief, interest and determination are present in your affiliate marketing business your passion for affiliate marketing and the goods and services you are promoting will shine brightly. All of your prospects will be able to see and feel your passion. Find your passion and you will have captured the most highly sought factor for your success in the world of affiliate marketing.

The following article is one of a series of articles which focus on Affiliate, Article and Internet Marketing. All of the articles are based on real experiences and research done over twenty years as a personal and business coach. They are also written in response to questions which I have been asked as well as address common challenges that people have with affiliate marketing, article marketing, internet marketing or running an online business in
general. I sincerely hope that you find the following information of value. One idea, one tip, one clue can make all the difference.How Many Types Of Affiliate Marketing Programs Do You Know?Affiliate marketing programs have never been as popular before as they are today. Why? There can be a number of reasons. The most probable reason, however, could be the fact that the benefits of affiliate marketing have become clearer to a lot of people now than they were before.Today, both the merchants and the affiliates can see clearly that affiliate marketing can work for both of them. The merchant sees affiliate marketing today as the chance to advertise their products at a lower cost. The affiliates, on the other hand, sees affiliate marketing as an easy way of earning profits online by doing what they like most, and that is by creating websites.Just as the popularity of affiliate marketing has shifted into greater heights, so has the people’s outlook about it changed. No longer is affiliate marketing considered today as an alternative method for the merchant to advertise his products, or as a source of additional income for the affiliates. For merchants and affiliates alike, affiliate marketing is now considered as a main source of profits and revenues.So the question now is what type of affiliate marketing will work best for you? Are all affiliate marketing programs the same? Are the benefits the same? Or are there affiliate marketing programs that work better than the others?There are actually different types or classes of affiliate marketing, and the number of types will depend on how one will classify them. The most basic affiliate marketing programs, however, falls under two categories: pay-per-click (PPC), and pay-per-performance (PPP).* Pay Per Click (PPC)PPC is the most popular type of affiliate marketing for affiliates with small websites, and probably the easiest way for them to earn money. In this affiliate marketing type, the merchant pays his affiliate whenever a visitor is referred to his site, that is whenever someone clicks through the merchant’s banner or text ads. The affiliate gets paid a certain amount even if the visitor he referred does not purchase anything from the merchant’s site. However, typical fees for PPC affiliate programs are small, usually not exceeding a dollar for every click.* Pay Per Performance (PPP)PPP affiliate marketing is the most popular among merchant and is also the most lucrative type for the affiliates. In this type of affiliate program, the merchant only pays the affiliate whenever his referral translates into an action–that is whenever the visitor he has referred actually buys something from the merchant’s site or when the visitor becomes a lead. This means a lot of savings for the merchant. On the other hand, it becomes the most lucrative type for the dedicated affiliate, for commissions in PPP affiliate marketing usually comes in the range of 15% to 20% of the actual product sales.Pay-per-performance affiliate marketing can be further classified into two popular types: pay-per-sales (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL).* Pay Per Sale (PPS)In a pay-per-sale type of affiliate marketing, the merchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever the visitor he has referred to the merchant’s site actually buys something from the merchant’s site. Affiliates are often paid on commission basis, although other merchants would opt to pay a fixed fee. But no matter what the basis of the fee is, it is generally higher than the fee paid to affiliates in a pay-per-click affiliate program.========SIDEBAR========Affiliate, Article and Internet Marketing in general isn’t as easy as many would have us believe. I fully understand (through my own experiences) that it is a lot easier said than done. However, you are here, right now, because you have a desire to improve your business, grow your business, and be more successful. These articles are here with the sole intention of helping you to make the whole process a lot easier.======END SIDEBAR======* Pay Per Lead (PPL)The pay-per-lead type of affiliate marketing is a slight variation of the PPS type and is often used by insurance and finance companies and other companies who rely on leads for their company to grow. In this type of affiliate marketing, the affiliate is paid whenever the visitor he referred to the merchant’s site fills up an application form or any similar form related to the business of the company. Compensation for this type of affiliate marketing is based on a fixed fee whose rates approximate that of the fixed fee in the PPS type.Apart from these three specific types of affiliate marketing, a lot of other affiliate marketing types exist. If the classification is based on the depth of the affiliate network, it can be classified as single-tier, two-tier, and multi-tier affiliate marketing. There is also another type of affiliate marketing that pays the affiliate each time the customer he has referred purchases something from the merchant’s site.* Single-Tier, Two-Tier, and Multi-Tier Affiliate MarketingThese types of affiliate marketing are based on the different levels or tiers in the affiliate network by which payments are made. In a single-tier affiliate marketing program, the affiliates are only paid based on the direct sales or traffic he has referred to the merchant. All the previously mentioned affiliate marketing types (i.e. PPS, PPL, and PPC) fall under the single-tier classification.* In two-tier affiliate marketing programs, the affiliate is not only paid for the direct traffic or sales that he refers to the merchant’s site, but also on every traffic or sales referred by various other affiliates who joined the affiliate program through his recommendation. Multi-tier affiliate marketing works the same way, although the affiliate gets additional commission for a wider number of affiliates in different tiers in the affiliate network.* Residual Income Affiliate MarketingIn residual income affiliate marketing, the affiliate gets paid not only once for every customer he has referred to the merchant’s site. Rather, the affiliate is also paid whenever the customer he has referred returns to the site and purchase another product. Compensation for such type of affiliate marketing is based on either sales percentage commission or fixed fee basis.The different affiliate marketing types would virtually work differently for merchants and affiliates alike, and each would generally have their own list of benefits. Which type of affiliate marketing will work best for you? It is not really for me to tell. Rather, it is for you to choose which type of affiliate marketing program will suit your needs and characteristics best.NOW is the time!O.K. you have read the article. Now is the time for action. Without action, this article adds no value whatsoever to your affiliate success. But remember, without action, you cannot blame this affiliate marketing article or any article for that matter. So, take action NOW.Even if only one piece of advice, one piece of information, one tip makes a difference, then the whole article has been worth it for all of us.NOW is the time!