When it comes to understanding affiliate marketing, whether you’re a beginner or veteran, you either get it or you don’t.

I don’t mean that you necessarily understand all the methods and techniques; that takes a long time to master. I’m talking about understanding the power of being an affiliate as a true business model.

I got into web marketing for my small business. I needed clients, so I turned to the web. In the process, I discovered affiliate marketing. Until then, I naively believed the only way websites made money was by selling banner ads or Adsense.

The affiliate marketing concept hit my in the gut; I was blindsided by a concept so simple: yet I immediately understood the potential.

In fact, there really is no limit to how big of a business you can build as an affiliate, even if you’re just a beginner.

Like I said, I ran a small offline business which entailed a lot of customer service. As an affiliate, on the other hand, you gain access to tens of thousands of products to sell and you don’t have to worry about customer service, shipping, returns, support, etc. The fact is you can focus 100 percent of your time and energy on selling.

The best 2 aspects of affiliate marketing is it’s scalable and presents a passive income opportunity.

Affiliate marketing for beginners.

There are only 2 requirements to succeed and make money as an affiliate – whether you’re a beginner or veteran. Those two requirements are:

1. Traffic; and 2. Pre-selling copywriting.

That’s it. If you can get traffic to your affiliate offer and can pre-sell it, you can make money.

Affiliate marketing for beginners is the same as it is for veterans. Don’t complicate it. Don’t think it requires all kinds of fancy set up. All you need, at the foundational level is traffic and pre-selling copy.

Now that the abstract is take care of, I’ll discuss a few concrete methods so that affiliate marketing for beginners. There are many methods and techniques for being an affiliate marketer. This is good. But it also helps to latch onto one method and run with it.

Affiliate marketing for beginners – 3 methods:

1. List building

Yes, you’ve probably heard this before. List building is a technique that has generated millions of dollars in profits.

Again, for list building to succeed, you need traffic to your page where you attract subscribers and copy that converts visitors to subscribers.

How do you attract subscribers? Offer something valuable to your targeted readers. In any niche there’s some question or series of questions you can answer. Create a report or guide giving the information sought and give it away in exchange for an email address.

You can give away videos, free stuff, run contests, give away access to software… the sky is the limit. Be creative and put yourself in the shoes of your target market and ask: what would I want to know?

This model can take a little while to generate an income unless you buy some traffic to your opt in page. However, once you build a list of subscribers and you treat them well, you have a ready audience for your affiliate promotions.

2. Build a loyal audience and recommend products

If you can build a loyal audience with a blog or an e-newsletter, then you can recommend products that some of your audience will buy. This model includes building a blog. YOu can then recommend products in your blog posts and/or in an e-newsletter your run.

This method takes time to establish because it takes time to build up a loyal audience of readers.

3. Create a review website

This is probably one of faster methods to earn money in affiliate marketing. The concept is exceedingly simple and when done right, effective.

A review site is an excellent affiliate marketing model for beginners. It’s as simple as writing about a product you use and like. Write about every aspect of it… your likes, dislikes, how it helped you, why you bought it, and of course, where to buy it. You then provide an affiliate link to where it’s sold online.

There’s no reason to stop at one product (although the single product review website is a viable and effective review website mode). You can also create affiliate review websites that promote an entire product line. This format is more informational than a personal recommendation. This too, can be effective.

Is real income possible, even for beginner affiliate marketers?

Yes. I’m no veteran by any stretch. However, I earn a decent monthly income from affiliate marketing using the 3 techniques above (the review site accounts for the bulk of my affiliate marketing income).

Next, get up to date with local online small business marketing or if discover how to do YouTube video SEO.

Visit any website these days. See if you can find a “Contact Us” page on it. What does the typical page ask for? usually it requests you type in your name, email address and has room for a comment. Theoretically if you want to “Contact” a company you’ll fill in the form.

This is no way to do lead capture.

Think of your own website. How many “Contact Us” forms do you get every month. If you’re getting any, you are in the very small minority.

Here’s four ways to beef up the lead capture efforts on your website. Use these methods and you will soon be receiving better leads from your site.

1. Ethical bribe. The ethical bribe is a relatively new marketing tactic which simply suggests that you bribe someone to give you an email address. Because the term bribe is a bit derogatory the word ethical makes is more palatable. What makes a good bribe? Almost anything relevant. Try a coupon, a free gift, a discount, a two for one deal, a report, an analysis–think of something your target audience might want.

2. Create a squeeze page. Squeeze pages are a form of landing page which are designed to do one thing and only one thing–to encourage a visitor to the page to sign up with their email address. This type of landing page has no other information on it, no navigation, no choices. You arrive on the page, evaluate the offer and sign up–or leave.

3. Offer valuable information. Most businesses over the years discover that they know things. They have information which is specialized and useful. Every day your prospects are searching the web, possibly looking for this exact information. Don’t give it away for free. Use it as an ethical bribe in exchange for an email address. You’ll demonstrate to your prospects that you have expertise and you’ll attract them to you.

4. Offer a free evaluation. This is a pretty valuable offer. Simply offer to do an analysis at no charge. Often the analysis will help your prospect to think more about their needs and create for you an opportunity to build a relationship and offer a solution. An email signup form is a great mechanism to do make this offer.

Then what you have to do is count how many leads you are receiving from your “Contact Us” page, make changes using some of these lead capture methods and count the number of leads you receive after the changes. If you don’t notice any change in lead flow, then make different changes and measure again.

Get in the habit of going through this sequence each month and you’re lead flow will increase!

Before you start making fixes to your website, make sure you read Mitch Tarr’s Internet marketing blog and sign up for a copy of their Internet Marketing Blueprint.. Free reprint available from: Four Ways to Make Lead Capture Work on Your Website..