To a beginner, affiliate marketing may sound like a complicated and though to master money-making method. But the truth is affiliate marketing is far from being complicated.
Affiliate marketing is simply the middle man concept that has moved from the brick and mortar markets to the digital online market and found a new identity.
It’s a simple, yet powerful way to make money online, in which the affiliate (middle man) earns a commission in return for generating sales/leads for businesses.
Using affiliate marketing, the seller is expanding his chances of success by reaching more potential buyers through the efforts of his affiliates, and the affiliate makes money by selling a ready product, without having to take any risk by investing any of his own money.
While it takes some general knowledge and hard work to be a successful affiliate marketer, the one thing that sets affiliate marketing apart from other online money-making opportunities is the fact that it is a proven method that thousands of people are using to make a living online. So, you know it works, you just have to be willing to put your time and effort into it.
As a beginner affiliate marketer, you will face many challenges. But if you truly follow these 3 simple steps, you will succeed.

1. Choose a Niche
Getting started with affiliate marketing starts with finding a profitable niche, one that you also are interested in. Like any other job, doing what you enjoy is an important factor in your success. You can use search engines and online forums to find what people are buying or taking about.
Pick one and stick with it. Jumping from niche to niche will not get you far. An example of hot and profitable niche would be the diet and weight loss niche.

2. Find a Product
Now that you know what kind of market you are going to promote in, it’s time to find a high paying, easily marketable product to promote.
This can be done by using affiliate marketing networks such as ClickBank,Commission Junction, etc. Register with some of these sites for free, and search their marketplace for the kind of product you are looking for.
Upon getting accepted, you will be given a special link with your own affiliate id encrypted in it, which any time someone uses that link to go to the merchant’s sale page and buy the product, you will be paid a commission.
Keep in mind that using more than one affiliate marketing network gives you a better opportunity for finding many different related products, since not all merchants use the same AMN to find affiliates.

3. Promote
Here comes the last but most important step for making money with affiliate marketing, promotion. Now that you have your niche and product picked, you need to find ways to promote the product you chose.
This can be done in many ways. You can either setup a website or a blog and start driving traffic to your affiliate links. You can also use a review site, where you write reviews and articles for a product is a simple yet effective way of promoting a product through your site/blog. Article marketing is another great way to promote products and services.
Another way would be to use sites like YahooAnswers or e-How to answer or write How-Tos related to your niche, and including your special affiliate link in them.
Considering how many millions of people use these sites everyday, it is the easiest and fastest way to promote a product. In fact this is the number one way seasoned affiliate marketers use to make money.
Because it’s a very targeted market. Meaning since you are answering questions related to your niche, the people who ask the questions are most likely already looking for such product. Plus it’s totally free, since you don’t have to buy your own website.
Also, since these sites are already getting huge amounts of daily traffic, you don’t have to worry about driving traffic to them. Instead, you can focus all your efforts on writing good articles that will lead people to buy products you’re promoting.

Affiliate marketing requires a lot of time and effort, but if you are willing to put enough time and effort into it, the rewards are great. To see the kind of rewards awaiting you, simply follow this step by step affiliate marketing guide for beginners.