To some people affiliate marketing is a dirty word. To others it is a good way to make a decent income. To the marketing gurus, it is a way to make a fortune either being an affiliate marketer or by selling a product that others can affiliate. You have a few different ways you can make money online. You can sell your own product, add some advertising to your site, or sell someone else's product. I do all three.

I have been making with Google AdSense for a few years and also make money with an eBook for first time travelers to Pattaya, Thailand. But, recently I have found that I can make more money with related affiliate products. Since my main money maker is the eBook about Thailand it only made sense to affiliate hotel rooms.

The folks who buy my eBook are first time visitors to Thailand so one of the things they will have to do is book a hotel. Since they are taking the advice in my eBook, they are most likely ready to take my hotel recommendations. Becoming an affiliate is easy enough.

It usually just requires filling out an online application and being accepted. Acceptance is almost always guaranteed. Then, all it takes is placing some links on your web site. I also provide links in pdf documents that accompany the download of my eBook. I make more from the hotel bookings than the eBook. You can also be an affiliate and the company will provide you with all the tools to make a web site.

All you need is a domain name. I do this with a casino company and also with a credit card company. Spending just 8 dollars per year for a domain name and getting a web site ready made is an easy way to make some cash. Depending on the affiliate, you can make some decent money promoting someone else's product. For the casino sites, I get a cut of the initial deposit and future play. The hotel site gives me a percentage of the hotel fees and the more expensive the hotel and the longer the stay, the more I can make.

Credit card affiliating is very cut-throat and very competitive. But, it can be very rewarding. Many of the credit card companies pay $50 to $100 for a new customer. This can be very profitable since most people have more than one credit card and are always on the look out for a better interest rate or some kind of special deal. Along with web sites, there are also some scripts that make the set up a lot easier. The scripts also make it easier to maintain and update.

Scripts are available for regular web sites and blogs too. This makes it easy to promote items from Amazon and Clickbank. To me, the key is to find items to market that match your site. I sell an eBook for first time visitors to Pattaya, Thailand and affiliate the Thailand hotels.

They are a good match. I also use a Wordpress plugin that makes it easy to match words in the blog with articles for sale. Best of all it is all done automatically. So, which is better ? Google or Affiliates? I use them both and make money from both. Affiliates pay more but Google AdSense still gets me a regular dose of clicks. Some sites I use both and some I use one or the other.

One thing to remember. Don't expect to sign up to be an affiliate and then add a banner to your site and expect to make money. You need to do more than that. Get your own domain and promote your site. Find an affiliate that compliments your site. Or, find a good affiliate and set up a site just for that product.

You can make decent money on a regular basis. I can't guarantee that you will make millions, but you can make a nice supplemental income as an affiliate.

Larry Westfall currently has about 50 web sites ? from article sites to Thailand web sites. He lives online and has been successfully marketing eBooks | casinos | credit cards | and Thailand hotel rooms. As a retired soldier he has a straightforward - no BS - shoot from the hip - attitude - which he now applies to Internet marketing.
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