Internet Marketing - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Part 2

In part 1 of this article we talked about all the different types of online business opportunities available out there, and that some were good, some were bad, and some were just plain ugly.  So we’re back to the question, where do you start your journey to fame and riches on the internet?  Well, one of the simplest ways is through affiliate marketing.

Now when say simple, I mean relatively uncomplicated and straight forward.  I don't mean easy as pie.  It's going to take time and effort on your part, and there is going to be a learning curve involved.  Any program offer you might get that says just send us money and we will do all the work and you get rich...RUN, DON'T WALK AWAY FROM IT!  I promise you, you will loose your money.  Of course, the more computer skills you have will make learning and doing any business, especially and online business, easier.  But you don't have to have a lot of skills with affiliate marketing.

So what is affiliate marketing?  Simply put, it’s promoting other people’s or company’s products and when a sale happens you make a commission.  Are we talking about some no name’s sleazy, scamy, overpriced junk?  No; not at all.  Well, ok, there is that element out there.  I’m not including them in this discussion.  Again, run; don’t walk away from those people.  Here are just a few notable companies that have online affiliate programs:

Barnes & Noble                       Old Navy                                 Dell

Patagonia                                 Discover Card                          PayLess Shoes

            Dollar Rent-a-car                     PetSmart                                  eBay

SONEY                                   Eddie Bauer                             Gateway

            Staples                                     Gap                                          TimeLife

KMart                                      USA Today                              Verizon Wireless

And less we forget, Amazon.com.  This is a huge, mega-bucks industry.  Are you intrigued?  This is a real business and you can make a very good income. 

Now you want to know how someone gets started in this business, don’t you?  I thought you would never ask.  First of all you don’t need a lot of money, and, as I stated before, you don’t need to be a techno-guru.  However, there are some things you need to know or you could end up making some costly mistakes.  Two I know of that are tops at teaching people how to do affiliate marketing and avoiding those mistakes are Rosaline Gardner and Michael Cheney. 

Both of these guys have been doing this for years and are very successful at it.  Their approach to teaching, however, is different.  Rosaline has written a very thorough e-book on the subject of affiliate marketing and Michael has done several video training products.

Drawbacks?  Rosaline’s product is a manual.  This may not be a problem for you, but you may recall from part 1 of this article what kind of problem I personally have with manuals when first starting out with something.  Nevertheless, now that I’m getting my brain around this affiliate marketing stuff, her manual is really useful.

What about Michael’s training videos?  I love videos.  Just show me what to do and I’m up and running in no time.  Let me foreworn you about something, though.  Michael Cheney is a man of a few thousand words and has the energy of a nuclear power plant.  He can regularly speak about 80 words per minute with gusts up to 120.  Fortunately each video has a handy pause button which allows you to stop the action (and I did often) to think about what he just said and make notes.

One final note; the biggest cause of failure in this business that I know of is when people start jumping from program to program.  They barely get going on one program when they’re suddenly off pursuing the next great opportunity.  I tell you, great opportunities are like buses, if you miss one, another will be along shortly.  Stay the course until your business is on auto-drive and you have a steady stream of income coming in.  Then start looking for other streams of income if you want to.

All the very best to you.