So far, we've explored how an affiliate home business can make money. When it comes to business at home, a big internet opportunity for many, is affiliate marketing. And in recent posts, I've introduced you to affiliate marketing and how an affiliate program works. I've written a brief 'crash course', recommended good affiliate program directories, a free affiliate marketing ebook, and have explained what to look out for in a good affiliate program.

But…

Warning!
Please Don't Jump Ahead!

At this point, there are two things you should be crystal clear about:

First, make sure whatever you're promoting is of **direct interest** to your target market.

For example, if you've decided to base your site on guitar playing, you'd probably find better things to promote to your target market than say, holidays to spain, or quilt covers!

Sure your visitors might be interested, but you'd probably invest your time far better by finding and promoting merchants that have something they're more likely to be interested in (e.g. actual guitars, sheet music, or guitar playing DVD courses).

This brings me to my second point…

We're covering affiliate programs now, so that you can get a good idea of the end game when it comes to monetization…

But remember!

Monetization, or 'M' comes last in the C-T-P-M process.

Monetization Is
The End Game…

As we've covered, it makes sense to follow a tried and tested strategy. After all, if you're going to invest in the tools and spend your time working on a project, you might as well do it in a way that's most likely to succeed, right? And that means not cutting corners: Not skipping crucial steps on your online journey…

If you intend to follow the C-T-P-M process properly, it's very unlikely that you'll be informed enough to choose the affiliate programs you wish to promote until you've identified the niche you want to go after (the topic you want to write about).

And you won't be able to do that until you've done some decent keyword research.

Preparation work is vital. So please don't jump ahead by throwing up a 'scrappy' site or blog on a topic you have a 'hunch' about, and monetize straight away. If there's one way to fail, it's jumping straight in without knowing what you're doing. Trust me…

… you're likely to be sitting there, twiddling your thumbs for a loooong time, wondering why no-one's visiting your site (and why you're not making any money!) if you don't know how to attract the traffic you need. So remember…

The Content-Traffic-Presell Steps
Come Before Monetization!

Bottom line?

When it comes to succeeding online, although it's tempting to jump ahead,the initial groundwork you do (in terms of research and planning) can make all the difference. So please do bear affiliate marketing in mind (as a form of monetization), but remember where your initial focus will eventually lie :

Content - Traffic - Presell.

Those are the steps that can eventually show you the money.

If you want to create a successful affiliate home business to make money, then ignore these words at your peril.  You can create a business from home, via this internet opportunity - but affiliate marketing income doesn't come out of thin air. You need visitors to see your promotions, to click through via your special affiliate link, and to buy.  To get that commission, you need to work on getting those visitors in front of your promotional efforts.  So if you're following the C-T-P-M process, direct your focus on the first three steps first:

You simply cannot afford to skip them: Write Content, attract that targeted Traffic, and Presell your affiliate promotions. 

To learn more about the C-T-P-M process, and for an easy point-and-click system, click here…

The Home Business Geek