Affiliate marketing is a great way for online business owners to boost sales. It is also a great money-making method for those of us who are interested in working from home to use. But your marketing strategy should be thoroughly researched and well thought out because if not, there is a good chance that you will end up losing more money than you will take in.

An important aspect of successful affiliate marketing is establishing what the best niche is for you.

Affiliate marketing is an Internet-based marketing tool that uses one website to drive web traffic to another and is built on the idea of revenue sharing. With this type of marketing, a business will compensate an affiliate every time a visitor or customer is driven to the website as a result of the affiliate’s marketing ventures.

The main players of the affiliate marketing industry are:

– the merchant (the retailer)

– the network

– the affiliate (the publisher)

– the customer.

The various marketing methods used by affiliates include search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, and display advertising. As far as compensation goes, most affiliate programs make use of revenue sharing or cost-per-sale (CPS). Some affiliate programs also use cost-per-action (CPA) and cost-per-click (CPC).

Before you can put your affiliate marketing strategy in effect, the very first thing that you should do is brainstorm your niche. This is a vital component of having a successful affiliate business. A niche is a market subset that serves as the focal point for a particular product or service. A niche seeks to satisfy specific market needs, which include the price, production quality, and the demographics of the targeted audience. To start, it is recommended to come up with three ideas for possible niches. Try to think of niches that you are interested in or passionate about. Ask yourself the following questions: What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy talking or learning about? What subjects do you have a broad knowledge of? Once you have answered these questions, you should be able to come up with a few ideas for possible niches.

Unfortunately, however, a niche that you are passionate about isn’t necessarily going to be a niche that will be highly profitable. In order to determine which niches are most likely to generate significant income, you need to track, test & tweak your affiliate campaigns. Learn how to do that without losing money by studying the Campaign blasts guide.

If you’d like to learn more about how to succeed in affiliate marketing, you definitely want to read Rosalind Gardner’s ebook about affiliate marketing.