who can i trust to help me as a novice in affiliate marketing?

[Tori]

There are a lot of people out there who will try to sell you their "system" and you can waste a lot of money on a program that you really don't need.

Here is a simple way to get started for free!

1. You want to have a website or webpage with a topic or focus of something that you are interested in and know something about or are willing to do some research to learn more about it. Start with a free blog or Squidoo page. The important thing is to write good interesting original content, not just publish a page with a bunch of random spammy links.

2. After you have created a website or page with interesting original content and photos about your topic, apply to affiliate programs and look for companies that have products that fit in with the topic of your pages.

3. Here are some affiliate programs that I like:
Zazzle - you can create and design your own online store of products by downloading your favorite photos and then post a few products related to your topic or in some cases perhaps a link to your store on your website: http://www.zazzle.com/vickisims?rf=238110270365818601

Linkshare is a company that has many advertisers to choose from, and you get paid with one check from Linkshare for all of your sales.: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat...=3&subid=0

Share-a –sale is another company similar to LinkShare - they have many advertisers that you can choose from and you are paid in one check every month from LinkShare for all sales: http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=69&u=3...=&afftrack

All Posters - You can use the links to the posters and pictures at All Posters in your webpages to add some great photos and illustrations plus you may sell a few: http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/re...438&lang=1


There are numerous other free affiliate marketing programs, but with some you must earn $50 in commissions before you are paid so it is better to start off using one company with lots of different advertisers that have products that fit your topic to be able to reach the payment threshold faster. Then as you create more pages and learn how to generate traffic to them, you can expand to additional programs.

4. After you've created a page or two you can learn more about SEO and getting traffic to your website through the use of backlinks by linking all of your websites, blog pages and Squidoo pages to each other. You can also get back links on numerous other social networking sites, message boards and blogs.

I would recommend starting with creating pages (called lenses) on Squidoo. They have a pretty easy to use system of modules and you can even earn income directly from Squidoo by including their Amazon and eBay modules. Pick products from Amazon and eBay related to the topic of your page and if anyone clicks on your product link and buys something you earn a commission. You can also add your own affiliate program links to your pages. Here is an example of how you can put them all together to make a great page: http://www.squidoo.com/Seattle-Pike-Place-Market

Notice how the selling modules and affiliate programs must be appropriate to the topic and helpful to the reader for it to work well. People get turned off fast from a site that screams BUY, BUY, BUY - they must get some good information from the page to stick around and possibly eventually click out on a link.
Squidoo also has great community support and lots of pages about affiliate marketing. They also have a message board where you can learn a lot. If you'd like to get started making a Squidoo page (called a lens) here is a link: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/referral/VickiSims

5. Create more pages on related or different topics that interest you. It helps if you can pick a niche or two that have topics that are related.

You won't make a lot of money right away - it does take time and effort, but you won't lose any money on a bunch of scams either.