Since the mid 90′s everyone and their mother has been trying to devise different ways to make money online.  The problem most people face though is that they spend too much time reading about what other people are doing, and not enough time implementing different methods themselves.

There are many misconceptions about affiliate marketing and making money from home on the Internet, and if you currently believe any of the statements I’ve listed below – you better stop now while you’re ahead because you will be wasting your time and money.

You can make money in affiliate marketing without any work.

This is one of, if not the biggest mistakes most newbie affiliates make when getting into the game.  They expect to press some magic button, go to bed and wake up with 1000′s of dollars in their back account.  They are told that making money as an affiliate is so easy that a 5 year old can do it.  These are lies.  Affiliate marketing, like any other industry, requires blood, sweat and tears to make it work.  You have to study the market, make mistakes and know when to walk away.

You don’t need money to be a successful affiliate marketer

Again, a total misconception.  No wonder why so many people go nowhere with affiliate marketing!  Sure, you can most definitely start off in affiliate marketing with zero investment – after all, there are so many free blog services out there such as Blogspot and WordPress, but eventually you will need to step your game up and invest in various tools, services, resources as well as possible outsourcing if you plan to make your business “hands-off”.

With affiliate marketing, you will be able to quit your job in 3 months

Now I’m not saying it is impossible to quit your job within three months of starting affiliate marketing, but in actuality, unless you have a lot of money, time and connections to help you skip many of the common speed bumps, there is no way you’re going to crack the system and quit your job in 3 months.  Affiliate marketing requires daily dedication.  It requires your time, money and care to help it grow.  Your building a business, not quitting a job.

Did you know that out of all the traffic circulating in and out of the internet 12% of that traffic goes straight to YouTube?  I know it’s hard to comprehend that in an actual numerical format, but it’s the truth.  When certain technologies and communities heavily influence consumers, it is our responsibility as affiliate marketers to decipher and capitalize on unique opportunites to connect with our target audience – and YouTube affiliate marketing is a great way to start!

I know you’re probably thinking that you don’t know the first thing about producing and editing videos, but the reality is that you really don’t need any of these specific skills to take advantage of the hoards of traffic on YouTube as an affiliate.  Here are a few points to consider which will get you on your way:

What will your video be about?

Well this depends entirely on the product or service you are promoting.  Review and testimonial style videos usually work well – especially if you’re doing the testimonial yourself!  If you prefer not to be in front of the camera, you can put together a slide show using Powerpoint or Camtasia with different slides and screen shots accompanied by text and of course the url for the viewer to visit at the beginning, middle and ending of the video.

You might want to also consider doing a how-to style video and splitting it up into parts – with links to each part in the more info section of the video profile.  Remeber, you want to have your affiliate links right at the top of the more info section so that the user can find it and click it without doing anything extra.

How can I get the more clicks to my offer?

Just like researching keywords to optimize your website and content, you want to include these same keywords and phrases in your video title, tags and description.  I suggest using your top ten tags as well as keeping the title relatively to the point – this doesn’t mean it can’t be long – it just simply means that keep it keyword focused.

By optimizing your uploaded video, people will naturally start visiting the page via the search field on YouTube.  Another great way to get traffic is by commenting on other peoples videos – especially those which are related to the product or niche market that you are promoting.  Following these simple steps will increase your chances of YouTube affiliate marketing profits.

Almost anybody who has read a marketing book in their lifetime will have heard about Pareto’s Law.  It is essentially the concept of 80/20 and with affiliate marketing it definitely holds true.  It’s a fact that 20% of affiliates online produce 80% of the market sales.  This means that out of the millions of affiliates online only 20% of them are actually doing anything with this opportunity – while the other 80% get lost in the shuffle of sales pages and push-button products.

To help better your chances, here are 3 killer tips to help affiliate marketing newbies increase their chances of success online.  Read these affiliate marketing tips and put them into action today.

Always cloak your affiliate links

Many affiliates get commissions stolen because their links are visible to the public – this is not good.  Be sure that you cloak your affiliate link, as well as keep it short and sweet.  People do not click on long, suspicious links so try to implement a php script or a plugin like GoCodes to make your linking life easier.

Never compromise content

Content is king on the web.  Whatever you do, whether it’s writing your own content or outsourcing it, make sure that your articles are fresh, unique, targeted and engaging.  These prerequisites apply for sales copy, ebooks, blog posts and any other type of content online.  Take advantage of the many SEO article writing services available online.

Free traffic is good traffic

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is an absolute must when promoting your affiliate products organically.  Gaining placement in the search engines will insure you get loads of free, targeted traffic to your review pages and offers.  Brush up on your SEO and stick to a regular schedule.  If you’d rather, you can always outsource this to an SEO expert.

Beginning your journey into affiliate marketing can seem quite daunting at first.  You need to get a website or blog and decide how you’re going to present – and market – the product you are promoting effectively enough to generate targeted traffic and earn steady commissions.  Many people think these are the first steps towards making money online, but in actuality you need to conduct some research on the potential markets, followed by finding a suitable affiliate program.

A big problem inexperienced affiliates face on a regular basis is putting all of their eggs into one basket, and then suffering loss when that company goes out of business.  Remember, affiliate programs come and go, so it’s vital that you go with a company that is low risk and reliable.  Here are some questions to ask yourself before choosing your next affiliate program:

What’s their track record like?

How many owners has the company had?  How long has their affiliate program been active, and during that time how consistent have their numbers been?  How many affiliates do they currently have?  These are all relevant questions you can ask any affiliate manager or webmaster prior to signing up for their program.  Stability is important.

Do they have adequate affiliate resources?

The last thing you want to do is build a killer website to promote some product, only to find out that their affiliate center consists of 2 banners and a text link.  This is not going to cut it and will only cost you time and money down the road for custom graphics etc… A professional affiliate center will have different sized banners, pre-written text ads, articles and even mini site templates for you to use.  The more resources for you, the better!

How diverse is their program?

Can you link directly to specific product/category pages?  Or are you limited to home page linking only?  Being able to link directly to a product is key if you want to maintain a steady CTR (click through ratio).  What about their payment options?  Are you paid once a month or weekly?  Do they allow payment via Paypal or are you limited to direct deposit or check?  If you’re planning to make a living with affiliate marketing – these questions will save you tons of accounting time down the road.  Researching the points I listed above will insure your ride is smooth into affiliate stardom!

It seems that everyone and their mother is dabbling in affiliate marketing these days.  With computers and the internet readily accessible, what effect does this have on the affiliate marketing industry and the much anticipated affiliate marketing future?  Are we in trouble?  With all these people online is there still legitimate opportunity to make money online as an affiliate?  Well to understand where we’re going, let’s take a look back to where affiliate marketing began.

Now you will find many online publications, blogs and gurus debating this very topic.  A popular pioneer of the affiliate marketing model is Amazon.com and CEO Jeff Bezos.  It is said that in July of 1996 Amazon.com launched their associates program, allowing website and product owners to generate commissions through selling on – and promoting – the Amazon marketplace.  While this sounds correct, many people are still debating the authenticity of this claim.

It’s actually speculated by many high profile internet entrepreneurs that the first affiliate marketing programs started within the adult entertainment industry.  Believe it or not, many terms we use today were first coined from the adult side of e-business.  That segment of the industry is also directly responsible for breakthroughs in streaming audio/video technology – which is crucial to the Web 2.0 world we all live in today.

The future of affiliate marketing is definitely a bright one.  When you consider how far the industry has come and how many people have acheived financial prosperity from the comforts of their home – it’s very engaging.  Though the opportunities are plentiful, do realize that even though affiliate marketing is available to anyone with a dream, one thing that will not change is this:  there are no magic buttons.

Affiliate marketing requires a fundamental understanding of how consumers think, how the internet functions and how you can place yourself and product between the customer and their destination.  These factors will always remain.

It’s no secret that going green and the eco friendly lifestyle is becoming increasingly popular during these tough economical times.  The real question though is how does this – if at all – affect the affiliate marketing and make money online industries?  Well, it would take an idiot not to see the opportunities presented with green affiliate marketing.

As this niche continues to expand and grow, so does affiliate marketing.  With each new green product there is a chance for affiliate income.  As businesses expand, so does the need to reach a broader audience and with progressive “go green” companies sprouting everyday, publishers have more than enough space to make their mark.

One of the more prominent factors affecting the green affiliate marketing boom can be traced directly back to the consumer.  When financial times get difficult the consumer naturally begins to seek out ways in which they can be more economical.

Whether this means eating only local, organic produce or installing solar panels on their roof to subsidize the cost of electricity – the consumer is becoming more aware of their footprint and the different ways they can save time, health and money.

Luckily for us, many of the major affiliate networks are up on the latest consumer trends and spending habits.  This means that finding “green” advertisers wont be difficult as an affiliate.  Clickbank is a great place to start – and though consisting of mainly digital products – it’s still very lucrative to get into promoting digital info products.  After all, most people come online when they are looking for an answer to a question – why not be there to tell them about some of the great communities and companies which can provide them with a solution?