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In the coming days and weeks I will publish a sequence of articles trying to cover all steps to a lucrative business of affiliate marketing. This is the first article and it is intended to explain the idea of affiliate marketing to people who are just starting to look for information on the subject. I will also show some ways to find a product to choose to promote.

This article is not meant for skilled marketers or for people who are familiar with affiliate marketing and with the process of identifying products to promote, as it will discuss only the very basics. Hopefully some of the future articles will cover advanced steps, which even veteran marketers will find beneficial.

I will start by explaining what affiliate marketing is. Well, I like to say that Affiliate Marketing is to the 21st century what the Gold Rush was to the 19th century. The gold is there - one only needs to find it. But, on a more practical note: Affiliate Marketing is simply an agreement between you and a merchant or a product publisher, that says that the merchant will pay you a percentage of each and every sale he or she makes to a customer that you have driven to their web site.

There are different types of products: material products - from face cream to a million dollar villa; digital products - software, ebooks, videos, that can be downloaded instantly from the Internet; and products in the form of registrations to courses, opts-in to email lists etc. Many thousands of merchants pay commissions to their affiliates for sales and for leads.

You can see that the fortunes are there, hidden under the ground in Internet land. You need to go out there and dig it out. Most new affiliate marketers learn that their first step, i.e. finding the right product, is the most complicated one.

Let me suggest a few ideas for starters:

1. Have you ever purchased a product online which you really liked? Why not try to become an affiliate? Go to the product’s site or sales letter, click on the “affiliate program” link. You’ll find there all the information you need.

2. Start thinking about your hobbies, things you are interested in, things you have knowledge about. Perhaps you are a member of some forums in which you discuss your passion. This will help you a lot later, in your promotions. Let’s say you like basketball; you know everything about the game, the teams, and the players. Start searching for products that are associated with basketball, find their affiliate programs and start promoting them.

3. Try to think of something that is very popular in the United States, but hasn’t reached Europe yet, register to become an affiliate and start a Google Adwords campaign in France or in Great Britain. And, vice versa. Perhaps you’ve been to Europe and discovered a great product that is not yet known in North America. Contact the production company and start promoting it in the US.

4. Follow the popular products on your kids’ list. Talk to them and to their friends or to any group of teenagers to find out what they like. These are usually best selling items.

5. Read popular magazines and see what new fashions and products they report about.

6. And, obviously: become an affiliate at Commision Junction, ClickBank and other such services. Their database has thousands of products and they’ll let you know what the best sellers are.

In Article 2 I will describe the second step on the way to rewarding affiliate marketing.