A few years ago I heard a lot of buzz about affiliate marketing, however, I wasn't sure what it was.

It's actually pretty simple. Affiliate marketing is when a web publisher markets a companies business for them. In exchange, they receive payment for any lead, sale, download or other agreed upon item that is generated.

A savvy web publisher can earn a good income online doing this. I earn around 75% with many of the affiliate marketing programs I use. Just to give you an idea of what you can make, some of my advertisers pay me $35 per sale or more.

There are several problems I see many new affiliate marketers make when first getting started.

One is putting all of their eggs in one basket. This is not a good approach. Let's say that you have a good website with lots of quality content, but only have one affiliate link or banner. Do not expect to make money this way. Yes, you may make a few bucks, but not much.

Another big problem I see is not learning basic HTML. Of all people I know this can be very intimidating. I have learned as much as I need to update my site, and outsource everything else. If you forget everything about affiliate marketing, remember this term, "Open in a new window". More on this later, but in essence it is a make or break you in business.

When you are trying to establish yourself in affiliate marketing, you want to keep visitors on your web site as long as possible, and this is no easy task. When you start putting links to your affiliate programs on your website, you have the option to "open in a new window" or not. If you do not choose this option, when your visitor clicks on the "X" on their browser after viewing the ad, your site is gone and they are returned to the search engine where they began their search. So much for your affiliate marketing income!

Let's take a look at two possible scenarios and decide which has the best possible outcome.

Scenario A) A visitor lands on your website and sees an affiliate ad, clicks on it, isn't interested in making the purchase, closes out by clicking "X", and they are onto the next site.

Scenario B) A visitor lands on your website and sees an affiliate ad, clicks on it, isn't interested in making the purchase, closes out by clicking "X", they are returned to your site (because you used the "open in new window" option) From there they either fill out a form, make a purchase or download etc. You make between $5-50 or more. They "X" out and automatically return to your site and find an article to read, click on another ad, etc.

I would choose scenario B, and I'm guessing you would too. It just makes sense. The key to successful affiliate marketing is to actively market several programs at once so you have multiple streams of income. You also will need to have quality content on your site such as articles and make sure every links is set to open in a new window. If this sounds Greek to you, hire a college student for $10-$15 per hour, and have them teach you.

Solid companies that offer affiliate marketing opportunities are, Commission Junction, Link Share, Affiliate Fuel and the BizOpp Network.

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->