Before plunging in and dissecting the three most important tools you'll need to succeed in Affiliate Marketing, let me first list at least some of the questions which any hopeful affiliate marketer worth his/her salt should want answered before even considering entering this profitable field.

 1. What does it take to become a successful Affiliate

    Marketer?

 2. What are the key ingredients of an affiliate marketing

    success story?

 3. Is there a shortcut to Affiliate Marketing glory?

These are the kinds of questions that play around in the minds of hopeful affiliate marketers, and I'll do my best to answer them in this article.

Although affiliate marketing is touted as one of the easiest and most effective ways to earn money online, it's not as easy as it sounds.

The wise affiliate marketer plans every action and executes it the best way he can. Having the right tools can spell the difference between becoming a major success story, or winding up beaten and penniless, as many do.

It is vital that the potential affiliate marketer accept the fact that only by using the right tools will his/her Affiliate Marketing business become a profitable venture.

We have consulted some of the most successful affiliate marketers in the business in this regard and they have generously revealed what are, in their opinion, the top three Key Tools for a successful affiliate marketing business. Straight from them to you, these are discussed below.

     Key Tool #1: YOUR OWN WEBSITE

The most important and indispensable tool in Affiliate Marketing is having your own website. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website.

Your website is the jumping off point for all your marketing efforts. Thus, you must first build a user-friendly website which will appeal to your prospects and encourage them to click on the links to the products and services you are promoting (and, hopefully, make a purchase).

It is vital, therefore, to focus your efforts on building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.

The most important thing you should always keep in mind is that almost all web users go online to look for information, and not necessarily to buy something. Above all else, make your website full of original, relevant and useful content.

People love articles that are appealing and helpful. Remember that, on the internet, content is king, and good, quality content will not only build your credibility, it can also help you achieve a higher search engine ranking.

By posting relevant and useful articles, you establish yourself as an expert in that field, making you a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is a tremendous step in building up a loyal customer base.

     Key Tool #2: USING INCENTIVES

Competition is extremely tight in the internet world. You must always be one step ahead of your competition to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market.

Therefore, you must use every possible means to encourage people not only to visit your site, but also to click and proceed to the websites of the products and services you're promoting.

Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather potential prospects. Start your own newsletter or ezine.

Then, offer value-added incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter. You can give away fr.ee software, access to exclusive services, a fr.ee eBook, or even fr.ee access to any product you may have tried to market in the past which didn't sell well - this could be your own product, or one to which you have resell rights.

The fact that it didn't sell well for you doesn't mean that your prospect won't find it a valuable gift...particularly, when it's free!

     Key Tool #3: LINK POPULARITY

The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website can't be overemphasized. The all-important web traffic is at the top of the list of the most important properties in the internet world. Commit this to memory.

Attracting people to your site should be your first, and foremost, order of business. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use to determine search engine rankings.

Thus, to enhance your link popularity, you must launch an aggressive, no holds-barred, reciprocal link campaign.

One of the best ways to do this, at no cost at all, is by submitting articles with your website's link in the resource box to e-zines and article directory sites. This will not only bring exposure, you will also have  the opportunity to advertise for free just by including a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity can be.

Work diligently to make your articles are original, relevant  and useful, so that more websites will pick them up. It's impossible to put a price tag on the exposure these efforts will bring you.

  There you have them...

These are but three of the many tools that an affiliate marketer can use to maximize his/her earnings potential. The possibilities  are endless and are limited only by your imagination, creativity, and resourcefulness.

And, it goes without saying, you're encouraged to explore other ideas, and adapt other strategies besides these, in order to help you become a high rolling, well paid, affiliate marketer.

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