In today's difficult economy many people are turning to affiliate marketing as a way to make some good money. The key to succeeding as an affiliate marketer is knowledge and education. It is necessary to learn about the best affiliate marketing strategies and apply this knowledge to your business. The following article contains some good affiliate marketing tips to help you get started.

To increase the success of your affiliate marketing, be sure to choose quality products to advertise. Remember, all of the recommendations that you make reflect directly back on you. Therefore, if you advertise an affordable and quality product, your customers or subscribers will trust your advice, thereby boosting your credibility.

To increase the success of your affiliate marketing, be sure to test products before you advertise them. If you are displeased with the product, it is likely that your customers or subscribers will be as well. Advertising an unsatisfactory product will decrease your credibility and trustworthiness, while advertising a quality product will do the opposite.

When you join up for an affiliate program, you need to make sure that the service uses cookie tracking. This way, customers who were referred by you, but do not purchase their first time on the site, will still be "your" customers if they do happen to purchase a product. The service will recognize that they were initially brought to the site through your efforts.

If you are reviewing a product that you have not purchased, make sure that you always include examples of how it works. You always want to give screen shots of the product, other reviews from users (with permission), and other vital information about the product. As an affiliate, you should be really informed about any product you promote.

Focus on the sell through, not just the number of clicks. Remember affiliate marketing is not about the number of page views, it's about the number of people who follow through and buy. Just bringing someone to a page won't make you any money so make sure the customer has a reason to want to buy what you are offering.

Real time statistics should be used so that you can track your sales on that site. You should be given a user name and password so that you can log on and see exactly what sales you have made to the minute. You will be able to track the banners, text links and recommendations, that are drawing in business.

Use a plugin to help you rotate the advertisements on your site. Eliminate the ads that are not making any money to free up some space for new ads that may work better. Track this internally through your account on the affiliate marketing site that you are working through.

As was stated in the beginning of this article, in today's troublesome economic times affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money. The way to succeed as an affiliate marketer is to educate yourself on the subject and learn the best and most effective affiliate marketing strategies. Apply the advice from this article and you'll be on your way to making big money as an affiliate marketer.