If you had to start an affiliate marketing business from scratch, what would you do? Maybe you would chose a herbal affiliate program..

I can remember when I was waking up at 6am in the cold dark UK winters, scraping the ice from the car windows to join the traffic jams on the Motorway. I had my fair share of information CD’s I had purchased from Internet Marketing Guru’s I had with me in the car and every day I joined the cue in the traffic moving a few hundred meters per hour.  I’d make use of the time gathering information to escape the torturous routine I felt trapped in.

It wasn’t just the traffic, or the routine, I actually enjoyed my work but I didn’t like being told what to do especially when those telling me what to do didn’t have a clue. Going into work when it is dark in the morning and coming home in the dark isn’t much of a life I wanted to be in, I had to get out somehow.

I was ‘feeling the pain’ and that inspired me to start my own affiliate business. Chipping away, building an online presence in my chosen niche.

It did take time to learn the ropes and eventually a few dollars came in, then a few hundred dollars and eventually I had three months wages saved in the bank to get out of the misery and start my own business.

If I had to start again from scratch what would you do?

This is what I would do..

1. I would make sure I had the determination to start a business. You need determination to keep chipping away one day at a time. Imagine being in a jail cell with a nail file every day cutting away a few microns of metal from the cell bars. You need to be determined to keep filing away at those bars every day. In time, you will break out and see the world in a different light – once you have a steady stream of affiliate income coming in every month.

2. You need to choose a niche – and own it! Do the research with Google Adwords Keyword Tool and check out several markets to make sure the traffic volume is there and the competition is fair.

If, you dive into a niche market with lots of big players without research, you’re doomed to fail from the start. You need to take a right angled view of the niche and ‘claim your stake’ with a different message.

For example, If you wanted to enter the weight loss market you would have so much competition you would not be able to compete with the same old message. Instead, you need to ‘be able’ to break into the market with a different message. Consider this message..

‘Lose 20 Pounds in 2 weeks’

Instead you could consider the ‘right angle’ point of view in the weight loss market and introduce an  ’emotional eating’ website.

3. Once you have an idea and a niche, It’s a good idea to start to gather leads with an optin form. Test the market by building a website and writing blog posts with a call to action to optin for more information. Building a list from the start will empower your business later on once you have many email subscribers.

4. Get traffic, either purchased by PPC or by posting in forums. You can test your website with paid traffic from Pay Per Click advertising. It might cost you a little to test your site but it’s worth spending a little money to test your site before you start investing time or money with SEO and Link building.

5. Chose niche affiliate offers to promote. Look for affiliate programs that have unique offers that you could target within your chosen niche.  For example, you could chose a herbal affiliate program or an adult affiliate program.

Health affiliate offers with unique products are great to promote.

6. Keep chipping away. Rome wasn’t built in a day however If you have the determination, you can build your own affiliate marketing empire to create a real asset, that will benefit you for years to come.