A common question that I keep hearing from Social Networking newcomers is “How do I make money online without a website?” The answer is really quite simple. You DO NOT need to have your own website to make money online. All you really need to know how to do is complete online forms and copy/paste links. That’s really all there is to it from a technological standpoint.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of more complicated, technologically advanced ways to make money on the Internet, but most people out there trying to make a buck online don’t have the necessary skills to implement those types of strategies. Whenever I encounter someone that is a relative newcomer to trying to earn an online living, I advise them to start out simple. As simple as you can get. I tell them to start out with some simple Affiliate Marketing. It’s something that anyone can do, it’s easy to learn and absolutely free to get started.

The phrase “Affiliate Marketing” often raises an eyebrow or two with the newcomer and I usually get the quick response: “I don’t want to be in any pyramid scheme or have to refer other people to a program in order to make money”. To which I reply: “Then don’t!”. When I refer to Affiliate Marketing, I am not talking about Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM), Shopping Clubs or pyramid schemes. To become an affiliate marketer and make money online, all you need to do is share links to great products, deals, sales and promotions with your friends and/or anyone else that might come across your link on the world wide web.

So, how does one get started with affiliate marketing and how do you make money doing it?

Well, the first step is to join an affiliate network. I personally prefer and use the LinkShare and ShareASale affiliate networks.

An affiliate network is a company that provides a sort of advertising service to many large scale online retailers/service providers. Affiliates like you and me sign up as a publisher with the affiliate network, and are provided with trackable links to products, promotions etc., that we can easily copy/paste to share around the web on Social Networks (like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter), on Internet forums, discussion boards or through email. When people like our friends click on those links, we as an affiliate get credit for referring a customer to the product or service and become eligible for a commission. No website needed. No inventory to keep. No customer service. Just pure referral marketing at it’s finest. There’s no need to pressure your friends. If they find the link interesting and follow it to something they want to buy, then you provided them a service by pointing the way. If they make a purchase, you get a commission. It’s just that simple.

Now, let’s be frank here. This is not going to make you a millionaire overnight, but with consistent effort and practice, you can earn some pretty good commissions this way. Since becoming an affiliate marketer is free, the only cost you will incur is the time it takes you to sign-up for your account and share links. This can be done in minutes a day. Over time, you should be able to build yourself a nice little monthly income. If you’re savvy enough to write your own blog, you can create a nice steady stream of traffic to your affiliate links through your blog posts, as well as place affiliate banners or links in the sidebar , header or footer to make even more money.

Don’t have a blog? Join the GetPaidToBeSocial Community and you’ll get a free blog where you can post as many affiliate links as you like. You can also use the Discussion Board or create a group to promote your links. It doesn’t get easier than this.

Now it’s all up to you. Join LinkShare or ShareASale or both, become an affiliate marketer, share your links on Social Networks, Internet forums, discussion boards, in emails or write a blog and make some money.

Tags: affiliate marketing, blogging, blogs, links, social networking

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Tips and Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.