In my last post, I talked about how to get started in affiliate marketing and make money through social networking without having a website. This post is somewhat of an add-on to that post as it relates to the affiliate links that I discussed earlier.

Once you’ve become an affiliate link publisher and are comfortable posting links and sharing them around the web, this next step to further monetize your links, should be a breeze, but first, let’s take a look at where we’re at up to this point. By now, if you’ve read my previous post and put my advice into action, you’ve joined an affiliate network (like LinkShare or ShareASale), created some affiliate links to products or services provided by the advertisers there and posted them around the web on either a few Social Networks (like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace), in Internet forums, discussion boards, in emails or all of the above.

You may also have been eagerly checking your traffic and click through statistics in your affiliate network members area in hopes of seeing a generated sale resulting in a commission. If you’ve made a commission, good for you! If you haven’t yet seen the fruits of your labor, don’t despair. It often takes some time and practice to generate enough quality traffic through your links to generate sales. However, it does happen, so be consistent and continue to post your links. You may have also noticed that the links generated by affiliate networks are usually very long and they’re just not good for posting to places that have limited character spaces for posting like Twitter.

This finally brings me around to the actual topic of this post. There is a way to make money from your links, without generating a sale. There is a new service that I have been using called LinkBee. You may have already noticed that I have used some LinkBee links above in this post as well as in my previous post. They provide a link shortening service that helps make those long affiliate links much shorter and very Twitter friendly. You may have already come across other sites that provide a similar service (like TinyUrl.com) however, LinkBee goes one step further and provides a way to monetize their shortened links.

LinkBee provides three ways to create links. The first is just a simple URL(link) shortening service where you can convert your very long URL into a nice short URL. This is identical to the service provided by other sites. It’s useful when you need a short URL, but it won’t make you any money.

The other two ways to create links provided by LinkBee will monetize your shortened URLs and provide you with a way to earn money from your links even if they don’t result in a sale. You can earn the most from using their Interstitial Ads. This method will show visitors a brief ad before being taken to the URL you specified. Here is an example using an Interstitial LinkBee ad in a link that points to one of my other websites. The second way LinkBee can monetize your links is through Top Frame Banner Ads. The top frame banner is less intrusive and will display a banner at the top of the destination page you specify, however, it will earn you less then the interstitial ad. Here is an example using a Top Frame Banner Ad in a link that points to my StumbleUpon profile.

LinkBee payout rates are per CPM(cost per 1000 impressions). Therefore, when you use LinkBee links to post your affiliate links, you can make money for posting your links and sending them traffic whether you make a sale or not. This will not bring big bucks overnight, but for those just starting out, it can provide a little extra start-up income as an incentive to stay consistent.

LinkBee is one of the latest hot media properties from Jolt Media Group. Originally found in the year 2000, the company collectively receives well over 25 million unique visitors in a single month and contains a database of over 5 million email subscribers. Originally founded on the basis of email marketing, JMG has expanded to become one of the largest media companies online. I have found that LinkBee is especially great for sharing Links on Twitter and I think you will too.

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.