Affiliate marketing is a very popular way to earn money online and many people are earning a full-time income from this process. The process includes signing up with a merchant as an affiliate and receiving a commission each time a customer is sent to their website and makes a purchase. There are many ways that an affiliate can accomplish doing Internet based affiliate marketing. It can be done through social networks, blogs and through article marketing. No matter the process used for getting customers to a merchant's website, below are some of the top tips for success that apply to all.

Select Your Merchant Carefully

Many affiliate marketers gravitate towards merchants that offer the highest commissions. This is not always the best way to choose who to market for. A better way to choose a product to promote is by looking for products that are high quality and have a good conversion rate of visitors to buyers.

Have Integrity

A good tip to remember is to be an honest affiliate marketer. Affiliates should not promote something that they would never buy themselves. No matter how it is promoted, it is going to be associated with the affiliate. If an affiliate wants to gain a good reputation, they should only sell products that they believe in.

Choose Your Niche Carefully

No matter how hard an affiliate works, if they cannot get traffic to their websites or blogs, they will not make any money. Competition can be fierce, especially in some niches. This is why it is very important to choose a niche carefully. If a niche is dominated by big companies or corporations, it is probably wise to stay away from it. On the other hand, if a niche has little to no competition, then that can signify that there is not a market for it. A little competition is a good sign that there is money to be made.

Track Results

One of the best ways to know if a particular method of promotion is working is by tracking results. Tracking things like visits to a website or blog and how well keywords are performing is a great idea. If a particular method of promotion is not bringing in results, then the affiliate can change it or get rid of it to free up time on methods that are producing results.

Use Different Merchants For Each Niche

While having a specific merchant might be working out well, it is a wise idea to spread promotion over a few merchants. If an affiliate uses just one merchant and the merchant closes down their website, then the affiliate can be left without any revenue streams. This is why affiliates trying to be successful with Internet based affiliate marketing should always use more than one merchant for their niche promotions.