Do you want to make extra income from home? Or perhaps you are new to internet business and don't know where to get started? If that's the case, you should try affiliate marketing first. It is a way to make the money by just promoting other people's products.

You don't need to worry about shipping, customer support and refund. You can also avoid things like shopping cart and payment processor. All you need to do is promote other people's products. It cost nothing to join an affiliate program.

So, it is a very lucrative business model which can be done with little or no starting cost. In case you are new to affiliate marketing and clueless on where to get started, the following tips might help you:

1. Research for profitable niche markets. This process is a must and you should make niche research as top priority. Different niches require different approached. Understand your target audience properly.

One way to find profitable niche would probably by using Google Keyword Tool. It is a free tool from Google. Other tools would probably Market Samurai or Keyword Blueprint. By using these tools, you will get the idea on what most people are searching everyday on the internet.

2. There are lots of factors that you need to consider before choosing one product to promote. One factor would be the sales letter conversion. This is true when you are using Clickbank as your affiliate network. Read the sales letter, see the product gravity. If the sales letter is great, with convincing video, then it probably a good product to promote.

3. It is important to have your own domain name and hosting. You will enjoy more freedom and paid hosting service is more suitable for business since they won't paste ads all around your website. When registering for new domain name, make sure that you enter relevant keyword phrase to your niche. This will boost your search engine ranking later on.

4. Install Wordpress blog in your domain and optimize for search engines. Usually, you can install Wordpress with ease from your hosting control panel. Then, include Platinum SEO or Headspace plugin. Don't forget to use the targeted keywords as your blog title, description and meta keywords. Write a unique, relevant content in to the niche you are into.

5. You will get more traffic and better search engine ranking if you spend time on link building. Search engine, especially Google will consider total backlinks to improve your ranking. You can start building links by posting articles to directories like Ezine Articles, Free Library, Article Dashboard and Go Articles.