One way to make money online is through affiliate marketing. There are some Internet marketers who specialize in affiliate marketing and make good money doing it. This is when you take someone else’s product and market it to the max, earning a commission every time you make a sale. But is this a good way to make money for small business owners?

I wouldn’t suggest that you add affiliate links and banners all over your website, but you can earn some additional income by promoting one or two affiliate programs related to your niche. The key is to choose noncompeting products and services, complimentary even.

Let’s say that you are a farrier  and you run a local horseshoeing business. You know that not everyone who comes to your website is interested in your horseshoeing service. Some people might actually be interested in buying horseshoes or in learning how to become a farrier.

You could do some research to find related products and services that you feel comfortable promoting. Let’s say you find a book about becoming a farrier. You might join the affiliate program for that book seller (if they have one) and sell the book on your website along with custom horse shoes crafted by a blacksmith in another state. If you lead a customer from your website to buy the book or order the horseshoes from the blacksmith then you earn a commission. Otherwise, perhaps your site visitors will do business with you.

By choosing affiliate products related but not competing with your service, you give your site visitors another reason to trust you and maybe they’ll do business with you down the line. At any rate, you help them today and earn a little bit of extra income doing so.

Tags: affiliate marketing, local business, small business

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 1:37 am and is filed under Local Internet Marketing. 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.