Some newcomers to affiliate programs get sucked into believing that all they have to do to make money with affiliate programs is rush around the Net pasting blatant ads on to message boards.
Don't fall into that trap. If you do, you'll quickly annoy a lot people, ruin your reputation, and get kicked out of programs by affiliate merchants who don't want you to ruin THEIR reputation.
You CAN make sales by visiting message boards if you do it intelligently. Harvey Segal does, for example, by building sites which compare products. He helpfully answers questions on message boards and tells people they can find more details at his site.
WARNING: Many message boards do not allow you to post affiliate links. Some allow affiliate links only in your signature. So make sure you read the forum's rules to find out what you're allowed to do.
Marketing message boards or forums are good places to ask questions and learn from more experienced affiliates. Here's our Affiliate Forum
Aim for repeat visitors
Often people will buy on their THIRD visit to a site, not the first. So you'll miss out badly if your site is not interesting and useful enough to encourage people to return.
Planning a banner farm? Don't even waste time thinking about it.
Affiliate networks are a good place to start
Affiliate networks provide guidelines for the merchants in them, so with any luck you're associated with quality programs if you're with the networks.
Affiliate networks are free for affiliates to join.
A popular network is Commission Junction because it consolidates checks from all its different merchants into one check, allowing you to experiment easily with many different programs. Other networks include LinkShare and Be Free.
A smaller network run by a feisty bunch of people who have a strong commitment to help affiliates is Shareasale. I like their anti-parasite stand.
Here's a list of affiliate networks with comments.
