How do I become a successful Affiliate Marketer? What are the key ingredients to be successful in Affiliate Marketing? Can I learn to be successful, and are there clear steps to success? These are common questions faced by new Internet marketers or marketers who have been around. But surely, those who want to be successful in Affiliate Marketing will always have these questions in mind.

Affiliate Marketing is the most common and easiest business model for anyone who would like to start an online business, or for those who would like to expand their product or service offerings. Though the merchant will provide the affiliate with all the necessary tools and resources to start selling the product or services, it is not as simple as it sounds.

A successful Affiliate Marketer doesn't just jump in and start advertising and driving traffic to sell the product or services. The experienced marketer will always plan every action and implement his or her business plan the best he or she can. This is done by utilizing the correct tools and resources available to maximize the business potential.

Below are the top 3 essential tools used by successful Affiliate Marketers:

Tool #1: Your Own Website

The most essential tool which is also indispensable in Affiliate Marketing is your own website. Your own website is like your own retail store. If you have no store, how can people come and shop with you? So the 1st step is to build a professional and credible looking website. Your website is the start off point of all your marketing efforts. If you don't know how to design a good and professional looking website, then you can outsource it.

Your website should be user friendly too because it is through your website that you appeal to your potential customers to click on the links to buy the product or services you are promoting. Therefore, it is imperative that your website is designed to cater to your potential customers? needs.

Research has established the fact that almost all internet users go online to look for information or for solutions, and not to buy something. It would therefore, make sense that your website is full of original, useful and relevant content. In the Internet, content is king and good quality content will draw people to your site. A website rich in content will also help it get a higher ranking by search engines.

By posting useful and helpful articles, you will establish yourself as a credible source of information, an expert in the field. Hence, your recommendations and endorsements carry a lot of weight as people perceive you as trustworthy. Building your reputation is as fundamental as in building up a loyal customer base.

Tool #2: Incentives

Competition is intense in Internet Marketing. In order to stay ahead of the game, you have to use any possible means to get people to visit your website and proceed to click on the links to the website of the product or services you are promoting.

Building you own opt-in email list is a good way of gathering prospects for future promotions. You can offer incentives to your potential customers to encourage them to subscribe your newsletter or e-zine. Give away free softwares or access to certain exclusive services or any other freebies will help you build rapport with your potential customers.

Tool #3: Link Popularity

Finally, we come to the all important traffic. Driving traffic to your site is critical in Affiliate Marketing. Without people visiting your website, there is not even a possibility for a sale. Driving people to your website is therefore, critical to the survival of your Affiliate Marketing business. Do whatever it takes to get a high search engine ranking. One of the factors that search engine uses to rank websites is the site's link popularity. To enhance your link popularity, you must have lots of link to your website!

One of the best free and long term methods of growing your link popularity is to submit articles. In submitting articles to e-zines and free article directories, you will get the chance of advertising for free, gain exposure to targeted readers and more importantly, get a link back to your website. The more sites you post your articles, the more popular your link will be. For other readers and webmaster to copy your articles, it has to be original, useful and relevant.

These are just 3 tools that an Affiliate Marketer can use to maximize sales. However, Affiliate Marketers are not limited to the above 3. There are many other techniques, ideas and strategies which you can adopt to build your Affiliate Marketing business to be a successful business.