Do I need to sell a product too?

[Naro]

I'm new to this whole affliaite marketing and want to get start soon.
Do I need to market a product or a service myself in order to draw possible buyers to me then direct them to another website to shop and buy.
I mean if have nothing to sell other information where to find a product they want or even something that buyer just saw then wanted it.
I vahe seen in some of those e-mail ad that come to me.
But, I'm not sure I would buy or believe that sells pitch
"naro"

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Naro,

Welcome to 5 Star. Most RETAIL PRODUCT affiliates, do not have their own products. Retail affiliates, which are the type of affiliates I mainly work with sell books through Amazon or clothes from Walmart or computers from Buy.com.

Based on what you wrote it kinda sounds to me like you are talking about info products and ebooks??? That may be a tough place for a newbie to start. And no most don't have their own product, they sell other people's products.

You said; "I vahe seen in some of those e-mail ad that come to me.
But, I'm not sure I would buy or believe that sells pitch"

If you are talking about the ads that say "I'm brand new to the web and making a million in my underwear with no work" then I don't blame you for not believing the sales pitch. That's why I suggest not starting with your typical ebook, because it's hard for newbies to try to sell "get rich quick online" products to other newbies when they don't even know the 1st thing about how to do sell or make money themselves yet. That's where a big part of the credibility comes in.

Start with a topic you love and know alot about and the credibility will come across.

Read all the stickies in our newbie forum. Then go to the niche forum and working on finding the best niche to start with.

[Julia]

Hi Naro,

Similar to what Linda said, as a new affiliate in the business I think one of the best ways to get started is to promote products that are in a field which you love and know something about - your passion and knowledge will show through and this honesty will be a great selling point.

When getting started there is no need to have your own personal product to sell, the beauty of affiliate marketing is that you get paid for referring traffic and sales without having to have a product (or a be 'merchant') yourself.

[KirkhamsEbooks]

I agree

If it's a niche you love you can join forums for that niche, then use your signature file to send people to your website or affiliate link. Caution some forums do not allow affiliate links in sig files.

The main thing is if it's a niche you already like you'll enjoy adding to the discussion in forums people will see your excitement and click on your sig

That's one way to get started anyway

Rick