I have explained the concept of Affiliate Marketing and where you can learn affiliate marketing in earlier posts.

To profit from affiliate marketing, obviously you need to first build the traffic to your website and then “convince” people to buy the affiliate products you are promoting.

One of the very down-to-earth but successful internet marketers I like a lot is Pat Flynn. You can read more about him.

For affiliate marketing, one way you can promote a particular product or service (product in short) is to provide a review of the product itself.

It is perhaps possible to do this even if you have not used the product yourself by relying on some research and and reviews by others. However, nothing beats the fact that you have actually used the product and can share objectively your own usage experience.

I agree with Pat Flynn that when promoting affiliate programs, that you have 2 basic rules:

• only promote affiliate products which you have used before
• share your experiences in the context of how you use the products and how they have benefited you

And the key reason I believe in this is because you want to build a long-term relationship with your followers and gain their trust.

And you do definitely should have the chance to use some of these products in your niche area.

So say in the case of internet marketing or digital marketing, we do need a number of tools to do our work efficiently, such tools as email auto-responder, keyword research tool, web hosting, WordPress paid themes, software to create images or edit videos etc etc. Some of these can be free but the paid ones certainly offer higher value (read Free vs Paid WordPress Themes).

If you have used different products which do the same thing, your usage experience is valuable and you will hold authority to share this experience with your readers and followers.

Having said so, you may like aspects of the product and dislike other functionalities it offers. This can be subjective sometimes and needs of different users may be different.

Therefore, when you do your reviews, it is essential you state your buying decision criteria and how the product stacks against those criteria. In this way, your readers can compare your criteria list against their lists.

I have used many web hosting providers before and for my websites targeting the audience primarily in Singapore, I have given my web hosting provider recommendation.

I like how Pat Flynn has put together a Resources page and shared the tools he has used and benefited from. Of course, he has also provided the affiliate links and that’s how he gets his affiliate incomes while the readers also benefit from choosing the right products.

Good luck with your affiliate marketing efforts!