But what you hear very little about are the rules and regulations of articles on affiliate sites. Before you end up in a sticky situation let’s take some time to discuss what rules and regulations are out there that you should be aware of.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, most affiliate programs have their own rules and regulations regarding content articles on their affiliates’ sites.

While some are clearly· stated, others are not. The following list is just a few of the most commonly-known rules regarding content articles on affiliate sites.

· Links may only be placed in certain areas in articles. (dependent upon program)

· You may not tell or ask a reader to click on a link. (dependent upon program)

· Your article must be written in a certain font style and size. (varies from program to program)

· Stale content is not allowed. (this is becoming a widespread rule, especially since the Google revolution)

This is particularly important to marketers regardless of the rules, since your visitors want fresh content.

The fresher the content the more likely you are to have repeat visitors. They will come to your site looking for new reading.

· Filler content is not allowed. No one wants to read an article full of "fluff". If you’re going to take the time to read an article you want to feel like you’ve gotten something out of it when you’re done reading.

· Articles topics must be related to the product or service on the site. This is to prevent people from "stealing" traffic by have content on their site that is totally unrelated to the products and services they offer. After all, fair is fair!

Before placing content on your affiliate site be sure to take the time to fully understand your program’s rules regarding content. It will save you a lot of wasted time on re-writing your content and the possibility of a lot of trouble.

While we’ve all read success stories on various topics, some of the most encouraging stories to read are those that are written about people in a similar situation as you.

The following tidbits are based on true success stories of affiliate marketers.

Without naming individuals’ names or giving site links I’m going to give two-sentence bits on several different affiliate marketing success stories.

This article would quickly become a book if I were to include bigger portions for each case.  If you’d like to know more about any of these success stories a quick Google search for affiliate marketing success stories will turn up what you’re looking for.

Ebay’s affiliate program has produced many, many successful affiliate marketers.  Using a variety of marketing methods such as Natural Search, Content/Niche Site and Paid Search, eBay’s affiliates have reaped the rewards of being part of a successful affiliate program.

Not nearly the scale of eBay’s affiliate program, but producing successful affiliates nonetheless, is AllSat.com’s affiliate program.

This two-tier affiliate program offering DishNetwork satellite systems has provided a very comfortable living for many of its affiliates.

Now I understand that I’ve only given two examples of affiliate marketing success stories, but there are so many more out there like these.

My hope is that by giving you just enough to really catch your attention you’ll take the time on your own when you’re finished reading this article to do a Google search of affiliate marketing success stories and read more.

Believe me, when you’re done reading a few of the stories out there you’ll be feeling very inspired and ready to take the leap into affiliate marketing.

If you’ve already taken the leap and perhaps are feeling a bit down because your progress has been slow, then this might be just the pick-me-up you need!

Four of the many methods used in Internet marketing are:

1.Search Engine Marketing: This is done by paying search engines (like Google) for each time your advertisement is clicked on by a web surfer. This is called Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing sometimes.

You are allowed to write your own advertisement for the search engine to use when providing results of searches made using your relevant key words.

2.Affiliate Marketing: An affiliate marketing program is set up by the owner or producer of a product or service whereby other marketers are paid to sell that product or service for a percentage of the sale or a flat fee for each sale.

This is one of the more popular forms of Internet marketing. Many times savvy marketers can set up website businesses without owning or producing any product of service of their own and those who do own products are services are happy to have others selling for them.

3.E-mail Marketing: This is a form of Internet marketing that has fallen on hard times of late with the being enacted prohibiting spamming.

Opt-in lists are now required to avoid being penalized for sending out spam e-mails. It is still, however, a very effective method of Internet marketing because the opt-in lists are people who are most interested in the product or service being offered.

4.Article Marketing: Owners of products or service operations write articles using key words and attention getting titles.

They then list them in article directories, repositories or article banks to be downloaded and reproduced by other website owners and ezine publishers free of charge as long as the articles remain unaltered and the resource box is included in the reproduction.

You’re not alone.  Many of us have been where you are and there are a couple of simple steps you can take to remedy this situation.

The first step we should discuss when talking about how to get the clicks you want on your website is content.  Quality content cannot be substituted with anything else.

Without quality content there is very little that you have to work with when trying to get good rankings on the search engines.

To ensure that you have the kind of content you need to make your site successful you need to have well-written articles on topics related to your market that are keyword rich.

If you’re unsure that you can write these on your own there are a wide variety of sites you can visit with information on writing these types of articles.

You may also want to consider hiring someone who is experienced in writing content articles to do the writing for your site.

The next step you need to take after getting good content on your site is to make use of the keywords in the content articles.

You’ll want to make a list of keywords in the articles on each page of your website.  Once you’ve done this you need to contact your web master and ask him/her to name each of your web pages with one of these keywords.

Your web master will likely be able to tell you which of the keywords will be most effective for your site.

If not you can use a keyword search tool (Google search keyword rankings) and find which will get you the most clicks.

There are a couple of key considerations when selecting a web host for your site.

The first consideration is their reputation.  While cost will probably be a major factor, there’s no substitute for choosing a reputable web host, and saving a few dollars will not be worth it in the long run if you end up with the wrong web host.

You can check out potential hosts on the web using a Google search, going to Whois.com, asking other site owners for input and by visiting the BBB.  Just be sure to take the extra time doing your research so you make a good choice.

Once you’ve made a short list of companies that are reputable you’ll want to discuss your needs with them.

How much server space you need, what options you’re looking for on your site and things of that nature are all topics you’ll want to discuss with them to make sure they can meet your needs.

You’ll also want to discuss with them what your future needs may be so that you’ll find a company that will be able to grow with you.

Now that you’ve narrowed your choices down based on reputation and service you need to look at cost.

This will be the easiest part of choosing your web host, since your most important requirements have been pointed out and all that’s left, basically, is a price comparison.

Though you’ll not want to spend money unnecessarily, you’ll want to consider that Company X may cost a little more now, but will better meet your future needs than Company Y, which charges a little less.

Finding the right web host is not a terribly difficult process.  It is, however, worth spending a little extra time on to save you the potential for a huge hassle later on down the road.

Four of the many methods used in Internet marketing are:

1. Search Engine Marketing: This is done by paying search engines (like Google) for each time your advertisement is clicked on by a web surfer.

This is called Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing sometimes. You are allowed to write your own advertisement for the search engine to use when providing results of searches made using your relevant key words.

2. Affiliate Marketing: An affiliate marketing program is set up by the owner or producer of a product or service whereby other marketers are paid to sell that product or service for a percentage of the sale or a flat fee for each sale.

This is one of the more popular forms of Internet marketing. Many times savvy marketers can set up website businesses without owning or producing any product of service of their own and those who do own products are services are happy to have others selling for them.

3. E-mail Marketing: This is a form of Internet marketing that has fallen on hard times of late with the being enacted prohibiting spamming.

Opt-in lists are now required to avoid being penalized for sending out spam e-mails. It is still, however, a very effective method of Internet marketing because the opt-in lists are people who are most interested in the product or service being offered.

4. Article Marketing: Owners of products or service operations write articles using key words and attention getting titles.

They then list them in article directories, repositories or article banks to be downloaded and reproduced by other website owners and ezine publishers free of charge as long as the articles remain unaltered and the resource box is included in the reproduction.

Whatever the case may be, you need to know the basics before you get started.  Let’s take a quick look at what you need to have and what you need to do.

There is very little you actually need in order to build your own website, and just about everything you need is available for free somewhere on the Internet or in your computer.

This probably comes as a surprise to you, but at least it’s a pleasant surprise!  And to top it all off, there are scores of websites and tutorials on building your own website available at the click of your mouse.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1.Basic computer skills (which I’m sure you have already if you’re reading this blog!)

2.Access to a personal computer (there again, you’re reading this blog, so you can check that off, as well)

3.Access to the internet (another check for this requirement!)

4.an HTML editor (FrontPage comes pre-installed in many computers, but if you don’t have it, no worries.  There are plenty of free HTML editors available on the web. Just do a Google search for "free HTML editor" and you’ll quickly find one. )

5.A place on the web to publish your page. (This is where you will want to bypass free and go for a paid service.  If you intend to use this site for business there is no substitute for a paid domain.To be taken seriously and considered a professional you need to have a paid domain with corresponding e-mail address.)

As you can see, there’s not much that you need to build a website.  You will want to take the time to read up on the HTML editor that you choose to use so that you will have a firm understanding of how it works.

With just a little time and effort you will quickly have your own website, built and designed by you.