One of the easiest ways of starting an online business and earning quick profits is through affiliate marketing. With no website to develop, no product development to achieve, no refunds or customer problems to deal with, this is by far the most effective way of developing your online presence.

If you already have your affiliate products and you're working at making more sales, an increase in commissions is the obvious goal of everyone. With more and more products hitting the online market, it's essential to follow some simple yet crucial steps. So what are they?

If you want your affiliate program commissions to take off, literally overnight, these are the steps you need to seriously consider;

1. Do your research and check out the programs you're thinking about promoting. It's pretty obvious that you only want to promote a product that will give you the maximum paycheck in the shortest possible time.

The main factors to consider when doing this are obvious when you stop and think about them, but more often than not, are not fully considered before putting your time and money into making your product pay.

Check the commission structure and make sure it pays well. Also, try to find products that match your target audience and are already paying well to other affiliates. You soon know when a program isn't meeting up to it's promises - that's the time to reconsider its worth and move on to the next.

As you're probably going to be one of many affiliates promoting the same product, especially if it's a good one, establish your USP - or 'Unique Selling Position'. Set yourself up as offering that little something extra that makes you stand out above the crowd. Write a short article to give away as an incentive to potential buyers. This gives you both greater credibility and extra drawing power.

Give information that's not only free, but useful. When you do this, if what you give away for free is good, people naturally expect a great deal more from the bought product. Make recommendations about the product within the report if you can, and try to give just enough information to make people need the actual product.

2. When giving away free reports or ebooks, save and collect, at the very least, the name and email addresses of all those who download your gift. It's now widely known that very few people make a purchase on their first introduction to a product.

This is where an autoresponder is invaluable as you can create a whole series of follow up messages to send to these prospects to entice them into buying your product. Anywhere between 6 and 10 messages are needed to finally clinch the sale, so automate this process and capitalize on the free report.

Once you have these prospects details, they are yours until the person unsubscribes. This means that you can send them information in the months ahead about other products you're promoting, long after they've bought the original item.

If you develop an ezine, you are in a perfect position to send more valuable, and occasional free, information to these prospects who now value you as a source of knowledge and useful recommendations. You develop a relationship with them and they may stay with you for years to come. They begin to trust you and your recommendations and eventually, are likely to buy from you again.

3. Never underestimate the power of negotiation. Be prepared to haggle with a seller whose goods you wish to promote. Remember that all merchants need affiliates to market and sell their goods and will be more inclined to change their payment structure than potentially loose business if they see you as a good source of income.

Be bold and you could find yourself receiving a greater slice of the pie for all your advertising efforts. Don't be greedy but be fair and you will be respected for it.

4. Use effective advertising techniques. 'Pay Per Click' will give you the most immediate results if you do your research right. Naturally, Google's Adwords and Overture are the places to start, being leaders in the online PPC field. But, look around and research the smaller players who offer cheaper rates to a smaller audience. These include; ExcelSeek, JumpFind, LookQuick to name just three.

Ezine Top Sponsor and Solo ads can also give you a huge and quick return on your advertising buck with your ad being received by a responsive audience of your chosen market.

And as with any advertising campaigns - track your results. If you don't know who's clicking what, you'll never know which ads are working.

Use these techniques and you'll soon see an immediate improvement in your affiliate sales. Build on your successes and expansion and growth will follow.

Peter Farnsworth is a member of the fastest growing team of successful home based entreprenuers on the net. Find out how we're creating financial freedom and join us for FREE at http://www.info.suworldwide.com/.