Do it right. That’s the key. It’s staggering the number of programs out there trying to claim they have the magic ‘key’, and they all will say what ever it takes for you to buy their program. I know. I’ve bought waaaay too many of them over the years. What I learned is that it IS a science, and it IS work. However, you have two big advantages over my experiences from years gone by:

1) You don’t need to be an expert website builder any more.
I’ve bought so many different programs over the years, from those that include a ‘ready-made website’ (what a joke!) to those that said you don’t need a website. The inconvenient truth was the better you were at creating professional looking websites, the better your income would be. In the last year, some excellent alternatives have become available that can shave 6-12 months off your learning curve.

Free websites aren’t always your best option, and I’ll try to cover why in future posts. However, free websites can be used and actually look good if done right. It’s a great choice if you are doing this as a family learning project and you are still not sure it’s a long term activity yet. If you can, at least buy your domain name so it can be aging (the longer a domain name is active, the more Google likes it and higher it will be ranked).

Web hosting that has a good site builder can be almost as good as hiring a professional designer. Caution, some site builders still look like their designs are stuck in the 90′s, so be sure to ask for a demo of their builder before you buy. If it’s not available, then keep looking. A site builder is a program within your webhost’s plan that is made available to their customers to make it easy for them to build their own website based on pre-done templates. It’s easy to put online, usually with one click. Perfect for beginners.

One & One has the easiest to use and best built in sitebuilder we’ve seen with a huge selection of up-to-date templates.You can also put a self-hosted WordPress blog on your host and take advantage of the thousands of free templates available for WordPress. They also have the best price for domains (we have close to 50). For those of you that don’t need a website builder, Host Gator offers you 4500 free (awesome) templates. They do have a site builder, too – it’s just not the best one we’ve seen.

2) You have me to tell you what NOT to do.
You may or may not want to rely on this advantage, but one of my ‘vows to self’ was if I ever got my business off the ground (which I did) I would help others avoid the headaches I suffered learning the trade. There is plenty of good information out there now, but 5-6 years ago there was very little help except for the scammers – who seemed to dominate the field. As much great information as there is out there, please do NOT try to piece it all together yourself, trust me, you will regret it later.

It’s still a little tricky to tell the scammers from the honest affiliate teachers, but sometimes it’s not so much a judgement call as who to trust with your time. I’ve found two major problems with the majority of information on affiliate marketing:

1) Waaaaay overpriced. Apart from paying for a one on one teacher, learning the art of affiliate marketing is the same basic information in the $47 course as the $997 course. There may be a few more perks, but try a $47 one first.

2) Waaaay too MUCH information. I’ve signed up for courses that had so much information that it was difficult -AND time consuming – just to sort through it all. It’s become quite a trend, err . . . ‘sales technique’, to see who can offer the most BONUS ebooks to entice you to buy their program. Unless you have nothing else to do, learning affiliate marketing will take enough of your time, let alone reading extra ebooks. All those programs that offer free graphics are usually (not always) garbage.

So, if you’re wondering if I was going to sell you my ebook on affiliate marketing, my answer is no. Actually, I took notes over the years in hopes of eventually offering up the easiest way to do it, but found that there are a couple of ebooks already out there that are far better than anything I could write. These are written by veterans in the field that I have closely scrutinized for years and have come to completely trust in their knowledge, experience, AND ethics.

Yes, ethics. If you’ve ever heard the term ‘black hat’ SEO, it’s unethical SEO practices. Unfortunately, I’ve seen black hat, or ‘grey’ hat practices promoted as the magic bullet by many so called great affiliate marketers. So, be sure you know who you are buying from.

One more comment – when I said the ‘easy way’ in the title, it’s because one of my BIGGEST mistakes was trying to teach myself the ropes. It’s so much more economical to learn from someone else that knows what they’re doing, not only in dollars saved, but time. Think about it, if you make just $40,000 in a year with affiliate marketing (which is a very low figure) and you save just 6 months time, that $20,000! Sometimes we just don’t think it though (guilty as charged!). There are so many little tricks of the trade that will make it so much easier for you than if you go it alone.

Tomorrow I’ll try to give you several different options for the most direct route to learning affiliate marketing, but for today, here is my #1 choice. If I could turn back the clock and start all over again, I would use Rosiland Gardner’s “Super Affiliate Handbook”* before I did anything else. Out of all the coursest’s the most easy to follow, step by step, instructional manual for learning everything you need – without information overload. I did notice the upsell she has created recently, and can’t recommend that because I have not seen it. Stick to the basics, set aside some time every week, and you will be on your way to a second income that can replace your J-O-B in less than a year if you work hard. I’m also not sure of the refund options on upsells. (you have a 56 day iron-clad MB guarantee on the basic course) What a great skill to learn with your teen! I’m also happy to answer your questions by email.

Do you know of another ebook or course that you think is worthy of recommending? If you’ve had experience personally with a course that you think would be a good way to learn affiliate marketing with teens, please share it with us! Comment it or email me. Thanks!

*Disclosure-just wanted you to know that if you purchase Rosiland’s course with my link, I do get a commission-but if I was recommending it for the money-there are FAR more lucrative offers that I could’ve chosen! I truly believe this is your best starting place. Your purchase does help support this blog, what my husband refers to as ‘my public service project’! Thanks!

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