It all began when I bought items from drugstore.com. Drugstore is like CVS or Rite Aid pharmacies except that it is found online only. It has thousands of health, beauty, wellness, and personal care products. Inside drugstore.com I noticed their “associate program” link. I clicked on the information and I was attracted to join their program. It says “Open your own online neighborhood drugstore and start making money today!” All I needed was create a website then I’ll earn marketing fees on nonprescription products purchased through my site. I joined the program and it’s free. Drugstore.com is a member (as advertiser) of LinkShare network so I became a member (as publisher) also of LinkShare.

I got excited so first I researched how to host a website on the internet. I found Yahoo Smallbusiness. There are others like goDaddy, Homestead, and many more but I just selected Yahoo which is familiar to me. I got an exclusive web address (domain name) and unlimited disk space and email storage.

Yahoo provided me templates and other tools to set up my website. I use their Yahoo SiteBuilder to create and edit my web pages. You don’t need to be a web developer to create a website. SiteBuilder is designed for beginners but with the features and flexibility that advanced users want. It lets you control every element of your site. It requires no programming skills.

Being a LinkShare Network publisher, I have an opportunity to establish and sustain profitable relationships with some of the most recognized brands/stores in the world. LinkShare provides online marketing solutions specializing in the areas of Search (SEM), Lead Generation, and Affiliate Marketing. I was amazed to see popular stores in the network like Macy’s, iTunes, Avon, Disney, Office Depot, CompUSA, Champion, Babies R Us, and many more. I applied and got approved by some stores to publish them and earn commissions from purchases or leads through my website. As I complete the elements in my website and continuously apply with other stores (old and new members), more approvals are coming up to now.

I came to discover also other affiliate marketing networks such as Commission Junction which has more advertisers, Amazon, and Connect Commerce. I joined them also because I see the other favorite stores in them such as Barnes & Noble, Sears, Expedia, etc.

As a publisher, I can choose banners, widgets, RSS feed among others, and get the html codes to publish on my website. I can view reports to track clicks and website performance.

I’d like to share the fruit of my hard work. My website is called www.jadecircles.com . I got input also from friends to come up with this. Below is a snapshot of my website. How does it look?

Notice that I have Ads by Google on top, left side, and bottom. I also have Search fields to search my site or the entire web. I signed up with Google AdSense to display targeted Google ads on my website's content pages and earn from valid clicks or impressions. AdSense gives me access to Google's wide network of advertisers (thru Google AdWords) so I can show ads that match my audience's interests. It is important that I have content like articles or blog in my website. AdSense displays ads based on my content. AdSense revenue and performance reports can be viewed in Google Analytics. I see the number of visits, countries, cities, keywords, search engine used by visitors, and some more data.

Yahoo provides recommendations to drive more traffic and improve my site’s ranking in search engine results also known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Aside from sending out emails to people I know, I submit my site to search engines such as Yahoo, Google, and MSN through Yahoo. It is recommended to link to other sites to impress visitors and search engines. This is called backlinks. I signed up with LinkMarket.net to exchange links with other sites for free.

To all good writers out there or even if you just love to write, you can make money thru Affiliate Marketing and at the same time from Google AdSense pay-per-click (PPC). Many people especially students write blogs at social networking websites such as Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Twitter, Ning. Notice the Ads by Google shown. The earnings go to the networks. Why not earn money by blogging?

Honestly speaking and based on experience, Affiliate Marketing is not a get-rich-quick way of making money. It is not a scam. It is indeed a work-from-home job aside from my daily office work. I am getting checks/direct deposits monthly. I’ve been here for only less than 6 months and I know it takes time to earn much. Some say months or years but we’ll get there. You have to be patient and dedicate some time and effort to achieve your goal. It has to be a continuous learning process. Online networking is also important that’s why I’m here at Hubpages to learn more, meet friends, and earn more money.