In the following paragraphs, I am going to share with you the 7 secrets that have enabled me to earn an ever-growing repeat income, month after month, from marketing affiliate products, and how you could do the same too.

As you probably know, 'marketing affiliate products' requires you to send visitors (potential buyers) to the website of the product owner. If such a visitor buys the product, then you get paid money in the form a commission.

If you follow the 7 secrets mentioned below, you can earn a good income from home, for the rest of your life, by marketing affiliate products.

Here are the 7 secrets:

** You MUST select affiliate product owners who will pay you recurring commissions. This usually means the buyer pays a subscription every month to the website owner, and you, as the person who found the buyer, gets paid a commission every month as well. Do a Google search for affiliate programs that pay recurring commissions.

While you must not avoid affiliate programs that pay you one-time only, you must always be on look out for those affiliate programs that pay you recurring commissions. What this means is that as long as you, and any person you recruit or introduce into the program/product/service, remain with it, then you will get paid again and again for the rest of your life.

** If possible, choose an area, topic, subject or niche that you are personally interested in. This is important especially if you are just starting out in affiliate marketing. You will find it easier to devote the necessary attention and effort to promoting the affiliate product or service if you are personally interested in it.

For example, if you like dogs and you decide to promote (as an affiliate) a product or service relating to dogs, then you can easily add a personal touch in your promotional efforts. If you build a mini-website to promote your dog-related affiliate product or service, you can easily relate your own personal experiences and opinions on the website, which will make your promotional efforts more convincing to people who visit your mini-website. If you have no interest at all in the affiliate product/service, then it often becomes boring and difficult to promote it.

** If possible, promote many different products/services in one particular niche ( or subject/topic area). You can do this by selecting the appropriate products or services from different merchants in the particular niche you have a personal interest in. Using the example of dogs ( mentioned above), you might want to search for different affiliate programs relating to the specific areas of, say, dog grooming, dog training, dog medications, dog breeding, etc, to focus your affiliate marketing efforts on.

You can then buy a suitable domain name,and build a mini-website on which you review these individual affiliate products or services. You then target your advertising and other promotional efforts at people who are interested in dogs and are looking for solutions to problems they or their dogs might be having.

I mention dogs here only as an example. You can choose to join any affiliate program you like, and promote any affiliate products and services you want. Just do a Google search for related affiliate programs. Type in the niche/subject/topic, followed by 'affiliate programs'...(eg. Dogs 'affiliate programs'), and you'll get many results.

** Select the affiliate products you wish to market via a third party...an Affiliate Network... like ClickBank, Paydotcom, Commission Junction, Clixgalore, etc. Why? Because it is safer for you to do so. These 3rd parties will ensure that you will be paid the commissions you have earned. As far as possible, avoid marketing affiliate programs that go through only the website owner, unless they are known to be reputable. Regrettably, there have been cases where affiliates have not been paid the commissions due to them. There are some unscrupulous 'sharks' out there, so please be careful!!

** Think carefully about how you will be paid your affiliate commissions. Some organizations would pay you by check/cheque, bank wire, PayPal, Moneybookers, AlertPay, etc. Choose a payment method you are comfortable with. It is often easier and quicker if your commission money can be transferred direct into your bank account.

Many people like being paid via PayPal because of its simplicity. This is because the cash goes into your PayPal account direct. PayPal has also introduced a debit card, which you can electronically load with money from your PayPal account. You can then very conveniently take your money out, using your PayPal Debit Card, from any ATM machine.

** You MUST work very hard to send visitors to the websites whose products you are marketing. You can use pay-per-click advertising like Google AdWords). For a few dollars, you can also post a press release about your affiliate product/s at PRweb.com. You can also use free advertising sources. These include writing articles and submitting them to places like GoArticles.com and EzineArticles.com.

I advise that you test one or more of the article-submission software on the market at present. Such software can submit your articles to dozens of article directories in a short period, and can save you much-needed time. They work out better eventually than if you were to submit your articles manually.

You can also get free visitors by joining popular affiliate marketing forums such as WarriorForum.com, etc, and making frequent contributions to popular threads. You can also get free advertising on sites like Craigslist.org, Kijiji.com, etc. If you do a Google search for ''free online advertising,'' you'll find many more free places to advertise.

You can also create a free blog. Websites like Blogger.com can assist you in that direction. You can use your blog to write a review of the affiliate products you are promoting.

In all cases, please make sure that you leave your affiliate link or website address at the end of the article, blog, press release, etc. Why? Because search engines, other websites, etc, will pick up your material from the directories and publish them. Readers will often click on your link...thereby potentially sending you thousands of visitors, over time, to your affiliate mini-sites and thereby boosting your affiliate marketing efforts.

** Be careful, don't let online crooks steal your affiliate commissions. When you join an affiliate program, you are typically given an affiliate link. When people click on this link, it takes them to the website and if they make a purchase, you get paid an affiliate commission.

The trouble is that some expert web-users can use your affiliate link to steal commissions due to you. Also, some people will cut off the affiliate link and go straight to the website. If such people then make a purchase, you do not get any affiliate commission payment.

You must protect your affiliate earnings. How? One of the best and easiest ways is to 'cloak' (or hide) your affiliate links. You can do this for free through URL-shortening services like the following: TinyURL.com, HopURL.com, QuickURL.com, DwarfURL.com, EzURL.eu, ShortURL.com, EasyURL.net.,etc. If you do a Google search for 'URL-shortening services', you will find many more. They can make your affiliate marketing efforts much safer and more financially rewarding.

SUMMARY OK, there you have it. Affiliate marketing can be financially rewarding if you go about it properly. It can be run as a home-based business. I believe that the tips I have given above can help you make money by promoting affiliate products. This is a simple way to earn online income from home.