Signing up for affiliate programs is easy, but turning them into a paycheck is another story. According to a recent survey, the average affiliate signs up for 48 programs a year, but makes less than $100 a month. Those are not inspiring statistics.

The difficulty for most affiliates is three-fold:

1. They don't know how to promote
2. They don't know how to promote multiple affiliate programs
3. They don't know how to drive traffic to their websites

The top affiliates have mastered these three points already. They're clearing thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars a month. If you're looking for a simple way to join the ranks of the super affiliates, these three steps will point you in the right direction.

1. Promoting An Affiliate Program

When you sign up for an affiliate program and you get the standard affiliate link with the megalithic long string of digits, don't promote it. It looks very unprofessional, people are conditioned to ignore affiliate links, your affiliate commissions are being hijacked, and you're losing sales. You need to combat these problems in 1 of 2 ways.

At the very least, you cloak or redirect your affiliate link using a page on your website. But better yet, set up a page on your website that offers useful information on the topic you're promoting. Write a simple product review or a review of the industry with links to the affiliate program you're promoting. And don't forget to always offer your visitors a way to join your list.

2. Promoting Multiple Affiliate Programs

Two of the simplest ways to promote multiple affiliate programs are using an affiliate information portal like Affiliate Showcase, or professional blogging software like WordPress Pro. Links to both these resources can be found in the resource box at the bottom of this article.

Affiliate Showcase is a portal website that allows you to professionally present all your affiliate programs from one clean layout. It comes in a free and pro version and dramatically increases your affiliate commission rates.

WordPress Pro is a plug-in for the free WordPress blogging software. It allows casual users to turn themselves into powerhouse marketing machines in a matter of minutes. The software gives you the power to tag key word phrases with your affiliate links. When you post an article on your WordPress Pro enhanced website, your keywords are automatically hyperlinked to your affiliate website. Every single article or post on your website becomes a super sonic selling machine for all your affiliate programs – you set it and forget it. This software is magic.

3. Driving Traffic To Your Website

This is one of the most important functions of marketing. You can have the best website in the world, but if you don't have traffic coming in through the doors, what's the point of having a website? My favourite, unorthodox way of generating traffic costs $10, but it's worth thousands of dollars.

Mark Flavin has designed a system that generates traffic for your website, but more importantly, it generates sales. It's a plug and play, automated, set-it-and-forget it system that takes you a few minutes to set up, but costs next to nothing.

When I first read Mark's work, I have to admit, I thought he was a bit off his rocker. He talks about marketing techniques that we all know don't work or are way to commonplace. Things like classified ads, banners, pop-ups, AdSense and reprint rights, at first glance don’t strike me as extreme traffic generators or profit makers. But with Mark's twist, I was actually able to make these things work!

It reminds me of another Mark's comments once upon the day. Mark Joyner once said that he could take tons of "cheeseburger traffic" and feed it to a good converting site to pull a very healthy profit. Don't knock it till you try it.

If you're still a struggling affiliate, take the time to update your toolbox with a few of the simple, but powerful tools you now have access to. What you do today affects your income tomorrow. Make it your mission to do something.