I have two questions to ask you. One. How much time do you spend marketing your affiliate programs? Two. How much time do you spend preparing to market your affiliate programs?

Which of those two questions do you think is the most important? I say the second. Without doing your preparation "homework," you will lose your focus.

The affiliate programs that you promote are "your" products. Take the time to learn everything you can about that product. Even though you are not actually selling the product (you should be PRE-selling), you still must know what you are talking about.

The best way to do that, of course, is to own the product yourself. But whether you own the product or not, study the sales copy that was written by the owner of the product. You'll be able to lead your prospects toward "the click" much easier if you know why you want them to click on that link.

When preparing an advertising campaign, ask yourself what you want to achieve. That is your goal.

Now write down the steps that you need to take to get to that goal. Don't forget that there can be more than one way to get there. Use your imagination!

Let's say you want to use ezine advertising. There are several options that you can choose. You can use free ads, purchase ads through ezine co-ops, buy top sponsor and solo ads directly from each newsletter publisher, or write articles and send to the publishers.

Choose one of the options and follow through with it. Then choose the next option, then the next. Don't forget to track your ads to see which advertising method is working best for you.

Try other avenues of advertising as well. Explore new ones that you find and track the results. The more you have - that are working for you - the more commissions you will make.

By preparing the framework for an advertising campaign, you can use that framework for later advertising - with minor changes to accommodate the new information. I use it as a "task list" to follow. This helps to keep me focused on what I have to do.

Don't get me wrong. Advertising or marketing is important. But you MUST know what you want your prospect to do. Take your prospect by the hand and lead him or her to the click. The time it takes to prepare for an advertising campaign will be well worth it.

Jude Wright has been marketing on the Internet for three years. Her speciality is providing information to new affiliate marketers who want to become a success online. She has a free online newsletter, About Affiliates Ezine, which was rated A1 by Best Ezines.