Affiliate Marketing - Join in on the Success of the 2nd Wave

What do I mean by '2nd Wave'? Let me explain:

Can you remember the good old days when affiliate programsfirst came into existence in the mid to late 1990's? Everybody jumped in with two feet and put up dozens ofaffiliate links on their site with no real thought to whatthey were doing. We then wondered why we didn't make anymoney - not any real money that is.

The same thing has happened with the launch of other newindustries in that the initial craze and hype got out ofhand but when things quietened down people thought thingsthrough, put together business models and now succeed bigtime within that industry. The good news is that we, asaffiliate marketers, can learn from these industriesthrough their first and second phases.

A Definition of what a First and Second Wave is

The first wave is the pioneering stage, the launch of anew industry. There is lots of excitement and hype withmost people now knowing what they are doing. There aremany failures and very little profits during this period.

The second wave is the exciting phase. It has alreadycome to light within phase 1 that there is potential withinthe industry. People put together long-term business plansand even ordinary people like you and I can succeed in abig way. Hence, wave 2 is when the real wealth is created.

Industry Examples of their First and Second Waves

Let's take a look at some examples of industries in theirfirst and second waves and the success they have achievedfor thousands of people who were in the right place at theright time:

Video Cassette Recorders (VCR): Remember the first VCRs? They were huge, very expensive and not many people couldafford one. In 1972 Phillips were the first to launch a VCRfor home use but it didn't appeal to the consumer market.Only a few hundred were sold.

Second wave: VHS introduced their version of the VCR in1977 which was more appealing to the public. Prices camedown and soon the average household had one. Today, DVDplayers are now replacing them and huge profits are being soughtin this industry.

Personal Computers: In 1976 Apple launched the first PC,quickly followed by IBM with Microsoft's DOS operatingsystem in 1981. These PCs were slow, expensive and alwaysseemed to crash.

Second wave: Dell and Compaq introduced new designPCs, and Bill Gates and his Microsoft Empire launched'Windows 1.0' in 1985. As a result of this boom thousandsof millionaires were created in a single decade.

The 1st and 2nd Wave of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing: The first wave of the Internet andthe affiliate marketing business lasted betweenapproximately 1996-2003. All the initial hype about theWorld Wide Web and making money from selling other people'sstuff grew within this period. Affiliates give no realthought to their sites and put up dozens of affiliatelinks. Not many affiliate marketers made any real money totalk of and not many of these sites are in existence today.

Second wave: From 2003 onwards the initial hype has died down and with the introduction of new wave technology and software, means that it is now easier for the average webmaster to build a successful and useful website business to succeed long-term with big profits.

So What Does This Mean For Today's Affiliate Marketer's?

You are now caught up at the beginning of the 2nd wave ofaffiliate marketing. You are in the right place at theright time - use this to your advantage now... today... Hereare some reasons why:-

· The online shopping industry is growing at a phenomenalrate

· More and more people are buying online

· The competition with affiliate sites is still relativelylow as compared to what it will be like in the future

In order to get ahead of this ever-increasing competitiveindustry, you need to think of affiliate marketing as abusiness. Even go as far as writing a business plan outfor your affiliate business. You need to understand thatin order to get ahead of your competition and even get tothe top of the search engines, you need to build a businessplatform for long-term success. You must think of yourselfas a publisher of informational content first, then anaffiliate marketer second. This is the 'key' to thesuccess of the second wave of affiliate marketing. Let merepeat it again 'you must think of yourself as a publisherof informational content first, then an affiliate marketersecond'.

Summary

Realize that the Internet is still in its infancy and thatyou are here in the right place at the right time. Thiscould only happen once in your life, so jump on it straightaway. The first frantic phase of affiliate marketing isover and we have entered the new and exciting second phase,which is where the 'real' wealth is created. Remember,Bill Gates and his Microsoft Empire came into existencewithin the second phase of the personal computer industry -the rest is history!

Claire Bowes is a successful freelance writer and owner ofmany successful affiliate marketing websites. Read howClaire built her money-making affiliate sites athttp://www.website-business-solutions.com