I don't know about you, but the first thing I did was click on anything that grabbed my attention.

"Oh, what's that over there?  Ah, cool, didn't know they had that."

"What the heck is that?  Oh, that makes sense."

"Hey, what's that?"

"OOO SHINY!"

You know what I'm talking about. lol

But then it hits you like a speeding freight train ... "Oh crap!  How I am supposed to learn all this stuff?"  And you start feeling overwhelmed.

It's ok.  You don't have to learn everything right now.  In fact, trying to learn it all right now won't even help you ... it will paralyze you and keep you from taking action.

The Wealthy Affiliate has guides, tools, and resources for all levels of affiliate marketers.  

But we're beginners ... so we can safely ignore about two-thirds of it.  Don't worry, it will still be there when you're ready for it.   

"So how do I get started?"

Great question!  Just follow these four steps and you'll be marketin' in no time.

Step 1

Watch the Introduction to Internet Marketing video.  It's a great introduction to affiliate marketing and it will give you the big picture view of how it all works.

Step 2

Start working through the Wealthy Affiliate Action Plan.  It's a ten step guide that will help you understand the basics of affiliate marketing.

There's a lot of great info in the Action Plan, so don't rush through it.  Take your time.  I recommend taking a short two to five minute break between sections so you give your brain time to absorb all the good stuff.

Oh, and don't follow any of the links in the Action Plan.  It'll just cause your brain to explode! lol

You just want to get an overview of the entire process.  Trying to learn all the details right now will just confuse you and make you feel overwhelmed.

Keep a pen and some paper next to you.  When you have a question, write it down and note what section it was in. 

Don't worry about finding the answer to your questions right now.  You just want to get them out of your head and down on paper so you can focus.  We'll worry about answers later.

Step 3

Ok, you made it through the Action Plan for the first time!  Congratulations, you've now got a pretty good idea of how affiliate marketing works.  Time for a little happy dance. :-)

Now, take a deep breath ... and start working through the Action Plan again.  "AGAIN?!?"  Yep, that's right.  

This time, you're going to take it slow and learn a lot more by following the links in the Action Plan.

But you don't want to follow every single link and try to learn everything.  You want to focus on learning the stuff that's going to help you actually get started.

If you've got a few hundred dollars to invest and you want to start with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, you'll want to focus on those guides.

But if you're just starting out and don't have any money to spend, reading the PPC guides won't really help you. 

You'll want to focus on the free marketing techniques (like article marketing) because it fits your current situation.  You can always come back and learn about PPC after you've got your first free marketing campaign set up.

And don't forget to take breaks.  Your brain needs a little time to digest the information and file it away so you can find it when you need it.

Still got your list of questions from Step 2?  You've probably found a few of the answers, but now you've got a gazillion more questions.

That's great!  It means your brain is working and trying to fill in the gaps.  Just keep adding your questions to the list.  

Step 4

You made it this far?  Awesome!  Give yourself a big hug for me!  

You now know more about affiliate marketing than most people who have been surfing the web the last two years looking for free info on it.

So now comes the big question ... what are you going to do with it?

Yep, that's right ... it's time to take action!

"But but but ... I've still got all these questions!  See my list?  It's huge!"

Hey, that's ok!  We've all got a huge list of questions.  And you'll get answers to them ... over time as you take action.  

If you wait until you've got all of your questions answered, you'll never get started!

And you'll never make any money if you don't get started!

The truth is your first campaign isn't going to be perfect.  You're going to make a few mistakes.  Or a bunch if you're me.  There's nothing wrong with making mistakes.

Making mistakes is a very important part of the learning process.  And you'll learn far more from your mistakes than you ever will your successes.  I don't know why it works that way, but it does.

So get started ... right now ... today.  

Just start asking yourself questions.  

"What niche do I want to try?"

"If I were someone interested in this niche, what would I want to buy?"

"What keywords would I use to find it?"

"What articles would I want to read?"

"If I click on a link at the bottom of the article, what kind of website would I want to visit?"

Questions are amazing.  The moment you ask a question, it's like visiting a search engine inside your brain.  It'll start sifting through all your files looking for anything that answers your question.

Too bad mine's not as good as Google! lol

If you really can't figure out what to do next, try checking out Pot Pie Girl's Fast Action Quick Start guide. 

She also created One Week Marketing.  It's highly recommended, so check it out if you like her approach and need more help.

Getting started in affiliate marketing is a lot like driving across the country to visit a place you've never been.  

You've never been to Successville, so you don't know what it looks like or what kind of scenery you'll see along the way.  But you've got a map (Wealthy Affiliate) so you can always find your way back to the right road if you get lost.

Now all you've got to do is start driving.  Sure, you'll have to ask for directions every now and then (use the forums) and you'll have to find the right road again (look at the guides), but you'll get there ... as long as you just keep driving.

I'll meet you in Successville!  You can buy me a grande-non fat-soy-latte-frappa-mocha-espressacinno. :-)

If you found this helpful, check out the rest of The Newbie Zone.