Affiliate marketing is a great way to build an income stream. The key in maximized earning is to make sure you are engaged with your readers. Affiliate marketing pays when a product sells rather than just for clicking the ad. Let’s look at the 10 commandments to success as an affiliate marketer.

1. Know who your audience is – The best way to guarantee success is to know who your audience is and provide them with what will interest them. Make your affiliate program a solution to one or more of their issues or concerns. The more relevant your affiliate product is the higher your sales will be.
2. Be helpful – Your affiliate program should bring value to your site. It should add value to the content you offer. Don’t just throw out links. Tell your visitors about the product through reviews. Offer products that your visitors will find useful.
3. Build trust – Visitors are a savvy bunch. They know what an affiliate link looks like, so don’t try to fool them and don’t promote a product you don’t believe in. Be honest and share both pros and cons. Build trust with your visitors by being honest.
4. Select carefully – Go through the various programs that are available and the programs that are out there. Take time to choose wisely. There are different commission structures and consider what products would work best with your site. Also consider the competition already established on the product(s). Take your time and do your research. 
5. Be transport – 
6. Try different programs – If you don’t like the way a certain program is working for you then try another. Not all affiliate programs are the same. They offer different services, payment structures and products. Understand what you are signing up for and if you decide it isn’t working for you try another. 
7. Stay relevant – Stay up to date on what the most current offer is that the affiliate is offering. Ads change regularly and so do products so stay on top of these changes. 
8. Be patient – It takes time to build income stream, this is not a get rich scheme, so be patient. 
9. Write content that’s timeless – Writing timeless content is a great way to ensure you have continuous traffic. When content is dated and a visitor discovers older content they are likely to leave. When the content is timeless they’ll stay and read. 
10. Content always come first – Your highest priority needs to be your highest priority because this is the life blood to your sites success and the flow of traffic to your site.