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Affiliate marketing should be run like any other business, with your initial direct action leading to profit for you and your partners at the end. This guide highlights ways you can make money online by recruiting partners for your affiliate marketing campaign, and researching other affiliate marketing businesses.

Research
It’s definitely smart to know what the competition is doing before you jump on board an affiliate marketing business. You should know how your competition is earning revenue. This may seem simple but in reality, you have a lot of competition. How does your campaign stand apart from others? Do you pay better, offer an easier setup, or are you in a market limited on affiliate marketing campaigns? Be clear on your goals, what makes you different, and show a value.

Recruiting
There’s no point in running an affiliate marketing business unless you get some people behind the business. But here’s the good news! You can market mostly for free to attract affiliate marketers. With social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can create interest and drive traffic to your main sign up pages. With blogs, you can comment on how you’re paying more per sale than the competition. And with press releases, you can explain the longevity your business has.

Stay in Touch
Once you get the sign ups and you and your partners are earning, don’t stop with just having affiliates–ask for comments, feedback, and how you can help them more. This way you’ll stand out from other companies who don’t ever communicate with affiliates. It can also create more and more interest in your affiliate marketing program. With feedback from those who have worked with you, you can earn trust.

Bonuses
Lastly, the best way to send a message is with money. If you reward top affiliates with a nice bonus, you can expect to get even more buzz. You can set it up where your top seller gets a bigger piece of the profit, or if someone hits 100 sales in a 1 month period, you can give them an extra $500. No matter how you do it, bonuses create a new energy in your marketing plan, just like it does at a corporation.

Affiliate marketing is a business of its own, and can be an integral part of your company’s profit margin. If you’re willing to put the time and effort into research and recruiting, you can reap the rewards.

Alright, now that you have a grasp on what Twitter is and how other businesses are using it in their social media marketing plans, it’s time for you to “join the conversation.”

Part 4 of the Minnesota BBB”s 2009 Focus Seminar provides a basic walkthrough of the steps involved in setting up a Twitter account and offers some tips on how to best configure it as a business marketing tool. Like initiating any business or marketing strategy, it never hurts to be prepared.

Keep in mind your overall marketing objectives as you set up your account. It might be a good idea to think through or even prepare a few of these before you start like your username, bio, what picture you want to use (yours or your company logo?), a background image, etc.

Creating Your Account

1. Choose your username
2. See if your friends are on Twitter
3. Choose others to follow

Configuring Your Account

1. Choose your time zone
2. Write your bio
3. Select to protect or not protect updates
4. Add your phone number
5. Choose to receive update notices
6. Upload your picture
7. Design your background

For more tips and insight on using Twitter to get you more business, watch Part 4: Creating and Configuring a Business Twitter Account. And be sure to stay tuned for more from, “How to use Twitter for Business.”