If you own a business you know that there are times when things are slow. Affiliate marketing is one way to bring in extra cash that will help when you have slow times in your business. More times then not, affiliate marketing is consider residual income.

Residual income is where you have money coming in when very little work, if any is done to make it happen. Basically you place an ad and do nothing else, and the money keeps coming in month after month.

Using affiliate marketing in your business can work if you choose the right products. Do you know how to do this to make it work to your advantage? Here are some suggestions for you to think about.

1. Market products or services that are not in direct competition with what you offer. When you market the wrong products or services, you'll lose money and that defeats the purpose what you're trying to do.

2. Remember what your target market needs, wants, and uses and then find products or services that are inline with these needs. When you help them in some way, they'll continue to use your suggestions.

3. Don't try to market every product or service you come by, because this will confuse your market and that's not what you want. Find two or three that are perfect for your market and advertise those regularly.

4. Don't over do it when it comes to advertising. Sending out two or three emails a day on those products will chase your market away almost faster then anything else. Consider one, maybe two emails a week regarding affiliate marketing and that's it.

5. It's ok to add affiliate marketing information to your blog posts. You can also add a button to the side of your blog that links to your affiliate page. If you make blog posts regarding these types of affiliate links, make sure you write them in such a way that they don't sound like an ad.

6. It's also ok to include them in your newsletter. Consider adding a recommendation section to your newsletter and then discuss how the product or service can help them. Make sure you use your affiliate link in your post.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to increase your income and help your target market at the same time. You need to be picky when it comes to what you promote. You don't want to promote something that is in direct competition with what you offer, you don't want to promote something that is not what your market needs or wants, and you don't want to promote too many different things.

Confusing your market is the worst thing you can do and that's what may happen if you don't use the suggestions in this article. Pick and choose your affiliate marketing products or services wisely. Affiliate marketing will work with your business, if you do it properly. Using the suggestions above will help you achieve great things for your affiliate marketing campaigns and your business.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful virtual assistant program. She enjoys helping her clients reach success through affiliate marketing. Visit her site at http://www.virtualfreedom4you.com for a more information about how she can help you grow your business through outsourcing.