Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make a real full time income from home. This is one of the few businesses where you are almost completely in control of how much your affiliate marketing commissions are. With the seemingly infinite possibilities that the internet offers, all you have to do is find one or two effective strategies and implement them consistently and your commissions will skyrocket.

One note of caution though, while it is true that you can make virtually unlimited commissions with affiliate marketing, please don't fall for the scams that tell you that you won't have to do any work and that you can be making a six figure income in 30 days. That is simply not true. While affiliate marketing is an easy business to learn and run successfully, it will take work and time to get your business to the point you want it to be.

There are several things you can do to increase your commissions, but one of the best, and most simple, things you can do to earn higher commissions is: build an opt-in list.

Most people don't realize that up to 98% of the people who visit a website not only won't make a purchase...they won't ever be back. In order to convert more of your visitors into customers you need multiple contacts with them. Having multiple contacts with them can lead them to trust you and feel more comfortable about spending money with you.

But how do you do that if 98% don't buy? Simple, you build an email list. You can do this on autopilot simply by signing up for an auto responder service. When you set up an account you can pre-load a series of emails into the auto responder and they will go out over a period of time, whatever you set up. That way you can not only be building trust by providing the people on your list with valuable information, you can also, subtly, remind them that the product you are selling can help them achieve the results they are looking for.

When you have an auto responder you will need to get your visitors to opt-in to your list. By doing this they are giving you permission to contact them by email so you avoid any spam complaints. But how do you get them to opt-in? Well, one of the most common practices is to bribe them! Don't worry, I'm not talking about anything unethical. You simply offer them something of value in return for them signing up to your email list.

It doesn't have to be anything expensive, just something with a high perceived value...something that they will find helpful and consider valuable. For this purpose a free ebook or report is great. Just make sure that the free gift you give them isn't some junky thing that you threw together in 10 minutes. Provide them something of real value so they will trust you and feel more inclined to not only sign up for your list, but purchase products from you.

One very common mistake people will make with their list is to make every email nothing but a sales pitch. If you do that they will unsubscribe and you've lost a potential customer. Instead, give them valuable hints, tips in every email they receive from you and only occasionally pitch a product to them. This technique will work much better than if you're always asking them to dig into their wallet.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make a living, and there are easy ways to greatly increase your affiliate marketing commissions. Using an auto responder is the quickest, easiest way to make more money.