One of the best ways to promote an affiliate program is to place ads in a suitable ezine publication. With this method the skys the limit, although there is a cost to it, you can start small until you start making profits.

Heres how it works:

An Ezine is simply an electronic magazine / newsletter that focuses on a specific topic. e.g health, employment, internet marketing, home business etc. All of the subscribers to the Ezine will have opted-in this means they have agreed / requested to receive the Ezine.

The list of subscribers is a very valuable resource for the owner who publishes the Ezine. They can promote their own products or accept paid ads from anyone looking to promote products that would be of interest to the subscribers.

There are generally 5 types of ads:

* Solo Ads Only ad in the publication and the most expensive

* Top Placement Ads Very effective and good value for money

* Middle Placement Ads Cheaper than Top but less effective

* Bottom Placement Ads Cheaper than Middle but less effective

* Classified Ads Multiple ads together cheapest but least effective

With the exception of solo ads, the format is usually 4-5 lines of no more than 60 characters per line. The number of subscribers can vary from a low of 500 to upwards of 300,000.

The cost of placing an advert is influenced by:

* Size of the list

* Type of ad

* Quality / reputation of the list

* Category of the Ezine e.g. internet marketing

To find suitable Ezine publications for home business you can do a Google search with criteria similar to home business ezine advertising rates. I sometimes use a service called Resource-a-day for placing internet marketing ads. They have a circulation of over 72,000 subscribers and charge about $50 for a top placement ad. They often offer discounts if you book in bulk the last one I can recall was 5 top placements for $100 (60% discount!).

It can be very time consuming to research and find suitable Ezines I subscribe to Directory of Ezines who offer a very useful service. You can search their directory to find exactly the right Ezine to suit your needs. The annual subscription fee is currently $67 and is well worth the money, if you can afford it. (They also include a number of very good bonus products)

Once you have chosen the Ezine you are going to advertise in, the next step is to compose your ad. You should experiment and make changes to the text and see what works best for you. Its very important to test different ad formats and also placement in different Ezines to see what works best for you.

Start small while you are still testing and until you can see that you are making a profit from your Ezine ad campaigns. If you can get this method working for you, it is a great way to start making good profits quickly.

The first thing you need to do is get some help in the form of step by step instructions and coaching videos designed specifically for newbies.