If you stop to think about it, affiliate marketing is in some ways like starting a business. You have the distinct advantage of not holding inventory and typically don’t need to hire employees, but you’re still setting up an online operation.

And no matter what approach you take, whether writing blog posts or running ads, there are certain steps you’ll need to take to help you find out how to become an affiliate marketer. That means you need to take strides to ensure you prepare yourself for what lies ahead.

In this article, we’ll look at a step-by-step method you can use to learn how to become an affiliate marketer. This will provide a platform for your efforts, and can help give you a leg up when you’re starting out.

We are in a connected world today. The internet, along with smart phones, has changed the way business is done.

Here are some ways to run a successful online business.

Organize Your Web Assets

This extends much further than just organizing your business. Your web assets are everything from your website to your social media profiles to your hosting account. These need to be in order.

All relevant assets should be optimized for your brand. For example, your social media and webpages should have the relevant keywords. They should fall into an integrated marketing plan. And they should be completely updated with the latest information about your company.

Depending on the scale of your business, your marketing strategy may include several moving parts, each with different goals. With that said, working on your strategy can become daunting at time. So, if you're ever feeling overwhelmed about your marketing strategy, refer to these three steps to keep you focused on achieving your objectives.

High-profile cyber attacks on companies such as Yahoo have raised awareness of the growing threat of cyber crime.  Recent surveys conducted by the Small Business Authority, Symantec, Kaspersky Lab and the National Cybersecurity Alliance suggest that many small business owners are still operating under a false sense of cyber security.

Don’t Equate Small with Safe

Despite significant cybersecurity exposures, 85 percent of small business owners believe their company is safe from hackers, viruses, malware or a data breach. This disconnect is largely due to the widespread, albeit mistaken, belief that small businesses are unlikely targets for cyber attacks. In reality, data thieves are simply looking for the path of least resistance. Symantec’s study found that 40 percent of attacks are against organizations with fewer than 500 employees.