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Why is it that some affiliate marketers rake in the commissions while others make very little money, or worse yet, no money at all? Those with dismal monthly commissions are more than likely missing several key ingredients.

Here are 10 essential affiliate marketing strategies that all affiliate marketers should pay particular attention to. They include elements that will help provide your visitors with what they are looking for, help you generate trust, promote you as an authority and create community, all key components for supersizing your affiliate commissions.

1. Be Genuine with Visitors

Create content on your site that makes your visitors feel you are speaking directly to them. Speak like you are talking directly to a friend. Don't be afraid to be a little personal or make comments that reveal you as a real person. Always remain professional but add an element of personality, keep it light, to the point and interesting. Invite questions and comments. The idea is to create a community of visitors that look to you for information and feedback.

2. Deliver content and lots of it

Search engines and visitors alike want to see content. But not just any content, keep it original, factual, fresh and interesting. The more content the better. Having content that draws readership helps to establish you as an authority in your niche and direct viewers to affiliate resources that help them find what they are looking for.

3. Write comprehensive product reviews

Don't simply bombard your viewers with affiliate links sending them directly to a product sales page. Your visitors don't want to be forced to a sales page; they need to be sold from a source that is trustworthy. That's why product reviews work so well. Take the time to purchase the product you are promoting and do a careful review of what your findings are. There's no better way to promote something than if you use it and feel the benefits yourself.

This genuine tone will come across in your review and your viewers will completely see that.

4. Build a list of subscribers

This isn't as hard as it sounds. Simply place a sign-up form on your site and request sign-ups for your newsletter, daily tips for email course. Offer an incentive such as a free e-book or something of value to entice sign-ups. You'll soon begin getting subscribers which lets you directly communicate with visitors on a consistent basis while developing relationships, trust and allowing for an occasional promotion now and then.

5. Create a free small report, e-book or e-course

Creating an information product related to your niche or the products you are promoting creates trust, not to mention your viewers will thank you for the tips. It also offers you the benefit of including your affiliate links within the report. Giving away something of value that is free also provides a viral effect because it can get into more hands a lot faster. You can also use this to entice sign-ups for your newsletter or opt-in form.

6. Don't send links to your home page

Unless your home page is your sales page, don't send visitors there. Send your visitors to specific product pages. For example, many affiliate marketers spend hours and hours creating inbound links for their site by means of link exchanges, articles, advertisements, etc., however the most common mistake they make is to direct those links to their home page.

Instead, choose the most relevant page on your site for the link back. If you happen to submit an article on how to find the best running shoes, link to the running shoes page of your site, not the main page of your shoes site!

7. Select affiliate programs with quality promotional tools

Check affiliate programs out carefully. Affiliate with programs that offer good sales tools such as articles, brandable PDF's, personalized emails, classified ad samples and of course quality banners and text ads. The more quality tools your affiliate managers provide, the more successful you will be.

8. Get to know your affiliate managers

Send a note to your affiliate manager letting them know who you are. Ask specific questions about the products you are promoting and if there are any tips or suggestions you can offer you. You would be surprised how effective this can be. The timeliness of the response you get or the lack of it is also a good indicator of whether or not the affiliate program is worth it.

9. Review the affiliate site carefully

Have a good look around the affiliate site. Would you buy from them? How compelling is the sales page? If they have lots of third party advertisements or Google Ads on the site, drop them like a hot potato.

10. Mask ugly affiliate links

Don't promote ugly affiliate links. Firstly, it's an easy way for unscrupulous buyers to avoid using your link and go directly to the affiliate site whereby you lose commissions, but secondly, it's ugly. Find a way to set up a redirect for your affiliate link or use a link cloaker for creating a more professional looking link.