It doesn't take an Einstein to realize that matching affiliate sales programs with popular trends can be very profitable. If you're an affiliate marketer you should be keeping a close eye on what people are using and buying; then matching and marketing those trends with appropriate affiliate programs.

It can be a simple process of observation and application. Any marketer, online or offline, can and should take advantage of this ready-made marketing strategy.

Spotting popular trends is relatively simple, just look around at what your friends are using and buying. Take note of the activities and products that's consuming their time. Take note of your own activities and any new gadgets that you have started using recently. You're probably find a few trends worth your time and consideration.

Checking the amount of demand for certain items during a holiday season is another way of finding what trends and products are hot. What products are on Santa's list? What are children and adults wishing for this holiday season? How many ipods, digital cameras, x-boxes, blackberries, nanos, flat screen tvs, video phones, laptops... were on that list?

Match up your affiliate sales programs to this list and you will have easier and more profitable marketing campaigns. Promote the trendy products everyone wants and your sales will go way up. Keyword market to these popular trends and your online stats will also take a big jump.

If you're an online marketer you will know keeping track of the popular keywords (what words and phrases people type into the search engines) will give you a very good indication of what's hot and what's not. It will also point out popular trends for you!

You can use a site like Wordtracker.com to tell you what people are searching for on the web and in the marketplace. You can also use a popular site like www.nichebot.com to find out how much competition there is for each keyword or keyword phrase.

Watching for popular trends can be very profitable. New services should also be examined, for instance, efax or receiving your faxes from your email. Podcasting, receiving music from RSS feeds. Videocasting, receiving videos on your ipod or video phones are all just catching fire...

Keep an extra eye focused on RSS, with the advent of Microsoft's new RSS powered 'Longhorn' browser and operating system, the utilization of RSS should be one trend prudent marketers should be watching.

What about voip phones, using the Internet as your phone system? Online dating is another trend that's expanding each year. Laptops are becoming very popular, they are now outselling their main rival the desktop PC for the first time in history. Wireless systems such as cellular phones, satellite radios, GPS... are other trends worth watching. They're growing rapidly and are quickly replacing outdated technologies.

Keeping a close watch on all types of media advertising is another way of spotting popular trends. Savvy advertisers are sometimes in the vant garde, pointing the way to popular trends and new products.

Once you have spotted the major trends and products, you can use mega affiliate sales programs like Commission Junction, Linkshare, Amazon or Shareasale to find products and services to market. Finding the perfect match of an affiliate product to a popular trend may prove very lucrative for the watchful affiliate marketer.

It's one case where being trendy can help you earn a healthy income from affiliate marketing. Timely products for timely profits -- Carpe Diem!