Online Affiliate Marketing Programs

For those who don't know, an online affiliate marketing program is free to join, and the vendor then pays his or her affiliates for referrals that result in sales. Commissions vary widely, from as little as around 5%, to as much as 50%, and occasionally more. The best affiliate programs, in my experience, tend to pay in the range of 40% to 50%, some even higher.

Some vendors buy and install affiliate program software on their web site that administers the affiliate program, while others choose to have their transactions, record-keeping, and payments handled by a third party, such as Commission Junction, which handles virtually any type of product, and the very popular Clickbank, which specializes exclusively in downloadable products such as ebooks and software.

If the website that you are planning or promoting sells a product or service, I'd encourage you to look into having your own affiliate program. Among the advantages are the fact that your affiliates become your sales force and promoters. They pay to advertise their affiliate links, which cuts down on your need to advertise. In many cases, the money spent on affiliate commissions is more than offset by the savings in advertising, and in many cases the sales generated by your affiliates are sales you might never have gotten on your own. Affiliate marketing has a strong and growing foothold on the internet, and the pressure is on most vendors to offer affiliate programs.

In addition to being great for vendors, affiliate marketing programs are great for those of us who want to start an internet business with a minimum investment, and/or who have no product or service of our own to sell. It can also be a nice way to add a second stream of income to an existing website, by offering affiliate links for products related to your own product or service.

If you're interested in locating the best affiliate programs, pay a visit to Clickbank and/or Commission Junction and spend some time browsing. You should also explore CPA ("cost per action") affiliate programs such as Azoogle, CPA Empire, and Modern Click.

Don't overlook CPA - this is where you will find very lucrative offers from major advertisers, and be in the company of some true "Super Affiliates" who make 6 and 7 figure incomes simply by advertising and promoting other people's products.

Commission Junction and other CPA networks enable you to search for the best affiliate programs to suit your needs, whether your interest is in a particular industry or category of product, or simply to find the programs which pay the best, and offer the highest commissions and conversion rates. Clickbank also sorts their listings by industry, category, and popularity, but is not nearly as forthcoming about click-through rates and expected earnings.

By far the most lucrative form of affiliate marketing is to do either lead generation or sales by driving "pay per click" traffic using Google Adwords and similar PPC advertising programs, There are some tricks you need to know to do this correctly, though, so it's probably best that you learn PPC to CPA affiliate marketing through coaching programs.

If your interest is in affiliate programs related to internet marketing, which are very popular and competitive, but also represent some high-demand, high-commission products, you'll find a list to help you pick the best online affiliate marketing program here.

We also maintain another list to help you find the best multi-level online affiliate marketing program. These are all programs that not only pay you for your own sales, but also offer you commissions on multiple levels of affiliates, encouraging everyone to build a downline.

Finally, when thinking about joining an online affiliate marketing program, do not overlook membership sites and service sites that give you the chance to earn continuing income as long as your referrals remain members or continue the service. Here's a list of some of the best affiliate programs with residual income potential.

I maintain a "frequently asked questions" page that will help you to learn more about affiliate marketing. I also have a resource page for my own affiliates that will introduce you to the best affiliate marketing resources.