There are plenty of ways an industrious individual can make money online. Countless people have turned to the World-Wide-Web looking for a good money-making opportunity they can accomplish from the comfort of their own home. It may seem daunting at first, but you can make money online if you learn, duplicate, and, most importantly, have the determination to start.
One of the most ingenious ways to supplement or even replace your income is through online affiliate programs. Online affiliate programs first sprang up in 1996 when Amazon.com started paying websites for referring customers to their site. Now in 2006, online affiliate programs are a mainstay in the e-commerce world. Even Fortune 500 companies such as Dell, Walmart, and Apple have adopted the online affiliate program marketing module.
Online affiliate programs provide home business professionals and online entrepreneurs a risk-free form of advertising to produce revenue from their websites. Affiliate marketing has become an increasingly popular home-based business opportunity because:
It requires no production costs, very low start-up costs, employees inventory order processing shipping customer serviceVery limited risk.
So you don’t have a website? You do not even need to operate a website or know any HTML to make money with online affiliate programs in many cases. With the maturation of contextual advertising through Yahoo! Publisher and Google Adwords, many pay-per-click (PPC) savvy online affiliate marketers have moved away from deploying websites and focus entirely on search engine marketing (SEM). This may be a good way for some to test the waters with marketing online affiliate programs, but if you’re not familiar with setting up PPC campaigns, tread lightly. The cost per click can quickly add up with little return on your investment if done improperly. As for myself, I still believe content is king and always will be. Real estate on the web is much like owning a piece of property; it only matures and appreciates with age.
An article published by Click Z News identified that according to eBay, their largest affiliate earned over 1.3 million dollars in January 2005 commissions, the largest amount yet in their online affiliate program’s history. Their top 25 affiliates averaged over $100,000 per month each, and the top 100 affiliates earn almost $25,000 each per month.
With these sort of numbers buzzing around the Internet, it’s no wonder affiliate marketing is quickly becoming the numero uno money-making opportunity online. There are literally thousands of people just like you making a very handsome living from selling other people's products online.
Don’t be fooled, though. As we all know, there are NO get-rich-quick programs online or offline. Like any business making money with affiliate programs takes work, dedication, and education.
Where To Find Good Independent Affiliate Programs
It seems that thousands of companies have chosen to manage their own affiliate programs rather than using companies like Linkshare or Commission Junction. In fact, our friends at Five Star Affiliate Programs tracked a posting on a UK affiliate forum where they are wondering if the networks deserve their 30% commission. Great Question. The point is that it takes big bucks to get into a Commission Junction or a LinkShare, and there is plenty of good-paying, unique programs out there that are worth at least reviewing. Like everything else on the Internet, there are plenty of directories out there that list independent affiliate programs. Like everything else on the Internet, some list programs from other networks (like Clickbank). In fact, many of them were organized the same way and had the same sites listed, so I concluded that they were just repackaged content (which I find a lot on the Net these days). I looked over 25 to 30 of these directories, and here are the 5 I found the most useful, in the order that I liked them: 1. Affiliateseeking.com This was my favorite. They seemed to have a unique set of sites, and the user interface is intuitive. 2. Earnfind.com EarnFind was a good one too, with lots of good links and good organization. 3. Clickslink.com Not a bad site, although many of the listings were from other networks. 4. AffiliatePrograms.com Great layout, some good sites. My only gripe is that it is a paid listing service, which lessens its impartiality. 5. AffiliateGuide.com This is the affiliate guide template site. It has lots of ads but some good programs. Did I want to include at least one of these sites? There are many. Here’s a good Google tip: type in the word or phrase that describes the affiliate program keyword, then include +affiliate. For example, if you’re looking for a dog toys affiliate, you would search dog toys +affiliate.
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