Affiliate programs are a great way to make money on the Internet one of the few ways, in fact, that has managed to stand the test of time. The web today is a very different place to what it was at the start of e-commerce, but the success of affiliate marketing programs has only increased. In an unstable market like the Internet, it makes sense to seize on proven strategies like this and put them to work for you.
So what is an affiliate program? Basically, the idea is that, instead of running your own e-commerce website, fulfilling orders and all that jazz, you just set up your website to drive customers to someone elses. For example, if youre running a website with DVD reviews, you might think that it would also make sense for you to sell the DVDs so you just sign up to an affiliate program, and link through to a store that does using your affiliate code. In return for the referral, you get a commission as a percentage of the sale price, typically somewhere from 1% to 5%.
The most important choice you have to make is exactly which affiliate program to join. You cant join too many, because your website will quickly become cluttered and besides, many of the...