Affiliate programs are perhaps the best and fastest way to make money online. Most Affiliate programs are free to sign up for, and come with their own banners. An affiliate program is essentially when a company or website pays you to advertise their products or service. For example, there is a web site that sells shoes for $30. You sign up for their affiliate program, and place their ad on your site. Someone on your site clicks the ad, and buys a shoe. Let's say that they give you 20%, and they give you $6.00. Their are countless affiliate programs out their, some for one product, and some for many, for example, ClickBank. Some affiliate programs can make you a lot of money, even if only a few people buy something through your link. My best affiliate program pays me $70 per sale. Some pay even higher, but I'm happy with that $70.
Target the Right Crowd
Even if one affiliate program pays $500 per sale, you have to have the right ads for your site. No one viewing my site is going to want to buy a tool set. I recommend searching for a fairly long time before choosing what affiliate programs to use. If your website has something to do with web design, place ads offering web hosting. If you have a web site about making money online, place an ad for an e-book having to do with that subject. Make sure that the people viewing your site will want to buy what you're advertising.
Two-Tier Affiliate Program
Another way to make money online, with perhaps less effort, is through two-tiered affiliate programs. Instead of placing an ad for a product, you place an ad for an affiliate program. Then, the person you referred to the affiliate program begins to make money through that program. Because you referred him, you make a percentage of everything he makes. Look at it this way: If you refer 10 people with a normal affiliate program, and you make $10 per sale, you have $100 dollars. If you refer 10 people to an affiliate program, and they all refer 10 people, then lets say you make $2 for all of their sales. Then you have $200. Another bonus to 2-tiered affiliate programs is that people are more likely to sign up for a free service where they make money than they are to buy a product. People will want to make money for free, not buy a product. The more people you refer, they faster the money starts rolling in. Normal affiliate programs and 2-tiered affiliate programs are both great services. I'd recommend using a nice combination of the 2 on your sites, not one or the other.
Some Tools I Highly Recommend
One problem some people have is viewing all of the affiliate programs they're signed up for. This used to really hurt my profits because I couldn't tell which ads were making me a lot of money and which weren't. Then I found BlueDog. It let's you see how much money your affiliate programs are making, and other details. I highly recommend this program, and it's totally worth the money. It costs $95.00 and has a small monthly fee.
My favorite affiliate program.
My favorite affiliate program is from vodahost. They sell web hosting, so if your web site has something to do with that, then I recommend this program. They pay $70 per sale, and is very easy to use. They offer a great service anyway, so it's not hard to produce sales.
I hope you start unleashing your site's full earning potential with affiliate programs!
