Affiliate Programs

If you have your own website and want to earn some extra money, you should seriously consider joining an affiliate program. For those of you who do not know what an affiliate program is -- well, basically it is getting paid for marketing (sending customers) to a specific store.

I am an affiliate for many companies. It's important to join programs where the products they offer complement your website, but do not compete with you. For example: My website Vital Records Online is a website about genealogy, finding ancestors online, state by state information about vital records. I send most of my traffic to Ancestry.com and I get a commission whenever anyone signs up for their service or buys a genealogy book from them. That way I just maintain my site and don't have to sell any actual physical products.

I also have a website for people who want to lose weight called AAA Lose Weight Now. I've included information about weight loss products, exercise videos, sports supplements, etc. I do have a few affilate programs there and it's always fun to get a check.

There are several good affiliate companies who can help you find programs which will fit with your website. Linkshare.com and Commission Junction are among the best. They both have hundreds of programs they run for mainstream companies. However there are many individual affiliate programs. Just do a search on "affiliate programs" through Google and you'll see how many companies out there who are turning to this type of marketing. It's a great way to get new customers for your own business by setting up your own affiliate program, and a great way to make some extra money for website owners.