Making Money With Online Affiliate Programs

There are numerous ways for a hardworking individual to gain money online. Thousands of people have resorted to the Internet in search of a good money-making opportunity that they can do from the comfort of their own home. It may appear scary at first, but you can make money online if you learn, duplicate, and most importantly, have the courage to begin.

Online affiliate networks are one of the most innovative methods to augment or even replace your income. When Amazon.com began paying websites for sending customers to their site in 1996, the first online affiliate programs arose. Online affiliate networks are becoming a cornerstone in the e-commerce world in 2006.
The online affiliate program marketing module has been implemented by Fortune 500 corporations such as Dell, Walmart, and Apple.

Online affiliate networks offer home business owners and online entrepreneurs a risk-free way to monetize their websites through advertising. Affiliate marketing has grown in popularity as a home-based business option due of the following reasons:

There are no costs associated with its manufacture.

Start-up costs are really inexpensive.

There are no employees.

There is no inventory and no order processing.

There will be no shipping.

There is no customer service.

Risk is extremely low.

You don't have a website, do you? To make money with online affiliate networks, you don't always need to have a website or even know HTML.
Many pay-per-click (PPC) savvy online affiliate marketers have turned away from deploying websites in favor of search engine marketing, thanks to the development of contextual advertising through Yahoo! Publisher and Google Adwords (SEM). This may be a good approach for individuals to get their feet wet with affiliate marketing online, but if you're not comfortable with setting up PPC ads, proceed with caution. If done incorrectly, the cost per click can soon build up, leaving you with little return on your investment. As for me, I still feel that content reigns supreme and will continue to do so in the future. Having real estate on the internet is similar to owning a piece of property in that it only becomes better with age and increases in value.

According to an article published by Click Z News, eBay's top affiliate earned nearly $1.3 million in commissions in January 2005, the highest amount in the company's online affiliate program's history. Their top 25 affiliates earned an average of almost $100,000 per month, while their top 100 affiliates earned an average of about $25,000 each month.

With numbers like these circulating the Internet, it's no surprise that affiliate marketing is quickly becoming the most popular way to make money online. Thousands of people just like you make a good income selling other people's things online.

But don't be deceived. There are no get-rich-quick schemes online or offline, as we all know. Making money with affiliate networks, like any other business, involves hard work, dedication, and education.