Affiliate Programs: How they help to make you money

To make money from a website you already have up and running, one road to consider going down is joining an affiliate program.

If you're yet to start up your own website, you may consider getting in contact with a web designer who has affiliate marketing experience.

If you become an affiliate, it means you earn from advertising other merchants products via your website by placing advertising banners and text links on your site.

If a visitor to your website clicks on the banner, they then go straight to their website, make a purchase from them and you make a commission on the sale.

Unfortunately you won't make much by simply putting a banner on your website unless you're one of the lucky ones who receive thousands of visitors on a daily basis.

But by implementing a few simple marketing techniques even the smallest site could earn you a decent income.

Firstly, try affiliating yourself to a merchant whose products are more likely to be bought by a visitor to your site, there isn't much point in having a link to a cat food seller when your own site concerns PC maintenance.

To start with have a look at the 'Commission Junction', one of the good affiliate network directories on the web it won't cost a penny and neither will it if you link up with a listed merchant.

From that point it's very straightforward, you don't need to be a programming expert to get going.

Advertising on your site for someone else's goods is a good way of earning an income, all you're doing is pointing someone in the right direction and your responsibility ends there.