How to Earn Money Online Using Affiliate Programs Part 1: What is an Affiliate Program and How Do I Use Them to Make Money Online?

This series is to be used in conjunction with my other series, How to Get Your Own Domain Name - A Beginners Guide to Earning Money Online Part I.

Websites and companies offer affiliate programs, which allow you to promote their site or products and earn a commission. Some pay per sale, per lead, per click or per signup to their website. There are literally thousands upon thousands of these programs that will compliment any topic you could possibly imagine to write about or build a website around.

You will find that there is a vast difference in the amount a sponsor (a company that owns the affiliate program) will offer you for each sale. Some sponsors will pay you 4% commission of all sales made through the link code they give you, while others will pay you $10 for each signup to their website. Choose sponsor programs that will best match your content and peak the interest of your visitors.

Do not always pick the sponsor that pays more, as their product or service may be a harder sale or signup. Sometime promoting the one that pays you the least will end up making you more money because people just like the product or service better.

Just about every major online retailer has an affiliate program that will pay you to sell their products. The upside of this is that you do not need to keep any inventory, ship any products and you get to use their branded name. Promoting online retailers such as Amazon, JC Penney, Wal-Mart, and Kb Toys gives you an upper hand on making a sale because they are already trusted companies in the eyes of your visitors.

In order to apply and be accepted into any affiliate program you must have a blog, website or other way to promote their products such as an Ebook, opt-in mailing list or software program. Some affiliate programs are easier to get accepted into and some are downright strict on who they allow to promote their products.

Remember their names are brands and if they don't think your site is worthy or will enhance their brand they will not accept you. JC Penney is one that really stands out in my mind as being one of the hardest programs to be accepted for.