Affiliate programs: do they really earn money online? by Fraser Gunn

Affiliate programs at the start seemed to me to be a good idea; the concept is similar to programs of network marketing run in the "real world", such as Usana, except that all the "networking" is done anonymously and there is no effort on your behalf to sign anyone up or anything of that sort.You set up a website linking your site to the affiliate manager's & your aim is to get people to sign up with them through your site; usually a good affiliate manager will pay for your site set up costs and some even design the whole page for you! One affiliate program that does this is: http://www.affiliatejunktion.com?a_aid=a8e326b7The affiliate managers will then pay you commission (the best ones offer between US$2 - $5) based on the number of sign ups you can generate. Basically this goal is achieved through advertising on sites such a Google (through AdWord) and Yahoo (through Sponsored Search). From my experience, this is a cheap & effective method to get your site out there & the results will surprise - within 2 days I was literally getting hundreds of hits a day and my ad was just a copy of what my affiliate programs step-by-step guide said to do! Some affiliate marketing sites are particularly good in helping you set everything in motion, of this one example being http://www.affiliatesearnmoney.comFrom my experience affiliate programs can work for you to generate a steady income stream; they are by no means a get-rich-quick scheme of the crazy sort you see online these days but if you want some additional income coming in every week then I highly recommend you give it a try. After all, most affiliate programs let you join free & have you earning within a day of signing up.