Are Affiliate Programs Sensible?

Have you ever wondered how "the big guys" earn so muchmoney on the internet? Sure, some of them have hugeadvertising budgets, which puts small business owners at adisadvantage.But some of the biggest names today started out just likeyou and me. They had low advertising budgets and fumbledtheir way around the internet trying to get visitors totheir websites and sell their products.Even though they had terrific products, they couldn't sellthem if no one knew about them. They put on their thinkingcaps to find the easiest and least expensive way to getvisitors and make sales.They finally came up with a plan that would benefit notonly them, but others as well. If they could get otherpeople to promote their products and websites, they couldearn more money.And so, Affiliate Programs were born! What a concept! Abetter way to get visitors to a website and sell moreproducts!They offer their visitors the opportunity to "partner" withthem, often for free, to help sell their products. And manyof them offer two-tier affiliate programs.So if I sign up as an affiliate I can get others to sign upunder me as my sub-affiliates. I earn a commission forsales I make directly to my customers. But I also earn asmaller commission for sales that my sub-affiliates make.It's a winning situation for everyone! The "big guy" mademoney because he sold his product. However, he might nothave made that sale if it wasn't for my advertisement. And Imade money because I advertised his products.The concept of affiliate programs is really not so new. It'ssimilar to selling cosmetics or other products for manywell-known companies.For instance, I have no idea how to invent a new cologne,but I know how to sell it. Therefore, I could sign up as arepresentative for a cosmetics company. They, in turn,would pay me a commission for selling their products.Why would they do that? Because they can't possibly reachall the potential customers by themselves.By becoming an affiliate for someone who knows much moreabout computers and digital products than I do, I have theadvantage of selling quality products that I can't createmyself.And they have the advantage of their affiliates doing someof the "leg work" for them because they can't possibly reachall the potential customers in this vast internet world.A few of the large companies on the internet today thatoffer free two-tier affiliate programs can be located atthe following links:http://www.moneyhome.com/cgi-bin/i.pl?c=a&i=69http://www.marketingtips.com/sr .x/775957http://www.mywizardads.com/cgi-bin/ra.cgi?adminid=253&id=559http://www.rtdwebsolutions.com/i/clickthru.cgi?id=dmh0226http://QuickPayPro.com/x/qpp.cgi?adminid=1946&id=40550http://www.ListFire.com/5159(For this last one you sign up for ListFire and get yourfree copy of Web Army Knife. Then you can sign up to becomean affiliate for free.)The next time you visit a website offering products youlike, check to see if they offer an affiliate program. Evenif you don't wish to place an order for a product at thattime, you can sign up as an affiliate.In the future when you do order you may be able to use your own affiliate URL and give yourself the commission. Most companies allow this procedure.In the meantime you can let your customers know that youhave new products available, as well as affiliate programsfor them to join. It's a great way to get backend sales.So there you have it! The reasons for affiliate programs andwhy it makes sense for people to sign up. By offeringwell-known products on your website or in your ezine youare in a win-win situation and can potentially earn bigmoney like the "internet gurus."