The affiliate model is a "high reward/low risk" Web site monetization option...

• you don't have to develop excellent products -- it has already been done for you. You simply judge and pick the best available ones, from the best available merchants!
  
  
• you don't have to spend large amounts to manufacture and store inventory
  
  
• no need to take and process a single order, or worry about getting paid (you don't even need a merchant account!) -- you simply send people to your affiliated merchants, then get paid when they buy
  
  
• you don't have to handle or ship a product -- your merchants do that
  
  
• you'll never have to answer customer e-mail (inquiries and support are 24/7 issues that can easily eat up 50% of your day)
  
  
• they cost nothing to join (beware of the few that do)
  
  
• your affiliate business can be started part-time, on a shoestring.

Sounds great... and the "affiliate model" has mushroomed since Amazon.com first brought it into public prominence in 1997. Millions of affiliates send billions of visitors to tens of thousands of companies in return for a payment. Major research houses like Forrester Research project the affiliate model to grow exponentially over the next few years.

An Affiliate Primer (A Short Course On The Affiliate Monetization Model) Affiliate Background Affiliate Example... How It Works The Affiliate Credentials of SiteSell.com The only Top 250 Internet Company that is 100% affiliate-driven.

Site Build It! (SBI!) takes you through a flawless affiliate process that we guarantee will add a significant second stream of income to your info-publishing business.

Step 1
Upfront thinking and planning...

• Develop best site concept/theme
• Brainstorm most profitable topics
• Select best related affiliate programs.

Step 2
Successful affiliates select the best companies. They use the strongest strategies -- they know how to go out and do it right, on their own! And they eliminate dependency on any single company -- not only do they diversify their affiliate monetization among several strong companies, they diversify into other, complementary monetization models.

Step 3
Take what you know, what you love, and turn it into a Theme-Based Content Site. Attract highly targeted, interested "PREcustomers," provide solid value through content, then refer them to your affiliated merchants.

Step 4
Put yourself into the click path of your visitors and join the "top 3%" of affiliates, the ones who earn significant amounts (the rest flounder). Top affiliates all...

• make the content of their Web pages "attractive" to Search Engines
  
  
• track how each page performs on the major Search Engines, from submission, through spidering, indexing and finally to how each page ranks
  
  
• develop more than one way to drive traffic
  
  
• analyze Click IN and Click Through patterns meticulously, as if their businesses depended on it (because it does)
  
  
• follow key traffic stats from a good log file analyzer
  
  
• execute well, having assembled or created a wide variety of expensive tools.