Are you looking for a simple explanation of affiliate programs? If so, this article will tell you everything you need to know about affiliate programs and making money on the web. Simply put, affiliate programs allow individuals promoting specific products or services to receive a commission each time they are successful in selling someone elses product.

Affiliate programs give you an opportunity to promote someone else's products or services using Google Adwords, your own website, email, or other forms of electronic communication. When prospects turn into customers (i.e. someone purchases the product you've promoted) you receive a commission, usually as a percentage of the selling price or a fixed sum. For website owners affiliate programs are one of the fastest ways they can generate revenue.

For example, let's take a popular affiliate program called Affiliate Cash Vault. This very popular online product uses hundreds of individuals to promote it through online advertising. When these advertisers drive traffic to the product’s website or registration page, the referring URL is recorded. When those browsers turn into customers, the individual that drove the traffic to the website (that converted) receives a commission.

Legitimate affiliate programs benefit everyone. The customer receives a good product at a fair price. The product developer/website owner sells his product or service, and the individual who drove the lead receives a sales commission. This is why affiliate programs have grown in popularity over the last few years. New tools have made the implementation of affiliate programs even easier.

A number of websites bring those with products to sell and others who want to promote products together to facilitate the development of online affiliate programs. ClickBank and Commission Junction are the largest and have been around for a number of years.

If you're looking for products to promote, or are publishers looking to sell a product or service on the web, I suggest looking into these programs. If you're new to affiliate programs, I suggest using ClickBank. I've used both websites and ClickBank does a much better job of explaining each step and getting you up and running easily. Select products to promote that are most closely aligned with your web site content!

Once you’ve registered with an online affiliate network and selected the products you wish to promote, you need to focus on traffic generation strategies. You want the traffic that sees your product listing and promotion to be targeted. There are a variety of techniques you can use to find the right traffic interested in purchasing your affiliate’s products. Here are just a few:

1. Google Adsense. I know what you’re thinking… it’s just too expensive. Well, that doesn’t have to be the case. With pay-per-click advertising, you can set you spending limits and get the most targeted traffic available. Learn about Google Adsense if you wish to become a successful affiliate marketer. There are also a variety of tools you can find on the Internet to help you find the best keywords for promoting a given product or service at a reasonable price.

2. Article Marketing. If the product you’re promoting is about a given subject or area of expertise, than write an article about it. Be sure that you offer some information of value versus simply promoting a single product. You want others to read your article and see your advice as credible. This can create an additional platform for marketing your affiliate products.

3. Link Exchanges. Are there websites that attract the type of users who would potentially buy the product you’re promoting? Email these sites and let them know that you’re interested in exchanging links with them. Often times these sites would like to increase their traffic as well. When a site receives more links, it ranks higher in search results.

Once you begin learning more about affiliate programs, you’ll discover new and innovative ways to generate traffic to your website or affiliate’s product site. Don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with different types of products and services. You may find a niche that you’re particularly good at promoting.

Looking to become an affiliate and generate some serious cash? Open the Affiliate Cash Vault by Clicking Here.