For many website owners, affiliate marketing is a great way to earn some extra money without actually having to do any selling or promotion of any kind. There are three main approaches in affiliate marketing: pay per click (PPC), pay per sale, and pay per lead.

In PPC marketing, the publisher is paid each time a potential customer clicks on the link leading to the advertiser's website. A predetermined amount of money, which varies depending on the product and amount of the commission, is deposited in the affiliate's account for each click.

Pay per sale marketing is different in that the publisher is only rewarded for each successful sale rather than for each visit to the vendor's website, as in PPC.

The pay per lead system, on the other hand, works by paying the website owner every time a potential client registers at the retailer's website because of the advertisement on the affiliate's account. How It Works More often than not, both vendors and publishers register with one or more affiliate marketing networks. Once an advertiser registers with a network, a price is set for their ad links, either a fixed amount per lead or a percentage of a resulting sale. The networks then make these links available for placement by publishers. Owners of independent websites and blogs looking to monetize their traffic now apply to join an advertiser's affiliate program.

Upon acceptance, these publishers select and place the advertiser's links on their websites as well as mention them in their e-mail campaigns and as part of their search listings. These ad links are now visible to visitors to the publisher's website. Each link has an individualized code embedded into it that enables the advertiser to track where the leads are coming from (usually through cookies). Occasionally, an advertiser might give a publisher a coupon code for their site visitors to use that helps to track conversions. Once a potential client clicks on a publisher's link, the information is recorded by the affiliate program, and depending on the type of program (PPC, pay per sale, or pay per lead), the publishers are paid accordingly after verification.

The website owners are remunerated for each successful client introduction that results from their site advertising. The retailers profit because they only need to pay for a successful conversion. They also benefit from the free publicity. The more websites they are affiliated with, the more exposure their products get. Affiliate marketing is not the only way to make money from blogs and independent websites, but it can be a very profitable venture for many autonomous publishers.

Over time, most successful bloggers and website owners are able to build a substantial reader base. Once you develop a good relationship with your readers, they become more open to recommendations and suggestions. This is a good time to start an affiliate marketing program. Whether or not you are able to successfully introduce affiliate marketing on your website or blog depends on a variety of factors, including the kind of products you are trying to sell, whether you can write interesting sales pieces, the amount of traffic on your website, the subjects you commonly address, and the type of readers you generally get.

Choosing the Right Product is one of the key determinants of the success or failure of your affiliate marketing venture. Unless the products are relevant to your audience and the sort of topics you generally address, you will not be able to sell them. Moreover, promoting fraudulent or low-quality products and services can seriously hurt your brand. One of the simplest and easiest ways to locate a good affiliate-marketing network is to simply Google it. For example, if your blog focuses on reading and reviewing books, then searching for "online bookstore affiliate program" can give you an idea of potential advertisers. Another helpful approach is to look at successfully affiliated blogs and websites with similar areas of expertise to your own and see the kind of products that they are promoting.

Finally, it is also a good idea to look at AdSense ads that appear while searching for similar topics.

To conclude, like all businesses, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to put together a profitable affiliate network. The success of your venture is entirely dependent on the kind of resources you are willing to commit to meet your goals. Experiment with different mediums (for example, blogs versus tweets) and special promotional ideas. Above all, give your program a chance to grow.