It doesn’t matter whether you're an online businessman promoting your own products, or a writer polishing a content-driven site. You can earn money by joining associate programs, one of the most popular internet options you'll have to monetize your site.

What are associate programs?

Also known as affiliate programs, these are programs where an agreement is made between an online merchant's site and an affiliate website. The affiliate site will send traffic to the owner's site for a fee by posting links that lead to the merchant site. The payment for this arrangement will depend upon a particular agreement.

Let's say there's Billy the affiliate and the merchant site. Billy's job as an affiliate is to post ads and/or links on his website that lead to 's site. Monypny then agrees to pay Billy a certain amount depending on their agreement.

Basically, Billy the associate's job is to ensure that traffic or money goes to Monypny's site by leading visitors to that site.

How did associate programs begin?

We have Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of to thank for associate programs. He introduced this concept in 1996 as a strategy to promote his business and improve his sales. It became a huge success. These days, has more than half a million affiliate sites and other merchants have followed suit.

Why are associate programs used by merchant websites?

An affiliate site is an excellent way of promoting the merchant website. It's also a great way to sell products and services online. It's a cheap marketing tool, it gives the merchant site online exposure and it's very effective.

Who are involved in an associate program?

The major parties are the merchant, the affiliate and the customers or visitors.

Who can join associate programs?

Basically, it's anyone with a website, although most associate programs do not allow sites with offensive language or content to join.

Do I have to be an internet business owner to be part of an associate program?

Not really. All you have to do is increase your merchant site's traffic and you don’t have to sell anything else. Associate programs are a great way to become part of e-commerce, even if you don’t directly sell anything.

What are the types of associate programs?

There are three types of associate programs: Pay-per-click or cost-per-click, pay-per-sale or cost-per-sale and pay-per-lead or cost per lead.

Pay-per-click – in this type of associate program, pays Billy the Affiliate based on the number of internet visitors who click on the link to Monypny's site. PPPs don’t require Billy's referrals to do anything on Monypny's site, much less buy something. All they have to do is click on the link to help Billy earn.

Pay-per-sale – in this type of arrangement, Monypny pays Billy the Affiliate for every visitor he sends to Monypny's site that actually buys something. It's either he gets a fixed amount or a percentage of the sale made.

Pay-per-lead – Monypny pays Billy based on the number of visitors that he sends who sign up as leads. These visitors are those who agree to fill out some information found on Monypny's site. Monypny uses this information as sales lead, to sell products or services to at a later time, or keep this information and sell it to another company.

How do I join associate programs?

You can join by becoming an affiliate or by recruiting them. Or you could do both. If you are maintaining a site as a hobby, why not earn money for its upkeep by becoming an affiliate? Apply with an affiliate site (these are free). You will need to fill out a form that requires some personal information like your name and address and other things like your web address and type of content.

If your application is approved, you can then pick the affiliate program that suits you. Once the online merchants handling these programs approve, you can then begin setting up links with the help of the affiliate network.

If you are an e-commerce entrepreneur, you can start your own associate program. Start by joining affiliate networks. This will require you to pay a fee, usually a one-time charge plus a deposit and some can be quite expensive, ranging from $1,000 to a high of $5,000. Your membership will also require you to pay the network with a percentage of what you pay your own affiliate.

If you don’t like the idea of paying someone else to do your affiliate program for you, you can always use your own associate program. You'll need to set up your own tracking technology, recruit and screen your affiliates, set up a reliable and timely accounting system and a help line. You will also need to teach your affiliates the ins and outs of your program plus how to add links to your site.