Multilevel marketing is a very touchy subject in the business world. Many people, when they hear the term multilevel marketing, immediately think, “pyramid scheme”, which is a very negative connotation. And while some multilevel marketing companies are perfectly legit and can provide decent residual income to participants, the pyramid scheme description is not completely inaccurate.

In general terms, a multilevel marketing program is one in which individuals are signed up, usually online, to become commission only salespeople for the parent company. They either sell directly to customers or, more commonly, have their own website or blog on which they place ads for the parent company. When customers click on those ads and then buy a product, the commission only salesperson makes a commission on the sale. This is also commonly referred to as affiliate marketing.

Affiliate programs have become wildly popular in the past few years. There are many ads and articles out there claiming that you can make a fortune by being an affiliate for a company. The truth is, while making good income through a multilevel marketing program is possible, it is not as simple as some make it sound.

One thing that many people who are excited about becoming an affiliate do not understand is that they have to do virtually all of the “sales” work themselves. It is, in a very real sense, becoming a salesperson, which many people have no interest in. While there may not be any literal door to door sales involved, it is the internet equivalent of that, in that you have to persuade people to come to your blog or site, and then entice them to click on your ads. You truly have to sell yourself (through your blog or site) in order to succeed in an affiliate program.

The second trap that some people fall into is recruiting other people to become affiliates for them. In other words, they ask people to add links to their blog or site, and if customers then buy products through their ads, they share the commission with their own recruit. This is they very definition of a pyramid scheme, but is often subtly encouraged by the parent companies.

With all that being said, however, there are perfectly legitimate opportunities of this type out there, you just have to do some research to find them. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the company, the more likely it is that there program is legitimate and could bring in some extra cash for you. That is, however, a very general rule of thumb and should not be taken for granted.

The best way to find out if a company's affiliate program is for real is to talk to other affiliates for that company. Most companies are willing to give you the names and contact information for some of their most successful partners. In fact, if a company refuses to do so, you might as well refrain from doing business with them right then and there. Get the names of some successful affiliates for a company and contact them. Find out how easy the program is to use, how hard it is to achieve success, and even try to get some hints from them, although they may be reluctant to tell you too much, since you will basically be their competitor.

Also, ask the company itself for additional information. Again, responsible companies usually have no problem doing this. In fact, the best companies even invest in booklet printing to write up a detailed description of their program and how it works. They will gladly send you a booklet for free, which you can look through and get a good idea of how successful the program is. If the company has invested in booklet printing, however, the chances are good that they are legit.

So if you are interested in becoming an affiliate, go for it…but do your homework first. There are as many failures waiting to happen as there are successes, so it would behoove you to be as informed as possible.