It has been said that affiliate programs are the easiest ways to online riches. There is a lot of truth in that statement, though it must be remembered that affiliate marketing is still a job, albeit one which you could do in the comforts of your own home, hence, you cannot make the most out of it without exerting some effort.

Even if you are not familiar with affiliate programs, I am sure you have encountered some in your years on the Internet. You have visited a site that was suggesting a book from www.amazon.com to supplement the information its pages revealed. That site's webmaster, my friend, is an affiliate. And if you decided to purchase the book he recommended, he would have earned a commission from the merchant site.

Amazon, indeed, is the first business model for affiliate programs. There are more, of course, usually asking the affiliate partner to sell web hosting, domain names, and tangible products. But it is the affiliate program , which offer information products that often give the highest commissions.

But first, let us discuss how affiliate programs work. There are three parties in affiliate programs:

* The affiliate merchant

* The affiliate

* The buyer

The affiliate merchant is the one who has products to sell. He would establish an affiliate program to invite affiliates to pre-sell his products. Once the affiliate finds a buyer, he would recommend the same to the affiliate merchant. The affiliate merchant would then sell his products to the buyer. If the buyer buys, the affiliate merchant would give the affiliate his corresponding commission.

Selling and pre-selling are two different things. Pre-selling usually involves referrals and an earnest attempt to convince the buyer to try the products being endorsed. When an affiliate enrolls in an affiliate program, he is given a code, which is called an affiliate link. This affiliate link has his designation embedded on it, so whenever a sale is consummated by virtue of the said link, the affiliate program's system would be able to determine that the commission due shall accrue for the affiliate.

Selling, on the other hand, is primarily the task of the affiliate merchant. This includes payment processing, delivery and shipment if applicable, and post-sales support.

Easy, is not it? All you have to do is to enroll in an affiliate program, market the products with your affiliate link, and you could earn wonderful commissions! Plus, you have the option of automating everything through your site, or through some creative strategies that have worked for many people.

But this should not be taken to mean that affiliate marketing could only be carried out through your website. The fact of the matter is, you could be a very successful affiliate even without the benefit of having a website!

These matters we will reserve for another day, so again, I plead, bookmark this site and I promise that you will not regret it.

Affiliate programs can be fertile sources of plentiful earnings. All you have to do is to choose the right one. Here are some points to consider in deciding on an affiliate program:

* Quality of the products

* Salability of the products

* Commission rate dependent of salability of the products (a highly sellable product with an equally high commission is ideal, but a highly sellable product with modest commission is also good, as finding buyers would be easy)

* Credibility of affiliate merchant

* Support from affiliate merchant

Additionally, you could enroll in as many affiliate programs you want. But since you could only have 24 hours in a day to do the marketing, there are risks in diversifying. So proceed with prudence before engaging in many affiliate agreements.

For example,

**AuctionResourceNetwork.com** - Excellent communication and great eBayer, Highly recommended

You can see how the domain will *jump-out* at the reader.

Also, when you leave feedback for your auction sales, do the same.

Now.., if you don't have a website, here's a quick trick on how to direct that traffic to your about me page.

Simply create a free account at NameCheap.com and purchase a domain name, i.e. www.your-domain.com

NameCheap.com only charges $8.88 per year for your domain name!

...then, in your NameCheap.com account, you can set your new domain to redirect to your eBay about me page...here's how:

Login to your NameCheap.com account

Click the 'view' link beside 'Number of domains in your account'

Click your new domain name

Click URL Forwarding under the Host Management section on the left

Enter your about me page URL in both textboxes and click Save Changes

Viola...you now own a domain that redirects to your about me page!

And make sure you place your new domain name in all your feedback comments.

Ok...now that you know how to get some extra free traffic by using eBay's feedback comments, answer this question:

"Do you want to know how to turn that extra FREE traffic into cash?"

Yes/No? - Well, I'm going to tell you anyways... ;-) There are a few things you can do...here are 2:

Place your auction links on your AboutMe page so that your new visitors can get to your auctions. Place a newsletter signup form in your AboutMe page as well as in your auction pages and collect leads. Then market to those leads over and over again. I think the second idea is the most powerful...although it takes a little work on your part.

The quick`n`dirty way is to use AWeber.com to manage your leads and use their capture web form generator to capture your lead's name and email address.

BUT, there are certain rules you must obey in order to collect client information from your auctions pages as well as you about Me page.