Of course even the definition of a residual income affiliate program could mean different things to different people - my working definition is 'income that requires little or no additional work. Now that sounds like a fairly undemanding statement but if you can gain a significant residual income from an affiliate program it effectively means that you are being paid into the future for your initial efforts (leaving you free to produce more income sources).

Most successful internet marketers know that residual income is the most valuable - it underpins your business. If you can create even a small profit stream that keeps flowing to your bank account without further effort - it can be incredibly useful in developing your business.

Take this example - a company offering the some service such as printer spares has a affiliate program which you join. You put up a series of web pages explaining their services and leading the reader to their web site - great every time someone becomes a customer you get income - if the page continues to receive traffic no further effort is required from you to gain commission cheques from this company.

Then you notice that the company offers multiple tiers within their affiliate scheme - that is if you refer someone who also begins promoting their affiliate program then you receive a percentage of all income they generate. This is where generating residual income becomes incredibly attractive - if you can develop a page or site which encourages people to become affiliates of the program you will generate income from a variety of sources. Your initial work may take a while to reap any benefits yet it could continue generating income for years to come.

Income of this sort gives the affiliate marketer the most precious gift he can get - time - this residual income can support you whilst you develop new streams, by it's very nature it requires little effort from you. It's never easy to achieve yet gaining residual income is what all we internet marketing people crave. You will not gain in by dashing around trying to promote twenty products wildly then moving on to the next 20 - you need a plan and a formula to gain these riches.