You have probably seen sites that are selling a product or
service and noticed that they also offer an affiliate program
you can join. There is often a little link at the top left or
at the bottom of the site that says "Affiliate Program".

Not only can you buy the product or service but you can sell it as well and earn a commission.

Well, how about using the same concept for your affiliate
programs. How about setting up your site like this but not
actually developing the product or service yourself.

You can with 2 tier affiliate programs!

Not only can you earn commissions through the sale of products or services at your site directly, you can sign up 2nd tier affiliates to earn commissions for you as well.

Many of the best affiliate programs offer ‘2nd tier
opportunities’. You should make sure you join ones that do.

How should you design your site to accommodate sales AND affiliates? There are 2 ways to do this:

1.If you have a number of products or services you are selling at your site then underneath the affiliate link to BUY the product or service have the “join affiliate program" link. Most likely your affiliate program will provide you with 2 different affiliate links.

Chances are, people you sign up into the 2nd tier via your
affiliate program link will end up buying the product
themselves. So not only do you get a direct commission from the sale to this person, you also get 2nd tier commissions from any sales they make in the future.

2. Set up a mini-site for one of your affiliate programs so
that you are only reselling this one product or service. This
would be a site with just 2 pages. On the first page is the
link to the product itself.

On the 2nd page is the description of the affiliate program
and the link to the affiliate program sign up page.

Your goal is to actually direct your visitors to the 2nd page
where they can sign up to the affiliate program. Why?

You will get more commissions from signing up affiliates into your 2nd tier than by visitors directly buying the product through your affiliate link. This is because more people will be interested in the affiliate program rather than the product. But when they join the affiliate program, many of them will buy the product or service.

In summary, think about using your site as an affiliate program site as well as a sales site. It gives you 2 bites at the cherry and having 2nd tier affiliates means you can be earning commissions for many years.