If your teenager spends all of his free time glued to his computer you can use his obsession to teach him a valuable lesson about earning money and running a business. Teens are very computer savvy these days and they can easily learn to build and market a website which is a skill that will serve them well as they move into the real world.

You have probably warned your teen against internet money making schemes to protect him from the many scams that are out there. There are, however, some very legitimate ways to make money online. Building an affiliate site is one of the safest.

The first step your teen must take to making fast money online is to choose a topic for his affiliate store. Let him choose something that he is really interested in so that he will be more likely to stick with it once he starts. Video games, music and technology are all great topics that many teens are interested in.

Next you must learn how to build a website. This is not as hard as it sounds. There are tons of website building programs available so you can choose one that is as easy or complex as you want. The more difficult programs usually give you more creative control but a template based website will work just as well.

Now that you have a subject and a site you have to create content. Let your teen write a few articles about the subject he has chosen for the site. This is the most important part of running your own affiliate store so don't do this for him. The better he is at writing content for the site the more successful he will be over all with his affiliate program.

Now you join an affiliate program and choose the products you want to feature on your site. You need to create the site first because many affiliate programs will not accept you as a member unless the site is active. Once you have some products on your site, write about those products. Let your teen write reviews of the products and you can even get reviews from his friends.

Once the website is built your teen can get started on marketing. He is likely already a member or a large web based network through his MySpace and facebook pages. That is a great place to start marketing. You can then move on to email ad campaigns and paid advertisements.

Kids these days spend so many hours on the computer they need to be using that time to develop skills that they can use in the real world. Building and marketing websites is one of the most useful skills you can have these days and it is a skill that will take your teen very far in life.