Today, there are a lot of people who are interested I making money using their computer. How many? A simple Google search reveals nearly two and a half million results for the topic "make money online." Some of those results will no doubt offer some useful information, while others offer either scams or other sorts of "get rich quick" ideas. Stil, the lure of working from home and making money on your own computer is appealing to many. While there are many different things that one can do in order to earn money on the Internet, one of the most popular, and perhaps the simplest, is to participate in affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is a powerful advertising method where the seller of a product (the merchant) enlists the help of third parties (affiliates) in making sales. The merchant may offer products for sale via his or her Website, but he knows that if other people help promote and advertise the products it will yield more revenue. In exchange for third party help, the merchant offers the affiliates a portion of the sales price in exchange for the free advertising that the affiliates provide.

In the most common scenario, the affiliates advertise products via their own Websites or e-mail campaigns, and include a link that prospective customers may use to purchase the products described. That link includes code that tells the merchant which affiliate sent the customer so that the affiliate may receive his or her commission for the sale.

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that participants don't have to stock inventory, make sales directly or ship any merchandise. The sales process is entirely "hands off" as far as the affiliate is concerned, making the process much simpler than running any sort of retail operation.

Where can someone find products to sell as an affiliate? Here are three popular options:

Amazon.com - Amazon, the giant online retailer, has a popular program that lets their affiliates promote just about everything for sale on the site - books, DVDs, electronics, kitchen gadgets, and more. The percentage of the sales price offered for each sale varies with the type of item sold, but many people like working with Amazon because a lot of "niche" products can be found there that have little competition elsewhere.

Clickbank.com - Clickbank bills itself as the "Internet's leading retailer of digital products." They only sell downloadable products, such as software and electronic books, or e-books. There are thousands of products available for sale at Clickbank that cover a wide variety of interests. Each of these products has an affiliate program, and many of them offer commissions of as much as 75% of the sales price to affiliates. It's easy to sign up and they pay twice a month like clockwork.

Commission Junction - Commission Junction at CJ.com, offers affiliate programs for more traditional sorts of products - loans, insurance, cars, electronics, and more. There are literally thousands of different companies that use CJ to enlist the help of affiliates to boost their sales. Commission Junction has the widest variety of products available for those who are interested in affiliate marketing.

The nice thing about making money in this type of marketing is that it is easy to get started. You can sign up for these programs for free and the cost of doing business is quite minimal when compared to retail sales. If you have any interest in making money online, affiliate marketing is a good way to get started without risking too much of your money or time.