Let me explain, an affiliate, the internet type anyhow, is someone who sells other entrepreneurs services and products online for a cut of the profits.

I am an affiliate marketer and have been since 1998. To me it is the lazy man's way to riches, money earned with very little effort on my part EXCEPT in marketing the said service or product. It's the only business I know of that doesn't involve product delivery or after sales support.

Who wants to deal with nasty customers and refunds anyhow? Certainly not me!

Of course, there is still work involved, like all legitimate online home businesses. For me, it has always been the best option. Not to say at some stage I won't release my own products but for now I don't see why I should when I can make a healthy living doing what I do.

Does the idea of lying on a beach somewhere in the Meditteranean or the Bahamas, while collecting checks on auto-pilot and making sales automatically while you're on holiday, appeal to you too? Can you see how powerful online marketing of products and services can be?

There are 1000s of online affiliate programs that you can join online for a share of the sales. One of the largest examples is Amazon. That's right the biggest online bookstore got to where it is today because of the efforts of affiliate marketers. Their links can be seen on 100,000s of sites worldwide and most of these links lead directly to an affiliate site coded to give the affiliate a share of the purchase.

Some affiliate programs are just not worth the effort. I personally, will not go near a program that offers less than 40% commission. The good news is I don't need to some affiliate programs will offer as much as 75%.

You may ask why would someone offer the majority of their profits to their affiliates. The truth is that the products owner are not offering such high per centages out of kindness. Some of these programs are making $10,000s in profits because of the army of affiliates they attract by such high payouts.

A book could be written on affiliate marketing and indeed many online versions have. My advice to anyone is to find out more. Greater freedom can not be had online than from becoming an affiliate marketer.