There are no shortage of stories about people who have quit successful "day jobs" to make their fortunes on the Internet. Many of these self-made people managed to do so through affiliate marketing programs, which means they didn't even have to sell a thing or handle a product to make enough money to survive and even thrive without a 9-to-5 job.

Learning how to become an affiliate isn't very difficult, but it will take a little time and research. A lot of people turn to affiliate marketing eBook guides for advice. This is a great option, especially when they are created by those with proven track records for making money this new and fascinating way, but there are other options out there, too.

The truth is affiliate advertising isn't all that difficult to research and get involved with. Anyone interested in getting involved with different online affiliate program offers only needs two things:

1. A website. This is an absolute must. You simply cannot have an affiliate marketing program running without a website on which to advertise it. Sure, affiliate programs will give you a turnkey site but if you are serious about making a living from affiliate programs you should have your own website.

2. Determination. This isn't tangible, but it is what separates the successful from those who are not.

These two things should be in place before you sign up for affiliate marketing programs. It doesn't hurt, however, to research the different best free online affiliate program offers before actually creating a website. If you put the cart before the horse, so to speak, you can tailor the web site to the affiliate programs you are interested in.

All it takes to find many different affiliate offers is a quick Internet search - there are literally thousands of them out there. Some are better than others at turning traffic into money, so affiliate review articles might be worth perusing, too.

Once a few affiliate program choices have been made the next steps will depend on those programs themselves. Generally, to sign on to become an affiliate, a website owner needs to:

1. Carefully review an Internet marketing company affiliate's program offerings. This means understanding the terms of the agreement, how the companies pay, what they pay for and even what their product is. Some ppc affiliate programs will pay out every time a visitors clicks on their ad from your site and visits theirs, but others will only pay if a product is purchased. Many successful site owners use a combination of the two.

2. Sign up. Most businesses that offer affiliate programs for advertising will require website owners to sign up. During a review of the application, the affiliate advertiser sometimes will review the website and make sure it fits their purposes. For example, a children's toy company likely will not approve a XXX web site for affiliate advertising. Many however do not have any approval process. If you are joining one of the top affiliate networks, you will wait a day or two for approval.

3. Wait for approval. There's not much to do here other than work on building up the website while you wait.

4. Put the ads up. Most affiliate programs will offer special HTML coding to ensure their ads are in place on your site and that you get proper credit for any traffic that comes their way from your site. Most also include affiliate tracking features to help you keep up with your cash flow and visitor stats.

Becoming an affiliate is not a very difficult process. It's the next step that really takes the work. Transforming the affiliate opportunity into a real moneymaker will take dedication, but it can pay off in a big way.