What is an affiliate? It has a lot of meanings I know but for the Net, the dictionary defines it as: ?Businesses that run affiliate programs pay a commission on sales of their products or services generated from your website. Commission amounts vary. As an affiliate, you host a link or banner promoting the company's website or product.? I define affiliate on the Net as one of the best ways to make very large sums of money without having to fight rush hour traffic every morning and this after getting up too late, feeding the kids, making their lunches, making sure the buttons on their coats are all there watch them fall down because they are running after the bus. Then at night fighting the rush hour traffic to get home to a cold supper, kids fighting, having to figure out your 14 year old's algebra and your late for your daughter tap dancing lessons while having forgotten to get your other sons skates sharpen for his playoff game?.Get the picture

Not only do you to generate sales as an affiliate, but you should also try your best to generate leads. Leads lead to clients (hey I like that). One way to generate leads, such as mortgage leads, debt consolidation leads, sales leads, etc. is to create a website that gives away free, useful information. Your site then leads your visitors that in order to access your free information. All they need to do is fill out a no obligation form for refinancing info, debt consolidation, buying a car, etc. This is called a forced lead, or incentives lead. Most companies don't want to pay for incentives leads, but if you are giving away free information that is somehow related, you can negotiate with them and get approval to do so.

For example, say you have a website that gives away free info on how to repair your credit on your own without hiring a service. Many sites charge money for information like this. You have probably seen thousands of them on the net...I have anyway. You could give this information away freely, but require visitors to first fill out a short debt consolidation questionnaire. The result is a lot of people are happy. You are happy because you get paid $10 or so for the lead, the customer is happy because they got free credit repair info, and the debt consolidation company is happy because they can call your lead and try to get them to sign up for their debt consolidation program, which the person most likely needs because they are seeking info on credit repair. It's a win-win-win situation (Wow a triple win situation). And that is how you approach the company that you want to generate leads for. There are many companies that pay-per-lead on networks like Commission Junction.