Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular forms of online marketing which allows online businesses to promote themselves via affiliates. Each affiliate receives a residual or one-time commission for each subscriber or customer generated from their endeavors. Affiliates receive residual commission based on three types of affiliate marketing methods:

1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) affiliate marketing generates residual commission when a visitor clicks a specified link, and visits the site.

2. Pay-Per-Lead (PPL) affiliate marketing generates residual commission when a visitor signs-up for a program, or shows more interest in a product or service.

3. Pay-Per-Sale (PPS) affiliate marketing generates residual commission when a customer makes a purchase.

Online businesses tend to like affiliate marketing because they pay only after they see positive results. To advertise in a magazine means paying up-front for an ad that may not generate results. With affiliate marketing, the online business pays after the ad, link, etc... has already done its job. Some of the biggest names in online business use affiliate marketing programs.

Amazon.com was among the first group of online businesses to start an affiliate marketing program. Ten years later, the Amazon.com program is wildly successful, with more than 1,000,000 members. The affiliate program helped Amazon.com grow into the powerhouse it is today. Amazon makes it easy by offering free sign-up and tools to track sales. If this makes your head spin, don't worry. You don't have to start an affiliate program from scratch.

Third-party marketing services like Commission Junction, ClickBank, and LinkShare track sales and traffic generated by affiliates. Many big-name online businesses use this method. eHarmony, the leading online dating site, uses a third-party affiliate program to help increase its subscriber base. It seems to have worked, as eHarmony reported a 67 percent increase in sales.

Would your online business benefit from an affiliate marketing program? When you begin considering your marketing options, research all the different solutions available. Will you build your affiliate program from scratch, offering people the tools they need to succeed? Choosing this option means you'll have to provide tracking software, create a sign-up process, and basically manage all aspects of the affiliate marketing program yourself.

Affiliate marketing has matured right along with technology. For your program to be a success, you'll have to use recent technology to make things as easy as possible. If joining your program is a hassle, then no one will be interested. Make sure your affiliate marketers have all the tools they need to succeed.