In most cases you will not be penalized for lack of sales. You are simply presenting information for your site visitors to consider. The originating site you are affiliated with only pays you based on sales from unique visitors from your site to theirs. They only stand to gain from an affiliation with you. Even if you never sell anything the company you work with will still not lose money from working with you.

This idea might work well for you considering the relative simplicity of becoming an affiliate. Instructions are generally easy to follow and once your site is set up you may not need to do much to maintain its ongoing presence.

You will need to pay attention to standard Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices that can assist in putting together a site that will get noticed more quickly by search engines and, by default, users. This can be the hardest part because you are seeking to establish trust. You want to be viewed as authoritative. This can only happen when others begin placing their trust in your site. This is a process that can take time.

An affiliate program can be managed in your spare time and can provide respectable residuals. This may allow you to give yourself a raise in an economy that has proven to be anything but generous.

I've always been a firm believer in giving yourself a raise. Instead of being frustrated over budget cuts and salary freezes you can use an affiliate revenue program to claim a personal raise. You don't have to be completely at the mercy of your employer. You may even discover at some point that you'd rather be your own boss. When that happens your experience in working with affiliate programs may prove beneficial in establishing something that is completely your own.

There are companies that provide individual affiliate agreements and there are also affiliate clearinghouses. These mega sites allow you to mix and match the programs you want to be affiliated with.

You may also be able to mix and match affiliates providing a wider and complimentary selection for your site visitors. The benefit for consumers is a larger online store and the benefit for you is a greater potential for sales.

Perhaps the greatest calling card for affiliate programs has to be the ability to derive an income without being responsible for product fulfillment. This allows you to work on other ideas while the affiliate programs continue to make impressions on visitors and create sales that provide you with a commission.

It can't hurt you to investigate what possibilities exist for affiliate programs that either fit your own personal interests or allow you to consider programs you can identify with in some other way. The development of a website can be managed through web builder technology at a low price while providing the greatest opportunity for personal wealth creation in a depressed economy.