It’s time to take advantage of a cash machine: affiliate marketing. It’s the laziest and easiest way to make money! The marketer who signs up affiliates gets the benefits of additional advertising at no real expense, increased sales that only cost a small commission, and increased Internet exposure with no extra work. The affiliate gets access to a huge number of products to sell, earns commission in a relatively passive manner, and does not have to bother with stocking, shipping or handling products. The only money handling is collecting commissions. Running ads that may not result in sales is the majority of the risk for the affiliate in this joint venture.

Affiliate marketing is a painless way to earn money on both sides of the action. Simply place ads on your website and let someone else do a good part of the work. The advertiser gets exposure and sales, while the affiliate gains prestige from classy ads and earns commissions while sleeping or shopping.

The only drawback is on the affiliate side. If the affiliate does not gain targeted viewers who may purchase the advertised items, there will be no sales, no commissions, and time is wasted. For the advertiser, a small amount of control over where ads may be placed might be considered a negative, but the advertiser can always terminate the affiliate.

If you are interested in earning hassle free commissions by signing up as an affiliate, there are several places you can look.  

Individual companies may offer affiliate programs. 
Sign up with a clearing house for affiliate programs.  These include websites such as Commission Junction, Kolimbo and LinkShare.

Once you are accepted, you can sign up for programs and begin to run ads as each advertiser also approves your website or placement plan for their ads.  The clearing houses are good to use because you can sign up for multiple programs, only need to give your tax identification information one time, and you get one check as commissions reach the payout levels required by that clearing house. 

The most important thing to do as an affiliate would be to get traffic to view the ads on your website.  Without that viewership, the ads will not work.

On the advertiser side, approve affiliate requests that will work for your product.  It would not make sense to put a cigar ad on a website dedicated to baby care.  Set rules and limitations for your affiliates.  You want to retain some control over where and how your ads are used.  Affiliate advertising is a method of advertising that only costs you a small commission and can greatly expand your advertising reach around the world. 

Affiliate marketing can be a cash machine for both sides if worked well.  Put some effort into gaining viewership; have attractive ads and offers.  It is a contract for sales opportunity that can be generously rewarding!

Linda Everett has been a professional copywriter for over four decades.? She has worked in media sales and writing at radio, tv stations and at advertising agencies, in addition to owning her own ad agency and running several websites.

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View?her website, http://www.textarticlesale.com, where stock articles are sold, and where clients may order custom copywriting.? Other websites currently active are: http://www.greenenergyfortoday.com, and http://www.grandmaslittleblackbook.com.?

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Most recently, Linda has been writing website articles for Textbroker.com.? She has successfully sold over 2600 articles in the past two years, and sells an eBook about writing for Textbroker on her websites.

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Linda graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Communication Arts, in 1972.