Majority of the blogs that I visit rely on advertisements to make money, they haven’t realized the great opportunity they’re missing by not using affiliate programs. Simply put, an affiliate program is a system that pays you a portion of  the total cost of the trade when people buy a product having found that product via your web site.

Joining Affiliate Programs may be the easiest way Bloggers (even non-bloggers) make money online. Aside from not having the need  to write a blog to earn, you also don’t have to spend anything just to be an affiliate. It may also improve your search rankings.

You earn at no cost.

All you have to do is show the products and services that your affiliate programs offer in your web site.  Leave it there. Earn money.

In this post, I listed some of the popular affiliate programs that most bloggers find useful mainly because they offer a wide range of products and services.

Linkshare. LinkShare is a leading provider of online marketing solutions that offers  some of the most recognized brands in the world.

Commission Junction. Commission Junction is a global leader in Affiliate Marketing, Online Marketing, and Search Engine Marketing.

Click Bank. Online retail outlet for over 10000 digital product vendors and their 100000 active affiliates.

e-junkie. Shopping cart for selling downloads and tangible goods with PayPal, Google Checkout and Authorize.Net.

Amazon Affiliate. Online retailer of books, movies, music and games along with electronics, toys, apparel, sports, tools, groceries and general home and garden items.

Sounds too easy? Yes. But if you’re just going to put it there and leave it, the conversion rate will be too little or nothing at all. Don’t worry,  here’s things that can help you have excellent conversion rate.

Affiliate must be related within your niche. Pharmaceuticals don’t sell jewelries. Jewelry shops don’t sell drugs. It goes without saying that people go to a specific place looking for a specific thing, and if you’re going to give them something not related to what they’re interested in then almost always you’re not going to sell.

Position of advertisements. You don’t just grab the code and paste it on your site. That’s a big no. Carefully position your ads at a convenient place where readers can easily distinguish that it’s a great product that they would love to have.

Traffic. This one’s a major factor and almost any web site needs it. A site without traffic is not going to give you money. No one will click your ads because no one is looking at them to start with.

Personal endorsement works. Readers buy products that are useful and that really works. Because your readers have a certain level of trust and respect for you, if you recommend something that is going to be of use for them and benefit from it then they will buy it. The key thing is, be honest. Tell your readers what is it for and what it is not for. The good and the bad things that they’ll get from it.

Keep records of the results. Keeping records of what sells and what doesn’t help you determine what’s going to bring you commission. At the end of the day, stick with the programs that brings in more revenue and do away with the others to avoid putting too much advertising in your site.

What affiliate program are you using today? Does it work for you? Share them below.

• Digg
• Stumble it!
• Reddit

• Ten best paid to click campaign
• Revenue sharing and the forums that let's you earn money
• Original ways on how to make money online