Affiliate websites offer an opportunity for making money that I haven't run across elsewhere... and I have looked at many things...

The idea is straightforward: you learn to make a website that recommends products on other web sites, with links. When someone clicks through to the other site and buys something, you earn a percentage.

A little background on why I am excited about affiliate web sites: my husband Kelly and I once read a book called The Incredible Secret Money Machine. The "secret" in that book has enabled us to live a creative and travel-filled life, usually without jobs.

The idea was that if you created products and methods for selling them, the products would earn you money while you were off doing something else. Jobs are the opposite situation: you are paid for the hours you work, and once the time is gone, so is the income potential of those hours.

So using that idea, I wrote books and Kelly produced videos. My first book came out in 1984 and still sells. Our llama videos, made in the late 1980s, still sell. Our best-selling video, made over 10 years ago, still sells very well. We've transferred the most popular videos to DVD.

For some 20 years, we wrapped packages, kept our inventory up, did marketing, etc -- or hired other people to do the essentials when we were away. Now we're done with that and we can live anywere we want to.

Affiliate web sites are even easier...

Somebody else ships product. Somebody else takes the credit card orders. Somebody else deals with returns and all the other little annoyances. What you do is learn to make affiliate web sites.

I know this works. We're making over $1000 a month this way, sometimes over $2000, and the amount would be higher if we weren't busy with other things.

Hardly a fortune, true, but overall it's going in the right direction! My affiliate income comes from several web sites and some Google ads. It's always great fun to get back from a trip and discover that my affiliate web sites had been making money while I played...

I am writing this page because I have friends who are strapped for money, sometimes desperately. I always tell them about this idea, and mostly the reaction is that it would be too hard to learn, or that they didn't have time.

Okay, if they believe that, it will be true for them.

But recently a friend came over and I showed her the basics of making affiliate web sites. Her eyes gleamed... she got it!

This page is for her -- and for anyone who gets it!

This is an opportunity available to you in practically any circumstances... see my comments on my page about how to make a web site about what I do think you need.

Wondering what you would sell? The ebook described below goes into that, in detail. At first I wasn't sure if I could find things to sell that would fit with my personal values, as massive consumerism isn't my thing. But positive methods of dog training, learning Spanish, great ebooks... I am having no problem finding things to promote!

Affiliate networks: Companies that handle affiliate payments and links

In some cases, a company handles its own affiliate program... Amazon.com, which popularized the concept, is the best-known example.

Many merchants now use Commission Junction, Clickbank (for downloadable products only), and other affiliate networks. These companies provide you with the links you put on your sites, after you sign up as an affiliate (or "publisher" as some places call you), and your paychecks come from them. Their sites can be confusing at first, so take some time to poke around.

How to start making affiliate web sites? An ebook I recommend...

Canadian Rosalind Gardner was an air traffic controller before she became a top affiliate. Her ebook, The Super Affiliate Handbook, is a clear, step-by-step guide to doing what she has done, on whatever scale you choose... My goals for my affiliate work are more modest than $400,000+ a year!

Of course, doing what she outlines will take a good bit of work, but she breaks it down into do-able and understandable chunks.

What I specially like about this ebook is that she speaks to all levels of internet knowledge. For beginners, she covers such basics as computers, software, internet connections, how to build a web site, and other things you might need to know.

I didn't learn much from that section, but I learned plenty from her discussion of researching profitable ideas, where to find products and services to sell online, how to choose products and programs, ways to promote your affiliate business, and other topics.

I'd like to add a comment about her section on how to choose products: stay with what fits your personality. You won't be happy promoting things you dislike.

Clicking on the title above or the picture of the ebook will take you to her page about her experiences and the ebook. Worth looking at.

Update 2009: This book is still good, and there are tons more out there. I haven't kept up with what is best for "newbies," as people new to the field of internet marketing are called. If you read things that sound too good to be true, believe me, they are!

A source of more information on affiliate web sites

I am a fan of associateprograms.com... be sure and check out the newbie section of its forums.

The whole Associate Programs site is very informative. It has a lot of lists of affiliate programs (associate programs and affiliate programs are just different phrases for the same thing). I have noticed that some of the affiliate program links can be a bit out of date.

Are affiliate web sites for you?

That's up to you. Whether they are or aren't... best wishes!

If you do have a go at affiliate marketing, do know that it can take a while to make much money. You will have a learning curve. Things will change online. But then, things are always changing anyway!

Rosana Hart, webmaster