When searching the web for money making opportunities from home, a person will run across something called affiliate programs. Affiliate programs have become very popular because of the profit potential involved. It is important, however, to have a good understanding of them before becoming involved.

It is important to understand the difference between an affiliate program and a pyramid scheme. At first glance they may seem very similar. They both involve recruiting individuals to earn an income. The main difference is that with a pyramid scheme products or services are not being sold. With Affiliate Programs recruiting is only one way to make money. Money can be made by selling products and it is not necessary to recruit others in affiliate programs.

An affiliate program is designed to sell products or services for a company through affiliates. The company recruits them and pays them a commission for every product they sell. A good affiliate program will supply the affiliate with a website and the necessary tools to be successful selling their products and services. The job of the affiliate is to use the tools they have been given to advertise their website and products and earn commissions when people purchase through their web site.

Affiliates are encouraged to recruit others for the program. When the new affiliate makes a sale, the recruiting affiliate earns a commission. When this process of duplication is repeated, the original affiliate earns money from them as well. Each affiliate in the chain can earn commission on individuals who sign up many levels beneath them. This is where the bulk of the income is made. However, the program is product driven. If no sales are made, then no money is made. So, signing up people alone will not generate any income.

Affiliate programs are very popular because much of the work is already done. Many companies have detailed programs that makes getting started and running a business simple. They are also easy to get into. Furthermore, the potential earnings are huge for those who are willing to put forth the necessary effort needed to recruit and make sales. WIth an affiliate program a person is in control of how much money they earn. It is a great idea for anyone who has a desire to start a home business without all the start up work.

The key factor to make money online through affiliate programs is traffic, which is the amount of visitors who land at your website on a daily basis. Various elements will influence the conversion ratio:

* How targeted is the affiliate programs products in relation to the visitors interests.

* The price and value of the products and services being marketed

* The overall effectiveness of the merchants web site

* The merchants ability to track all sales

It is important to join a affiliate program that has a high converting sales page. Sales pages are designed to educate consumers so they will have all the facts need to make an intelligent decision about an opportunity. The link for this sales page should be used with different marketing strategies such as article marketing, blogging, forum marketing, pay per click advertising to name just a few.

To be really successful with an affiliate program, it is important to choose the program wisely and the use it wisely. This means choosing an affiliate program with good products and a good reputation. It also means putting forth a genuine effort to sell products and recruit others. An affiliate program may be what you are looking for in a home business because they are inexpensive to start and they have a very good success potential.