To put it simply – an affiliate is a salesperson working for a commission. With a few hours of investment per week, it can be fairly easy to develop a second income. Depending whether you enjoy it, it could turn out to be a new business that you can run from home. In this post, I want to take you through some of the affiliate networks so that you can see what is available to you in terms of the types of products that you could be selling if you take up this interesting and sometimes challenging opportunity.

Affiliate Networks are really the ‘middle men’ between the company selling a product and the salesperson (the affiliate). The network provides a tool for you to view which products are available, pay you the commission and to supply you with banners and marketing products for your website. The product owners/companies who use these networks, have basically outsourced the task so that they can get on with the day to day management of their business.

Trade Doubler – if you are looking for UK or European products, then this network could be for you. It has a comprehensive management dashboard and a wide selection of products and merchants to work with including some big names.

Commission Junction – CJ has global offices and pays straight to your bank account in your local currency. Supported by top reporting tools, powerful search and a wide range of products and merchants.

Clickbank – the top network for information products and software downloads. Several third party products are available to come to the assistance of a weak search tool on the products. It is still fairly US centric with payments being sent in US dollars every two weeks.

ShareaSale – Covers the top internet money spending territories ie N America, Australia and the UK and NZ.
If you are new to affiliate marketing, I suggest starting with one of these sites. They are credible and will pay you. There are many other sites available, some are OK, but some I cannot recommend at all.