As opposed to the article on recommended affiliate programs, this article is primarily a list of places where you can go to find the most rewarding affiliate programs to join. Some of these are affiliate programs in and of themselves, whereas others are the affiliate program directories I mentioned once before. These are a great resource when you want to find the best program for you. They help to organize the thousands of affiliate programs out there into an easy to navigate compilation. Here are the places to go:

http://www.clickbank.com/

http://paydotcom.com/

http://www.commissionjunction.com/

http://www.associateprograms.com/

http://www.affiliatefirst.com/

http://www.abestweb.com/

http://www.affiliatetip.com/

http://www.affiliateguide.com/

http://simplythebest.net/affiliates/

http://www.affiliate-programs-directory.com/

http://www.affiliateseeking.com/

http://www.globalhighway.com/

http://www.2-tier.com/

http://www.sponsordirectory.com/

http://www.100best-affiliate-programs.com/

This list is just a portion of the directories out there where you can find affiliate programs that are perfect for you. When you look at some of these, you will notice that many of them list well over a thousand different programs. With that in mind, this list should give you plenty of options!

Affiliate programs offer you a unique and very rewarding opportunity to make money. Whether you are in business online and are just looking for a way to multiply your revenue streams, or whether you are just starting a site and you plan to use affiliating as your sole means of income, there’s a lot of money to be made. However, don’t go jumping into the first affiliate program you find. There are some very important things you will want to know about these programs before you decide which one to join.

The first thing to look at in an affiliate program is who it caters to. Some of the affiliate programs are very specific in their clientele, such as gambling, sports, retail, wholesale, business-to-business, and etc. Be sure to choose those who are likely to have affiliates such as yourself.

Another thing to consider is the plan the affiliate uses. Is it PPC, PPL, or PPS? Depending on your goals, you may wish to select an affiliate program with a particular pay plan. Also look for whether the program offers tiers. It will be to your advantage to gain referrals to the program if they offer tiers, because you will make money off of your referrals’ results as well as your own performance.

Take note of the commission that is paid. Look around and see if the other programs are similar. If you notice that one program pays 10% and another pays 30%, it would be silly to go with the one that pays less.

On the subject of commissions, make sure you know what the minimum payout is. Find out how they pay. Will they mail you a check, wire the money to you, use PayPal, or what? Also, be sure to check around and see if you find any indication that the program you are considering has a history of problems with commission payouts. This would be a red flag to steer clear of that company.

Beyond these suggestions, the best advice I can give you is to use good judgment. When you are looking at these sites, think about other things that may be important to you, and don’t be afraid to submit questions to a representative of the affiliate program. They want your business, and they’ll be happy to respond when they can. As with all things in business, be careful not to move too quickly. It may be that you passed over some detail of importance, and if you jump in too soon, you’ve made a mistake. But if you take a little more time to consider the decision, you’ll make the right choice and join a great affiliate program.

E-commerce is such a massive industry these days, and so many different opportunities exist for the online business, that sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. What I mean is that it can be difficult for someone new to this world of virtual businesses to determine what works and what doesn’t. There is so much reading and research that goes into the development of a sound online business strategy that some people may give up before they get going. But there is one way to make money with your online business that doesn’t take much thought to see why it works. It’s the affiliate program, and I’m going to tell you why it is such a great idea.

This part is for the online merchant selling products or services. Whether you’ve been in business online for awhile, or if you’re just getting started, you will need to generate traffic for your site to build sales. Affiliate programs group together literally thousands of merchants and non-merchants alike, all looking for the same thing: traffic. The way it works for you as the merchant is this: you join an affiliate program, others join and advertise your site in some way on their site. You get highly-interested leads from them, and you pay them for it. The great thing about the programs is that they are pay-for-performance. You don’t pay unless a lead or a sale is generated from that affiliate. Remember that the non-merchant wants to make as many referrals as possible, so they will literally be working for both their, and your, benefit.

For the non-merchant business there are distinct advantages to joining an affiliate. First, you will be providing your visitors with links to the merchant, so you make money by getting more people to come to your site, and then getting them to go to the merchant. You get paid for the number of leads or sales generated by your efforts. Another thing to remember is that you have the opportunity to increase this traffic by getting others to advertise your site. True, you will have to pay for the leads generated, but the benefits of that added traffic to your site far outweigh the costs.

As a final note to all online businesses, affiliate programs are relatively easy and cheap to manage. They are in the business of generating business for all of their clients. Therefore, it is usually far less costly, and much less work for you to join an affiliate program than it would be for you to try to manage your own list of affiliates. And with the massive number of members these affiliate programs have, you are in a position to tap a far wider range of the market than you could hope for if you do the whole thing on your own.