Affiliate programs allow you to profit from your website or blog's content and traffic. Affiliate programs allow you to become a sales person for another website's product, service or content. When you place banners, text links or other ads on your site, and a visitor clicks through to the other site and then makes a purchase or completes an action such as signing up for a newsletter or other offer, you get a commission on the sales or a payment per action completed.

Some websites make a small amount of income from affiliate programs, while others will make a full time living or even make staggering amounts of money. It all depends on the amount of visitors you get, what affiliate programs you choose and how your promote them on your site. Though, choosing the wrong affiliate programs will result in little to no money earned, so a little research will go a long way to maximizing your income. Here are some tips for choosing the right affiliate program:

First, you'll need to know your visitors, who are they? Why do they come to your site? What type of information are they looking for? One of the most important aspects in choosing the right affiliate programs is to tailor the ads to your visitors. For instance, if you have a blog that's about auto reviews and driving experiences, then placing ads on the site selling gift baskets probably won't get much of a response from your visitors. However, since you know that your visitors are mostly male and are in a certain age group to be able to afford their own vehicle, then affiliate ads for auto parts stores, auto accessories and other male oriented products would do well. Whatever the topic of your site is, there is almost certainly an affiliate program that would fit.

Second, once you have determined your audience and the type of ads you want to display, you may have just a few, or even many affiliate programs to choose from in that area. There may be two, three or even a dozen companies that offer auto accessories and auto parts affiliate programs. How do you choose the right program? One of the best ways is to look at the earnings ratios and estimates that most 3rd party affiliate program networks offer. You can sign up with Commission Junction, ShareASale or FineClicks and view the estimated earning potential for many affiliate programs. This is very handy for weeding out programs that don't pay much commission or aren't very good at converting your visitor to a sale or action.

Third, you'll want to compare the commissions for each program. Most programs will offer a commission, anywhere from 1% to 15% or 20%. You won't always want to go with the program that offers the highest commission though. View the company website and see what their prices are. If one program offers 5% commission on products averaging $300 - $500, and another program offers 15% commission on products averaging $30 - $50, then it's easy to see what a huge difference in income that will be for you.

Next, look at what the program provides as far as advertising. Do they offer ready made banner ads, text links or dynamic content? Do they offer datafeeds for you to build your own affiliate store? Look carefully at how you want to integrate the ads into your site and compare that to the promotional links the program offers. You'll also want to integrate the ads into your website as seamlessly as possible, where they aren't distracting from your content but are prominent and attractive, enticing your visitor to click on them.

About the Author

Lydia Quinn writes for Affiliate Guerilla, a leading affiliate software program and shopping cart designed to dramatically increase website sales and leads. Visit us at http://www.affiliateguerrilla.com/