Affiliate Marketing has easily become one of the most well known ways to make money online. What many do not know is that there are different types of affiliate marketing programs. This article will take a look at 3 entirely different types of affiliate programs that an affiliate may choose to use.  After reading this, you may find that one type of program will work better for you then the others; or maybe all 3 will work for you.  A good idea would be to test all three out before making any decisions.

Paid Per Lead - This is when you get paid whenever a certain action is taken by an affiliates referral on the site that is being promoted.  For example, a merchant may require that your referral try a free sample, sign up for a trial period or subscribe to a newsletter in order for you to receive a commission.  You will not receive any commission unless he/she(the person youreferred) takes action on the offer (free sample,trial period etc..).  I know what you are thinking; it sounds a little complicated, but it really is not that bad.

Paid Per Click - This is when you get paid just for sending people to a merchants site. The commissions are a lot lower then other affiliate programs but if you can generate a lot of traffic to the merchants site using your affiliate links you can earn a nice chunk of change.  This method does require a little more work if you are not familiar with how to drive traffic to a website yet.

Paid Per Sale - This is probably the most popular and commonly used affiliate program used to make money with affiliate marketing. This simply put, works like this: for every sale generated from one of your affiliate links, a commission is awarded to you. Some merchants are willing to dish out up to 75% commissions for sales made by its affiliates.  This method is alot like a door-to-door salesman.  For example, have you ever had a salesman come to your door trying to sell you the latest version of the "Kirby Sweeper" or "the best set of knives you will ever own" ?  Well, for every sale that salesperson makes, he gets a commission.

Each one of these types of programs can be very lucrative if a good marketing strategy is implemented. You should try all 3 types mentioned in this article to see which one works best for you.  Be sure to choose merchants that offer products and/or services that you feel comfortable promoting; this can really make a difference when it comes to sales.  Also look for high commissions and do your research for every company you are thinking of getting involved with.  Make sure that company has a good reputation for payouts and high quality customer service incase you need assistace or have a question.
 
Some good places to start looking for merchants to work with are Commission Junction and Click Bank. These are the two most popular places to find credible merchants.

Good Luck.