Affiliate programs (also called "associate," "reseller," and "partnership" programs) are revenue-sharing systems used by companies to market their products and services. The company with which you partner supplies the products and services and handles order fulfillment. You supply the marketing. And, you get paid for sending customers to your partner's Web site. In essence, affiliate programs are a simple way to create and maintain online joint venture and reseller relationships while paying only for results.

The primary reason that affiliate programs are so popular is that they are easy to join. In most cases, they're also free. All quality affiliate programs provide you with marketing material such as banner ads, graphics, sales letters, and, most importantly, a guide on how to best market their products and services.

Why should a business care about affiliate programs? First, because they drive online traffic, and second, because they drive sales. Forrester Research, in its April 2003 report "Driving Site Traffic", identified e-mail campaigns and affiliate programs as the two "best ways to drive online traffic today." Forrester addressed the sales issue in its October 2003 report "New Affiliate Marketing Models", noting that affiliates deliver 13% of online retail sales today, and by 2006, the number is expected to grow to 21%. Given the online world we live in — a world that is all about partnerships and strategic alliances — one can expect affiliate programs to soon be a standard component in the majority of all Web businesses.