Affiliate programs are a manner by which individuals known as affiliates bring together companies and businesses to promote what they have to offer. An affiliate becomes known as a webmaster affiliate and provides a connection point between a customer and a website or series of websites. For example every time a customer or subscriber or visitor goes to a given website and clicks on a product or purchases something, the affiliate who belongs to the affiliate program is rewarded in one way or another. Affiliate programs are a way to encourage and increase sales because the affiliates are able to spread the word. The more affiliate programs that are put into play the more traffic that will find its way to the websites in question. Affiliate programs are also sometimes called associate programs and in this case an online merchant pays a commission to an affiliate of the site to bring more traffic his way. The more exposure a site receives the more chance it will have of garnering more sales. Affiliate programs often yield successful results by using such online tools as Traffic Swarm, Empowerism and SFI. In terms of affiliate programs, links for the merchant’s website are placed on the affiliate’s website and it is these links that visitors can click on which will take them to the merchant’s site where they can browse and return to time and time again. Some cyber searchers will make a purchase on their first visit while others might turn browsing into buying after only one or two visits. The affiliate program that generates the most money for the merchant is the one that is likely to be the most successful and often affiliates will recruit other affiliates to join their programs and help them in their efforts. In some cases the affiliate program will make money every time a visitor clicks on a product or service at the website while in other cases money is only earned when a service or product is bought by a visitor. Some online merchants operate one way while others operate the other way. Affiliate programs are made up of three different components and these include in their most simplistic form, the affiliate site or affiliate program, the customer (s), and the website of the merchant. One of the first websites to begin affiliate programs was http://Amazon.com and from 1996 to today affiliate programs continue to grow by leaps and bounds. To Learn more about Affiliate programs visit Ed Watkins website at: http://teamsuccesspros.com/pips.html Top Home Business Opportunity http://teamsuccesspros.com