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by Joe Reinbold

One of the hottest and fastest growing aspects of marketing online is the Associate Program process. Actually some are called "Associate", some "Affiliate", and others may be called "Partner" programs. For purposes of this discussion, we will call them Associate programs since they all basically refer to the same concept. You associate yourself with an existing company and receive a commission for any sales you generate. There is no better way to setup multiple streams of income for yourself.

AND, they can be setup for little or no investment on your part! Many online entrepreneurs are part timers with limited time and most of that may be devoted to marketing their single product or network marketing program. If you are in this situation and you need to increase your monthly income, your solution may be the use of one or several Associate programs. Even full time marketers know the power of these programs. We are involved in a number of them and can vouch for their powerful income potential.

The primary programs we are involved in are either one level or two level programs. These are not MLM programs, although you can double your marketing capabilities by creating multiple sales forces. These sales forces put others to work for you, 24 hours a day, all over the Internet!

One level programs pay you a straight pre-determined commission for each sale you make. Two level programs pay you a commission for the direct sale you make and pay you an additional commission for each sale those people make. If in a single level program, let's say it pays a $20 commission, you make 50 sales, your commission is $1000. You would make no commission on the sales those 50 people make. Now let's say you made the same number of sales(50) in a two tier program that paid you the same $20 for your direct sales, and $10 commissions for each sale made by those on your second level. So you would make the same $1000 for the direct sales, but let's say each of those 50 makes ten sales on their own. That would give you an additional $5000 in commissions (500 x $10)! I think you can see the extreme power of a two tier or two level Associate program.

Many of the programs furnish you with personalized web sites, banners, sales material and other marketing aides. If you have your own web site or page you can very easily place a banner, button or text link to the company sales site or your personalized site that they furnished. One of the reasons these programs are becoming popular is that in most cases, everything is made up for you already, all you have to do is become an Associate, add the link to your page or site and you are off and running. In many cases your personalized web page is already set up with meta tags and can be registered with the major search engines very easily.

With personalized URL's to the Associate sites you can also use the URL in ads, newsletters, free for all link pages, etc. This will create more traffic and sales. In addition, you can advertise the Associate program and use your own web site or page URL and create even more traffic to your own site. This gives your primary products/services more exposure.

You don't need a large budget to create these additional income streams. Many of the Associate programs are free. Others can range from a one time $25 to $150. Over 50% of the Associate programs we are currently involved in had no charge to become an Associate. Commissions can range from $10 to $65 per sale. A number of programs pay you a set percentage of total sales. What also makes these programs so nice is that they take care of the ordering process, credit cards processing, shipment and customer service. Most also will notify you immediately by automatic email when a sale is made under your ID. So all you have to do is get potential buyers to the sites. Most programs pay monthly, some quarterly.

My philosophy is this. If I can relate a particular Associate program product or service to my site in some way, what do I have to lose. If I can use it to create more traffic to my site, Great! If I can make some additional income, Great! If I can do both, Tremendous! If it's a two tier program with which I can create a sales force all over the world that makes me money, Fantastic! It's a win - win situation!