Why would they do that? Because they can't possibly reach all potential customers by themselves.

By becoming an affiliate for someone who knows much more about computers and digital products than I do, I have advantage of selling quality products that I can't create myself.

And they have advantage of their affiliates doing some of "leg work" for them because they can't possibly reach all potential customers in this vast internet world.

A few of large companies on internet today that offer free two-tier affiliate programs can be located at following links:

http://www.moneyhome.com/cgi-bin/i.pl?c=a&i=69 http://www.marketingtips.com/sr .x/775957 http://www.mywizardads.com/cgi-bin/ra.cgi?adminid=253&id=559 http://www.rtdwebsolutions.com/i/clickthru.cgi?id=dmh0226 http://QuickPayPro.com/x/qpp.cgi?adminid=1946&id=40550 http://www.ListFire.com/5159 (For this last one you sign up for ListFire and get your free copy of Web Army Knife. Then you can sign up to become an affiliate for free.)

The next time you visit a website offering products you like, check to see if they offer an affiliate program. Even if you don't wish to place an order for a product at that time, you can sign up as an affiliate.

In future when you do order you may be able to use your own affiliate URL and give yourself commission. Most companies allow this procedure.

In meantime you can let your customers know that you have new products available, as well as affiliate programs for them to join. It's a great way to get backend sales.

So there you have it! The reasons for affiliate programs and why it makes sense for people to sign up. By offering well-known products on your website or in your ezine you are in a win-win situation and can potentially earn big money like "internet gurus."

Denise Hall is the owner of Home Business on a Budget which specializes in tools and resources for your home business needs. Visit http://www.home-business-on-a-budget.com today. Get weekly articles, tips, information and resources here: http://tinyurl.com/4f9k8

Open Source Software.

This is software you can use and it doesn't cost a dime!

This is just my opinion, but regardless of how big or small your business is, if you aren't looking into open source for ways to positively impact your business then you might as well have a bull's-eye painted on your forehead. I can almost guarantee that your competitors are looking into open source software and ways to shoot you in head with it.

To help you in your discovery process, I'd like to suggest that you visit http://www.opensourcecms.com and check out some of what is available to you in way of open source software. What you'll see at this specific site are all "web" solutions, which is appropriate since I'm talking about you building your own website.

However, there are tons of open source offerings to be had that encompass every business need you'll ever have. All you have to do is search Google for "open source" and you'll begin to see just how broad offerings are.

Anyway, to get back to task at hand, I'd like to clarify my statement above regarding time and effort. Once you've found a solution that interests you, I personally recommend you set it up to run on your own PC first. This way you can learn your way around solution before you spend money on hosting.

You'll also have a much higher comfort level once you actually go live with your site. However, in order to run these open source web solutions on your own PC you'll need to setup a few things first. I've listed them below.

1. Apache (http://www.apache.org) 2. PHP (http://www.php.net) 3. MySQL (http://www.mysql.com)

All three come in versions that will run on a Windows PC and all three are free. Apache is your web server, PHP is scripting language that allows for all powerful features that you'll see in solutions once you visit site mentioned above, and MySQL is your database software.

Even if you have no experience, you can accomplish installing and configuring these applications. However, I can almost guarantee you'll hit some frustrating snags if you've never been exposed to any of this stuff. My advice is to read "readme" files that come with each of applications very thoroughly and follow them to letter.

Once you've got foundation in place, you can start to play with different solutions on your own PC and find one that is a good fit for your needs. After all, every Internet business needs a solid foundation.

Unless you've got a huge budget, or you don't need a database driven website, then you'll need to start experimenting with open source if you want to get a big jump start on having a powerful and interactive website that your visitors will love.