Chances are, people you sign up into 2nd tier via your affiliate program link will end up buying product themselves. So not only do you get a direct commission from sale to this person, you also get 2nd tier commissions from any sales they make in future.

2. Set up a mini-site for one of your affiliate programs so that you are only reselling this one product or service. This would be a site with just 2 pages. On first page is link to product itself.

On 2nd page is description of affiliate program and link to affiliate program sign up page.

Your goal is to actually direct your visitors to 2nd page where they can sign up to affiliate program. Why?

You will get more commissions from signing up affiliates into your 2nd tier than by visitors directly buying product through your affiliate link. This is because more people will be interested in affiliate program rather than product. But when they join affiliate program, many of them will buy product or service.

In summary, think about using your site as an affiliate program site as well as a sales site. It gives you 2 bites at cherry and having 2nd tier affiliates means you can be earning commissions for many years.