Promoting affiliate programs is in fact an attractive and viable way to initiate multiple residual income streams. It’s not a get rich quick scheme. In fact, to be successful it takes a great deal of work and persistence. It also requires flexibility and an inquisitive nature that embraces trying new ways of marketing until you find something that works for your target audience.

What is an affiliate program? Thousands of established businesses set up affiliate programs in order to have people like you promote their products or services. When you sign up for an affiliate program you are given a link with your own unique id embedded into it.

With your own unique link it then becomes your job to promote affiliate program and drive traffic to businesses website. You never handle sales or products, but each time an interested prospect visits website through your link and actually purchases something you earn a commission.

One of most effective ways to promote affiliate programs is to find a subject that you are passionate about. Something that (humility aside), you may even consider yourself an expert of. Take that subject and develop a website that is devoted to it.

2. Test and track your ads and promotions for your affiliate programs.

Tracking and testing your ads will show you exactly which ads, promotions and affiliate programs pay off most for you and are excellent choices for you to continue to promote.

3. Publish an ezine.

Your ezine will give you a powerful way to promote your affiliate programs to your subscribers.

Choose affiliate programs that relate to content of your ezine and that make it worth your while to promote them.

4. Promote your affiliate programs by recommending their products.

You could recommend your affiliate programs to your ezine subscribers in your publisher's note or you could create a recommended resources section where you promote your affiliate programs in every issue.

You could also recommend your affiliate programs to your visitors by creating a recommended affiliate programs section where you list your favorite affiliate programs along with descriptions of their products or services.

In addition, you could create a best affiliate programs section that helps you build up your second tier by listing affiliate programs that have paid off most for you.

5. Write product reviews where you detail benefits you like about your affiliate program's product.

Make your product reviews honest and hype f~ree and post them on your site along with your other articles.

6. Write your own ads for your affiliate program.

A good way to create your ads is to look at ad copy on site of business you want to promote and also ads they provide for their affiliates to use, and use their unique selling proposition or USP to write your ads.

Their unique selling proposition is a unique benefit that they promote in their ad copy that their competitors don't stress or offer to their visitors.