One of the magic benefits of the web is collaboration – people and organizations working together for mutual benefit. Affiliate programs allow you to team up with big e-commerce sites: you link to them on your site, either pointing to the main site or to specific products. They get more traffic, and you get some cash when your visitor buys something from the site. While affiliate programs are rarely a way to get rich on the web, they have benefits other than the fees you’ll earn.

Getting started is easy and free. On Amazon.com, for example, you can set up an affiliate account by just providing some basic information about your site. Then they walk you though the process of making links that will tell the Amazon system that the link came from your site. With Amazon, you get 5 percent of the purchase price of items your visitors buy from Amazon; 15 percent if they buy the specific item you linked to. The shopper doesn’t pay more, and you’re reimbursed for pointing them in the right direction. At any time, you can log in to your Amazon account and check how many clicked links, purchases and fees you’ve collected.

Amazon is just one example, though – pretty much any site that sells stuff will likely have some sort of affiliate program.

One pitfall to avoid is signing up for every affiliate program you can lay your hands on. So-called “link exchanges” can be especially damaging to your online reputation. You’ve probably seen those sites with front pages littered with giant graphic links to other sites. Not only does this look ugly, it also dilutes your own message. Try to find one or at the most, two affiliate programs that match your site’s mission. Amazon is a good general choice because they sell so many different products; not just books, but housewares, clothing, toys, gourmet foods, and much more.

Other than the referral fees you’ll earn, affiliate programs have two major advantages for your site.

1. Raising funds. If you’re a non-profit organization, you can use your affiliate links as a low-impact way to raise money. For example, if everyone involved with your organization used your affiliate link whenever they shopped on Amazon, you could painlessly raise money for your projects. This idea takes promotion – people have to be encouraged to do their shopping this way. But if you’re a supporter of an affiliated site, and you do a lot of shopping on Amazon, why wouldn’t you follow their link? You can even show people how to bookmark your Amazon link, so they don’t have to go to your site in order to give you the Amazon affiliate fees.

2. Promoting your expertise. If you use affiliate links to recommend products, books, etc. that fit with your site’s mission, you can promote yourself as an expert in the field. An example: the state’s teachers’ union could start an online bookstore of education-related titles with links to Amazon. A political site could recommend liberal or conservative titles; a food site, books by up-and-coming chefs. If you decide to do this, put some effort into keeping the list current – that will keep people coming back for more picks.

Like anything on the web, you need to put some effort into making an affiliate program work for you. Which sites/products would be of most use and interest to your audience? Highlighting individual products is better than just plopping a general link on your home page – you’ll earn higher fees per link, and you’ll get the “expertise” benefit I mentioned. You probably won’t get rich, but it’s an easy and useful tool to add to your web toolbox.

By: Adam Blust

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