Website affiliation refers to the practice of either A) setting up your website of products for other site owners to market your products via their own sites; or B) setting up a website for the purpose of selling products from other companies.

An affiliate signs up for a specific program to market products on a website, whether it's clothing, cosmetics, software, or food. Once approved, that affiliate is given an account where he/she may use text links or graphic ads created with special HTML codes that, when clicked through, keep track of visitors and sales. For every sale of a product made through an affiliate site, the owner of the site will receive a percentage of that sale.

Selling products by others from your website

By signing up for affiliate programs, you have the potential to turn your website into a profitable venture. Amazon.com, for example, runs one of the largest and oldest affiliate programs, called Amazon Associates. Here, site owners can link back to anything sold on Amazon.com (books, music, videos, etc.) and receive a percentage of every sale sold via click-through. Not only does this allow for money-making potential, but site owners can find relative content via Amazon.com to use on their sites.

Google Adsense is another popular referral program. Here site owners can sign up and place Google ads on their sites. Every click through generates a referral fee to the site owner.

Presently there are thousands of product sites that offer affiliate programs to sell a variety of goods, from clothing to health and fitness accessories to computer peripherals. There are also affiliate programs for travel and personal ad referrals. Site owners interested in becoming affiliates can visit a number of sites that host affiliate programs for businesses. Commission Junction, LinkShare, and ClixGalore are just three of many programs you can browse for more information.

Becoming an affiliate-driven site

E-commerce sites may want to consider offering an affiliate program for the purpose of extending their online presence and building link popularity, thereby increasing relevance and trust. By allowing aggressive site owners to affiliate with your website, there is the potential for more sales of your product, and higher visibility of your brand. As an e-commerce site, you have the option of outsourcing your affiliate program or managing it with specific affiliate software.

Programs like Commission Junction, ClixGalore, and LinkShare handle affiliate programs for large companies. By partnering with such a company, you allow them to handle all affiliate issues, from creative to payment. Some companies require setup fees and a percentage of sales, while others have financial requirements for joining (your company must make so much a year to be considered). If you are unable or unwilling to manage an affiliate program, outsourcing is in an option, but it's best to research all available third-party programs.

Affiliate software and online individual affiliate programs are available for e-commerce sites that take complete control of affiliation. You can set up your own creative, market for affiliates, send newsletters and offer incentives, and handle all support. Be prepared, however, to answer any questions affiliates will have and be sure all finances are handled correctly.

Kathryn Lively (http://www.kathrynlively.com) is an Internet specialist with CINIVA Systems (http://www.ciniva.com) in Virginia Beach, where she consults with businesses with regards to website content.