Start an affiliate program

Buying affiliate software eliminates much of the costs, but you - or your company - needs to maintain it yourself.

While this might sound hard, it's actually very easy. Make sure you look at the demo of any affiliate software you are thinking of buying, as well as reading up on forums or similar to see what others think about the affiliate program and software.

With a standalone affiliate program, you are the one in charge of both running it and promoting it.

Affiliates of today are often experienced, and are looking at websites in a much more critical way than your average surfer, so make sure your affiliate pages are of a very high standard, otherwise you might scare potential affiliates to the competition.

Be sure to see what your competitors are offering their affiliates, and try to offer a few more percentages. This will often make your affiliate program stand out and will, and in some affiliate program directories , make your program rank higher.