Ever read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? (If not, you can download it for FREE at http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer_NT.pdf)

In one of Tom's adventures (Chapter 2), he's supposed to be hard at work painting a fence.

But why paint a fence when you can get others to do it for you? So Tom convinces a bunch of boys into painting the fence for him while he just sits back and enjoys the day.

That's what an affiliate program is like.

An affiliate program enables online businesses (the Merchants) to get other people (the Affiliates) to sell their products for them. The Merchants set up affiliate programs where Affiliates can sign up to copy links and banners ads that the Affiliates then put on their own websites.

When people browse to one of the Affiliates' websites, they see the link or banner ad, click on it, and end up on a Merchant's website. If the people go on to buy something, the Merchant gives the Affiliate a portion of the sale.

It's like having a sales force that voluntarily signs up and works for you. And it works really well on the Internet.

And that's why an affiliate program is like Tom Sawyer's approach to painting a fence.

To learn more about Affiliate Programs, check out this site: http://www.affiliateguide.com