Perhaps you’ve heard of people making money in their sleep through online businesses? It’s true that there are many people who do this successfully and via different means, however it’s important to note that every single one of them put in some hard work and most likely long hours, at least initially.One popular way that online marketers may find success in creating “passive income” is through Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliate Marketing means you promote products and services for others, providing a link to the suppliers website from your own website, blog or email newsletter and in return you are rewarded with a commission for each sale generated from your referrals.

Here’s an example in which you could promote an e-book on your topic that has been written by someone else;

Step 1 - The e-book sells for $47 on the supplier’s website and they offer a 50% affiliate commission. You join the affiliate program and get your ’special affiliate link’.

Step 2 - You mention the e-book in your newsletter, website or blog, perhaps even doing a product review and have a link through to the vendor, using your ’special affiliate link’.

Step 3 - When someone clicks through on your affiliate link and they purchase the e-book, you are rewarded with a commission of $23.50.

It’s really as simple as that!

You don’t have to do anything except promote the product, and provide a link to the seller. You don’t have to worry about invoicing, delivery or customer service. And you still get paid. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The trick is that you should only ever promote products that are relevant to your business/topic and that you have either tested or have confidence in. Don’t ruin your reputation by promoting inferior products and never promote just for the commission as you will soon lose the trust of your visitors and/or email database.

Having affiliate links on your website and blog means that you could very well get clicks through both now and in the future so you could be earning commissions while you sleep soon!

To learn more about Affiliate Marketing I can recommend The Super Affiliate Handbook from Rosalind Gardner..