Affiliate marketing

Our biggest money-making venture on the internet so far has been affiliate programs. My husband has put together several websites geared to niche markets with products listed from several stores. When the shopper clicks on one of the items, they are taken to the website of the store and if they buy anything there, we get commission. Most affiliate programs pay between 10% and 20%. Another neat feature of the affiliate programs is that some of them have a "cookie" system that logs the users IP address, and even if they don't buy anything the first time they come to the store through your link, if they go back to the store and buy anything within 30 days, you still get the commission.

One market that we hadn't thought of affiliate marketing with is cell phones. The Inphonic affiliate program through LinkShare is just that. You can promote your favorite cell phone on any website, and if anyone clicks on your ad and buys a phone, you get commission. According to their website, "On average, users are replacing their cell phones every one to two years. That translates into tremendous growth for the wireless industry." It doesn't cost anything to put the ad on your website, so you really don't have anything to lose.