Four Ways to Earn Affiliate Income - Without Selling Products!

By Alan King

Many people new to internet marketing think the only way to earn affiliate income is by selling products for other people. But this is simply untrue! There are many ways to earn money online as an affiliate that don't involve getting people to buy a single thing. Here are a few of those ways.

Leads. Many companies pay from a few cents up to several dollars for every lead you send through your affiliate link. This may involve the prospects signing up for the trial version of a product, or requesting an inquiry pack or consultation.

One way you can attract leads is to offer a free report to the company's target market. The report should focus on the same field that the company does. Then, you can put your link inside the report, advertising it as a way to get more information, a free product or whatever the company is offering.

You can also ask potential leads to give their email address in exchange for a free report. Just make sure you make it clear to them that they will be contacted by the company you're helping out. Otherwise, the business will be accused of sending spam, and you'll fail at being a good affiliate!

Polls. If you've been online at all lately, you've probably seen images asking which candidate you think would make a better president. If you ever clicked on one, chances are you made money for someone.

Polls are another way that some companies get leads. They can also be useful for doing market research. We've already talked about how many kinds of businesses will pay you for leads, and polls can provide just the kinds of leads that companies are willing to pay for. But companies are also happy to pay for market research, so that they may more effectively target their marketing and advertising. They also tend to have a high click-through rate, because everybody loves to be heard and register their opinion.

Dating sites. Many dating sites will pay you a portion of the monthly income they collect from every subscriber you drive to their site. Some of them will even pay you a dollar or so for every free sign-up you give them!

The great thing about these sites is their ability to provide you with a passive, consistent income. And who can argue with getting a percentage of monthly subscriber fees?

Free offers. This is another form of lead generation, but it's different enough--and lucrative enough--to mention as its own separate point. Why? Because free offers often have a good conversion rate. After all, everybody loves to get something for free! If you want to make money online by gathering leads, free offers are probably the best way to start.

For further information on affiliate marketing Alan King suggests you check out his friend Mike Filsaime's site at PayDotCom. Paydotcom is a great resource for finding niche marketing products.