Affiliate marketing is a viable way to make money on the internet without having your own products or services for sale. Marketing products or services that are in high demand, such as an online advertising course, as an affiliate is a very good way to make money on the internet without establishing your own business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) company. With most affiliate programs, you are given a specific affiliate link that, when clicked on, directs website visitors to the website for the product or service that you are an affiliate for.

Affiliate information contained in your unique affiliate link enables the company you are an affiliate for to track the source of the click-through to their website so that you can be paid for your affiliate referral. Some affiliate programs pay a percentage of sales resulting from your referral, a flat fee per purchasing referral, or a flat fee for each click-through that comes to their website through your affiliate link.

Most affiliate programs provide you with proprietary graphics or banners that you can use to promote their products or services as well. Whether you are marketing a product, like an e-book or software, a service like search engine optimization or website development services, or a course like an online advertising course or degree program, you can benefit from the affiliate revenues generated through your online marketing efforts.

Distance education and online studies have become very popular in this day and age because they enable individuals to attend specialized courses or university programs from the comfort of their own home and around just about any work schedule. Since distance education is so popular, promoting educational programs for hot topics like an online advertising course or an e-business degree can generate a substantial amount of income.

There are literally tons of affiliate programs available for affiliate marketers to promote. One of the best resources on the internet for finding affiliate marketing opportunities is Click Bank (Clickbank.com). Commission Junction (cj.com) is also a popular affiliate resource as is LinkShare (Linkshare.com). eLearners.com LLC (Elearners.com) is a website that promotes online learning programs for several different universities and distance education providers. They have a number of courses listed, including online advertising courses. They also have an affiliate program.

Another way to make money with online advertising courses and affiliate programs is to start your own online advertising courses and start an affiliate program for others to become affiliates so they can market your online advertising courses for you. As a provider of online advertising courses, you can promote and manage your affiliate program in-house, or you can outsource your affiliate program through companies like Commission Junction or LinkShare. If you start your own affiliate program for online advertising courses there are some decisions to be made in regard to the way your affiliate program is set up.

The first decision to make in regard to an affiliate program for you online advertising courses is whether to have a one-tier or a two-tier affiliate program. With a one-tier affiliate program you pay your affiliates for their referrals and with a two-tier, you pay affiliates not only for their referrals but also for referrals that result from affiliates that they have referred to your program. A two-tier program offers great incentives for affiliates to help you grow your program by bringing more affiliates into the program as well as promoting the online advertising courses.

The second major decision to be made when setting up your affiliate program for your online marketing courses is whether to pay a percentage of sales that result from an affiliate referral to the affiliate, to pay-per-click or to pay-per-lead. With a pay-per-click or pay-per-lead affiliate program you can get away with paying a lower flat amount while pay-per-sale programs are usually a percentage of the sale. There is no real way of knowing which type of program would be most cost-effective and most productive; however, pay-per-sale programs are by far the most popular.