An affiliate network acts as a broker

An affiliate network acts as a broker between companies that want to advertise their services or products and websites (such are yours) that are willing to display those advertisements. Some companies pay per click, but it is more usual to pay a commission on any sale (or lead) generated from an advertisement on your site.

The following is a list of affiliate networks, each are different so its worth spending the time to identify which is best for you:

www.google.com/adsense

Google AdSense is a very popular and effective means of running targeted ads on your website.

For individual pages, well targeted ads from other networks should be able to out perform Google AdSense. The trick is to identify appropriate ads and that can be difficult. So for pages where you are unsure of the best ads to run on the page then Google AdSense is hard to beat.

AffiliateWindow.com

A UK based affiliate network that pay in pounds Sterling. They have a large list of affiliate programs and offer good commissions, mostly UK with some European names. They also provide the option of providing contextual advertisements, although these are based on keywords you supply rather than derived from the context of each web page.

www.cj.com

Commission Junction. Quite possibly one of the largest affiliate networks. Mostly American companies, but expanding to include companies from other countries. Commission only.

TradeDoubler

European affiliate network. Gateway site can be configured to suite a number of different European languages.

www.clixgalore.com

ClixGalore is a worldwide affiliate programme. They operate regional websites in the USA, UK, Australia and Japan. Operates both pay-per-click and pay-per-sale.

Click2Sell

Click2Sell offers money making opportunities with its free online affiliate program network.

Merchants can add products to their marketplace and start selling, running an affiliate program and accepts payments instantly. Promote your products online and develop your online business. Track keywords and find out why buyers buy your promoted product. Track every aspect of your campaign with powerful buyer tracking system.

Affiliates can earn money online promoting great products.

www.affiliateresponse.co.uk

Affiliate Response is a high performance global online network exclusively focused on results. Many of the Internet's largest advertisers and brands work with Affiliate Response for access to a scalable and results driven marketing platform. Affiliate Response offers affiliates access to exclusive offers and advance tracking and support. Offers include many US, UK and European advertising campaigns.

www.omguk.com

A leading affiliate marketing network for financial services and insurance programmes. They also provide a content service, providing appropriate ads to a site according to the site's content.

Whilst this is the UK site, there have sites specific to a number of European countries. Irish site at www.omgie.com, French site at www.omgfr.com, German site at www.omgde.com, Spanish site at www.omges.com and Swedish site at www.omgse.com.

Profitistic - Monetize Your Website Today!

Affiliate operating both in the global market and in the UK, providing schemes for both CPA, CPS.

SinoNetwork

SinoNetwork is a Chinese language self-service advertising affiliate solution serving more than 3 Billion ad impressions monthly. SinoNetwork also provides advertisers of all sizes access to a global network of publishers, educational resources and sophisticated reporting tools. SinoNetwork delivers all the functionality needed for the general management and administration of performance-based marketing program – all on demand.

www.clash-media.com

Clash Media is a new CPA Affiliate Network in UK active on the UK and US market. They have large number of prize draws and a mixed merchant offer. They also have a co-registration facility for affiliates who wish to take part in their lead generation program.

www.fastadvert.com

Pays 1$ per 1000 banner-impressions, minimum payout 100$ (i.e. after 100,000 banner impressions, that's a little less than 3 years at 100 impressions a day or a little over 3 months at 1,000 impressions a day.) Be aware that the site generates pop-ups (and pop-behinds), using it may therefore annoy your visitors and will not be acceptable if you are trying to meet WAI accessibility standards. Does not pay for clicks or sales.

www.filinet.com

CPA Affiliate Network. Filinet is a performance-based CPA Affiliate Network that empowers its affiliates with the internet’s top performing offers while offering real-time tracking and outstanding support.

www.webgains.com

WebGains is a UK network working with both SME and blue chip clients (Cadbury's, One Tel, Cloggs). They offer 24/7 support and pride themselves on their service and advanced in depth reporting. Webgains offers the personal touch that is very much focused on producing results for both merchants and affiliates alike.

http://stellarads.directtrack.com

StellarAds is a newer network providing a CPA network that offers a wide variety of campaigns in multiple categories. For the most part, StellarAds caters to a US audience.

http://clickbank.com

ClickBank is a very popular network for both buying and selling products and services. It is very popular with smaller websites that have products to sell because it is very simple to set up.

www.z-mirage.com

UK based affiliate network. They provide first and second tier commissions (which means that if you refer a website that signs up as an affiliate then you get a small commission on the sales they generate).

www.firelead.com

Affiliate network started February 2007. Unlike most affiliate networks FireLead vet all applications, but in my experience this was very quick.

www.holidayaffiliates.com

An affiliate network that specialises in the travel industry. All the advertisers are therefore travel industry related.

www.epurplemedia.co.uk

ePurpose Media is a UK based affiliate network serving both Merchants and Publishers. In addition to their affiliate network services, ePurple Media also provide Search Engine Optimization and e-mail marketing services.

www.incentaclick.com

IncentaClick is a leading two-tiered affiliate network focused primarily on performance-based online advertising, email marketing and banner advertising. Their affiliate programs include free trial, direct sale, lead generation and revenue share campaigns.

www.money3affiliates.com

An affiliate marketing agency established in 2008, by internet and advertising professionals. They operate with both pay per click and pay per lead. Pays out when balance reaches $50.

www.trienta.com

An affiliate network with campaigns from all over the world.

www.theslice.co.uk

A long established UK marketing company which has more recently moved into the affiliate network arena. They provide schemes for advertising in emails (although you will need to contact them for this as you can only earn commission on newsletters which they have approved), as well as conventional pay per lead and per sale.