If you want to get paid for selling products you like by doing practically nothing at all, then affiliate marketing is for you. Affiliate marketing is an asset idea that is only a few years old. Basically you find companies that offer affiliate programs, and join the affiliate programs. You market that company's products or services on the internet, and they will pay you every time a customer makes a purchase. Setting up an affiliate marketing website is a great idea because this asset can run almost on autopilot, while providing you with passive income.

     How they produce passive income: After you set up your affiliate marketing website, the customers will do the rest. They will find your website via search engines, click on the affiliate links on your website, and purchase products. In return, the company you are affiliated with will pay you either a percentage of the sale, or a fixed amount per sale. There are many different ways to make money with affiliate programs. Beginning affiliate websites earn about $100.00 per month, while affiliate websites that are thoroughly researched and designed nicely earn about $3500.00 per month.

     How to create this asset: It is necessary to research the retail market thoroughly before creating this asset. Creating an affiliate marketing website without doing valid research can make your website unsuccessful. You'll want to figure out what type of products you are interested in, is there a market for those products, is there much competition, and how well those products sell. A simple way to start is to go to http://www.google.com, type in names of products that you are interested in selling, and click search. Usually thousands of websites will appear, but it is wise to click on the one at the very top. See if the website you clicked on offers an affiliate program, if so, join it. They will ask you for personal information such as your address and social security number. Make sure that company is trustworthy before providing that personal information to them. A general rule of thumb is that if you can't find the company's address or telephone number anywhere on the website, don't join. Some popular websites that have affiliate programs are http://www.amazon.com, http://www.buy.com, and http://www.bestbuy.com. Amazon.com's affiliate program is called "The associates program". Same thing, different name.

     After joining the right affiliate program, it's time to create your website with "Site Build It!" Site Build It!'s online software provides you with everything you need to create your affiliate website. You just type in what you want to appear on your website, and Site Build It! will do the rest. They will automatically submit your website to search engines so that it can be found by potential customers. After creating your affiliate website, it can take about one and a half to two months to start seeing monetary results, then it will run by itself will providing you with passive income.

     For more information:

• http://www.sitebuildit.com - Provides online tools to create an affiliate marketing website.
• http://www.associateprograms.com - A website that's dedicated to helping people create an affiliate marketing website.
• http://www.cj.com - An affiliate network that connects companies with creators of affiliate marketing websites.

-Mike