The affiliate program is basically an agreement between you (affiliate) and a company, whereby you receive a percentage of profits in order to promote and market a product or service from the company that you’ve affiliated. One of the great advantages of affiliate programs is that it is an excellent opportunity for those wishing to start a business on the Internet, since it implies low costs and minimal risks. However, a very recurrent question that tend to be entrepreneurs who wish to start a business on the Internet is how do affiliate programs work? There are different types of affiliate program, the most common of them require the affiliate to place a banner, text link or an image or on your Web site through which redirects visitors to the Web site of the company that promotes. This link is comprised of a unique special code capable of identifying the affiliate, so that if the visitor performs a specific action, the affiliate will receive the corresponding Commission. Normally, the affiliate you receive as payment a percentage from the sale of the product that has been previously set, however, on some occasions, you may receive commissions simply by sending traffic to the website of the seller either you may receive a Commission for telling the visitor enter in the list of mail of the seller regardless that the sale takes place. There are also affiliate programs that are divided into different levels. In this type of programs, subscribers can not only generate revenue by own sales, but sales of its sub-affiliates. The benefits of the affiliate programs one of the biggest advantages of being part of an affiliate program resides in the possibility of being able to start an Internet business without need for a product or service. The only thing you have to do is promote the products of other companies, gaining important commissions for this effort.