Arlene’s husband, James, who recently authored a training manual for website owners, taught her the basic skills she needed to launch her first site for babies.

This site, which was launched only a few months ago, now brings in an extra $1,000 U.S. into the family budget from sales made on behalf of relevant merchant links she places on her sites so that visitors can easily find them.

Arlene says, “these links are not banner ads, but simple text links that drive qualified traffic to my affiliated merchants who pay me a commission for every sale.”

She goes on to say, “many are not aware that large companies, such as The Disney Store, National Geographic and even the Denver Broncos now pay lucrative commissions for website referrals in a new industry called pay-for-performance advertising, also known as affiliate programs.”

Industry experts agree that this pay-for-performance concept started with Amazon.com, who in 1997 began compensating webmasters around the world for book sales by setting a cookie on each visitor’s browser that identified the associated publisher so that a commission could be paid if a sale were made.

This unique business relationship neatly solves the problem of driving eyeballs to websites’ of merchandiser’s, because of the vast number of independent publishers and webmasters worldwide, like Arlene, who will generate targeted traffic on a pay-for-performance basis, thereby eliminating the high cost of advertising.

Arlene says, “When I first got started I had a pretty good idea of how well I could do because I had watched my husband, James, become very successful as an affiliate for some major U.S. companies, such as American Express, DIRECTV and Capital One Visa, but I was surprised at how quickly

my site has taken off and at how large some of my sales have been.” She goes on to say. “The other day I had a $545 sale for a baby crib.

It's a common occurrence. And the best thing is that all I did was provide a link through to the merchant who handled everything from there.”

Many experts agree that as a consequence of converging factors such as, growing consumer confidence in making online purchases, the need for many companies to downsize brick and mortar operations and the emergence of commission

networks who act as go-betweens for merchants and affiliates, it has never been easier or more profitable to retail online, or for moms with basic computer skills to start a lucrative, web-based enterprise by representing some very well established companies.

“My first attempt with affiliate programs was made easy because of Commission Junction, out of Carlsbad, CA, an industry leader in providing third party functionality for affiliates and merchants by acting as a trusted third party in managing the network, tracking and reporting on activity and handling monthly commission payments,” Mrs. Martell says.

Arlene says, “ I’ve joined several baby and pet oriented affiliate programs through the Commission Junction network of advertisers and their online reporting and tracking functionality is second to one. ”“Commission Junction has exceeded our expectations as a cost-effective marketing channel,” states Kari King, Affiliate Program Manager at eBay.com,” We chose Commission Junction not only because they have an established network

of quality publishers, but because their service and technology are scalable as our program grows.” Mrs. Martell adds, “there is tremendous confidence in dealing with CJ merchants, because CJ has demonstrated great efficiency in handling all of the collection and processing required to ensure fair and timely commission payments. And I can go online any time of the day to check my stats.

I love that nearly as much as getting checks in the mail, which come in almost every day for either my husband, who has thirty commercial sites, or myself.

Arlene adds, “I love bringing in extra money so I can shop for the little extras we need as a family and it really is great to be around my four kids, Adam, Shelby, Justin and Victoria.”

“Plus, since James is also working from his office down the hall, we can easily schedule impromptu family activities. For example, the other day, our youngest, Victoria, arrived home to announce, we are going to the beach. And, you know what, that’s what we did.” she said.

“After getting a taste of financial freedom with affiliate programs

from the comfort of my own home on my personal computer, and avoiding the stresses of long commutes and stifling work environments, I would never work in a typical office again, ” she said.