Affiliate programs can be a very powerful source of income for your website and many meaning the majority of websites on the net uses affiliate programs to generate revenue from there websites and many are making lots of cold hard cash. Here are the most common terms that you will encounter with affiliate programs

-Cost Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Click (PPC)

-Cost per thousand (CPM)

-Cost Per Action (CPA)

-Cost Per Sale (CPS)

Cost Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Click (PPC)

The cost per click-through; the fee charged every time a user clicks on a banner ad or HTML link. Cost Per Click is most probably the most used affiliate program for publishers. One of the most successful affiliate program is Google's very own affiliate program Adsense.

Cost Per Thousand (CPM)

Cost per thousand is the cost, per 1000 impressions, of buying advertising space in a given media vehicle. For example, $50 CPM means each impression cost 5 cents. Cost per thousand is a great way to make some revenue from your website since it pays you every time a ad has been viewed on your webpage. This is a great program if your site doesn't have a high click through rate.

Cost Per Action (CPA)

The Cost Per Action is the fee charged every time a user completes a desired action, such as filling out a form, downloading software, or viewing a series of pages. The Cost Per Action is usually a high paying program I have seen companies wanting to pay you $30+ per lead you generate for them.

Cost Per Sale (CPS)

The Cost Per Sale; the fee charged every time a user completes a purchase usually a commission is earned. You can make some real cash with CPS programs average $40-$60 for a good program and the good thing is you don't need to control any stock or any billing.

There is a huge potential for you to make some serious cash from your website(s) but you will have to search for the right program to suit your website and your visitors also there are high potential in clicks, sales or leads if you add ads that are relevant to the content on your website pages for e.g. if your site is about cats & dogs the find ads for pet insurance or pet care. Also to succeed in the website game you will need visitors to your site so promote and promote on directories and exchange links with other sites.

Good Luck With Your Online Ventures