Some affiliate programs pay commission to their members for life. If a customer uses your link to sign up for something or make a purchase, they become your customer for life. These types of programs are the cornerstone for creating residual income with affiliate programs.

The normal way to earn money from affiliates is to advertise your affiliate link and get people to click through to the site using it, and then make a purchase. Many affiliate programs only pay you for sales directly from your specific link.

Other programs create residual income streams by remembering who your customers are and crediting you for every sale or sign up. These lifetime residual income affiliate programs are just one of the types you can choose.

Subscription Based Affiliate Programs for Residual Income

Subscription based affiliate program purchases are a popular type of lifetime residual income. These programs usually sell things such as magazine subscriptions, web hosting, and insurance or financial products. Whoever signs up through your affiliate link will earn you residual income for as long as they are a member of the particular service. Whenever they pay for their continued subscription, you will earn a percentage of that amount.

In order to create lasting affiliate commissions, only advertise programs with staying power. Research the top programs or subscriptions that customers will more likely keep their memberships to.

Cookie Tracking Affiliate Programs for Residual Income

Another method for creating residual income with affiliate programs is to join programs that have long term cookie tracking. Cookies are small tags that track online activity. Affiliate programs use these to keep track of who clicked on what affiliate link. Programs can track affiliate link cookies for a day, a week, a year, or for a virtual lifetime. The longer the range, the more residual income you will make.

Yet it's the "Holy Grail" among most switched on internet marketers, as it provides the means to earn a decent income online without the need to put lots of hours in. Basically you do something once, and get paid for it again and again, ad infinitum.

That's the real beauty of residual income. And there's no reason why you should limit that income to a single source. Once you have one source set up and running, you can devote your attention to finding another opportunity or affiliate program to earn more cash from.

Writing is one way of setting up a residual income stream. Write the book, and get paid for it over and over. In my case, I write lots of articles for a website called Helium. Every time one of my articles is read (I've got nearly five hundred on there now) I earn a cent or two from it.

Doesn't sound like much, does it? But lots of my articles are read each and every day, and those cents soon pile up into a monthly payment. I have articles nearly a year old that are still earning. It's a small income stream, but a steady one that increases every time I write a few new articles for the site, and even when I'm not writing I'm still racking up the cash.

Rather than aim to earn all your income from a single stream, it's far better to set up several different ones. Some may earn $20 a month, others may earn a lot more. But the more you can set up, the better protected you will be against any one of them falling by the wayside for any reason.

Start researching now. Can you put your writing skills to good use and write some reports or e-books to sell through a website like Lulu? Why not start promoting products through ClickBank?

There are many ways to earn a residual income online. All it takes is some forward planning and a little research and you could soon start earning a residual income of your own.

Can you actually make money without spending money? The answer is yes. When you know where to look and what to do.

Did you know that you can earn income on content you produce?

• Triond is one such opportunity. Advertisers place online advertising on pages where your work appears, thus generating revenue for you.
• Constant Content will offer the first couple of paragraphs of your submission, followed by a link for readers to purchase your article in its entirety.
• Associated Content offers $3.00-10.00 for submitted articles.
• Helium is also a place where you can earn income from your writing efforts. A portion of revenue is shared with you.

Blogging

• Blogitive - With Blogitive you can earn money with every posting.
• Blogvertise - Blogvertise pays for your blog posts, offering easy to complete blog assignments that run under 200 words.
• Payperpost - Advertisers will post all sorts of opportunities, from those with a simple "link back to this site" to others that incorporate product reviews with pictures. You choose which opportunity suits you and submit each blog for approval.

Paid to post

If you enjoy discussing topics about anything and everything under the sun, you can now turn your time into money on a daily basis. By starting discussions, posting responses, and referring friends you can earn a little doing something that may come naturally to you. Visit myLot.com to get started.

Paid to read

Paid to read programs are also an option; however, with some of these, you click on an advertisement, then have to wait as a clock ticks off the seconds and are then paid approximately one penny per click. Unless you have unlimited time and patience, these may not be the best option.

ReadersPaid is somewhat different and is definitely worth taking a look at. Compensation is generous and if you are willing to complete incentive offers, you are paid even more. What makes this program stand out is that you can make a tangible residual income-monthly earnings that continue to increase over time.

Submitting tips for pay

Daytipper is a great site that rewards tippers $3.00 per published tip. If you submit on a regular basis, earnings add up.

Blogs and HubPages

Why pay hosting/domain fees when you can set up a blog or a HubPage for free? You can share your content with the world and by including affiliate links/ads. and incorporating adsense, you can generate revenue via clicks and when someone purchases products from your site. You can place E-bay and Amazon capsules in your HubPages, which also generate income for you when someone purchases products.

Certainly, it can be seen that with a little time and effort, you can earn money using the Internet-and without spending a penny! Why wait. Get started today.