There are many people out there in cyberspace who have tried their hand at some program or the other that assures them they will be able to make money online within hours if not minutes. However, many of these people have failed miserably.

The reason for this is that they have either been expecting too much in too little a time frame, or they have been sold a dud program that is nothing more than a ponzai scheme where there is always an end loser ' and they have been the loser!

To begin with lets explore the many programs that offer people to make money online from the comforts of their homes or offices in their spare time. At the outset there will be affiliate marketing programs. These programs are by far the best online making techniques ever invented.

With affiliate marketing one does not need to have a product, just selling someone else's product for a whopping commission is all that is required. There are sites that offer affiliate marketers an opportunity to sell something online and earn as much as 75 percent commissions.

All that is more easily said than done. The truth of the matter is that one needs to have some patience in order to succeed in online marketing. First of all it is important to find an affiliate program that fits your needs. If you do not like the product or service you will not be able to sell it. Simple as that. So you need to have a product you really like and then you will be able to find people who may like it too and there in lies your possibility of success.

Affiliate programs are the only source of money online that can really earn one big bucks. However, it is all in the online marketing techniques and the products one is marketing. There does not have to be a physical product one needs to sell in affiliate marketing. Some affiliate marketers sell services as well.

While choosing a product or a program to join as an online affiliate marketer one must be careful because there are a lot of ponzai schemes out there. A ponzai scheme is a program that works like a pyramid. Here an affiliate marketer needs to build a tree consisting of many affiliate marketers under him or her. When one new affiliate marketer signs up under the above marketer everyone above him earn a percentage of the deposit. There is always a loser somewhere down the line. These programs are illegal in many states.

There are many affiliate programs that set up sales sites for their members, help promote the site, train the member in ways to drive traffic to the site and even have a dedicated call center to make calls, receive calls and close sales for the member. With this kind of infrastructure how can these affiliate programs be scams?