Affiliate Marketing started 1994 (Cybersex, PC Flowers) '96 Amazon, Refer-it. Now a must for online advertising strategies; incorporating text (and graphical) links Affiliate Links are the bridge between the online high street store and the website advertsing their goods/services. E-Consultancy estimated that £2.1bn retail sales via Affiliates in 2006, up 60% year on year, and 10% of the overall online spend. Affiliate Networks (see recommended below) and Merchants (advertisers) ie Argos, M&S + Ebay via Affiliates (publishers) as a measurable, cost effective way of increasing brand awareness & ROI without directly employing 100s of extra salesstaff .

Longest est'd source for advice on UK Affiliate Networks, Merchants & to talk to other affiliates A4Forum  or aBestWeb   or RevenueSource or domain name forums AcornDomains or NamePros or DNForum or Sedo