While many companies hire affiliates to do their advertising for them it can be difficult for the interested (but not yet experienced) marketer to find a company with which to affiliate. Many companies choose to hire their affiliates through a “back door” policy; they personally hire people they are already acquainted with.
In order to get you started we have drawn together a list of companies that have lists of directories of affiliate programs to join.

• CommissionJunction.com
• ClickBank.com
• AssociatePrograms.com
• AffiliateGuide.com
• LinkShare.com
• AffiliatePrograms.com
• ShareaSale.com

When registering through a third party affiliate directory (such as many of the above listed), they will often ensure some level of insurance that you will be paid your commissions as agreed.

The reasons that the companies offering their products to be sold by affiliates use the above mentioned services is because they

1) provide the affiliate with the assurance of commission payment

2) make it easier for affiliates like you to find their products to promote.

As another tip for finding affiliate programs, you can always go to Google and type in your niche followed by the keyword phrase “affiliate program.” So if you were in the lawn care niche, for example, you could go to Google and type in: lawn care “affiliate program”. This will search the web for various programs that may not be listed in the directories which provide you with good opportunities. Chances are your competition doesn’t know about these programs. You can try the same tactic on Yahoo! as well to see what pops up.