Affiliate marketing arrived on the Web with a bang almost ten years ago and for years it was the key to success, both for merchants and their affiliates. The idea is simple; publishers get paid for selling the advertisers' products and services. The idea is brilliant and fair to both parties. Until the time Google Adsense arrived on the Web's horizon affiliate selling was the prime source of income for most small, micro and home based Web businesses.

Affiliate marketing thrives today, but perhaps not with the same power as it had few years back. The competing environment of the Web is making it more difficult for small publishers to sell with affiliate programs unless they can wrap the marketing and selling into creative Web services or engage in product reviews.