One way to find good ideas for niche websites is by joining small affiliate networks and CPA networks and hunting for niches which don't have many competitors.

Affiliate networks and CPA networks are free to join.

They can be hard to find. They sometimes call themselves names like "marketing solutions provider", "pay-for-performance network", "cost-per-action advertising network", or even "performance-based online marketing services company".

Affiliate networks provide pay-per-lead (PPL), pay-per-sale (PPS), pay-per-action (PPA) - sometimes called cost per action (CPA) - and pay-per-click (PPC) offers from merchants that you promote on your web site or in your newsletter.

Some affiliate networks allow almost anyone to join. Others insist your site must receive a certain number of visitors.

Some let you see a directory of the merchants in the network before you join. Others show you their list of offers only after you join.

Some of the very small "affiliate networks" mainly just bundle up other affiliate networks' offers.

The big 4 affiliate networks

Commission Junction
Probably the most popular affiliate network, Commission Junction also has its share of critics. Finding and joining an appropriate affiliate program is easy. CJ also makes things easy for affiliates by consolidating all payouts into one check. It displays EPC (which to CJ rather oddly means "earnings per 100 clicks", not earnings per click). CJ is owned by ValueClick, which merged with Be Free.

LinkShare
LinkShare has more than 600 merchants in its affiliate network. Choose from categories such as books, music, flowers, fashion, computers, etc. You'll find some big name companies here, including Dell, Nordstrom, Target, Disney and American Express.

ClickBank
Offers a huge array of downloadable products, mainly ebooks. Because it is cheap and easy for merchants to join, the quality of the products provided varies enormously, from very good to downright awful. It's a popular place to search for overlooked niches.

Google Affiliate Network
Highly professional site with some well known brands. Clients include: America Online, Blair Corp., Bose, CompUSA, Eddie Bauer, HP Shopping, Kohl's, L.L.Bean, PC Connection, RedEnvelope, Verizon Wireless, and more than 200 others. Formerly called Performics, which was bought by DoubleClick, which was bought by Google.

Pepperjam Network was launched in January 2008 by Pepperjam, a U.S. Internet marketing agency that has more than 100 employees. On launch day, it had dozens of advertisers, including well known brands and exclusive clients. Offers datafeeds and a chat facility for merchants and affiliates. This looks like a very serious attempt to compete with the big affiliate networks. Pepperjam's founder and CEO is Kris Jones. Recommended.

Click2Sales
Click2Sales is a new ClickBank competitor with no set-up fees. Vendors can list digital and physical products and subscription products such as membership sites. It offers advanced tracking. New. Worth keeping an eye on.

ModernClick
Keith Baxter's ModernClick affiliate network, launched in 2006, offers a wide range of products to promote in dozens of different categories. Tracking is by DirectTrack. It has pay per lead, pay per sale and some pay per click offers. You don't have to own a website when you apply.

Panthera Network
Panthera Network makes very bold claims. It says it is the "best affiliate network in the world". It guarantees the "top payout" for any offer advertised. Even better, if you see a higher payout on any other affiliate network, Panthera Network offers to beat the listed payout by 5%. You can choose from over 100 offers to promote. Consolidated commission checks are paid monthly on a net 15 basis for leads generated in the previous month. Has mainly pay per lead programs. Tracking is by DirectTrack. Worth keeping an eye on.

AvantLink
AvantLink, launched late in 2005, is a parasite-free, innovative affiliate network " developed by and for affiliate marketing professionals". It which offers merchants three datafeed options. It provides sophisticated tools for merchants. It provides dozens of offers for affiliates. Worth watching.

TrafficSynergy
A new affiliate network with a great attitude. The people running it have impressive marketing experience. This network is worth keeping an eye on.

ShareResults
Another new affiliate network, promising affiliates and merchants reliable tracking and reporting. "A simple user interface enables affiliate marketers to easily maximize results. Our dedicated affiliate team provides responsive, personalized support to build profitable affiliate relationships," ShareResults says. Some merchants have been signed up and should appear on the site soon. Worth keeping an eye on.

LinkConnector
LinkConnector offers pay per click, pay per lead and pay per sale programs.

MaxBounty
A cost-per-action network launched in 2004 by JP Sauve, who as an affiliate and merchant was disgruntled by the small payouts made to affiliates by the networks. MaxBounty promises "the highest CPAs in the market". It accepts affiliates from all countries, and pays affiliates in their local currency from local banks, to avoid large check fees. Payments are consolidated into one check. It has added Sub-ID tracking so that affiliates can track which of their surfers signed up for what offer. This is popular with reward site affiliates. MaxBounty allows merchants to run their own affiliate program in an open marketplace format described as similar to that of the big three networks, only at a much more affordable price. Worth keeping an eye on.

Jointsales
A new network with a small number of offers. Easy to join.

ShareaSale
A large network with plenty of programs to search through - pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-click programs. More than 700 merchants. It took over FineClicks.com. Many affiliates praise this network because of its pro-affiliate and anti-parasite attitude. Highly recommended.

Affiliate Window
Professional, UK-based affiliate network. Provides more than 200 merchants to choose from, including well known brands. Offers affiliate programs for web sites running in UK pounds, US dollars and Euros. There are no minimum traffic requirements. "We are fully aware that the low traffic website of today might grow to become what we call premiere partner tomorrow," Affiliate Window says.

AzoogleAds
This mainly performance-based ad network pays out more $3 million a month. It has more than 100 advertisers, including large companies. It promises "guaranteed highest CPA payouts" and fanatical customer support. Most of your site's traffic must orignate within the US and Canada and you must receive more than 25,000 impressions a month.

Affiliate Fuel
Small affiliate-friendly affiliate network with a laudable anti-scumware policy. You need to have a United States or Canadian-based web site and a minimum of 2,000 unique visitors a day.

clixGalore
A large affiliate network offering more than 2,450 programs. All applicants are accepted immediately, automatically.

Quinstreet
A fairly small number of high quality merchants with strong brands. Reliable payment and offers a full range of Internet marketing services.

Trade Doubler
Big European network with hundreds of affiliate programs from that region. Anyone who has a web site can join.

Incentaclick
A parasite-free affiliate network with "Smart" tracking and hundreds of offers. They say their Smart tracking enables you to earn higher returns.

UKaffiliates
More than 350 affiliate programs to choose from, including some big brands.

Some affiliate networks, especially those offering pay-per-lead deals, have offers which are available only for a limited time - perhaps a month, a few months, or a few years.

It takes more work to promote changing offers, but one advantage is you'll tend to have less competition from other affiliates.

CPA Empire
Promises weekly payments, real-time reporting and live customer service. CPA Empire says that in only six months its monthly payouts to affiliates were topping $600,000. You need a minimum of 3,000 unique page views a month. It includes some "adult" offers. In March, 2005, Optinrealbig.com, which owns CPAEmpire, was forced into bankruptcy by a $40 million lawsuit. Tread carefully!

LeadCrunch
LeadCrunch has been acquired by JP Sauve's MaxBounty.

Lead Hound
Another smallish network. Recently upgraded stats reporting and over a 100 programs makes this worth a look.

DirectLeads
Pay-per-click, pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale offers. In January, 2006, the company was bought was Digital River.

OfferWeb
A cost-per-action network providing a wide variety of offers, including exclusive offers. Consolidates payouts into one monthly check or PayPal payment. Claims to be the fastest growing affiliate network on the Internet. You need only 100 visitors a month.

PrimaryAds
A "pay for performance" network that specializes in cost-per-action advertising. It has pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale programs. Campaigns include text links, banners and HTML advertisements. Dozens of offers to choose from.

OffersQuest
This revenue sharing network provides a variety of offers. Merged with Puzz.com. You need a minimum of 3,000 unique page views a month.

AdFish
A performance-based affiliate network. You have to join to see the offers.

Adreporting
CPM, CPC and CPA offers.

Advaliant
A performance based affiliate network.

Ads4dough
To apply, you have to email them.

AdsMarket
Has CPA, CPL, CPC and revenue-share arrangements. It says it has a vast global customer base.

Adteractive
Offers are available to large interactive publishers, networks, and interactive agencies. It says it has paid out tens of millions of dollars.

Advertising Revenue Service
Pay-for-performance campaigns - "per click, per sale, per join, per lead and more".

Advertising.com
In July, 2004, Advertising.com, which is owned by AOL, launched an affiliate network. It operates in the UK, US, France, Germany and Scandinavia. Only successful applicants get to see what's offering.

ADXDirect
A Baltimore-based ad network offering all the major pricing models: CPM, CPC, CPL, CPA and CPV. Has big name clients.

AdZacta
Has exclusive offers, premium brands and "highest payouts".

Affiliator
Affiliator is part of Swedish-based Getupdated Group and has offices in several countries.

Agami Media
A performance-based network providing a variety of pay per sale and pay per lead offers.

Affiliatebot
If you have a web site, you can join. Affiliatebot consolidates payments into one check.

Affiliate Cop
Offers a variety of pay-per-lead offers. Welcomes international webmasters.

Affiliatefuture
A UK affiliate network offering a wide variety of affiliate companies and products you can promote, including a number of well known brands. Looks good.

Affiliatenetwork
Sites must have more than 3,000 unique visitors a month. Sites must be based in USA, Canada, UK, The Netherlands, Denmark or Sweden.

Affiliator
Launched in 2006. Appears to have a small selection of offers.

Afform
A UK "pay by performance" network carrying pay per click, per lead and per sale offers. You can see the network average EPC (earnings per click) before running a placement.

AvantLink
AvantLink, launched in 2005, is a parasite-free, innovative affiliate network " developed by and for affiliate marketing professionals". It which offers merchants three datafeed options. It has a small number of merchants so far. Worth watching.

Buy.at
A UK affiliate network with offers from well known brands.

CanadianSponsors
CanadianSponsors is an affiliate network that specializes in CPL (cost-per-lead) and CPA (cost-per-action) advertising. Your website or portion of website must target the Canadian consumer.

CheckMyStats
Provides a wide variety - more than 80 - offers for you to promote, mainly pay-per-lead. Pays via PayPal.

Cibleclick
Popular in French-speaking countries. Here's the English language sign-up form.

Clickagents
A performance-based online advertising network comprised of a compact group of large vertical sites and top portals. Not for small sites!

ClickBooth
Clickbooth, a division of IntegraClick, says it handles extremely large volume and, "as a result, we take the smallest margins and offer the highest payouts in the industry". You have to sign up to see the offers.

ClickXchange
Has offers from more than 200 merchants. There are no minimum traffic requirements for affiliates. Offers include per sale, per lead and per click. Advertisers pay for what they want, including leads, clicks and sales. Geo filtering is supported. ClickXchange doesn't charge any setup fees. It just asks advertisers for a $500 escrow balance to start from which affiliate commissions are drawn. From there advertisers pay as they go. ClickXchange sends the affiliates their checks monthly. Commission is 30% of the affiliates' earnings. ClickXchange says it has a large number of affiliates.

CommissionSoup
This affiliate network specializes in providing credit related products.

Commission Shore
No minimum traffic requirement. Consolidates payments into one check or payment via PayPal.

CoProsper
An affiliate network with a variety of offers.

CPAQuality
Promises quality offers for quality affiliates.

Cunna.com
A new CPA network.

Cyberbounty
Has a wide variety of big name, high quality, high paying "cost per action" sponsors. High tech control panel, live stats. Includes a free fully maintained freebie website and referral program.

DarkBlue
DarkBlue offers more than 130 affiliate programs. It has an unusual operating method which it says allows it to pay some of the best CPA commissions on the Internet. Payouts are consolidated into one payment.

eAdvertising.com
A CPA (cost-per-action) or pay-for-performance network. Sites must be from the US or Canada and must have a minimum of 2,000 unique visitors per day. Exceptions will be considered for highly targeted traffic. The network promises high payouts but you can't see the details until after you've joined.

eAffiliatez
A pay for performance network offering a variety of programs.

Emagin AdBank
Based in Kuala Lumpur, Emagin AdBank is an affiliate network run by Asians for Asia. It is expanding into India and China.

EnvisionAds
A pay-for-performance ad network with dozens of pay-per-sale and pay-per-lead offers. Many countries are excluded. Check the application form before you apply.

Epurple Media
Has a small number of products you can promote.

Extremerevenue
A pay-for-performance ad network.

Filinet
Claims to be the Internet's fastest growing affiliate network. You have to apply through a tiresome multi-step application process.

FineClicks
A variety of offers. A minimum of 75% of all traffic produced must be U.S. traffic. Short links are provided for newsletter publishers. FineClicks is owned by Shareasale.

Floppybank Affiliate Network
Ad network offers CPC, CPA and sales lead commission programs, with a central administration and paycheck system.

FluxAds
Has a variety of CPA offers.

FusionQuest
Did you wonder what happened to FreeFiliate? It became FusionQuest.

Hydra Network
Hydra Networkwork, a performance-based advertising network set up in 2003, has a large variety of offers.

icommissions.com
Has pay-per-lead offers for credit cards, health services, financial services and legal services.

IronOffers
Yet another one! Launched 2007.

Kolimbo
A network of hundreds of merchants using My Affiliate Program affiliate tracking software by KowaBunga Technologies to run their affiliate programs. You can view aggregated stats and join new programs with "one click".

LeaderMarkets
LeaderMarkets says it has more than 500 offers and more than 26,000 affiliates. It wants U.S. affiliates. In rare cases, foreign affiliates are accepted. Claims to pay the highest commissions, and match them if higher commissions are spotted.

LeadFlash
LeadFlash specializes in cash advance programs. Most pay $25 per lead.

Lead Rewards
A cost-per-action network with a three-tier payout program and a three-tier referral program. Webmasters from a long list of countries are excluded.

LinkConnector
LinkConnector offers pay per click, pay per lead and pay per sale programs.

LinkProfits.net
Exclusive, unadvertised performance-based offers. You must have "adequate" traffic or a sizable opt-in subscriber email list.

LinkRevenue Ads
LinkRevenue Advertising is a CPA network. It welcomes sites which have at least 3,000 page views a month.

LinkValu
Says is has paid millions of dollars in affiliate payments since 1999.

LynxTrack
Says it has unique and exclusive CPA offers. You have to sign up to see what is available.

MarketDraw
A CPA network promising high-paying offers and a huge selection of offers. You have to sign up to see what is available.

MarketLeverage
A pay-for-performance affiliate marketing network.

MetaReward
You have to sign up and wait to be contacted to find out more.

MerchantZoo
MerchantZoo uses a link masking technique which makes it look as though you are using straight links, not affiliate links. You can link to any page on a merchant's site - handy for linking to the exact product you're promoting. It has a small number of offers, some rather unusual. Pays monthly via check or PayPal. Easy to join.

Motive Interactive
Promises "highest payouts" and "top performing offers".

MyReferer
Has a variety of offers. Merchants track referrals by both cookie and IP. You can choose encrypted affiliate links if you wish.

Myresellers.com
Has a small numbers of offers.

NeverBlueAds
Says it has exclusive offers.

Offer Fusion
A performance-based (CPA) network. Your site must be geared to US traffic and must receive a minimum of 5,000 unique visitors a month.

Partner2Profit
Weight loss, finance, and other offers.

Partner Weekly
A CPA network which pays its affiliates weekly by check or via PayPal.

PayAff
Has a small number of offers.

RedGaloshes
A small affiliate network with a group of about 20 merchants, paying 10% residual commission, mainly on such things as bridal gear, gifts, jewelry, apparel and accessories.

ReferBack
Offers high-paying commissions on a small number of online casino affiliate programs. Numerous tools and resources to assist affiliates.

RegNow oneNetwork
A large variety of software which your visitors can download and try before they buy. The RegNow Affiliate Network offers screensavers, Solitaire games, flight simulations, security products, every kind of utility, etc.

Revenue Pilot
A pay-per-click network. You earn a percentage when someone performs a search. Revenue Pilot pays only for traffic coming from the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

Rextopia
You have to sign up before you can see what is available.

ROI Rocket
Offers a variety of pay-per-sale programs in a variety of categories. Many of the offers are for U.S. traffic only. It says it pays more than $2 million in commissions each month.

Rowise
Rowise says the company owns and operates several of the offers in its network, and also tests offers before adding them to the network. You have to sign up before you can see what is available.

SaleFlurry
SaleFlurry has a nicely designed, easy to follow site. Easy to join. It has a fairly small number of offers in a variety of niches.

Search4Clicks
An education affiliate network specializing in leads for financial aid, scholarships, internships, testing, schools and other educational resources. It has more than 100 college programs available.

SellShareware
Offers various software programs available for people to download and try before they buy.

SearchCactus
SearchCactus is a pay-per-click search engine which offers incentives to searchers and also has cost-per-action offers for web site publishers.

ShareBucks
Has a very small selection of offers.

Sitelink
An Australian based affiliate network.

SpecialOffer
CPA programs for magazines and free CDs. 24/7 reporting, monthly payments.

TheUseful
CPA and CPL offers.

Turn2Offers
Promises high payouts, exclusive offers. Parasite free.

VHMnetwork
New York based network has a variety of pay per lead and pay per sale offers.

XY7.com
Promises exclusive offers and best payouts.

Zanox
A multiple merchant opportunity directory. Real-time tracking and reporting.

Set up your own affiliate network

Affiliate Network Pro software enables site owners to start their own affiliate network site "just like CJ and LinkShare", says John Ross of AlstraSoft. Affiliate Network Pro was launched August, 2004. You can see the full features of the software at AlstraSoft and do a test drive. You'll probably need a good programmer to tweak this software for you to get everything running well.