Like the more common single tier affiliate programs, 2 tier affiliate programs are a great basis for web-based partnerships between merchants and affiliates. Merchants can focus their efforts on what they should do best-creating high quality products and getting them to customers. Meanwhile, affiliates concentrate on producing interesting content to attract web traffic. And when they successfully refer visitors to buy affiliate products, an affiliate commission is earned.

However, 2 tier affiliate programs have an additional attraction for affiliates. When they sign up sub-affiliates under them, and these sub-affiliates successfully make affiliate sales, the original affiliate also earns a referral commission. The result is that affiliates not only make a profit from their direct sales efforts, but also benefit from the leveraged effects of sub-affiliates under them.

While 2 tier affiliate programs are definitely a new and rapidly growing trend in affiliate marketing, the traditional rules still apply. Choose only good products, with high sales conversions (check out the persuasiveness of the merchants website), and only work with merchants who pay regularly! After all, there's no reason to waste precious traffic on affiliate products are hard to sell, or on merchants who don't make it a point to send those commissions on time.

All else being equal, 2 Tier Affiliate Programs are a good alternative for webmasters hoping to add an additional stream of revenue to their sites.