With more and more people around the globe choosing the ease of doing their shopping online from the comfort and privacy of home, there is no better time than now to cash in on online business.  At one time it was next to impossible to sell products online without a great deal of money, but these days there are thousands of companies who want to pay you to sell their stuff!

Rather than expect you to do all that research yourself, we have compiled the following list of the top affiliate marketing networks that you can join and start making money right now! To visit the network’s website, just click the link, sign up and start selling! The list is organized alphabetically and includes just enough background information to whet your insatiable appetite for more. Smart, huh?

Amazon was one of the very first companies in the world to offer an affiliate marketing program as far back as 1996. As the company has grown so has their affiliate program and today affiliates have the opportunity to sell just about anything you could want to purchase online including books, consumer electronics, clothing & accessories, even cars and industrial farm equipment!

Clickbankwww.clickbank.com

Clickbank has been on the scene since 1998, and currently boasts over 10,000 product providers, 100,000 affiliates and over 20,000 sales transactions each and every day around the world. It doesn’t get better than that!

Founded in 1998 in Santa Barbara, California, Commission Junction is the largest affiliate network in North America claiming nearly fifty percent of the top five hundred web retailers worldwide. Their clients include such well known companies as Ebay, Yahoo, Home Depot, Circuit City and Buy.com. Commission Junction was bought by ValueClick in 2003, the company who also owned Be Free Inc., one of Commission Junction’s main former competitors.

Netshopswww.netshops.com

In 2006, Netshops was named the 13^th fastest growing company in America by Inc. Magazine and is consistently named one of the best places to work in Omaha, Nebraska where it is headquartered. Netshops focuses on specialty ‘niche’ markets, and has over two hundred individual specialty programs from which to choose. You can sell products from one or all fifty of their providers. One of the most popular aspects of the Netshops program is that the providers all pay commissions of no less than ten percent.

Established in 2000 and based in Chicago, Illinois, Share A Sale is a privately held company that currently holds claim to over two thousand merchants in over 38 categories.

The great thing about affiliate networks, aside from the money you can make, is that you can sign up for more than one network. Loyalty isn’t an issue whatsoever. If you want to do business with five companies from one network and 20 from another, you can do it and it doesn’t cost you a single penny.

Now that you know which are the top 5 affiliate networks, go on and have a go at maximizing your internet marketing endeavors. To use an old cliché – You’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose.’