Have you heard of the concept of affiliate marketing? It is an extremely popular method of generating additional leads, sales and referrals from other Web sites (affiliates), which are then paid based on performance.

Because consumers buy from Web sites they like, know and trust, affiliate marketing allows you to benefit from the existing trust built by your affiliates. Until your brand is well-recognized by your market, you will achieve faster growth by effectively utilizing affiliate marketing.

As your affiliate marketing matures you will likely find you have several affiliates that account for the bulk of your sales. You will also find that the majority of your affiliates won't be doing much to promote your Web site.

It's my belief that many companies offering multiple products for sale online are missing out on what I call the Affiliate Marketing Long Tail. This notion is based on "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" by Chris Anderson, which suggests that because of Internet technology, many consumers are buying products online that a few years ago were too expensive to stock in traditional retail stores.

The reason for this is because retail stores stock a limited supply of major products. They can't afford to stock all of the hundreds of thousands of products that don't appeal to a mass market. But with the advent of online retailers like Overstock.com, which carries more than 300,000 products on its Web site, consumers now can buy niche products that aren't available from brick-and-mortar stores. Thus the sum of niche product sales equals or surpasses the sum of the major product sales.

This shift in the marketplace is creating huge opportunities for companies to take advantage of the Affiliate Marketing Long Tail. Up until now, most online retailers have focused on catering to their top and mid-tier affiliates. They haven't had the necessary strategic and financial resources to help their smaller affiliates become more successful. But by using a combination of technology and strategic thinking, they can increase the success of their smaller affiliates by helping them get off the ground.

The important thing is not to ignore them just because they are not your top affiliates. They represent a huge opportunity for your company to generate hundreds or even thousands of dollars in sales per month. Multiply that number by 1,000 (or even 10,000 affiliates in the case of one large online retailer) and ... well, you do the math. It's definitely worth looking at.

Following is a three-step process that will help you help your smaller online affiliates become more successful.

• As Stephen Covey would say, first seek to understand. Ask your smaller affiliates what they are having trouble with. This will give you insight on what solutions you should create.