Not all of the good affiliate programs go through the big boys. As you can imagine, there are advantages and disadvantages to using someone like Linkshare or Commission Junction to run your program. The major disadvantages seem to be cost (expect to drop ten grand for setup and network access fees, and a 30% commission on what you make from the program) and the fact that your program will be lost among thousands of others.

So many companies have decided to manage their own affiliate programs, using specialized software and with their own promotional plans (30% buys a lot of Adsense). I surfed the ten most popular independent affiliate program directories, and Ive listed ten of the more promising programs.

Disclaimer: I do not necessarily recommend or endorse any program here. All I know is that I reviewed the listing, visited the website and decided that it was genuine (rather than a bunch of ads or links and/or a Clickbank or other programs front site).

Affiliate Classroom
www.affiliateclassroom.com
A step by step training program to help you easily launch and grow your own affiliate internet business (I signed up for this one).

Balance Ayurvedic
www.balanceayurvedic.com
An Ayurvedic (natural and herbal) remedies website with a 20% lifetime commission on all sales.

Internet Marketing Center
www.marketingtips.com
Resource center for Internet Marketing. The free stuff is good too.

$1 Newspaper Ads
www.clickslink.com/shop/newspaper_ads.html
Advertise in the classified section of newspapers for as little as $1 each. (Through Clickbank) I thought this one was kind of cool.

Funny T-Shirts
www.funny-tshirts.biz
Theres some funny stuff here, and $4 per sale for you.

Information Packaging
www.info-pack.com
Some really cool and unique software for webmasters.

BettingBots
www.bettingbots.com
Heres a unique site for people with gambling-related content a directory of betting automation software.

Tradepub.com
www.tradepub.com
Pay per lead for free trade publication subscriptions - good for industry-specific sites

4 Team
www.4team.biz
Microsoft Outlook tools

Testiment Business Marketing
www.testiment.com
$5 per lead for Internet Marketing consulting

There are plenty of good programs out there that aren't connected to a big affiliate network, and plenty of directories to find them.

Here's a good Google tip: type in the word or phrase that describes the affilate program keyword, then include +affiliate. For example, if you're looking for a dog toys affiliate you would search dog toys +affiliate. You should get back a bunch of programs.

Happy hunting.