Robert Kiyosaki in his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, coined the phrase make your money work for you rather than you work for money. In the internet marketing world this concept has caught on and the resulting buzzword is residual income.

If residual income is your ultimate online business goal then the best affiliate programs to join are those that offer a residual income rather than a once off commission.

However, the very best affiliate programs offer residual income and have products or services that sell well online.

Research by forrester.com suggests that the highest selling products online are books and software.

With this in mind I've flagged some major industries that have affiliate programs that offer residual income and products or services that sell well online.

The Internet Marketing Industry

Internet marketers understand affiliate marketing they realise that in order to attract long term loyal affiliates they need to offer high commissions and excellent tools.

In addition, the top marketers use various direct response marketing methods to fine tune their sales process and therefore make more sales per visitor than other industries.

Allan Gardyne, the founder of associate-programs.com and a recognised expert in the affiliate marketing industry has a top ten list of internet marketing affiliate programs.

Off-course Allan's #1 affiliate program is Ken Evoys 5 Pillar Affiliate Program. Ken's affiliate program offers lifetime commissions on his flagship product Site Build It.

Ken suggests that 40% of site build it owners end up with 2 or more site build it sites this is good for his affiliates as they get rewarded for the extra sales.

The Investing Industry

The investing industry is truly global an investor sitting in Africa with a live internet connection can invest in the major stock exchanges around the world.

For the affiliate marketer there are a variety of investing books, software and newsletters to promote and investor's generally have enough money to pay high prices for investing products especially if the products pay for themselves.

If you want to know how to find the best investing affiliate programs I highly recommend Evoy's free affiliate masters course.

The Online Dating Industry

The online dating industry is a perfect online business model for affiliates. Customers pay a monthly fee and the entire service is offered online.

Rosalind Gardiner, who's e-book How I made $436,797 online in one year selling other poeple's stuff made her fortune from the online dating industry.

If you want to set your online business up for long term success I'd advise you find an affiliate program that offers lifetime commissions you could try Allan Gardyne's excellent website at www.lifetimecommissions.com. Some industries that offer lucrative residual income opportunities are the internet marketing, investing and online dating industries.