What is affiliate marketing? In a nutshell, it is a method of promoting business online. The merchant sets up an affiliate program, and pays the affiliate (a person publishing on the web) a commission for each sale (or in some cases each lead) that they bring to the merchant.

So affiliate marketing is a type of revenue sharing, where the affiliate advertises the merchant’s product, and receives a commission for the business that they send to the merchant site. Some people wrongly think that affiliate marketing is the same as network marketing or multi-level marketing schemes (which it definitely is not), so some affiliate marketers and merchants prefer to refer to it as ‘performance marketing’.

Affiliate marketing is extremely powerful, and many web-based business rely heavily on affiliates to generate traffic to their sites. This was especially true of those companies (such as Amazon) that began in the early life of e-commerce, and these days a large proportion of online businesses run an affiliate program, or use one of the large affiliate networks (such as Commission Junction, for example), to manage their program for them.

Affiliates can generate cash from affiliate marketing in two general ways. One model is CPA, or Cost Per Action, where the merchant pays the affiliate for sending a visitor to their site who then carries out some form of desired action, such as registering at the site, requesting a quote etc. The other model is CPS, or Cost Per Sale, where the affiliate is rewarded for sending a visitor who makes a purchase from the merchant’s site.

Affiliate marketing is very attractive to those who want to start a small home-based business, as the start up costs are negligible, the potential rewards can be very high, and there is a lot of flexibility, with a huge range of merchants and products to choose from, which can be marketed in many different ways. You also don’t have the hassles of fulfilling orders or dealing with customers (the merchant does that), and once you’ve got your business up and running, a lot less work is required – sales come in even when you’re sleeping or off at the beach! Compared to running an offline business, affiliate marketing really is a relatively easy option, although there will obviously be a lot of work required to learn the ropes and getting your business up and running.

If you’re interested in making a sustainable income online as an affiliate, I recommend that you check out Wealthy Affiliate University, where you’ll find all the top quality information and tools you need to make it as a successful affiliate, plus the most supportive and newbie-friendly online forum I’ve ever seen (a great place to ‘talk shop’ when those in your life just don’t understand!). For more info, read my Wealthy Affiliate University review here.

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