- Affiliate Marketing Introduction
- Defining Affiliate Marketing
- Making Money with Affiliate Marketing
- Is Internet Marketing for Real?
- Affiliate Marketing Training
- Does Affiliate Marketing Require The Sales Type?
- Affiliate Marketing Costs
- Affiliate Marketing Does Not Require A Website
- Finding Affiliate Companies Products To Promote
- Getting Paid With Affiliate Marketing
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing as defined by Wikipedia.com:
Affiliate Marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts.
I don’t know about you, but when I first read that definition, it wasn’t exactly jumping out at me, making me go “Oh yeah, I get it. Now I know what I want to do to make a living!”
Of course you can read more about the practice of affiliate marketing at the Wikipedia website, but let me save you the trouble, because although it isn’t hard to understand, it is a bit overwhelming and really doesn’t tell you in easy to understand terms what affiliate marketing is.
Affiliate marketing is the process of referring others to a product or service and being paid for your efforts.
A great example that I’ve found most people can easily understand is that of a car salesman. When you go to a dealership to purchase a new car, you’re normally greeted by a salesperson. He or she will do their best to answer your questions, show you the car including its features, engine, warranty, and even let you test drive it. Once you decide the vehicle is the one you want to buy, they will then walk you through all the paperwork, getting financing, taking your down payment, trade-in and everything else involved in the process from start to finish.
Once the deal has been made and you’ve driven off the lot with your new car, the dealership receives the sticker price of the car.
But, what about the sales person who worked with you all afternoon? He listened to your needs, recommended the car that you fell in love with and are now sporting around town in. What does he get out of the deal? After all, he did all the work – he should get something for making the sale. And, he does. He will receive a percentage of the sales price of the car you just bought. This is known as a commission.
Affiliate marketing is the same thing, only in this particular case you are doing the referring and “selling” on the Internet.