Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you promote someone elses product or service. The idea is that when you promote this product or service (that is not yours) - you will obtain a commission from the owner of that product or service for a sale, lead or a agreed action.

So for example. Lets say that you the owners of the popular "snuggie" have an affiliate program. Since the snuggie is a very hot product, you decide to join their affiliate program.

They agree to pay you $3 for every person that you send to their site and buys the snuggie. So you create a few sites and promote these sites to get people who want to buy the snuggie to visit your site.

Once these people visit your site, your job is to drive them to click on your affiliate link to buy the snuggie so you can get a comission. One of your sites, can be a site that describes the benefits of the snuggie and shows the different colors. In your site under the different types of snuggies, you can select "click here to buy this snuggie".

when the click on that link - they are taken to the snuggie.com website and if they buy a product you get a commission. If you are asking how - there is tracking software that knows that buyer came from you.

What you typically see is that affiliate links look like this:

htttp://theaffiliatesite.com/id=303

or something like that. The 303 represents your affiliate ID.

I hope this helps.

In a nutshell, an affiliate program is where you agree to promote another company's products and/or services for a commission, or percentage of the profits. Affiliate programs are perfect for newbies, because for the most part, you don't even need a website to get started making money.

You also don't have to worry about billing hassles, stocking inventory or shipping products. That's all handled for you by the merchant. You simply promote the daylights out of the link the merchant provides you. And when you make sales - collect your money.

But what about if you don't know anything about marketing?

The best and most successful affiliate programs like Dr. Ken Evoy's 5 Pillar Affiliate Program or The Internet Marketing Center (IMC) Affiliate Program take you by the hand, and help guide you through the marketing process. They work with you to help you become successful. They'll do their part - but you have to do your part as well.

That means you have to work hard, and faithfully study and apply their proven marketing techniques - and learn how to promote their programs. They'll teach you what you need to know to become successful, and allow you to progress at your own pace.

There are also some excellent books on the market, written especially for newbies. One of the best is Street Smart Internet Marketing by Justin Michie.

I hope this helps.