Affiliate Marketing: The Basics

Affiliate marketing, is one of the primary ways that buyers and sellers get together on the internet. The explosion of affiliate marketing programs that are now available only proves that this type of selling has caught on fast and is not going anywhere soon.

See the ultimate training program here!

In simple terms, affiliate marketing takes place when one individual signs up to sell another individual's (or company's) products. The affiliate is not an employee of the source company and is not entitled to employee benefits. In most respects, the member acts as an individual contractor and as such is responsible for his or her own taxes, expenses, and record keeping. He or she is also responsible for doing the majority of the promotional work needed to sell the product or service. In return, the member gets a commission on the sales that he or she generates.

Most affiliate marketing companies will provide the member with some level of promotional materials and support. In some cases, the materials might be entire websites that the member customizes slightly to make it his own. In other cases, the affiliate marketing  materials may be much more limited, leaving the promotions more to the creativity of the member than to a cookie-cutter set of promotions.

While joining an affiliate marketing program is a great way for just about anyone to get into business on the Internet, it is not the best way to "get rich quick". Like any job, it takes time and effort and you have to treat it as a job or risk being sorely disappointed with the results.

Most programs do not require the member to carry any inventory, but some do. It is always a good idea to check into any inventory requirements before you sign up with a program. There are some online programs that actually make as much money selling members inventory as they do in "real" sales.

Most electronic product affiliate programs (ebooks and such) will give the member a special code that he or she uses in their transactions as they send the buyer to the parent site to make the purchase. This ensures that the member gets credit for the sale. One big benefit to working as an affiliate is that the parent company will take care of the financial transactions, freeing you from a lot of work and worry.

For those affiliate programs that offer goods (such as cosmetics or clothing, etc) the parent company normally holds the products and will ship from their facilities. They will also handle any complaints, refund requests, and, as mentioned above, billing. Many of the famous name brands offer affiliate programs such as this, and their commissions are usually very generous.