Affiliate marketing is about getting paid for selling products you don't own. Someone has already developed software programs, services, or digital content products. They create everything and you collect the rewards!

Affiliate marketing is a revenue sharing arrangement between the product developers, known as the affiliate merchant, and the affiliate marketer who is anyone willing to promote a product by advertising it using marketing methods.

This relationship allows the affiliate merchant to grow their revenue by paying only for the advertising that results in a sale. The affiliate marketer will profit by making a percentage on a sale that he does not have to manage after the sale.

Getting paid

Getting paid depends on how the affiliate program is set up. Some merchants run their own affiliate program. They'll have special software that assigns each affiliate marketer a special link that's used in promoting the product. The software tracks sales of every affiliate and the merchant pays commissions by using either Paypal or another method of payment.

Selecting products or services

Your income is directly related to how well the product or service you selected sells and the amount of commission you earn. This makes it very important that you choose carefully when it comes to the affiliate merchant you wish to partner with.

Choose programs you aren't embarrassed to promote and programs you'll feel comfortable recommending to your family or friends if they were to ask about it.

You'll do much better if you promote products that you understand and are already familiar with. This way, you'll be able to write better ads without having to strain trying to come up with the right words.

You should only promote products and services for companies who have provided you with training programs and sales aids. Marketing materials you can use directly or can modify are the best way to do this.

Watch for programs with commission rates no less than 40%. There are programs that offer higher commissions but this is the absolute minimum you should consider. Give preference to programs that pay commission on multiple levels, also. This means you'll earn commissions on sales made by people who buy the products through your link then become affiliates themselves later on.