Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is probably the most common way that people earn money online. It has many advantages that are attractive, making it ideal for the newcomer to the Internet who would like to test the waters and see if it is possible to earn some money working online.

Affiliate marketing means that a person promotes a product belonging to a merchant. When a sale is made the affiliate earns a pre-agreed commission. The merchant also benefits by making a sale that he or she didn't have to work or pay for.

The affiliate commission will vary, depending on the merchant concerned, and on the product. Most commissions are at least 5% of the profits, but can be much higher. ClickBank , for example, is an affiliate network that deals entirely with digital items. Affiliate commissions there are typically around 60% and can be as high as 75%.

The advantages of affiliate marketing are primarily the fact that the marketer does not having to carry any stock. The merchant has that side of things to deal with. If there is a dispute about a sale, or a demand for a refund of the money paid, again it is the merchant who deals with it. The affiliate marketer may also have the convenience of being able to use pre-made advertising materials from the merchant.

Affiliate commissions are typically paid out once a month. It is usual that a threshold is set, and only earnings that exceed this threshold are paid in any one month. A common threshold is $100, so if for example you earn affiliate commissions from a merchant of only $90 in any given month, you would not be paid in that month, and not until your earnings in the following month exceeded $100.

To make matters easier for those involved in affiliate marketing, a number of affiliate networks have sprung up over the years. One of the biggest and best known is Commission Junction . They have a large number of merchants signed up with them and they control the affiliate programs for them. Any affiliate marketer can sign up as an affiliate and once approved can start promoting a merchant's products.

There are many other affiliate networks available that affiliate marketers can make use of. One excellent resource where you can find affiliate programs and affiliate networks can be found at Associate Programs . This is one of the longest running and most dependable resources of its type.

There are many ways to do affiliate marketing. The most common way is to find a merchant with a product you would like to promote, which will earn you a decent commission, and set up a website to promote it.

This can involve having your own hosting account, but using good, reliable and inexpensive hosts, such as HostGator, makes this easy. You will also have to purchase your own domain name. Domain providers such as GoDaddy and Name Cheap also make this easy to do.

It is even possible to use a free website platform, such as Squidoo , Blogger , or WordPress to promote products. An excellent free resource for learning all you need to know about affiliate marketing can be found at Affilorama.