At this point you might still be confused about what affiliate marketing is. To give you a clear picture of it, let me talk about what it is and what it is not.

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Affiliate Marketing Is….

Pay-for-performance

In order to earn money as an affiliate, you need to produce results for the merchant or network: whether it’s sales, clicks or registrations. Please remember that you earn a portion of the sale or commission when a product is bought by a customer. Some companies will pay you if somebody clicks on the affiliate link the company provides for you or when a customer registers for free to an affiliate website.

A Legitimate Business

Affiliate marketing is a legitimate business and the most successful affiliates run their affiliate businesses seriously and treat it as a real business.

A Big business

Affiliates around the world earn billions of dollars each year. In 2006, it was estimated that the affiliates in the UK alone earned over 2 billion dollars. Affiliate earnings ranges from over millions of dollars a year and around $20 dollars a week for small time affiliates.

A long established business model

When people realized that the internet could be a good medium for commerce, affiliate marketing was born. One of the earliest big affiliate programs was started by Amazon.com in 1996.

Internet-based

When it comes to earning commissions, all the tracking and processing is done through the internet though you can promote your product or your website using offline method. The handling of products is handled by the company and there is no door-to-door selling.

Open to anyone

You do not need to have special qualifications to be an affiliate. Most affiliate programs are open to anyone: whether you are experienced or a complete newbie. You also do not need to be a computer genius to be a successful affiliate. Everyone goes through the same learning curve. Since it is a pay-for-performance, it is for anybody who wants to make money online.

Now that you have seen what affiliate marketing is, here’s what affiliate marketing is NOT.

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Affiliate Marketing is Not…

Creating and selling your own product

Creating your own product is a different business that requires a lot more risk than affiliate marketing. When you create a product you invest money in creating the product, marketing the product, handling payments and delivery, providing customer support, and ongoing development. An affiliate is simply responsible for sending prospects to a merchant! The product owners get affiliates to make more sales.

Being an affiliate first can be a stepping stone to create your own product later on when you have gained more experience of the business.

Just about pharmaceuticals, pornography, online dating or gambling.

You might have encountered a lot affiliates promoting the above products. But there are more hundred of products you can promote in different niches according to your interest like e-books, electronic products, health products, pet care and many much more.

Becoming a spammer

You might be annoyed receiving a lot of emails in your inbox promoting one product or another from persons you don’t know. These people are spammers. Spamming is one method of promoting a product but it is illegal and is not encouraged.

You might make a sale from spamming but it would not build your reputation as a true affiliate marketer.

Learn more about what is affiliate marketing and get step-by-step guide on how to be an affiliate marketer at Affilorama.

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