Affiliate Marketing - The Basic Concept

By Brandon Gollihue

One of the main opportunities that you will find on the internet is affiliate marketing. Ok, so I know most of you have heard of affiliate marketing. If you have looked for anything financial on Google lately you've seen that Affiliate Marketing ads are everywhere.

So what exactly is Affiliate Marketing? Well that's pretty simple. Affiliate marketing is basically working as a "freelance sales professional". You don't actually work for the company, however, you can earn a commission for selling their goods and services. Websites like Clickbank.com, Commissionjunction.com and even Amazon have affiliate programs that are making a lot of people a lot of money.

Generally people will add links to specific products from these websites on their homepages, blogs, and pretty much anywhere that they have a web presence. Then if a customer clicks on your link, and buys the product, you receive a commission. Generally there will be an Affiliate Code embedded in the link that allows the company track which affiliate is responsible for the sale.

Now while anyone can become and affiliate, and generally you can sign up for free, there are a lot of people that use paid advertising to promote products. Banner ads and Pay Per Click campaigns are the most common forms of advertising that affiliates use. Most companies will provide banner graphics and PPC ad key words for free to affiliates who are promoting their products.

The number of people who are using Affiliate Marketing to generate a substantial income on the internet is growing exponentially. What was once considered just a simple way to make a little extra money off of the wasted "white space" on a website is quickly becoming a viable industry. With the advent of free site builders and low cost web hosting, Affiliate Marketing looks only to continue to grow in the future.

For more information, or to sign up for the 90 Day Challenge to a Successful Home Business, visit my website located at http://www.squidoo.com/90Day-Success-Guide