What Is Affiliate Marketing? Your Guide to Earning Passive Income Online

The dictionary defines Affiliate Marketing as performance based marketing that pays commission on sales to an external website, but this definition alone doesn’t do this growing business niche justice. Affiliate Marketing is sometimes called performance-based marketing, affiliate advertising, or associate marketing and can be done in several different ways via the Internet or other media outlets. Read on to find out more about the world of Affiliate Marketing and how you can use it to earn passive income online.

How affiliate marketing works :-

Now that you know what affiliate marketing is, it’s time to get into how it works. There are two methods of earning a commission as an affiliate: performance-based and set-fee. If you pick a performance-based model (like most programs on Commission Junction), you’re only paid out when your referral completes an action like making a purchase or registering for a service. The amount of money you make depends on your commission rate, which varies from program to program. In contrast, if you choose a set-fee model, you’ll receive a predetermined fee every time someone signs up under your link—no matter whether they complete an action or not. This type of affiliate marketing is easier than a performance-based model because you don’t have to track individual referrals and their progress. You simply give your links to friends, family members, social media followers, etc., and let them do all the work!

How you get paid as an affiliate marketer :-

There are two ways you’ll be paid as an affiliate marketer. The first is via direct payments from a merchant, which means that a merchant will pay you directly every time someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase. The second is through commission-based payments. This means that once a sale has been made, your earnings will depend on how much of a commission you earned for selling it.

How affiliate networks operate :-

The best way to understand how affiliate networks work is to look at an example. Let’s say that you run a website about kittens and your site links out frequently (i.e., multiple in-content links on each page) to a pet supplies retailer. If someone buys something from that retailer using one of your links, you might get paid a commission for it – but not immediately.

The anatomy of an affiliate network :-

To make money with affiliate marketing, you first need to find a reliable affiliate network that fits your needs. You’re looking for a business that has been in operation for a while, or is owned by an established company, because it will usually be easier for you to get in on their already-established list of partners than it would be if you tried building your own from scratch.

What does it take to be a successful affiliate marketer? :-

Do you have a passion for technology? Do you love digital gadgets, websites and apps? If so, affiliate marketing could be your ticket to creating a successful online business. And since there’s no fixed costs involved, it’s possible to start small and grow over time. Here's how...

Final thoughts on affiliate marketing :-

Not only can affiliate marketing be a great way for you to make money online, but it also provides you with a flexible work schedule. As long as you have an Internet connection, you can find opportunities with companies such as Amazon and eBay or create your own affiliate site.