What is affiliate marketing?

You’ve seen affiliate marketing probably without even knowing it. In fact, you could have helped another affiliate marketer get paid in the past.

Affiliate marketing is not really something new today. The principles of this strategy have come quite a long way and have also evolved with the internet.

Think about those door-to-door marketers that became such a nuisance a few decades ago. Okay, so that was not exactly affiliate marketing, but rather a sales agent – but the principles behind those sales strategies are actually quite similar when you take a closer look.

With affiliate marketing, you promote a product (or service) owned and distributed by another company. When you refer a sale through your affiliate marketing links, that company will pay you.

Let’s look at an example – just to make things a little easier to understand.

In this example, your name is Melissa and you are big on fitness. In the last decade, you have learned a lot about fitness, being healthy, and maintaining just the right weight. This came after you decided you’ve had enough with some excess weight that you packed on during two pregnancies.

By now, you’ve lost all of that extra weight, and you’ve tried every diet, pill, and shake on the market.

You decide you want to share your experience with others – helping them understand what works and what they should do for best results – but you wouldn’t mind earning something in return.

With affiliate marketing, you touch base with companies that make supplements you know and trust. You then provide your audience with information about these supplements, along with a special link that the manufacturer gives you.

Someone reads your post – they like what they read – and they want to give the product a try too. When they click on the link you gave them, a “cookie” is placed in their browser – with a special code that represents your affiliate code with the manufacturer (or affiliate network, in some cases – more on that later).

That person decides to buy the product you recommended. Once they complete their checkout, you earn commission.

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