Affiliate programs are a very popular way to make money online, and sometimes offline, but many people don’t really understand what they are. So, in this post, I am going to give you a quick overview to help you answer the question… “What is an affiliate program?”
Basically an affiliate program is a company (such as Amazon.com) that offers you the opportunity to promote their products or services (usually for free) and earn commissions from every sale you make. For example: The website at clickbank.com has thousands of different ebooks, membership sites, programs, software, and just about anything else you can think of that you can promote to make money on the internet.
Once you find something that interests you to promote, you will use the link they give you to send traffic to them. You can do that through email marketing, PPC, paid advertising, putting the link/banner on your blog, social media, etc… And when someone clicks on the link it will take them to a page where they can purchase the product/service from that particular business. Every person that buys from your link will be credited to you and you will earn money from the sale. Typically it will be about 50% commissions but sometimes it is higher or lower.
It’s really a very simple system for the most part. You usually don’t have to handle any of the product creation, inventory, shipping, tracking, refunds, support, or much of anything else. All you basically have to do is advertise your unique affiliate links and get paid from any sales you make.
The barrier to entry for most affiliate programs is very low. They are almost always free and easy to join. As long as you have a computer, internet connection, and a desire to make money online, you can build a solid monthly income from your own internet home business through affiliate marketing. It does take plenty of time and effort to learn how to market the right way and build up your earnings, but anyone can do it if you truly want to.
