Affiliate Marketing For Dummies

Chapter 1

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining affiliate marketing in a nutshell

Discovering how the internet plays a role in affiliate marketing

Getting set to become an affiliate

An affiliate marketer is someone who introduces others to products and services. The affiliate marketer doesn’t develop the product, ship the product, or handle the payment to the merchant. He simply refers others to products and/or services offered on the internet, and when a sale is made, he earns a commission.

This chapter gives you an overview of affiliate marketing: how it works, how the internet plays a role, and how to get started.

Getting a Handle on How Affiliate Marketing Works

Referral marketing has been going on for hundreds of years. In pre-internet days, you might have gone to networking events and handed out business cards. The hope was that you would be able to help out a fellow attendee by giving him a lead that would result in a purchase. The attendee you helped with the lead would return the favor. In a sense, referral marketing was a value exchange that could be summarized as “you help me and I’ll help you.”

However, a lot was left to chance. You weren’t sure whether ...