At its core, affiliate marketing is nothing new. A company hands over a percentage of a sale to a freelance, commissioned salesperson–that’s all it is. But coupled with the power of the Internet, high commissions, rock-bottom low overhead, and a lively marketplace, affiliate marketing has emerged in the last five years as one of the quickest ways to make big sums of money online.
Three parties participate in affiliate marketing. You, the vendor, and the affiliate company.
The vendor has something to sell – e-books, software, physical products. You have a blog or a website with some traffic running to it. Or, you might create some traffic with pay per click advertising. Then you’ve got the affiliate company, which is nothing more than a broker that acts as a go-between.
You place a link on your blog or website. When a user clicks on that link and a sale results, you get a commission for that sale. Commissions can range from 5% to 75%.
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