Affiliate marketing is a way of making money online by promoting the products of another company for a commission on each sale you generate.

People who promote products in this manner are called "affiliates", or sometimes "partners" or "associates". Most affiliates promote products through their websites or email lists, but you're not restricted to these methods: Basically, anywhere you can put a website address or a hyperlink can be turned into a promotional vehicle -- the only limit is your imagination.

Affiliate marketing isn't a pyramid-selling scheme, and it's not a tool for scammers and spammers. Affiliates are regular people looking to earn some extra cash from their websites, or individuals wanting a serious work-at-home business that they can perform from anywhere in the world, with serious earning potential.

When we say "affiliate marketing" we're actually talking about a bunch of things:

  • How to find good products to promote
  • How to build websites
  • How to do market research
  • How to get your site appearing in the search engines ("search engine optimization")
  • Creative ways to promote your products
  • Social networking and "web 2.0" strategies
  • Email marketing
  • Pay-per-click marketing
  • How to find good content for your website or newsletter list
  • How to get motivated, stay motivated, and avoid potential mishaps
  • Earning money by displaying ads on your site (eg, Google AdSense)

... And there's quite a bit more.