What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing i’s a system of revenue sharing where one site sends traffic to another site, and when a sale is made from that traffic a commission is paid to the sender..

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Example:

You have a site about Dogs, so you advertise for a Pet Store, and
when someone from your site buys a Dog Toy… You get a Commission.

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It’s obviously more complicated than that… and there are 1000’s of Affiliate programs and most of the biggest retailers in the World have affiliate programs.  Yes, even WalMart.

Affiliate Networks such as LinkShare and Commission Junction represent major retailers and administrate their Affiliate programs.

So by joining LinkShare and Commission Junction you can apply to 1000’s of Retailer’s affiliate programs quickly and easily.  If they  approve you, they give you ads which you can place on your website to start earning commissions.

The secret to making good money promoting Affiliate programs is not to join a lot of programs, but focus on one in your Niche..

In fact, try focusing on a micro niche.  A really well-defined niche.

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Examples:

If your Niche is Dogs.. why not focus on a Breed of Dogs?
If you Niche is Landscaping.. why not focus on types of Groundcover?
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If you look for New Advertisers in LinkShare and Commission Junction you might just find an Advertiser with a unique new product niche.

If you do, you can create a site around that new niche and not have  to compete with 1000’s of other affiliates.

If you really want to learn about Affiliate Marketing you should learn from Rosalind Gardner who is a Super Affiliate.

In fact, she wrote the book Super Affiliate Handbook.

That’s affiliate marketing in a nutshell.