What is affiliate marketing and how it works Affiliate marketing is a concept in the planet of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. This industry has four core players: The merchant (retailer or brand) The network (that contains offers for the affiliate and also takes care of the payments) The publisher (also known as the affiliate) The customer However, affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some extent, as affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those techniques such as organic search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine marketing , e-mail marketing, content marketing and in some sense display advertising. Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While e-mail, search engines, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, usually affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. The principal benefit of affiliate marketing is that it is advantageous for both the affiliate marketer and the merchant, both parties are able to make money this way. Below there are a series of benefits to both the affiliate marketer and the merchant. An affiliate marketer is not required to produce or manufacture the actual product. The marketer is able to start their business right away after joining the affiliate program. No interviews and long application processes are required for a merchant to enter into the process. Thus anyone who desires can submit their information and apply for an affiliate program. This method makes the process much simpler and automatic. The majority of affiliate marketing programs does not generate extra cost to the merchant. That means the merchant does not have to worry about disqualifying people from joining due to increase in costs, nor having to struggle later rating their performance (while having the option to do so). The merchants provide all of the materials and customer service and are responsible for the shipping of the products also. Thus the marketer is only responsible for the promotion of the site. A main advantage of the procedure is the fact that money can be earned 24/7. There is no need to open a store in order to sell your product. So this is exceptionally beneficial to the merchants as they are able to provide a site with little cost and promotion can continue 24 hours a day. Both the merchant and the affiliate marketer get the benefit from any website sales. Many marketers make the decision to capitalize on the status of the world around them by selling products which pertain to the largest audience. Here on this platform the Internet permits marketers to begin selling online within a few minutes using tools such as blogging, Google Adwords, and social networking. Read more >> http://startingaffiliatebusiness.com/what-is-affiliate-marketing-and-how-it