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You may have heard quite a bit about affiliate marketing, may even have thought about signing up as an affiliate. If only you knew what it involved.

If you are thinking of signing up as an affiliate, you should be aware of some basic facts.

Quite simply, affiliate marketing systems have a product, or products, which they wish to distribute to as wide a market as possible. This is where you, the affiliate, come in. Basically, as an affiliate, you make a commission on any sales made through the affiliate link that is on your web site. If a product is selling on the Internet, then it is likely that there is an affiliate marketing system involved.

Affiliate Marketing

When people are trying to promote and sell a product or a service, they will often choose to go down the affiliate marketing route because this means that they will have a lot of people out there selling the product. This means that the product or service is promoted to a much wider audience ' this is good for both the product owner and often good for the affiliate as well.

It is good for the product owner because they sell a lot more than they would if the product was only advertised on a single web site, or if the product owner had multiple web sites ' it is cheaper to get affiliates to market the product because it saves the product owner a lot of money in advertising costs as the affiliate pays for his or her own advertising.

If you become an affiliate, you need to know something about how advertising works and how much the advertising will cost you compared to what you might be paid in commissions. It usually means, however, that because the product owners have limited their investment in advertising, they have more money to pay their affiliates' commissions. If you like the idea of having a home-based business then becoming an affiliate might be a way in and will provide unusual benefits for you.

Home-Based Business

Being an affiliate is like having your own business apart from the fact that you do not have to stock any of the products ' and listen to this, neither do you have to take any orders or pay any shipping costs. Yes, you read that right ' no orders or shipping costs. Internet">All you have to be able to do is to write good advertising copy, something that draws people's attention and keeps it.

Your advertisement should be aimed at promoting the product in such a way that people will want to buy it. On your web site you place a link to the parent web site ' the product owner's. People who are interested in that type of product or service are then invited to click on that link, which will lead them to the product. If they buy the product then you are paid a commission on that sale, and that is about the extent of your responsibilities. You can, if you know what you are doing, make a good deal of money with an affiliate marketing system.

The Right Tools Are Vital

Having the right tools and knowing something about advertising costs, as well as search engine optimization, is vital if the affiliate is to make a success of his or her business. Reputable firms are recognizing this and are offering tools such as proven advertisements that generate click-throughs, a list of successful keywords, a good commission and assistance when you need it. Some affiliates rely on articles, their own or commissioned, as advertising, and while these are a useful tool, it helps to have things like banners, pop-ups, text links and e-mail promos. Help with knowing how, and in what way, to advertise is a vital aspect of an affiliate's success as most affiliates who fail in this area do so as the result of a lack of knowledge about how advertising works and what it costs.