What Is Affiliate Marketing?

What Is Affiliate Marketing? 

If all of this Internet marketing talk is new to you, then you may be wondering exactly what it is I am referring to when I talk about affiliate marketing. On the Internet we use this phrase regularly, but you may not be familiar with it. I define this as the process of recommending and promoting the products, courses, and services of someone else, in exchange for a percentage of the sales price as a commission.
In the offline world this is an acceptable practice in many industries, while others strictly prohibit it. While I was working in real estate I received referral fees whenever I sent a client to someone else. Perhaps one of my clients was moving out of the area, and needed to purchase a home once they arrived in the new location. Or maybe it was a client that wanted to buy a specialized type of property I was not familiar with, within the geographic area that I served, and I would then recommend the right person to work with them. 

In both cases, it was the right thing to do to refer them to a broker who had more experience serving that location or that type of property. I would do my research to find out who the best person would be, and then make a phone call to introduce myself and to explain my client‟s situation and needs. Once the real estate transaction had closed, I would receive a check from the escrow company for a percentage of the commission that had been earned, typically 25% of the total commission.
On the other hand, it was not acceptable to receive any money when you referred someone to get a loan or to receive other financial services. This was, and continues to be, strictly prohibited by law, and everyone understood how that worked.

When I came online at the end of 2005, I quickly saw that it was an acceptable practice to recommend someone else‟s products and services through an affiliate link. The tracking was all done through the computer, so it was completely automated. I decided to learn more about this business model to see how I could be a part of it, or if it would not work well for me.  I didn‟t do this right away, but I‟m sure glad now I finally got around to it by the spring of 2006.