Affiliate marketing is when an owner of an online platform (a social media profile, website, blog, YouTube channel, etc.) earns commission fees for promoting other businesses’ or peoples products and/or services on their platforms. The platform owner (or the affiliate) must search for any product that offers affiliate marketing opportunities, apply for the program, then promote that product.

When a sale is made, it is tracked via affiliate links, the affiliate will earn a commission for that sale.

How Affiliate Marketing Works?

Affiliate marketing works by involving at least three different parties:
First the seller or product owner

second the affiliate (or affiliate marketer), the promotion platform owner

Third the consumer/buyer

Now let us discuss the three different parties one after the other.

The Product Owner/Seller

The product owner is the product manufacturer, seller, distributor, or vendor with the product to sell. The product can be physical in nature (i.e. an electronic product) or a service (a Video tutorial).  In some cases, they may be active with advertising.

The Affiliate Marketer

Also referred to as the platform owner or ad publisher, the affiliate’s role within the affiliate marketing process is to market the merchandise and convince the visitors of their platform to get the merchandise . The affiliate has a special link called affiliate or referral link which has a tracking code used to track the sales made by or with that affiliate link then the affiliate gets paid a commission.

Typically, the affiliate marketer features a specific audience that belongs to a selected niche and has certain interests. during this case, the affiliate marketer promotes a highly targeted product that adheres to the present audience’s specific interests.

Many affiliate marketers promote multiple products simultaneously. There are numerous affiliate marketing tools which will be wont to make a multi-product promotion strategy manageable.

The Consumer

The consumer here is the audience of the affiliate marketer’s platform, and arguably the foremost important driver of the affiliate marketing process. As mentioned above, the affiliate marketer shares a product on their platform to cater to the consumer’s specific interest. When a consumer purchases a product, most of the cash will attend the merchandise owner/seller. A percentage of the profits will attend the affiliate marketer.