In its simplest definition, Affiliate Marketing can be defined as the income sharing merchants (suppliers) and online self employed sales persons. The payments tend to be commission based (ie upon delivery of referral or sale) and in its literal form they are based on performance measure. In most Affiliate programs administered by merchants, payments are made as a result of an agreed click (from one website to another), a registration for a product (free of charge or not) and in most cases, a sale or purchase of a product or service. The owners or advertisers of the product or services are referred to the merchants or Affiliate Merchants and the publishers or online sales persons are the Affiliates.

Although there are many benefits of associated with Affiliate Marketing, the ultimate reason is to make money online. Most Affiliate Marketeers run their Affiliate Marketing business as a home working business and are attracted to the concept solely because of the potential for making a lot of money through a relatively cost effective method. With the ability to learn how to automate various advertising and marketing processes, Affiliate Marketeers are able to run a online business from the comfort of their own home and to be available to the customer to sell and earn money 24 hours a day. Yet, while a lot of merchants might take on some level of liability with fraud as they are pretty much unable to screen potential Affiliates, there is always going to be a certain level of risk involved with both parties. However, if transactions are done through legitimate Affiliate partners such as Clickbank or Clixgalore, as soon as you know the tricks of the trade and what you're doing regarding Affiliate Marketing, there are gains and incomes that can be made.

The rise and delivery of the millionaire lifestyle for many has been made possible by marketing programs such as Affiliate Marketing, Drop Shipping and other e-commerce related sales. Websites such as Amazon are good examples of how e-commerce has helped make hundreds of people wealthy just by working from home. Amazon was one of the first websites to adopt the Affiliate Marketing approach and due to boasting thousands of Affiliates it can serve globally and return huge incomes year after year. If you're wanting to learn how to make money online then Affiliate Marketing is probably a good home business venture to consider. There is no boss apart from you, no leads or sales to generate and what you earn is yours. You are in control of your business and your websites and/or blogs.

If you are passionate about a product or service, maybe a hobby that you are really interested and knowledgeable about, then if you can find an Affiliate Merchant, then why not see if you can make some money online through something you love. It's a win win situation. By getting involved with an easy and effective global strategy which has been proven to work time and time again, not only are you able to represent your interests but also help to finance your future. There is little doubt that Affiliate Marketing will continue to grow and become more and more popular. Why not make time now and begin your lucrative online business before it's too late.