You probably see it daily if you use the internet a lot as running a website can cost a surprising amount of money and affiliate marketing is a great way to fund the activity.

It works by paying a commission to an affiliate who refers a customer, sale or lead. In a typical instance a webmaster may put up an advertisement or review of a product with a link leading to the product or service. If the required action is taken then the webmaster earns an affiliate commission.

There are a number of different ways this can work in practice as you could earn a commission for sending a lead who gives their email address, as in CPA marketing (cost-per-action). Or you could recommend a product and earn a percentage of the sale price.

While the methods vary it is an effective system as it allows a product vendor to build up a team of affiliates who will promote the product or service. This will make a difference to the volume sold of course and give greater recognition.

Some of the most popular ways of promoting these offers include list building, pay-per-click marketing, article marketing, blogging, review sites, PPV and banner advertising. The choice is huge but the majority of affiliate marketers will not do all of these things.

There are many different places to get started if you are interested in becoming an affiliate. There include some large marketplaces that have a large number of offers from different vendors. These include Amazon, Clickbank and Commission Junction.

Also you can find many independent affiliate programs set up by smaller websites. In order to find these you can go over to Google and type ‘affiliate’ or ‘affiliate program’ along with your keyword or general industry term.

As to whether you are best choosing a large or small affiliate program, well it is up to you. If you have no experience then the more competitive markets may be very tough but you can be fairly confident that sales are being made. The low competition options will be easier but they may not be making sales.

We will look at market research in a later article which should give a clear idea of how to be pretty sure that the market you are entering is a lucrative one.