Affiliate marketing can best be described as having an advertiser who is willing to pay (an Affiliate) for helping them drive new customers or leads to their online website or service. The Advertiser pays a commission for this transaction, while the Affiliate earns the commission for each sale or lead.
Generally, there are 4 parties involved in Affiliate Marketing:
Advertiser - This is the company who pays the sale or commission for the sale
Affiliate - This is the individual or company who markets on behalf of the advertiser
Affiliate Network - This is a company that aggregates both Advertisers and Affiliates
Distribution Channel - This is where the Affiliate purchases the online advertising
For more information on how this process works, I encourage you to take a look at all the products and services we’ve built to support the Affiliate Marketer.