You might be unfamiliar with affiliate marketing. Most Internet users can identify an advertisement online but the majority can not tell you about affiliate marketing.

Affiliates are often referred to as publishers and their job is often called performance-based marketing. For our purposes we define a publisher as an independent party that promotes or sells the products and services of an advertiser in exchange for a commission on leads, impressions, clicks or sales.

A publisher displays ads, text links or product links on places such as a website, in emails or in search engine listings and is paid a commission by the advertiser when a visitor takes a specific action such as filling out a form, purchasing merchandise or subscribing to a service.

An advertiser (also known as a merchant, client or retailer) is a company that sells a product or service online. You promote the advertiser’s products and/or services and the advertiser pays you a commission for clicks, leads or sales that result from your efforts. The advertisers do all the work such as accept the payments and fulfill orders. Your job is simply to direct customers to their website.

When you enter the world of affiliate marketing you need to decide what approach you want to take. You have many choices to select from depending on where your interest lies.

You also need to understand the common terminology you will hear when viewing your revenue reports and talking with affiliate program managers.