Difference Between Sales vs. Marketing
You have learned the basics of building a website. Now, you want to learn how to monetize your website, which refers to making money from your website. This page will discuss one of the ways and one of the most popular ways which is called Affiliate Marketing. Many people hear the word “marketing” and think, “Oh No! I need to learn how to sell things!” Let me put your mind at ease. Sales and marketing are not the same thing. Sales refer to people trying to sell you products you do not want or do not need. That is not what marketing is.
Marketing is providing people with product ideas and promoting them in a non-pressure style. You do not want to be that stereotypical used car salesman (no offensive if you are a car salesman) that is trying to sell the most expensive car at the highest price you can get for it. You do not need to be a salesman nor should you ever come across as such in order to connect to your audience.
Affiliate Marketing in a Nutshell
Affiliate marketing in a nutshell is providing product reviews to assist users in making informative and wise decisions. Visitors to your website come to solve a problem or satisfy a need. All you are doing with your web presence is providing quality products which may meet their needs or solve their problem. You are not pushing those needs on them. You are only simply giving them options and ideas to consider. An affiliate marketer is in the business of helping people. Your aim is to help your visitors to your website solve their problem. It really is that simple folks. I don’t know about you, but I love being in the business of helping others. I love answering questions and offering solutions to their problems. In addition, I love creating tutorials like these which help people just like you get started with affiliate marketing.
Process of Affiliate Marketing
The process involves becoming an affiliate partner with companies who sell the products you are wishing to market. If you are knowledgeable in pets, such as cats and dogs for instance, you may want to market pet products which will help pet owners solve problems they are experiencing with their furry four-legged family members. Perhaps Fido is gaining weight and getting older and not as active anymore, Fido’s owner may search the internet for diet dog food which caters to senior canines. You would have a product review or two which relates to senior dogs who need to watch their weight.
Your first move will be to search for affiliate partnerships by entering into Google or whatever search engine you prefer, the keywords [YOUR NICHE] + Affiliates whereby you place your specialty and area in which you are knowledgeable and a plus sign and the word Affiliates. For the above example, it would look like this:
Pet Products + Affiliates
Once you hit enter, you will get tons of companies which have affiliate partnerships for which you can apply to. Two companies which have affiliate partnerships that are in the pet care industry are PetsMart and Petco. Those are two of the biggest pet stores available. You could and should apply to them.
Once your application is accepted as an affiliate publisher (that would be you) you will get a link to place anywhere which is appropriate on your website. This link will have a code embedded in it which is specific to you and your account. When users visit your website and they click on your affiliate links, they are automatically redirected to the company’s website and specific webpage where the indicated products are available for sale and when the user purchases those products, you earn a commission on the sale.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
The advantages of being an affiliate marketer (or publisher) are:
- You do not have to carry any stock or keep merchandise in your garage or spare bedroom
- You are simple the go-between
- You do not need to create or build your own products. You are just marketing existing products.
- You can earn money while you sleep because the internet and your website are open 24/7
- Once your website is up and running and functional
- You get the satisfaction knowing that you are helping people
- You no longer have to commute back and forth to a job. Your only commuting is from your bedroom to your home office.
- Plus, it is free to join an affiliate. If you are ever asked to pay a fee, look elsewhere, because there should never be a charge.
As you begin to create new accounts to affiliate networks and independent affiliate programs, you want to make sure you take proper action to protect your information, because each of these affiliate programs will be asking for sensitive information, such as your social security number for tax purposes, address, bank account information for direct deposit payments, and other information. Make sure you update your password regularly and keep your passwords in a safe place by using a FREE password management tool such as DashLane, or PasswordBox, available on Amazon. 
One company which is 100% legitimate and its mission is to help people like you and me learn effective and honest ways of earning an income through internet marketing is called Wealthy Affiliate.
For more information or if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or join me at Wealthy Affiliate Open Education Project an online community and training area where I learned everything I know about affiliate marketing and you can also. It is free to join and you can upgrade when and if you are ready. Click to Get Started or click on the image to the right to get immediately gain access to the community.
Please feel free to leave comments below and I will reply shortly.
57 thoughts on “Affiliate Marketing”
Hello, Steph, this is a detailed write up on affiliate marketing and you made it even easy to read and understand. Affiliate marketing is indeed one of the most popular ways to make money online but I guess you don’t just wake one morning and decide to become an affiliate marketer. That brings me to Wealthy Affiliate Open Education you mentioned somewhere in your post. So, does that mean Wealthy Affiliate can help someone to start this affiliate marketing, and is it free to join or is there some hidden charges?
Hi Nnamdi:
Thank you for your reply. You are absolutely right. You do not wake up one day and decide to become an affiliate marketer. You do need to have the right training and the right program to help guide you through the process. I believe that with the way the Internet is changing our world, affiliate marketing will become even more common than ever before.
Wealthy Affiliate is a wonderful program that is completely legitimate and easy to get started. In answer to your question, it is free to join and you can remain a free member for as long as you wish. There is a premium membership that you sign up for which will give you access to more detailed training and weekly webinar training by one of the founding members and advanced tutorials by Kyle, the owner of WA, but you do not have to sign up for the premium membership and it is completely possible to make money with the free membership.
Thank you Nnamdi for visiting. I hope you are doing well and please come back and visit soon.
Sincerely,
Stephanie
Hello! I was thinking about making money online through selling on ebay and Amazon. I thought that drop shipping would be a good idea, because it does not require a lot of the physical hassle. However, now that I came across your website, I am reconsidering this. Affiliate marketing would seem to require even less of a hssle. I don’t have to handle products at all; all I need to do is write reviews on a website. Is that correct?
If so, what do you recommend as a good way to make money online? Do you think affiliate marketing is superior to drop shipping? It seems like that to me.
Affiliate marketing is indeed a legitimate online opportunity. With affiliate marketing the opportunities for earnings are endless and i encourage it over 100%. Wealthy affiliate is a great platform to be involved in to create your own online business; there are very helpful webinars and a huge community with a wealth of knowledge that is always available to assist with any concerns…. It is LIGITIMAT.
I’ve tried both and I have to say that I do not miss having to deal with customers, packing and shipping! Affiliate marketing is brilliant in that respect! Its also so wonderful that we don’t have to worry about working for someone else!
Hi Emma:
I agree that affiliate marketing is the best way to go. Like you said, you are your own boss. And you do not need to worry about customers as much. Thanks for stopping today.
Sincerely,
Steph
Hi Steph,
I agree with Tanya and I love your catch phrase. It really resonated with me. “If you do not build your dream, someone will hire you to build theirs.” — I feel like I’ve been this guy long enough. Like Tanya said I feel better doing this as well. It doesn’t feel salesy and I truly enjoy helping people and providing value. Affiliate marketing allows me to work for my dreams and I feel great about what I do.
Wonderful website and thanks for the information.
Keep up the great work!
Jim
Hi Jim:
I agree with you. I too feel like I have been the lady who has worked hard all of your life for someone’s dreams. Thanks for your kind comment and wonderful support. Affiliate Marketing does allow people to work hard for their dreams and achieve the life I deserve. I hope someday to be able to have my websites pay for themselves. Keep in touch Jim and talk with you later!
Sincerely,
Stephanie
I learned about the existence of affiliate marketing only 2 or 3 years ago and it took me some time to wrap my head around this concept. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have joined the Wealthy Affiliate community, and I am really glad I did. It is one of the best experiences I have ever had in online learning. I am glad that you take the time and spread the news and the quality of this community, so others can get the benefits, too.
Rests to say that people can join even if they are not really interested in affiliate marketing. Only the help yopu get for creating your own websites is worth joining!
Hi Heidi:
I agree completely. When I joined Wealthy Affiliate I was only interested in brushing up my skills as a web designer. I was not sure if I was going to do affiliate marketing as much, but I have since learned that it is a great way to make a sustainable income that allows you to make money from where ever you are in the world. Also, you can take whatever your passion is and turn into a profitable niche, such as with cars, sports, cats as I know you have with your my-cat.org website.
Many thanks and I really appreciate you taking the time to visit. Please stay in touch!
Sincerely,
Steph
Thank you for the article or let me say a Lesson to be more appropriate. I say so because I have learned something: My niche + Affiliate Marketing = Money. I am going to take that task now.
Thank you again.
Jonathan
I Had no idea that Petco and Petsmart both had affiliate programs. It never occurred to me to google my niche and affiliate – great advice!
Hi Debbie:
I am glad I could help. I saw your website on Bengal cats and what awesomely adorable pictures you have on your website. Let me know if I can help further. Use My Contact page if you want to reach out personally.
Steph
Hi,
I’m Angela from PearlMountain Technology. I’m writing to invite you to do a review or write an article about our graphic tool, FotoJet on your website. We’ve developed it as an all-in-one graphic tool for photo editing, graphic design and photo collages.
FotoJet offers numerous photo editing tools such as crop, resize, rotate, straighten, exposure, sharpen, dehaze, vignette, tilt shift, and has dozens of templates for collages, posters, photo cards, Instagram posts, Facebook cover photos, YouTube banners, etc. You can try it here: https://www.fotojet.com.
Hope you find it helpful and kindly review it at your convenience. It would be a great fit for your readers to create awesome photo artworks.
Wish a positive response from you.
Best Regards,
Angela
PearlMountain Technology
Skype: angela lin
angela@fotojet.com
Facebook: fotojetapp
YouTube: FotoJet
Hi Angela:
Thank you for reaching out to me. I will definitely consider writing a review for FotoJet. I am somewhat familiar with it, and you are right about it being a great fit for my readers. In the future, you can contact me with requests like this by going to my contact me page. You can use the online form and put in all of the information and submit. Many thanks again!
Sincerely,
Steph
Stephanie, you have a great website. It is obvious that you spent a lot of time and effort on it. You have given me a lot of inspiration, as I am working on my first one and finding it very difficult. Thanks!
Hi Sherry:
Thank you for the kind words and for checking out my website. Let me know if there is anything I can you with as you work to build your website.
Steph
Great information! I like your concept of helping people make wise decisions for purchases they are going to make. Many times companies are just after your money and don’t give all the facts. Thank you for sharing this.
Many thanks Larry for visiting today and leaving a comment. I think marketing as more to do with helping people. Your users are brought to your website because they are seeking a solution to a problem they have and you are offering them a solution by suggesting a particular product. Selling is when you are trying to sell someone a product they do not need or want.
Steph
I could not resist commenting. Exceptionally well written! I have always been curious about what exactly is affiliate marketing. Your website and this page especially explains things very well. I really like how you put things in very simplistic easy to understand verbiage. You have created a very well constructed website. Thank you!
Hi Kathleen:
Thank you very much for commenting. I am glad you found this website user-friendly and easy to follow. Let me know if you have any questions about Affiliate Marketing.
Sincerely,
Stephanie
You are a natural teacher Steph! You took me by the hand and walked me through the distinction between sales and marketing, and then affiliate marketing. Beautifully executed and great website too.
Your website is engaging, with well laid out menus.
Hi Chuka:
Many thanks for the very kind compliments. I certainly appreciate it. It is my hope that the information, tutorials and product reviews on this website will aid others in being able to start and grow their online adventures.
Hello, Steph. You have great and knowledgeable information here for those looking to get into affiliate marketing, regardless of the niche or their level of skills with anything. Your tutorials have greatly helped me understand areas that I didn’t before and you continue to provide wonderful inspiration to each and every one of us every day. Anyone looking to build their dream has found the right spot by visiting your website. Thanks
Hi Chris:
Thank you kindly for the very complimentary remarks regarding my website. I am delighted to hear that my tutorials have helped you to understand areas better and allow you to continue building your dreams. Your generous compliments are appreciated very much. Please feel free to contact me whenever you get stuck and need help, some inspiration and just a shoulder to cry on. 🙂
Sincerely,
Steph
Hi. My name is Melvin Nobis and I am not very computer literate. I have been searching for ways to learn how to make money on the Internet. I know I have much to learn and I really appreciate your website which helps me to learn new ways to how to generate an income online. I have always wanted to obtain financial freedom and be able to give my family more of what they deserve, but have not found a way to do that. Do you think Affiliate Marketing can be learned by someone like me who has very little computer experience? Please help me, because I know nothing about all of this newfangled digital technology. I only have a high school education.
Hi Melvin:
In answer to your question and I am glad you have asked this question, yes, even someone with only a high school education can learn how to be an affiliate marketer. Many of my tutorials I have designed both on this website and at Wealthy Affiliate are designed for the complete newbie in mind and I do not mean just a newbie in affiliate marketing, but with computer technology as well. We have a diverse community on Wealthy Affiliate and they come from all walks of like to include retirees, young students who are still in high school, college graduates, college dropouts, mothers, grandmothers, etc. Anyone can learn how to become an affiliate marketer.
I hope you were able to get the answers you needed. Please let me know if I can help any other way.
Sincerely
Steph
Hi Steph, Great job on explaining Affiliate Marketing! Truly is the way to make money from an informational website. I have one question, is it bad to put too many test links on a post for affiliates? Just curious and thanks for the information!
Thank you Matt’s Mom for stopping by today. I am not sure if I understand your question about “test links.” You will have to elaborate a little bit more on that question. You definitely do not want your website, regardless of what your niche it, to look spammy because people will not appreciate it.
Hi Steph
Nice website, easy to read. A great presentation of a good LEGITIMATE business opportunity 🙂 Cheers, Jeff
Thank you Jean-Francois for visiting.
Hi Steph
I really enjoyed this blog, it really helped understand the importance of affiliate marketing. I hope to turn my blog into a side business and I have no understanding in sales or marketing whatsoever. But this post has help me a lot.
Thanks
Thank you Maggie for stopping by and leaving a comment. I am delighted to hear that this website about the joys of affiliate marketing as helped you. Please be sure to visit other pages which might help to include my tutorials and reviews.
Your web have a very professional look, I hope to reach this level in a short time.
Gus.
Thank you Gus for visiting today. You most certainly can reach this level of professional web design. I will help along the way. Fill out the form here and I will guide you through the process.
This is a lovely summary of what affiliate marketing is all about and something both newbies and experienced marketers can benefit from. I can’t wait to try PasswordBox – I am struggling with the gazillion passwords that are all over the place in my head 🙂
Hello Shaz:
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you enjoyed the summary of what affiliate marketing is and yes, when you get started with this business, you will want to safeguard all of your passwords and PasswordBox is a great way to do that, but there are several other programs out there which will do the same.
Steph
Congrats for the new web design. Good decision. I like the shiny style and the new theme. Definetely an improvement.
Hi Dirk:
Thank you for the kind words. I have spent many hours, days, weeks and months getting my website a nice new face lift. It has taken me a long time, but I am finally reaching the point where I am satisfied with my website. There will still always be small tweaks and changes that I will make to it, but I am happy with this “shiny new style” as you said. Please come back and visit again soon.
Steph
Thanks Steph for your article. I’m really interested in Affiliate Marketing. It’s how I found myself in Wealthy Affiliate. I like the idea of becoming my own boss and earning money even when I’m asleep. Building a website takes a lot of work and patience but I love it!
Hi Yvonne:
Thank you for reading my article on affiliate marketing. Affiliate or internet marketing, as it is sometimes called, is a profitable online business opportunity. However, it does not matter overnight and you will be required to put in the time and effort to learn how to do it right. You want to be natural when writing your content and connect to your readers through your content. You also want to think about what your passion is and discover your niche. I agree Wealthy Affiliate is a great way to get started in the affiliate marketing business. You will still need to purchase a domain of your own which you can do through BlueHost, Miss Hosting, NameCheap or One.com. Have an great day and I hope to see you back here soon.
Steph
Found your internet site on Facebook, great post. Will share again. Thank you for this article as well as the others you have written here like the SEO and the HTML tutorial. The one on Google tracking your flight was pretty nifty too.
I have to admit that the required patience and the concept that it will not happen overnight’ is still one of the areas I have to work on:) It’s easy to get discouraged, but in the end it will be worth it. Thank you for this wonderful article you wrote.
Hi Rahul:
Thank you for leaving a comment on my affiliate marketing article today. I have been doing this for a little while now and yes, you are right, you will not be rich overnight. Like with any business, whether it be a brick-and-mortar or online business, it will take much time to build and yes, it can be discouraging when you are first starting out. I think that is why so many small businesses and online businesses fail after the first few months or so, because they do not devote enough time and patience into making their dream a reality. One of the ways a newbie to the world of online business can stay focused and encouraged is by joining an online community of like-minded individuals who are in the same boat as you. One such company is Wealthy Affiliate. There is a massive community of people who believe in the concept of paying it forward. In addition, there is a plethora of training available as well, so of which I created.
Thank you reading my article today and please come back anytime.
Steph
Love your website… and this article too on Affiliate Marketing. Your website is very informative. I will definitely look more into Wealthy Affiliate.
Hi Tanya:
Thank you Tanya for visiting today. I am glad you found the article on Affiliate Marketing helpful and information. You mentioned looking into Wealthy Affiliate. It is a legitimate online business opportunity which teaches you how to build a website and become a certified online entrepreneur. Let me know if you want any more assistance.
Steph
Great information and your site is organized very well. I am wanting to learn more about affiliate marketing and your website has many useful techniques to help me get started. Thank you for all your assistance in getting my online business off the ground. I will be returning to learn more from you. Also I wanted to ask how much money can I expect to make through affiliate marketing?
Sheila
This article has definitely captured the key essentials that you must know if you want to establish a business or if you want to compete online. Building an effective website is truly a must-do whenever you desire to pursue an online business venture. I also agree when the writer tackles about the functionality and giving enough time to it. You have done an excellent job and show how easy it can be. Thank you for the article.
Hi Fatimazahra:
Thank you for leaving a comment regarding my article on affiliate marketing and essentials for building a business online. The aim of this website is show how easy it is to find legitimate online opportunities. Have a wonderful day.
Steph
Hi Steph, this is a very good explanation of what affiliate marketing is and the process entailed. I’m looking forward to reading your other posts!
Hi Emma:
Thank you for your comment. I am glad I could help. Please let me know if you have any questions for me. Please come back and visit as this site has much more growing to do with more content, images, reviews, etc. Have a great day! — Stephanie
Thanks soooo much, I have a website and was just getting ready to try posting affiliate products but had no idea how. That is no longer the case thanks to your post.
Best Regards
Mark
Hi Mark:
You are welcome. I hope the content helps you. A great free training which helps users learn more about affiliate marketing is Wealthy Affiliate. You can two free websites with hosting and tons of training. You can upgrade from free to premium if you wish after you have had a chance to become familiar with the platform. Have a great day!
-Stephanie
This is a very profound explanation of affiliate marketing that helps people to understand the huge potential it carries inside. I like the way you explain the difference between marketing and sales, think many people still misunderstand that. This is a great post, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Hi Vera:
I tried to help my visitors understand the difference between the two – sales and affiliate marketing. Thank you for the positive feedback. I believe it is important to explain the difference, because too many people will shy away from the idea of pursuing affiliate marketing as a career because they have no sales experience, but that is just it — you don’t want to be salesperson when promoting products through affiliate marketing. You want to be an educator and not a salesperson. Thank you again and hope to see you come back for another visit. –Stephanie
Great article! I love how you explain affiliate marketing in such a simple way. I have been in “sales” before and affiliate marketing seems a lot more for me. I don’t like to push people into buying something, however I am ok with just talking to people about things I like. If they want to buy it based on that information then they can go for it. I think affiliate marketing might be the way I should go!
Hi Tanya:
You are right and I agree with you. I think Affiliate Marketing has a much more down-to-earth and honest way of promoting products. I think the idea behind affiliate marketing is NOT sell, but instead to provide the best information we can to the customer or online user and let them decide if it is right for them or not. I like being transparent and honest with everyone. I have always disliked the hype which comes with some of the sales pitches you hear. Thank you for your comment. –Stephanie