Essentially, you have two affiliate marketing options.
- Host an affiliate program on your Web site so others can join your affiliate network and sell your products on their Web sites. They will earn a commission for each sale, and you will sell more products through them. This is the ultimate solution for those who have products to sell — imagine your products advertised for free on thousands of Web sites across the world.
- Join an affiliate network and sell other products on your Web site for which you will earn a commission on each sale. You do nothing and pay nothing. The setup is simple — all you do is keep the content updated with what you want to advertise on your Web site, and cash the monthly commission check.
Think about the basic philosophy and principles of an affiliate marketing program: You can sell other people’s products on your Web site for free, and they pay you a commission to do it. You do not ever touch the products; are not responsible for the sale, packaging, shipping, customer service, customer complaints, problem resolution, returns, or headaches; and for the simple act of allowing their products to be sold on your Web site, you get a monthly commission check
Alternatively, if you wish to establish your own affiliate marketing campaign for your products, you are implementing a program that allows others to sell your products for you, and you pay them a commission fee. Instead of your products being sold on your Web site, they can be sold on dozens, hundreds, or thousands of other high-traffic sites. The increased sales and profits more than offset the commission fees you will pay, and you still have full control over the affiliates, can approve who is allowed to participate in your program, and still retain administrative control overs your products, pricing, inventory, sales, and record keeping.