For the newbies out there, what exactly is affiliate marketing?

Quite simply, affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.

In essence, you’re generating an income by sharing, recommending, and promoting another company’s or person’s product or service.

In other words, when you help another company generate sales, you get a cut!

Perhaps the best part is, you don’t have to create your own product, because someone else has already done the hard work. That’s the beauty of affiliate marketing: that you don’t have to invest the time and effort to create something to sell. You can begin making money as an affiliate as soon as you have a platform to sell products.

All you have to do is send traffic through a link to that product, and everything after that is out of your hands . . . right?

I say “all you have to do,” but of course there’s more to it than that—much, much more.

Like many things, it’s relatively easy to get started with affiliate marketing, but more challenging to succeed.

Don’t get me wrong—when done the right way, affiliate marketing can be a huge difference maker. But doing it right requires work and a smart strategy—and it especially means not putting the desire for short-term gain over the needs of your audience.

We’ll talk more about all that in a second. But first, a little bit about how affiliate marketing has been such a crucial piece of my own business success—and what the right mindset has to do with affiliate marketing the right way.

Successful Affiliate Marketing Is About Mindset

Affiliate marketing is something I’ve been involved in ever since 1999 on my very first website. On that site, a directory-related website, I promoted an exam software product that has generated more than $500,000 in commissions over the years.

Since then, I’ve branched out and diversified my affiliate income sources. But much more than that—I’ve made affiliate marketing a cornerstone of my business strategy and my biggest single source of revenue.