How does affiliate marketing work?

It's really pretty simple but it might take some explaining before you understand it. The first thing you are going to need to know is what an affiliate marketer is and how they make a living.

An affiliate marketer is an on-line sales representative with a specific set of skills that allow him/her to build websites and attract targeted visitors to those websites.

It might sound simple (and it is simple once you know what you're doing) but learning that set of skills is the hard part. It's not exactly something you can just absorb from reading a few articles.

You could fill several text books with the knowledge marketers are carrying around in their heads. To become skilled at all these things, it takes help. You need to plug into a network of people who are always ready to help you.

I know there are several good places to get that help. I personally use Wealthy Affiliate University. They have been around for 7 years now and have helped thousands of people realize their dreams. Plus, they are strictly a "no hype" zone.

Below is a list of skills affliate marketers will need to learn in order to succeed:

- Article Writing
- Keyword Research
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) onsite and offsite
- Social Networking
- Website Building

These skills are among the many skills you will need to learn if you stand a chance of making a living online. I mean, really, this is not something you are going to make money at over night. The people who accept this fact are the ones who succeed.