This article is directed toward those without much experience in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a method of marketing that was popularized with the advent of the internet. Large companies such as Amazon.com, among others, initiated aggressive affiliate programs to promote their products.

The way affiliate programs work is very straightforward. A business with products and/or services available for sale simply finds others to promote their offerings. In order to create the incentive, the business offers an affiliate program which gives a share of the revenues to the "affiliates" who actually promote the program.

How much is this commission? Well it depends on the program. Some affiliate programs offer commissions of up to 75% of the total revenues. High commissions such as these are common with products that can be transferred over the internet. Electronically transferable products that have low (or no) unit costs give businesses a strong incentive to offer a high affiliate commission. Namely, the more money they give per sale, the more affiliates are likely to choose to promote their program.

If you are a prospective affiliate (thinking about getting into affiliate marketing in the role of promoter of other business' products) you will want to take careful consideration of several important factors that will have a direct impact on your success. First, is the product something you might buy yourself? If not, can you imagine others buying it? Or is it pretty useless? If it is a useless product that you can't imagine anyone buying, it's probably not a good idea to start promoting it, even if it has a huge commission. Not only will you have a hard time making any sales, but the customers you do sell to will likely be unhappy with their purchase.

The second factor to consider is the sale price. Is the product overpriced? Or does the price sound pretty fair? If the product is severely overpriced it is probably not smart to promote it (it will be a tougher sale to make). Look for products that seem to be priced at a rate customers would be willing to pay.

Third, how much of the sale price do you get? Look at this in nominal terms when comparing it with other programs. If you get $5.00 per sale, and you think this product will sell itself, and the price the company is charging seems fair, this is a good item to choose to be an affiliate for.