I Post A Lot About Affiliate Marketers, So Here is Me Stealing an Infographic Telling You How They Work
If the image doesn’t load, here’s me relaying it verbally.
The affiliate, like The Inventory or The Strategist, publishes an article about a product.
That product includes links to the partner’s web store. This is a special link known as a tracking link. If the reader clicks it, the partner’s web store will know that the affiliate directly referred the reader to their store.
The reader purchases the product.
Because they purchased the product after clicking a tracking link, the web store can track the purchase back to the affiliate marketer and pay them a commission.
The affiliate likes it because they make money. The partner likes it because they only pay if the advertisement works: since they only pay if someone buys a product after clicking the tracking link, they can track which marketers are actually a good return on their investment.
As with all advertising arrangements, this relationship reflects a contract between companies. In order to get a tracking link that the partner will recognize, the partner and affiliate must come to an agreement on commission rates, etc.