Basically Affiliate Marketing is all about referrals and directing traffic to a marketing website.

• You will receive a % of the purchase when you refer someone to the website and they make a purchase.
  
• Your job is to convince your visitors to go to your affiliate's website and sign up and/or purchase.
  

In order to receive a referral fee or commission - you find a product that you want to be an affiliate for -something you like or are interested in.
Then they provide you with your own URL.
Your URL what they will use tokeep track ofall the information for you -clicks on your link and/or purchases.
Usually they will also help out with marketing ideas and email templates.

• You would hide your affiliate link into an anchor text so that your people click on it and go directly to the marketing site.
  

Your best choice to earn money is by Indirect Marketing: Send traffic to a landing page and have an opt in box to obtain your visitor's email address and name - then you will be building your email list as you send them onto the marketing website.
Free traffic - your signature (your bio) and have your own landing page or blog needs to be included on::

1. Forums - talk about the information and leave your sig bio
2. Articles - talking about the information for the product - sending them back your landing page or blog
3. Provide quality information of value

- A review or experience relevant to the topic -Establish a relationship with your visitors -Email newsletters keep visitors interested in you -Free reports, e-courses, videos, etc.
-You can continue to market your affiliate links in the info you provide to your visitors Search for Affiliate Marketing through:

• ClickBank
• Favorite speakers online
• Amazon
• See if companies have an affiliate program - like Best Buy, Target
• At the bottom it will usually have a link to click for being an affiliate

You do not need to pay to promote their products.
This is a basic outline of what and how Affiliate Marketing can work.
As you get involved, you will learn step by step to move forward - be persistent - it may take a year to see any money come in.
To learn more, you can study online, reading free info, and through trial and error - or you can invest in yourself to learn quicker by working with a coach that will guide you through the process.