Affiliate marketing is a symbiotic internet based business relationship between a merchant web owner and an affiliate. The affiliate, or affiliate marketing associate attracts business to the merchant web owners site by posting links from their web pages to the merchant site. Any business that is generated through the affiliate marketing site is then rewarded with the merchant web owner paying commission to the affiliate for referred business through their personal set up of affiliate web marketing.
Once the traffic has been directed to the merchant web owners site, the responsibility of luring the business in is no longer in the hands of the affiliate marketing associate, but in the hands of the web site owner. But the affiliate will be compensated for the referral of business by way of whatever is agreed upon prior to setting up their affiliate web marketing relationship.