If you are looking to make money online - as an additional income perhaps or even with the long term aim of quitting your job then one way to make money online is through affiliate marketing, however many people often ask the question - does affiliate marketing work?

First of all let me explain what affiliate marketing is - in essence affiliate marketing is the process of promoting someone else's product through a website, article marketing or other methods of promotion and receiving a commission when one of those products is sold - the concept is really very simple.

So to answer the question - does affiliate marketing work - well quite frankly yes it does.

From a merchants perspective affiliate marketing is an excellent way to expand their marketing efforts, by offering some form of competitive commission on their products or services they often have a vast network of affiliates promoting them and it can be an excellent extension of their marketing department. In some industries affiliates can account for up to 50% of all of their sales and as a result are seen as very important.

But more importantly does affiliate marketing work for affiliates themselves? - Well it would be fair to say it is a lot harder these days than it used to be in the early days of the internet, but without doubt it does work providing affiliates are committed to building their businesses.

So here is the key, to really make it work as an affiliate you need dedication and commitment and be prepared to work hard, if you are considering becoming an affiliate marketer then you need to treat it like you would any other business - i.e. plan effectively! - the old saying of fail to plan, plan to fail is so true in the affiliate marketing world.

It is imperative you develop an effective and achievable plan and then consistently work that plan to see success. Many potential affiliates often come into the industry attracted by the often outrageous claims of riches that so called internet marketing GURU's peddle each and every day. As a result they make mistakes and more often than not do not see any level of success and quickly become disheartened.

To give yourself a chance of success as an affiliate marketer is to take things slowly and learn from the mistakes of others - you can do this by taking advantage of the many free affiliate marketing training courses that are available online. Affiliate marketing training these can give you proper structure to follow which will enable you to avoid some of the most common mistakes.