Affiliate Marketing is the term used to describe a form of online advertising which consists of rewarding an affiliate for referring a visitor or rewarding a customer for performing a desired action, such as making a purchase or subscribing to a newsletter.
Affiliate campaigns have the best results when they are combined with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns, email marketing support and are well-suited for travel, retail, and service industries.
Effective Affiliate Marketing is not throwing a bunch of links at different website owners in the hopes that something will stick. It is a well-planned, specified effort intended to develop long-term relationships with third party websites, research industry-relevant websites with trusted pages and build up a valuable affiliate network.