Create a Virtual Sales Force: Whats a Commission? Whats an Affiliate?

Hi everyone it’s Matt the Intern. Today I learned some great information about what an affiliate is and how commissions work.

What is a commission sale?

A commission sale is when you make a percentage of money off of something that you helped to sell.
For example, let’s say you work at a surf shop and receive minimum wage. The store allows that for every surfboard you help sell, you get 10% commission on that sale. If a board that you helped sell was $200, then you would get an additional $20 added to your paycheck.
An example of how you could help sell a surfboard is through reviews. Let’s pretend that you are a part of an affiliate program. You have a website where your goal is for the customer to buy the product that you are promoting. You could write a review about one of the surfboards that the company sells. At the bottom of the page you would have a link that sends the customer back to the page where that surfboard is being sold. If a customer clicks that link and buys the board, you will be given commission; the link notifies the surfboard website that you sent the customer.

What is an affiliate?

An affiliate is the title of the person who gets the commission.
To find affiliate programs to sign up for, go to the website and see if they have an affiliate program link on the website.
You can also go to popular affiliate programs such as, Commission Junction, and ShareASale.
You can even join the Amazon Affiliate Program.