{"id":21,"date":"2026-10-23T18:29:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T18:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/?p=21"},"modified":"2026-10-23T19:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T19:43:17","slug":"what-is-affiliate-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/what-is-affiliate-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Affiliate Marketing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"w\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table of Contents<\/h2><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#what-is-affiliate-marketing-for-beginners-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing? For Beginners<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-is-affiliate-marketing-for-beginners-1-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Who is Mark Sussmann?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#w-1-2\">What Is Affiliate Marketing: Who Is It For?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#w-1-2-3\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: My Journey<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Programs vs. Affiliate Marketing<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Physical vs. Digital Products<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#wh\">What Is Affiliate Marketing: The Benefit of Digital Products<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-1-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Taking The Plunge<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"what-is-affiliate-marketing-for-beginners-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing? For Beginners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Beginner-H2-Title.png\" alt=\"What is Affiliate Marketing: For Beginners\" class=\"wp-image-31\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Beginner-H2-Title.png 200w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Beginner-H2-Title-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"what-is-affiliate-marketing-for-beginners-1\">You are a beginner and trying to make money online and are now researching &#8220;What is Affiliate Marketing&#8221; to see if it&#8217;s right for you. First, to cover it really quickly. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/robertadams\/2017\/05\/25\/the-definitive-guide-to-affiliate-marketing\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/robertadams\/2017\/05\/25\/the-definitive-guide-to-affiliate-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Affiliate Marketing<\/a>&#8221; is a term to explain the process of a person who sells a person&#8217;s (usually a company&#8217;s product or service\/set of services in exchange for a commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"what-is-affiliate-marketing-for-beginners-1-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Who is Mark Sussmann?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Mark-Sussmann-H2-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing: Who Is Mark Sussmann?\" class=\"wp-image-36\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.7777542969850662;width:320px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Mark-Sussmann-H2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Mark-Sussmann-H2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Mark-Sussmann-H2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Mark-Sussmann-H2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve joined the latest greatest programs with a matrix, a powerline, a time sensitive &#8220;free space&#8221; spot holder powerline, money cycler, High Yield Investment Programs, Multi-Level Marketing programs, 1-up, 2-up and even 3-up programs.The problem remained the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"w-1-2\">What Is Affiliate Marketing: Who Is It For?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Question-Mark-H2.png\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing? Who Is It For?\" class=\"wp-image-30\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Question-Mark-H2.png 512w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Question-Mark-H2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Question-Mark-H2-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The question of &#8220;What is Affiliate Marketing&#8221;? is answered by the fact that it is for anyone who wants to earn extra income, pay some bills and hopefully work full time from home with complete time freedom. If ever you&#8217;ve thought about making money online, affiliate marketing is for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"w-1-2-3\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: My Journey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"738\" height=\"414\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/My-Journey-H2.jpg\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing?: My Journey\" class=\"wp-image-29\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/My-Journey-H2.jpg 738w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/My-Journey-H2-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years I thought based on my means (modest) low-ticket\/modest start-up cost programs were the way to go. I was also convinced that downlines were the way to go. Recruiting&#8230;I struggled massively, for years. If I was able to recruit a few people, retention was an uphill battle and retention felt impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> I used the reasoning of the famous J. Paul Getty quote that &#8220;It is better to have %1 of 100 men&#8217;s efforts than %100 of 1. You will achieve a better result.&#8221; Or something like that. I held that the same was true with residuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, I experienced the nightmares. Downline clubs, rotator and &#8220;smart rotator&#8221; clubs, FB groups promoting low ticket business paths. Sponsors that offered their downlines recycled resources that they&#8217;d tested and worn out and moved on to prime &#8220;Grade A&#8221; promo material for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"what\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Programs vs. Affiliate Marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"554\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Dolar-Sign-H2.jpg\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing: Programs vs Affiliate Marketing\" class=\"wp-image-35\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Dolar-Sign-H2.jpg 554w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Dolar-Sign-H2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Dolar-Sign-H2-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When thinking about the question, &#8220;What Is Affiliate Marketing&#8221;? and choosing the path to go you need to consider some things. Keep in mind, any business works &#8211; in theory &#8211; if it be successfully promoted by the affiliate. But the problem with these methods is that they require usually 15-20 to sales to profit, make your money back plus $1K plus. If you want to profit $1K\/month to pay some bills to from a low ticket program that pays as little as $10\/sale and you spend $100 on expenses, and it costs you $20\/month to participate in the business, you&#8217;d have to make 112 sales to make that $1000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s assuming you could get away with a marketing budget of a hundred a month. For some people, a target for leaving their job is a 6 figure annual income or a 5 figure monthly income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to achieve that, with this example of a low cost money making program you&#8217;d need 1012 sales\/month at $20\/month profiting you $10\/month each with a cost to you of $20 for the program and $100 for expenses (marketing). Does that sound realistic or achievable to you? It didn&#8217;t to me. Yet I persisted in hitting my head against a brick wall with this fool&#8217;s errand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"what-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Physical vs. Digital Products<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Physical-vs-Digital-H2.jpg\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing: Physical vs. Digital Products\" class=\"wp-image-34\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Physical-vs-Digital-H2.jpg 586w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Physical-vs-Digital-H2-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have tried promoting physical products, but reached the inevitable and inescapable conclusion that digital products are best. Since companies are not required to physically manufacture or store digital products, there can be a higher profit margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why I prefer them so much. In many cases, the profit can be up to %100 profit OR more for the affiliate after admin fees. That&#8217;s much better than as little as %10-15, wouldn&#8217;t you agree?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"wh\">What Is Affiliate Marketing: The Benefit of Digital Products<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"675\" height=\"453\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Digital-Products.jpg\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing?: The Benefit of Digital Products\" class=\"wp-image-33\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Digital-Products.jpg 675w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Digital-Products-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When thinking about, &#8220;What Is Affiliate Marketing??  and digital products, there is no limit on the breadth or depth of the relative value or level of detail of information contained in a digital product. Due to this, digital products can for anything from a few dollars in cost and\/or commissions once or for a residual, all the way up to several thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"what-1-1\">What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Taking The Plunge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"459\" height=\"276\" src=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Diving-H2.jpg\" alt=\"What Is Affiliate Marketing?: Taking The Plunge\" class=\"wp-image-32\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Diving-H2.jpg 459w, https:\/\/d1roxjdvg6aguv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/10\/Diving-H2-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is why I abandoned the low ticket programs and went for the digital products within the %100 commissions and direct customer to seller model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once I came to accept the truth that there was a real cost both upfront and on an ongoing basis both financially and with effort that I needed to pay to make good money, then I settled in and got going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this blog I will giving you my honest and candid review of the &#8220;latest and greatest&#8221; programs out there and whether they are worth your hard earned cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You are a beginner and trying to make money online and are now researching &#8220;What Is Affiliate Marketing&#8221;? to see if it&#8217;s right for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":42,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,5,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-affiliate-marketing","category-digital-products","category-physical-products","category-programs","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/43"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/badassnetwork.com\/marksussmann\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}