I keep hearing about affiliate programs, however I have no idea what they are. Could somebody fill me in?
An affiliate program offers webmasters and other internet marketers access to their products or campaigns. Upon signing up to promote the campaigns, you would become affiliated with that program. These networks then pay you for either brining in sales or the lead requirements for each campaign. Each campaign pays you a different amount depending on the information required. Basically, affiliate networks are rewarding you for your traffic you bring to a campaign and the conversions on the offer. Let me know if you have anymore questions, I'm an affiliate manager with CPAempire.com.
An affiliate program is provided for you to sell someone else's products in return for a commission. Usally it's free. You may consider checking out http://www.clickbank.com they have thousands of items you can promote for commissions.
Guy A wants to sell his Widgets. Guy A enlists you as his "affiliate" to sell his widgets for him. You sell Guy A's widgets to Guy B. Guy A gives you a "cut" of what he makes selling that widget to Guy B. Guy A handles all the inventory.
You are acting as a salesman for products. Your sales medium is html and the internet. You get paid for "sales leads" (aka clicks) or paid on commissions (a percentage) of what you refer from your site. The trick is writing persuasively so that viewers will click or buy the products you are selling.
In English its basically you sign up for a program and sell and advertise for them and once you make a sell you get a piece of the money. Thats all