For the affiliate participation in an affiliate program allows the affiliate to make money without having a product to sell. For the affiliate, revenue can be generated simply from attracting visitors. The affiliate does not need to worry about procuring or shipping products or about providing any kind of support to the buyer. The affiliate has a wide range of choices for how to attract visitors. In a common setup, the affiliate has a website from which visitors can be sent to the seller's website. The affiliate may also have a blog which generates so much traffic that it pays of to direct visitors to a seller's website. A blog can be created for free and so is the choice of many affiliates. Finally, an affiliate may direct traffic to a seller's website by advertising using banners, text ads or sponsored links as available through Google's AdWords, Overture or similar services. If the affiliate attracts visitors from such advertising only, the affiliate does not need to create a website or blog and so does not need to create any content for such.

Affiliate programs and paying of commissions to the affiliate can be supported by third parties or be handled directly between the seller and the affiliate. If paying of commission is handled directly between seller and affiliate, the affiliate normally needs to sign up for the affiliate program on the seller's website. In case of third parties handling payment of commission it is common that no agreement needs to be set up between the affiliate and the seller. The third party however will then have separate agreements with the seller and with the affiliate. Commissions are normally paid by cheque but in some cases it is paid by PayPal or wire transfer.

Technically affiliate programs are normally supported so a visitor's IP address is recorded when the visitor follows a link provided by the affiliate to the seller's website. If a purchase is made and payment is collected, the visitor's IP address is determined again, and if it matches that recorded when a link was followed, the commission can be paid instantly. In some cases a "cookie" is stored on a visitor's computer when a link is followed and this is used to identify the source of the visitor.

In short, affiliate programs allow sellers and affiliates to share the revenue generated for sales from sellers' websites and can generate considerable income for both parties. Andrew Nielsen