Affiliation Is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as ‘retailer’ or ‘brand’), the network (that contains offers for the affiliation to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as ‘the affiliate’), and the customer.

How Does Affiliation Marketing Work?
Affiliorama has one of the best answers to this complex and common questions, explaining just how the affiliate marketing ecosystem runs.

How Affiliate Marketing Works – A Step By Step Visual.
Rae Hoffman has a great visual explanation for how the affiliate marketing process works, from the initial signup to the paycheck delivery.

A (Short) History of Affiliate Marketing.
This feature from Skimlinks highlights the history of affiliate marketing, starting back before the days of the internet.

Affiliate Marketing Scams
To some, affiliate marketing has a clearly negative connotation as a sleazy way to make money online.

The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam. The title of this one says it all. Be sure to also check out Sorry, affiliate marketing actually isn’t a (big, ugly) scam for a counterpoint to some of the issues raised here.

Affiliate Marketing with Integrity (A Conversation with Pat Flynn).
This one is actually a video ,that provides some interesting insights into how Pat Flynn became a successful affiliate marketer.

Avoiding Affiliate Marketing Scams.
Rae also has some great insights on how to avoid getting scammed when starting off in affiliate marketing, as well as her suggested reading list.

Extra Money Answer.
Shawn Collins has authored a fantastic multi-part series detailing his affiliate marketing success story.

Pat Flynn Income Reports.
Pat Flynn is a successful affiliate marketer who also happens to be one of the most transparent. Each month  he published a detailed accounting of his business, explaining what factors were responsible for his wins and losses.

The Rise of Ngo.
This multi-part series from Charles Ngo is one of the most honest. In-depth accounting of an affiliate marketer’s successes and failures. Getting through all eight parts will take you a while, but is worth the time.

An Interview with Super Affiliate Richard Bonner.
Tyler Cruz and Richard Bonner offer up some candid thoughts on the volatility of the industry, a love / hate relationship with Facebook, and what a day in the life of a successful affiliate marketer looks like.

Affiliate Marketing 101: Learning the Lingo. 

This article on Affiliorama gives a good rundown of the jargon you’ll come across in the affiliate industry.