An affiliate is someone who simply promotes other people’s products. Meaning you don’t have to go through the headache of developing your own product, providing customer service, marketing, processing payments - nothing. 

You simply refer people to someone’s website and get paid every time they buy something. It’s a great concept as described below by Anik Singal:

Let’s say that with our step by step coaching, you start a website about dogs because you love dogs. All you have to do is put a link on your website to another site that sells dog products.

Anytime someone clicks your link and buys something, you will automatically get paid!

You never have to be concerned with processing the order, shipping the order, providing customer service - you do nothing more than get that person to that website!
 
There are many reasons to promote affiliate products, and there is solid income to be made in affiliate promotions.

Benefits:

-  No Customer Service
-  Access to unlimited niches
-  No product creation time
-  No need to invest time and money in product
-  Bi-weekly/Monthly/Quarterly checks
-  Self-generating income
-  Choice to promote more than one  program easily
-  Minimum business investment

The main reason an Internet marketer should be involved in affiliate promotions is because it allows them to promote a product to any niche in just minutes. Secondly, affiliate promotions allow everyone to build a secondary waive of income that generates itself when properly implemented.

Carol-  Clifton Web Group