So what exactly is affiliate marketing?

Here's the simplest way to think about it.

Imagine your friend just bought an amazing blender. You taste the smoothie, you love it, and you tell five of your other friends about it. Two of them go buy the blender. Now imagine the blender company paid you a commission every time someone bought because of your recommendation.

That. Is. Affiliate marketing.

You are the middleman between a company and a customer. You promote their product, someone buys through your special link, and you get paid a percentage of that sale.

You never touch the product. You never deal with refunds. You never ship anything. Your only job is to connect the right people with the right product.