What Affiliate marketing is
A revenue sharing arrangement between online advertisers or e-commerce merchants and online publishers or Web site owners, whereby payment is based on performance measures, such as the number of sales, clicks, or registrations that the affiliate refers. In other words, two companies agree to link to one another; if someone clicks from site A to buy something at site B, site A gets a commission on the sale. Affiliate software provides the tracking and reporting of commission-based activities (the sales, clicks, or registrations). Amazon.com pioneered affiliate marketing by getting as many other Web sites as possible to join its affiliate network and sell its products, thereby greatly extending its marketing reach.
The meaning of E-business
Any business that is deriving revenue at least in part from something "electronic," usually on the Internet. It also refers to a strategy or service that enables a business to do more business because of Internet-related technology (see: Cisco, for example). The tendency for companies to put an "e" in front of a new product or service primarily comes from marketing departments that are trying to convince consumers they have an online strategy. The traditional brick-and-mortar firms that are starting an online component will use this marketing term to announce they are now online.