The Ins & Outs of Affiliate Marketing

What Is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate Marketing is a way of promoting online business through affiliate programs and advertising that pay the affiliate (or publisher) a type of commission based on the amount of business their website brings the merchant company. It's a form of revenue sharing or commission based advertising. The term "affiliate marketing," however, is often associated with network marketing or multi-level marketing and therefore many companies prefer to use the term "performance marketing". Affiliate marketing is the most cost effective sort of marketing there is, and is actually incredibly efficient. For this reason, many companies (especially those that started in the early days of ecommerce) owe a tremendous amount to affiliate marketing (amazon.com is a good example) and it has now become normal for companies to include affiliate marketing in many of their plans. There are three types of compensation methods that are associated with affiliated marketing. The first type is Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Mil (CPM.) Basically, the affiliate earns by how many clicks the advertising on hisher site generates, or by just having the advert published on the website. But because of click fraud and many other questionable tactics, CPC is no longer the general form used for affiliate marketing. Generally, companies now either use CPA (Cost per Action) or CPS (Cost per Sale.) The first is based on how much the advert generates interest by the clicker to actually buy or register at the advertised site, the second is based strictly on sales. In other words, an affiliate is paid if the clicker actually purchases something on the advertised site.

Affiliate Marketing In 3 Steps Affiliate marketing is a process where the merchant will pay a portion of their sales revenue to an affiliate if the sale is result of the affiliate's promotion to the products and services offered by the merchant. Now days, it's one of the fastest growing industries because it's cost efficient and quantifiable for both the affiliate and the merchant. Other players can profit as well, such as the affiliate network or the affiliate solutions provider. The best benefit for the merchant is the fact that he will gain opportunities to advertise his products to a much larger market, therefore increasing his chances to earn. The more affiliates the merchant obtains, the more sales he can expect. With the merchant having affiliates market his products and services, he will save himself time, effort, and money in looking for markets as well as customers. The affiliate marketer will benefit from each customer that clinks on the link in his website and who actually purchases a product from the merchant. If you have wanted to join the growing legion of affiliate marketers and have an unlimited potential for income, simply follow these 3 steps to start an effective affiliate marketing program.