Affiliate marketing has many descriptions, and all have the same meaning. Affiliate marketing is a large business platform on the Internet. It is a collaborative effort between merchants and an affiliate’s website. For more than 10 now, affiliate marketing has proved itself to be a cost-efficient, measurable method of delivering long-term results. It has become glamour for Internet marketeers to make some extra or additional income for their site. Each and every day, people become interested to affiliate marketing and want to make money out of it. But in as much as 97% of the cases, these new affiliates do not fully understand the affiliate world and ended up making costly mistakes. In other words, affiliate marketing often been misunderstood.
The common misconception that is being associated to affiliate marketing is “selling”, though selling is an important activity of affiliate marketing and in many cases the central function of a business operation. Another is that affiliate marketing is commonly linked and anonymous with “advertising”. While the importance of advertising in any marketing plan of a certain product is greatly important, the crux of the matter is, advertising like selling, is merely a part of the many functions of marketing.
In affiliate marketing, an affiliate is compensated for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer provided through his efforts in promoting the product. The said compensation may be made based on a certain value or percentage for each sale. One of the most attractive aspect of affiliate marketing from the merchant’s view is that no payment is due to an affiliate until the sale is completed.
Affiliate marketing is normally being run by affiliate networks and these affiliate networks are composed of two functional aspects, the affiliates and the merchants. Each has their unique function and role when it comes to affiliate marketing. The affiliate network acts as a third party between the merchant and the affiliates. The network provides the technology and platform to deliver the merchant’s products and offers. The affiliate network also collects small commission fees from the merchant and then pays the affiliates percentage from the agreed commission which are part of the program.
The merchant is the product owner that wants to take full advantage of performance based marketing. The benefits are many. First, the merchant operates the affiliate program or products. If it would be extracted, the merchant needs to do their part by researching interested affiliate websites to ensure that they are a suitable for that particular website. Finding a product that fits for their customers would be the key to more generated income. The merchant has access to markets and potential customers through affiliate networks without have to spend valuable time and effort. Banner ads on affiliate sites are one example to drive potential customer to owners site. It is also the merchant who would decide how much he is willing to pay for each percentage of sale that results from a visitor sent from an affiliate.
The affiliate or the affiliate marketeer also see many other benefits. Affiliate marketing can generate a part-time or full-time income for the affiliate. However, this is not an easy task to perform. The affiliate needs to have a good agreement with the merchant on how much the commission will be, expected payment method and time involved. The affiliate has also the responsibility to stand for the products their customer would be most interested in. For example, if the site has a customer base of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then online job openings such as surveys or part time jobs would be a good match for them. This group of customers would also like any direct links to children’s products and informational sites. Merchandisers often provide targeted, best-selling products and support to their affiliate. Most often offer sales promotion that will benefit both the merchandiser and the affiliate.
Affiliate marketing is a great tool for both the marketer and the affiliate. If they would work together well, it can be a great advantage to both product owners and affiliates. Plus the fact that it is easy and inexpensive way to start a business, and you can be up and running within a few days or even a few hours. But the most important thing to consider, is how to get all the traffic you need and make your offer different and unique than all others.
Good luck!
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