Do you ever get confused by Affiliate Marketing terms and jargon? We’ve put together this affiliate marketing glossary of terms to help you quickly make sense of the language used in the industry.
Advertiser
An advertiser, also known as a merchant, pays commissions to affiliates in return for the affiliates promoting the advertiser’s website, products or services.
Affiliate
An affiliate, also known as a publisher or an associate, is someone who agrees to promote a company’s product or service. The task of an affiliate is to send visitors to the company’s website using a customized link, so that the company can identify which affiliate referred the visitor.
The affiliate earns a commission whenever a visitor sent by them buys the company’s product, or completes some other predetermined action.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards affiliates for sending traffic, leads or customers.
Affiliate Network
An affiliate network is an intermediary linking affiliates (also known as publishers) with merchants (also known as advertisers, i.e. businesses that are running an affiliate program).
Affiliate Program
An affiliate program is a performance-based marketing arrangement, in which a business rewards affiliates for sending traffic, leads or customers.
Associate
See Affiliate.
Attribution
In marketing, attribution is th path or means by which the customer came to know about and buy a product or service. In affiliate marketing, attribution involves being able to identify the source of the traffic, in other words who sent the visitor that went on to performs a desired action, e.g. signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Attribution is important so that affiliates can be paid for sending through quality traffic.
Conversion
A conversion occurs when a visitor performs the desired action, e.g. subscribing to a newsletter or making a purchase.
CPA – Cost Per Action or Acquisition
CPA refers to a type of offer known as Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition. With this type of offer, a merchant pays an affiliate a commission after a visitor completes a certain type of action on the vendor’s site. This might be a click, an email subscription, a sale, a download, etc.
CPS – Cost Per Sale
CPS refers to a type of offer known as Cost Per Sale. With this type of offer, a merchant pays an affiliate a commission for every sale.
Deep Linking
Deep linking is a functionality used by affiliate programs and affiliate networks, which enables affiliates to link to a specific page on the advertiser’s website.
Disclosure Statement
A disclosure statement is a notice on an affiliate’s website which informs visitors that they have an affiliate relationship with the companies, products and/or services mentioned, and disclosing that they may earn commissions as a result. [Read more about GDPR rules and FTC compliance – link to be added soon].
EPC – Earnings Per Click
Earnings Per Click is a metric for measuring how much, on average, an affiliate has earned for each click that occurred on their unique tracking link.
Hyperlink
A hyperlink or link is a ‘clickable’ word or phrase on a web page that will take the visitor to another web page (or to a bookmarked position on another web page) if they click on it. For example, this linked text takes you to the home page of Affiliate Adventure if you click on it. An image can also have a hyperlink.
Impression
An impression occurs when an advertisement or image or link has been displayed on a viewer’s page.
Influencer
The term influencer has emerged in our age of social media to refer to a person who has a large number of engaged followers. Influencers are rewarded for showcasing products and services to their followers.
Merchant
A merchant, also known as an advertiser, pays commissions to affiliates in return for the affiliates promoting the merchant’s website, products or services.
Publisher
A publisher, also known as an affiliate, is someone who agrees to promote a company’s product or service. The task of an affiliate is to send visitors to the company’s website using a customized link, so that the company can identify which affiliate referred the visitor.
The publisher earns a commission whenever a visitor sent by them buys the company’s product, or completes some other predetermined action.
Retargeting
Retargeting is all about reminding (i.e. running an advertisement to) visitors about the products or services after they viewed the information or landing page but then left the website without taking the desired action.
Two-Tier Affiliate Program
A Two-Tier Affiliate Program is an affiliate program which rewards the affiliate for any leads or sales referred by them or referred by other affiliates whom they have referred to the program.
Well, that’s it for now. Don’t forget to bookmark this page as we’ll be adding more words and phrases to this affiliate marketing glossary over time, and as new terms and technologies emerge.