An affiliate program is a performance-based marketing arrangement, in which a business rewards affiliates for sending traffic, leads or customers.
The Internet offers enables businesses to market their products and services to the millions of people who are using the Internet. While there are many ways to do Internet Marketing, affiliate programs are one of the quickest ways for companies to reach potential prospects and new customers.
Here’s how it works.
The Company, also known as a ‘Merchant’, offers a product or service.
As an Affiliate I sign up to help in promoting the company’s product. My task as an affiliate is to send a stream of Visitors to the company’s web site. I do this using a customized link that allows the company to identify which affiliate referred the visitor.
Whenever a visitor sent by me buys the company’s product, I earn a commission.
A ‘cookie’ will normally be stored on the visitor’s PC. The cookie is a small file used to track which affiliate referred the visitor. Cookies are usually programmed to remain on the visitor’s PC for several months unless the visitor clears the cookie (using their Internet browser’s advanced options).
I have earned commissions from promoting a wide range of products – from satellite TV systems to hi-speed internet access. From mobile phones to web hosting. From training courses to ebooks. And the ebooks have been about topics as diverse as bodybuilding, internet marketing, cooking, and making money at EBay. What an interesting business this is!
A commission is not always for a sale. Some affiliate programs pay a commission when an affiliate refers a qualified lead, or sometimes even when someone clicks through an affiliate’s ad.
In this book I will mainly discuss the system as though we are promoting Pay-Per-Sale affiliate programs. However the techniques I will teach you apply just as well to Pay-Per-Lead programs. Unfortunately though, Pay-Per-Click commissions are usually too small to work with this system.
Commissions for sales typically range from $5 to $25, but are sometimes higher. For example, web hosting packages and satellite TV systems typically pay commissions of around $100.