Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular forms of internet marketing. With more and more businesses using the web for their marketing and promotion endeavors, the competition is tough and you need to be well aware of the various facets of affiliate marketing to make better use of it.Affiliate MarketingIt an advertising model which involves the sharing of predetermined revenues between the website owner and the online merchant. As a website owner or an affiliate, you will promote a unique link given to you by an aff. program. When users click on this link, they are taken to the landing page, which offers particular products or services. If they purchase the product or services, you will receive a commission from this sale. This marketing model is a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate.Advantages of Affiliate MarketingThe affiliate marketing concept offers a range of benefits to affiliates.It is the best work from home option going around. You are your own boss and you keep promoting your links, regardless of your location. It's a completely flexible and ever growing means of earning additional income.
You can choose from a wide selection of affiliate programs that offer you the options of choosing the kind of product or services you are comfortable about promoting. So, you can join a pharmacy affiliate program or an affiliate program that asks you to promote kids merchandise or become a health affiliate. The choice is yours.
Apart from promoting the link, you have no other responsibilities. So, you don't have to worry about aspects such as production, storage and delivery of the products.These are just some of the many benefits of becoming an affiliate.Affiliate Programs and Affiliate NetworksAs you search for information on affiliate marketing, you will come across many terms amongst which the words affiliate program and affiliate networks will be fairly common.Affiliate ProgramAn affiliate or an associate program is essentially an arrangement. In this arrangement, an online merchant will pay an affiliate a certain predesignated commission for sending traffic to his site. The commission will only be paid, if a user visiting the site buys the products and services of the site. Typically, an agreement between an online merchant and an affiliate is sales based. But, in certain cases it can also be based on the number of people sent by the affiliate or also in accordance with a particular action performed by the people visiting the site. An affiliate program is beneficial to both the merchant and the marketer as both players can benefit from it, without making a whole lot of investment in the bargain.Affiliate NetworkAn affiliate network is like a link between affiliates and merchant affiliate programs. Take the case of a health affiliate network. It will help you as an affiliate to get in touch with a health affiliate program. Also, it allows online merchant websites that usually offer affiliate programs, to reach a wide number of affiliates. So, all affiliates who are a part of the affiliate networks can come to know about the affiliate program. Many affiliate networks provide additional benefits such as payment processing and tracking technology, which helps online merchants. For affiliates, such networks offer benefits such as payment aggregation and reporting toolsTypes Of Affiliate Marketing WebsitesPrice Comparison SitesThese are also known as aggregator sites and are not just affiliate sites but also offer pay per click services. As a beginner, if you want to use such sites, you can search from free sites. Also, it's a good idea to create products feeds, to make the best use of such sites.Sites Offering Product ReviewsSuch sites are typically based on the CPA network and work according to cost per acquisition or cost per click model.Sites That Offer A Cash back GuaranteeIf you want to make an offer to your potential customers in the form of great deals and discounts, these are kind of affiliate sites that you can use.Non-High Volume SitesThese are sites that can be used in a collective fashion. Use a group of such sites and work on them collectively. These are the kind of sites that focus on search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising