What is Affiliate Marketing?

Some advertisers join Networks like ShareaSale.com to jumpstart their affiliate marketing efforts while others create their own in house programs to offer publishers money making opportunities. Publishers (affiliates) can join the networks to have access to those merchant's (advertisers) affiliate programs. It's a great way for a home based entrepreneur to make money from his/her computer creating websites to advertise merchant offers on. It's a Win/Win situation for everyone.

"Affiliate Marketing is a new and revolutionary method for driving profits through revenue sharing relationships between online merchants and content sites. Affiliate Marketing pushes products and services out to the consumer on virtual shelf space across the Web, creating more opportunities for merchants to generate sales, for affiliates to earn revenue from their sites, and for consumers to find the products and services they want on the Web." (a quote from the Commission Junction affiliate marketing website)

As an affiliate marketer myself, I utilize several network providers listed on this page and I promote some individual affiliate programs. I am always evaluating new networks and individual programs. The defination I have come up with for Affiliate Marketing is this: The most effective and simple way of earning money from your computer. How's that for a simple explanation? Anyway, that's from the standpoint of the home business affiliate marketer. Affiliate Marketing to a merchant is somewhat different. Merchants can use the services of the network providers on this page to build an online sales force. Hence, either party benefits by making more money! Affiliates are hard working people with a desire to work at home and earn more than they could ever earn in a day job.

If you are a merchant looking into affiliate marketing for the first time, I have some suggestions. Find the most affordable and useful solution by researching networks who will host your affliate program for you. Find networks that offer data feeds and html enhanced product displays for affiliates. There are 2 good examples you can look at right now, and both of these networks offer tools affiliates need to promote your products: Avantlink Affiliate Network and Shareasale Affiliate Network. Both of these networks offer affordable hosting plans that a small to medium sized business can really use to increase sales online. Also, both of these networks will help you recruit new affiliates into your program by advertising your program on their sites. It is a win/win situation for merchants and affiliates.

As an entrepreneur, you may not want to build sites the hard way. If so, check out my special page featuring Websites for Business. This top notch service will allow you to open a domian, design your business website, select all the layout options and accept credit cares online. You can even use this service to house affiliate content if that is your goal. Visit the Homestead site directly.

A Defination of 2-Tier Affiliate Marketing
Quite simply, an Affiliate Program is a partnership with an online merchant who compensates you for any sales you send that merchant via links on your site. An Affiliate Program is thus an easy way to earn money off traffic to your site. Your earning potential is not only limited to sales - you can also refer other affiliates like yourself! The Merchant will pay you a percentage of all the sales that you refer. This means you can utilize your knowledge of both audiences to maximize your earning potential. Each time you introduce another Webmaster to the program, that Webmaster begins to market on your behalf, and in doing so increases your earning potential!

An affiliate network is a value added intermediary providing services for affiliate merchants and affiliates. Merchant services can include tracking technology, reporting tools, payment processing and access to a large base of active affiliates marketing online through content publishing. For affiliates services may include one click application to new merchants, reporting tools and payment aggregation. This type of network provides offers from merchants that are promoted on the affiliate websites, or in newsletters. Commissions to affiliates are based on pay-per-lead (PPL), pay-per-sale (PPS), pay-per-action (PPA) which is sometimes referred to as cost-per-action (CPA) or pay-per-click (PPC) models. Each network varies in terminology, but all provide a variance of these services to affiliates and merchants.

This is a great affiliate network with tools for affiliates

This is a network with tons of support, articles, guides, linking tools, statistics and more tools for affiliates. MoreNiche is obviously all about affiliate success. I am impressed with the network so far, and I do believe they care about affiliate members' success. There are some pretty good products and services here to sell, and you will never have to hunt for content. MoreNiche has all the content in the form of websites which you can download and then add your code to, then upload to your server space.

You can sign up for this network and be creating new content and affiliate sites within minutes! Join MoreNiche Here

Here are a few marketing terms Defined

Cost Per Sale (CPA)
A visitor referred by the Affiliate purchases goods and services from the Merchant. This payment structure is referred to as - cost-per-sale or cost per acquisition (cpa).

Cost Per Lead (CPL)
A visitor referred by the Affiliate completes a form on the Merchants website. This is payment structure is referred to as - cost per lead (cpl).

Cost Per Click (CPC)
A visitor to the Affiliates website clicks on a Merchants banner and visits the Merchants website. This payment structure is referred to as - cost per click (CPC).

Cost Per 1000 Impressions (CPM) Merchants pay a set rate for the display of one thousand of their banners/advertisements. This payment structure is referred to as - cost per 1000 impressions (cpm).

Through Affiliate Marketing, merchants can place their advertising banners and links on content sites worldwide and only pay a commission when those links generate a sale or qualified lead. Affiliated content sites can easily convert selected areas of their online content into e-commerce by populating it with these revenue-generating links.

How It Works

With Affiliate Marketing, a merchant recruits content sites to partner with them as affiliates in exchange for commissions. The merchant provides their advertising banners and links to their affiliates and assigns a commission for each click-through to their site, subscription to their service (a lead), or purchase of their products that is generated from the links. Affiliates place the tracking code for these ads into their Web pages. Whenever a visitor to the affiliate's site uses these links to generate a click-through, lead, or sale for the merchant, that transaction is tracked online. If a product or service is purchased, the customer pays the merchant directly, and the affiliate is paid a commission for that transaction.

Merchants and Publishers (affiliate marketers) benefit from this unique arrangement called Affiliate Marketing. Website owners have the opportunity to earn money through their niche audience, while merchants get a more precise, measureable and targeted means of advertising their products or services.

Here are a few good network providers for both affiliates and merchants:

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