The Business of Affiliate Marketing

A primary business tool on hold

begin simple and expand step by step!

Affiliate marketing in its most basic form can be described as the sharing of revenue between online entities fitting the descriptions of advertisers, vendors and merchants (‘product owners’) who wish to sell their products and services through maximum exposure; and online marketers (salespeople) who operate websites/blogs (Internet properties) and are desireous of earning money via product promotions and sales generated from these Internet properties.

Compensation to the online marketers is usually in the form of a percentage of the price obtained for products and services purchased by customers referred from a marketer’s website/blog, to product pages (uniquely designed websites) of the product owners as they case may be; and such referrals are in the form of clicks on the marketers’ affiliate links (special links containing unique IDs that are provided to marketers approved to promote certain products/services) through to the specially prepared product (or landing) pages mentioned above.

The relationship between a product owner and the marketer approved to promote products/services and refer customers to designated pages is known as an affiliation and the agreement between any product owner and the marketer is known as an affiliate agreement, thereby resulting in the popular business of Affiliate Marketing. Most affiliate marketers understand that without sales and/or registrations resulting from their referral efforts, there will be no payments received, so they are very diligent in the operation of their businesses.

There are many benefits that can be derived from affiliate marketing, most important of which – to many – is the potential for making a lot of money. In addition, a sizable portion of the work can be automated; but since it is a pay-only-for-results type of business, affiliate marketers are forced to do a great deal of advertising, and often find that they are competing with some of the same product owners they are affiliated with in order to get a share of the online market.

Another concern shared by both product owners and affiliate marketers is the potential for security breaches of the particular affiliate program (software) being utilized to manage (automate) click-throughs, sales, payments and customer protection; and while most product owners will assume some level of risk resulting from fraud, there is still a level of risk involved for the affiliate marketer.

Yes, fraud has been known to occur on the Internet! However, having a good or working knowledge and understanding of the affiliate marketing business will be immensely helpful in avoiding such occurrences.

Affiliate marketing has been a contributor to the rise of many companies online, including Amazon.com, which was one of the first adopters of affiliate marketing, and now has thousands of affiliates whom the company refers to as “Associates.” When it comes to making money online, affiliate marketing is in a league of it’s own. You don’t have to worry about bosses breathing down your neck, and you are in control of everything you do with your company and your website.

Affiliate marketing provides the affiliate the opportunity to stand behind great products products you know and love from reputable and established product owners; in addition to the the ability to offer links and banners to such products on your personal blog and/or business website. So if you are interested in becoming an affiliate, always remember that you will receive money for each product purchased by customers referred from your site to that of the product owner; and this is certainly a good reason enough to participate in the affiliate marketing business.

If you’ve been looking for extra money, affiliate marketing is the way to go. You can stick with one merchant or go with as many as you need for your business. Affiliate marketing on the internet is truly becoming more and more popular – making today as good a time as any for you to get your foot in the door. Good luck!