WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING

 AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate marketing is when you receive a commission, for promoting other people’s products or services.

Pretty much every product or service you know has an affiliate program these days.

Being an affiliate is 100% free and it is the best way to get started, since you don’t need to invest thousands of dollars in research, product development or marketing tools.

  YOU KEEP ALL THE MONEY YOU MAKE

As an affiliate you’ll be earning money by simply recommending other people’s products. You could turn this into a part-time or full-time business, or you could use your earnings to fund your own business ideas. The choice is yours.

Affiliate Marketing is based on a pay-for-performance business model, which is basically a modern version of a finders'-fee where individuals who introduce new clients to a business are compensated. The difference with Affiliate Marketing is that merchants only pay their Affiliates when the new client introduction results in a sale or a lead, making it a low-risk and highly-rewarding experience for both parties.

HOW AFFILIATE MARKETING WORKS

The merchant will provide you (the affiliate) with all the marketing tools you need: articles, videos and banners or just plain text-links. The merchant will provide you with everything you need to make promoting their products or services as easy as possible.

Each marketing tool will have an affiliate link embedded in it and each link has been assigned a commission, this could be a fixed amount per lead or a percentage of a resulting sale on the merchant's website.

When an internet user clicks on one of these links, a cookie is set on the visitor’s browser to record the time of the event as well as the location and IP address. The link also identifies: the merchant, the affiliate, and the payment amount or commission rate you will receive.

When the visitor makes an actual purchase online or fills out a form, that transaction is tracked and recorded by the affiliate program system. Upon recording the transaction, the affiliate system handles all of the collection and processing required ensuring commission payments to affiliates are processed on time. The affiliate system also takes care of all the necessary administration tasks, commission reporting and verification protocols to ensure the quality of sales and leads meet the merchant’s standards.

Affiliate programs are everywhere and most programs are free to join but your biggest challenge as an affiliate is to find quality products and services worth promoting. This can be a daunting process, especially if you don't know where to begin your search.

The first thing I tend to do is observe what other people are promoting, especially the top marketers in my niche. I will look at my favorite blogs and click on a few of the banner ads, usually these products will have an affiliate program.

For example: Go to SFI

If you scroll down to the bottom of their web page you can see whether or not they have an affiliate sign up link. Look for links that say ‘AFFILIATE’, ‘PARTNERS’ or ‘EARN MONEY’ click on the link and create your own affiliate account.That is just one way of finding top notch affiliate programs. You can also go through affiliate and advertising networks which can have some advantages:

• You can promote as many affiliate programs as you want and receive all your commissions from multiple merchants in one consolidated payment

• You can also see how every affiliate program is performing within the network. If an offer is converting well for other affiliates, chances are it will convert well for you.

With affiliate marketing there is no point in trying to re-invent the wheel. Your best strategy is to promote top performing offers since this is clearly what internet users are willing to pay for.