A Buyers Guide to Affiliate Marketing - Part 1
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The Web has undoubtedly become one of today’s biggest economic driving forces.
Everyday people all across the globe are spending and earning millions online. As an independent entrepreneur or as part of a larger organisation, everybody is aware of the fact that the Web has become the central trading point in today’s global market.
Many people today have their own website, whether it be a personal site, informational business brochure or e-commerce site. One of the most popular ways of turning your web presence into an income is what is known as affiliate marketing. Plainly said, affiliate marketing makes use of affiliate programs, or arrangements in which an online merchant website pays affiliate websites a commission to send them traffic through the use of links. Recruiting affiliates is an excellent and cost effective way of getting your products known online, because not only is your brand being advertised on numerous websites, but you are also only liable to pay for the actual results of your affiliate campaign (i.e. click-through’s or sales).
Probably the most popular example of the affiliate marketing strategy was implemented by Amazon.com around 1996. Amazon attracts affiliates who then post links to specified books and who then receive a percentage of the profits. Amazon is currently estimated to have over 500 000 affiliates. Affiliate programs have gained enormous popularity over the past few years, as they are a good way for non-commercial websites to take part in e-commerce.
Affiliate program networks, also known as affiliate brokers, are set-up to deal with the administrative aspects of affiliate marketing. They track all activity, arrange all payment, and help affiliates set up the necessary links on their website. Affiliate networks are convenient for both prospective merchants and affiliates, because they offer a centralised point from which to present a wide selection of affiliate programs. In return for this administration, affiliate networks usually charge a percentage for each transaction which they facilitate.
So how can we tell when a customer clicks through an affiliate website onto the merchant page? The most common way in which this is dealt with is that the visitor is actually directed to the affiliate network site before being forwarded on to the merchant website. The URL of the page contains several pieces of information, including:
- An identification number of the affiliate
- An identification number of the merchant
- The URL of the merchant site
When a link is clicked, a hit is recorded on the given URL and the visitor is immediately forwarded on to the merchant site. The network tracks sales using Internet cookies containing these same identification numbers, so they know what affiliate referred the customer to the merchant.
There are various methods through which an affiliate can link to the merchant site. The type of link used depends largely on the type of websites linked and the product or service being sold. Common types of links include:
Text Links:
This kind of link comes across as the most natural, as it is ingrained in the content of a website, and does not stand out as an immediate advertisement. Text links are usually identifiable as being a different colour to that of the general text as well as being underlined.
Banner Links:
These links appear as purposely designed advertisement boxes containing elements of graphics or animation. These are better suited to products which need to make an immediate impression or where a text link might not attract enough attention from visitors.
Search Box:
This type of link allows visitors to search an online database on another site. The results of the search are links to other pages on the site.
A Buyers Guide to Affiliate Marketing - Part 2 >>
