Affilate Web Marketing

Extend your reach on the internet by offering a commission to other websites for selling your products. Tap into new avenues.

Affiliate Web Marketing: What is it?

Affiliate Web Marketing is an internet based marketing technique whereby affiliates are rewarded for directing customers towards the website of a particular brand or seller. It is essentially a modern variation on paying an agent 'finder's fees' for the introduction of a new client or business deal. Despite having a relatively low profile, affiliate web marketing continues to be a comparatively powerful (if underused) form of website promotion.

Affiliate Web Marketing: How does it work?

A company or individual wishing to employ affiliate web marketing techniques has two principal options open: either to set up their own in-house program, or to utilise the services provided by a third party.

Companies that have set up their own in-house affiliate programs include some of the largest e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay, while the largest third-party providers include 1000’s of companies and websites looking for affiliates.

Individuals or companies looking to provide affiliate marketing services will be required to join the 'affiliate program' of the company/agent that they wish to serve. If they are accepted they will tune their content in order to attract customers to approach a particular brand/seller via their own website.

Many affiliate marketing websites will tend to employ a number of traditional internet marketing techniques such as search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and email marketing, however, they may also employ less orthodox techniques such as the writing of excessively favourable reviews for their clients' products.

Sophisticated programs are used to determine which affiliate websites have been used to gain access to the brand/seller. Affiliates may be compensated in a number of different ways:

• Pay Per Click: whereby the affiliate receives a commission every time a potential customer visits the brand/sellers website via their own site.
• Pay Per Sale: whereby the affiliate receives a commission on every purchase made by a customer who visited the brand/sellers website via their own site.
• Pay Per Client: whereby the affiliate receives a commission every time a new customer registers with the brand/sellers website having been directed there via their own website.

Affiliate Web Marketing: What are its principal advantages and disadvantages?

The principle advantage for any business employing affiliate marketing techniques is that, aside from initial set up costs, it will generally only have to pay its affiliates if they successfully perform their function.

Although there have been instances where retailers have incurred high commission costs as well as costly setup and maintenance fees from third-party agents, future sales from returning customers are unlikely to be subject to any commission.

Affiliate marketing allows a company to greatly increase its internet exposure with little effort and at a relatively low cost; this has the potential to lead to a marked increase in both sales and the size of its customer base.

Perhaps the only potential disadvantage of affiliate marketing from the merchant's perspective is that the means of advertising is somewhat taken out of its hands. There remains the possibility for affiliates to make extravagant and even false claims that may ultimately be damaging to his client's reputation.