5) The Beginner's World to Affiliate Marketing

By Elijah Jordan Kim

If you have a background in marketing then it can be safe to say that you may have heard the term 'Affiliate Marketing' a number of times. Affiliate marketing is the relationship between a merchant and an affiliate (person who promoted the merchant's product for a commission). What makes this stand apart from the other types of marketing is that its platform is the internet. This has been around for many years and it has already carved its position to be the most effective and cheapest marketing method. A lot of people are using affiliate marketing in order to bring in an extra income for themselves.

One important factor when it comes to affiliate marketing is that the affiliate is paid for every customer that they refer to the merchant. It depends on the agreement between the two parties but the compensation can be a fixed amount for each sale or simply a payment if the visitor becomes a lead. One of the highlights and probably the main reason why affiliate marketing is being practiced by a lot of people is that no payments are made before the realization of either a sale or a lead.

There are two parties in affiliate marketing, the merchants and affiliates. The link between these two parties is called the affiliate network i.e a third party that handles tracking of sales/leads and payments.

The merchant is any owner of a website that desires to take advantage of performance based marketing i.e. pay only on a successful sale or acquiring a qualified lead. The benefits to the merchant are enormous. Firstly, the merchant potentially maintains and operates the affiliate program. It is also the merchant who decides how much he is willing to pay for each sale that results from a visitor sent from an affiliate.

On the other hand, the affiliate marketer is another website owner which allows the merchant to use up some of his website space for promotional purposes. The affiliate would need to accept the terms and conditions when it comes to pricing, delivery of action and payment. In some ways, affiliate marketing can be a huge source of profits for the affiliate marketer.

Affiliate marketing can best be described as a mutually beneficial relationship between the marketer and his affiliate. If these two parties will be able to mesh well together, their profits will definitely be increased. If you choose to venture into this kind of marketing, it is also one of the easiest ways to market your products and services if you are a merchant or earn extra income if you are an affiliate. But the one thing that you need to keep in mind is to come up with an idea that will enable you to stand apart from every affiliate marketer out there, and mind you, there are millions of them out there already.

Elijah Jordan Kim - EzineArticles Expert Author

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