You may have seen on certain websites proposals for you to become an affiliate or to join up to a reward scheme. These adverts are designed not for customers or general end users but for website owners as a means for them to advertise their site through another website. This is known as Affiliate Marketing and has been around since the mid 90’s. Affiliate marketing is a mutually beneficial form of web marketing whereby both parties stand to profit if an end user clicks on a specific link.
The way it works is fairly simple: Say there are two websites: Website A and Website B. Website B wants to improve traffic using an affiliate program and so will ask Website A to display a link on their website that points towards Website B. Generally both websites will be in the same market selling similar products or services but will not be in direct competition with each other. Website B will profit from the increase in traffic to their site generated from the link that Website A has agreed to display, Website A profits by gaining commission for every time the link to Website B is clicked by an end user.
There are several different types of commission structures which include: Pay Per Click (Where for every click on the link Website A displays, Website A will receive a small sum), Pay Per Action (Where for every click and sale made through the link that Website A has displayed, a % of the final sum will be transferred to Website A) and Pay Per Lead (Where for every click on the link that Website A displays a new account is created, a pre determined sum will be transferred to Website A).
Before selecting which affiliate programme is right for you there are a number of factors to consider such as:
Choosing an affiliate that will divert relevant traffic to your website – There is little point in being involved in an affiliate programme if your partner website is not involved in the same line of business as you. For example if you are a jewellers selling jewellery online you would not want to be affiliated with a website that deals with say car maintenance or reparation as the traffic directed to your site will be totally irrelevant.
Choosing an affiliate that uses good SEO practices – The last thing you want is to have your reputation tarnished by an affiliate who uses unorthodox methods to gain traffic to his website.
Choosing an affiliate that has a high amount of traffic flowing their website – This may seem obvious but research needs to be conducted into how much traffic your website stands to gain by undertaking an affiliate programme with another website.
Choosing the right package – Whether it be Pay Per Click, Pay Per Action or Pay Per Lead, depending on the nature of your business it is vital to choose the right package for you that will increase your traffic while at the same time will limit your costs.