What is affiliate marketing?
Well, it can actually refer to a number of different things but in its broadest sense, it is a revenue sharing venture between a website owner and an online merchant. If you own a website, you can ads on your site that are relevant to your visitors. These ads are designed to get targeted traffic from your site, to the advertisers. In return, you are able to get a share of the profits. But for that you need to ensure health check up of the website. This can easily be done with the help of usability testing.
There are three different methods of earning money via affiliate marketing
- First up is Pay Per Click. If you’ve got a site about that is reviewing clothes for dogs, and you recommend your visitors click on an ad to buy it, you get a certain amount of money. A specific price for that click. They don’t have to buy anything; they can just simply need to click through. The amount you earn can be in pennies or much more but this depends on the product and the amount of commission you agree.
- Next up is Pay Per Sale. This time, you will only receive commission if the visitor to your site clicks of to the advertisers site and actually buys something. Even if you have recommended a doggie rain coat and they go on to eventually buy a tutu for their pet, you still receive commission, it doesn’t have to be the same product.
- And finally, Pay Per Lead. Every time a potential client registers at the merchant’s website because an ad you have has lead them there, you get a previously agreed amount.
For people who already run and manage their own sites, this can be a great way to earn some extra money without actually having to “do” much. Once you have placed the ads on your site, that’s all. There is no selling or encouragement to click off involved. Often, only a small percent of people will naturally click of to the advertiser’s site, so sites with a great deal of visitors are more likely to see a good amount of money coming their way.
The merchant also gets something out of the adverts too. By simply being placed on sites other than their own means they are able to be seen by a greater number of people which can increase brand awareness. The more websites a merchant is affiliated with, the more exposure their products and adverts will receive, and all they really have to do is allow ads for his products to appear on someone else’s website.
While it seems as though, affiliate marketing is the answer to any webmasters dreams, there are of course a few drawbacks. If you are the merchant, you have to share an agreed percent of your profits with an external partner. You also don’t have much control on what the affiliate places around your ad. A merchant will find it hard to maintain its reputation if any dishonest ways to get clicks from one site to another, were being used!.
If you are the site owner, you have to do a lot of research on the merchant before you decide to place them on your site. It’s best to find out if they are an established merchant and have an online presence. If you can’t find much information out about a company and what they are offering seems too good to be true, it probably is. This is rarity, however, as most merchants and affiliates have great relationships.
It’s important to choose wisely. In some cases, an ad can be placed on an affiliate’s website for months before a potential customer “clicks” or purchases something. If the commission is only pennies, this can lead to a frustrating relationship. Both the affiliate and the merchant are well advised to ensure the relationship will be mutually beneficial.
Affiliate marketing is definitely known as one of the best ways to earn money online. If you think you would be interested doing so, make sure you research your merchants online beforehand. Then you can sit back and enjoy.
This is a guest post by Roxanne who is a blogger for Affiliate Temple, a US based affiliate marketing blog.