Affiliate marketing used to be a cottage industry that has grown fast in the last couple years.
In the mid-90's Amazon.com pioneered the idea by enabling Web site owners to link to their books and earn a commission if someone clicks over from their Web site to Amazon and buys the book. The original idea on the "above-the-ground Internet" was introduced by CDNow in 1994, two years before the Amazon Associate Program was launched. Adult websites used affiliate marketing methods to promote their businesses even before CDNow.
Now almost every large e-commerce site has some sort of affiliate program. Offering commissions and incentives for other Web site owners to promote your product or service is a fast and inexpensive way to grow an online business.
Affiliate marketing can help to earn $$ in a few ways:
1. Pay Per Click — Every time a potential customer leaves the affiliate website by "clicking" on the link leading to the merchant's website, a certain amount of money is deposited in the affiliate's account. This amount can be pennies or dollars depending on the product and amount of the commission.
2. Pay Per Sale — Every time a sale is made as a result of advertising on the affiliate's website, a percentage, or commission, is deposited into the affiliate's account.
3. Pay Per Lead — Every time a potential client registers at the merchant's website as a result of the advertisement on the affiliate's account, a previously determined amount is deposited into the affiliate's account.
For many website owners, this is a great way to earn $$ money without actually having to "do" anything. All you need to do is placing an ad on the affiliate's website. There's no selling or promotion of any kind. The affiliate can just sit back and wait for the profits to roll in.On the other end of the merchant, by placing affiliate marketing advertising on websites all over the Internet, he has free advertising without doing much selling on his own. The more websites a merchant is affiliated with, the more exposure his products get, and all he has to do is allow ads for his products to appear on someone else's website.
If you are looking for a great work at home career, you can become an Affiliate, Internet Marketer. Affiliate Internet marketers are people who promote and market other business on the internet. When a sale is made, a commission is paid to the affiliate marketer. Depending on the company, commissions can range from 10%-60%. The marketers that do well, make very comfortable incomes and are very successful with their work at home career. As an Affiliate Marketer, you can promote the other business by writing articles for blogs, making simple websites that provide consumers information, and even making referral videos and posting them on Youtube!
Affiliate marketing has its benefits, there are also a few cons. For instance, the merchant has to share the profits with an outside party. If an affiliate uses unsavory means to bring customers to his website and sell the merchant's products, the merchant will also have to contend with doing a little damage control on his reputation.
As such, it is advisable that the affiliate has to do thorough research on the merchant before agreeing to affiliation. 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 considered one of the best ways to earn money online. If this is an avenue you wish to pursue, you'd be well advised to research each merchant thoroughly. After that, there's not much else to do except wait for the profits to roll in!
Enjoy Affiliate Marketing
