What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a major buzzword of the moment. However, this buzzword is not going to go away. Why? Affiliate marketing is basically the backbone of all ecommerce. This is why online purchases are expanding exponentially and why so many small business entrepreneurs are finding new business opportunities.

"It all depends on how much you want and how much you want it! Affiliate marketing is open for anybody, and the only thing standing between you and that thousand dollar check is your determination and efforts!”

So, what is affiliate marketing?

In essence, it's a form of selling by proxy. Instead of selling items through your own warehouse, you instead become an affiliate of a larger enterprise. For example, a website owner places a link to another merchant on his or her site. When someone buys an item through that affiliate link, the website owner receives a sum.

It's important to note that through many affiliate programs, the web surfer does not have to buy the item that was originally linked. If the visitor decides to buy something else as a result of linking through the affiliates website, the website owner will still make money through the program. Therefore, if someone clicks a book link and ends up buying a more-expensive item, such as a TV, it will have a larger payout. This formula increases the odds that affiliate sites will make money.

Affiliate Marketing Payouts

Obviously, affiliate marketing does not pay the same amount as warehousing your own merchandise. The tradeoff is that it is far less expensive to set up an affiliate site than it is to open up a warehouse-based business. In addition, the variety of affiliate marketing plans available means that websites can tailor affiliate marketing plans to a specific demographic.

Types of Affiliate Marketing Programs

There are a wide-range of affiliate marketing programs available, with varying payout plans and varying products. Since affiliate marketing is a less expensive form of marketing for the host affiliate, there are as many affiliate programs as online businesses. A successful affiliate marketer can make a stable of affiliate marketing sites, each aimed at a different customer base.

Affiliate Sign-Ups

Keep in mind that not all affiliate marketing is product-based. In fact, some of the better affiliate marketing opportunities are sign-up based. What this means is that a web surfer will click on a link that leads to a website's sign-up form. One example is a casino site that requires a deposit for each sign up. Another example is a lead-based affiliate marketing plan, in which a person enters his or her contact information on the site.

Any website that requires a sign-up is a potential affiliate marketing opportunity. As these types of affiliate programs are cheaper to run than shipping products out of a warehouse, they also have a larger payout. Successful affiliate marketers employ both product-based and service-based affiliate marketing programs.