Is Affiliate Marketing a Match for Your Online Business?
Author: Pj Germain.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular forms of online marketing which
allows online businesses to promote themselves via affiliates. Each affiliate
receives a residual or one-time commission for each subscriber or customer
generated from their endeavors. Affiliates receive residual commission based on
three types of affiliate marketing methods:
1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
affiliate marketing generates residual commission when a visitor clicks a
specified link, and visits the site.
2. Pay-Per-Lead (PPL) affiliate
marketing generates residual commission when a visitor signs-up for a program,
or shows more interest in a product or service.
3. Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)
affiliate marketing generates residual commission when a customer makes a
purchase.
Online businesses tend to like affiliate marketing because
they pay only after they see positive results. To advertise in a magazine means
paying up-front for an ad that may not generate results. With affiliate
marketing, the online business pays after the ad, link, etc… has already done
its job. Some of the biggest names in online business use affiliate marketing
programs.
Amazon.com was among the first group of online businesses to
start an affiliate marketing program. Ten years later, the Amazon.com program is
wildly successful, with more than 1,000,000 members. The affiliate program
helped Amazon.com grow into the powerhouse it is today. Amazon makes it easy by
offering free sign-up and tools to track sales. If this makes your head spin,
don’t worry. You don’t have to start an affiliate program from scratch.
Third-party marketing services like Commission Junction, ClickBank, and
LinkShare track sales and traffic generated by affiliates. Many big-name online
businesses use this method. eHarmony, the leading online dating site, uses a
third-party affiliate program to help increase its subscriber base. It seems to
have worked, as eHarmony reported a 67 percent increase in sales.
Would
your online business benefit from an affiliate marketing program? When you begin
considering your marketing options, research all the different solutions
available. Will you build your affiliate program from scratch, offering people
the tools they need to succeed? Choosing this option means you’ll have to
provide tracking software, create a sign-up process, and basically manage all
aspects of the affiliate marketing program yourself.
Affiliate marketing
has matured right along with technology. For your program to be a success,
you’ll have to use recent technology to make things as easy as possible. If
joining your program is a hassle, then no one will be interested. Make sure your
affiliate marketers have all the tools they need to succeed.
Pj Germain
is a Webmaster, Trainer and successful Marketer. Visit our sites for explosive
sales & magnetic marketing!
http://www.affiliate-success.org
http://www.knowyourpc.net
http://www..directmatches.com/movingup
Free service!