What is Affiliate Marketing?

When most people think about affiliate marketing they often associate it with simply placing a few banners on a website hoping that it will make them money. The truth is it never will, the same way placing an ad about your business in your local newspaper wont guarantee you more customers. The keyword they fail to understand is the word “MARKETING”. Too many people simply don’t grasp the concept of marketing. It goes way beyond the basic principle of just adverting stuff…

How it works
Although the image opposite shows the process associated with affiliate marketing it involves much more, than this simple four step process:

  • Join Program.
  • Promote
  • Track Sales.
  • Earn Commission

Before you can complete the first step you must first join the Network that supports the Affiliate Program you intend to join. There are many affiliate networks too choose from, listed below are just some of the popular ones I have used over the years.

Commission Junction:

This is a Global Network with fantastic support and some of the best tools to help you promote some of the worlds top brands.

With the most flexible and feature-rich user interface in the industry at your fingertips, you can streamline day-to-day activities, create more dynamic content on your website, monitor results in real time to drive higher conversions, optimize daily promotional efforts, and make more money online.

Affiliate Window:

This is one of my top earning Networks, and has continued to improve it’s service over the years. The user interface is simple to use, payment are paid fortnightly.

Affiliate Window is the UKs leading performance marketing network Since 2000 they have built a strong reputation for innovation, technology, service, ethics and ultimately delivering performance. Affiliate Window are ranked the number one performance marketing network in the UK. With close to two thousand advertisers across all sectors run programmes through their platform

Trade Doubler

Trade Doubler offer performance marketing and targeting solutions to meet a broad range of advertiser objectives and pay-for-performance models, including CPM, CPC, (Cost-per-Call) and CPL (Cost-per-Lead), as well as the traditional affiliate role of CPA marketing, (Cost-per-Acquisition). And are leading the way when it comes to exploring the potential of mobile affiliate marketing programs.