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 »  Home  »  Beginners Articles  »  Getting started  »  What is an affiliate?

What is an affiliate?

By Allan Gardyne | Published 06/10/2005 | Getting started |

You can earn commissions in three ways

In Internet marketing, an affiliate is a person or company which sends visitors to a website in exchange for commissions.

Affiliates can earn commissions in three ways: per click, per sale and per lead.

Pay-per-click programs have declined dramatically in numbers because of click fraud.

Pay-per-sale and pay-per-lead programs are still very common.

These days, affiliate merchants or vendors the whole process easy for affiliates. You go to the vendor's site, type in your name and address, and wait for your website to be approved. In some cases, approval is automatic.

Each affiliate is given a unique link to paste into his or her website, so the vendor can track which affiliate is responsible for generating a sale.

Most affiliates own a website or several websites. However, some earn commissions by paying for advertising and sending the visitors directly from the ads to the merchant.

This "affiliate arbitrage" is a tough field for a newcomer. It's easy to spend more than you earn. Instead, I strongly recommend you start by creating your own website.

Here's a common misuse of the word "affiliate":

WRONG: "I want to add some affiliates to my website."

CORRECT: "I want to add some affiliate products to my website."

CORRECT: "I want to add some affiliate links to my website."

Being an affiliate is a bit like being a commissioned sales person - online.

There are many advantages in having this sort of business.

For example, you don't have to create a product, you don't have to carry any inventory, you don't have to worry about handling products, or postage, or refunds.

You work from home, choosing your own hours. You are your own boss.

Affiliate programs are usually free to join.

I've being doing this stuff for years. I love it.

Disadvantages? You have to have discipline and determination to succeed.

For newcomers to Internet marketing, joining an affiliate program or two is an excellent opportunity - a good way to earn money without producing your own product.

Are you new to affiliate programs?
Start here - FREE

The "Affiliate Masters Course" has been described as the best course on affiliate marketing - and it's free. Print it out, find a quiet spot and study it carefully. Do that, and you'll save yourself an awful lot of wasted time. Download the free Affiliate Masters Course

Comments

Comment #1 (Posted by lynette walker) |
My website was in the pre-published stage, when I found out the host was a scam. I no longer have site. How can I cancel my affiliate info, never used. Or where to get info please?

[Lynette, You'll need to contact the affiliate merchant whose program you joined to discuss this. You can search our affiliate directory to join other programs, too. If you have any problems, a good place to ask for help is on our friendly, helpful affiliate forum. Allan.]
Comment #2 (Posted by harry lyman) |
Allan
What can you do when you find out that your Affiliate Merchant is in competition with you and is contacting your customers directly?

[I'd discuss it with the merchant. If I didn't get a satisfactory answer, I'd dump the merchant. This would be an excellent topic to discuss on our affiliate forum. I hope you'll make the time to post a message there. Affiliates need to be warned. Allan.]
Comment #3 (Posted by afia) |
my site is in pre publish stage, the site is for only affiliates links do i have to apply into the affiliate program or should wait until it is published.it is advisable to put all the affiliate links under services link on my site?thank you

[The answer to the first question is, it depends. Some affiliate merchants automatically accept everyone who applies to be an affiliate. Others are much stricter and want to see an attractive, professional looking site before they will approve you. Some even demand that your site gets a certain number of visitors a month. So the answer is, it depends. You need to put the affiliate links where your visitors will see them. One of the most effective places is within an ethusiastic review of the product you're promoting. A good place to discuss these things in more detail is our affiliate forum. The link to the forum is at the top of the page. Allan.]
Comment #4 (Posted by ursomeone) |
Hi Allan,
Thanks for the great info. It really helps to read such rich knowledge from experienced persons in this feild like you. I just wanted to know your point of view on Is there any other way of doing this without actually making a website, like for example joining maybe an existing website where you can also add some of your contents or maybe through a blog etc. I don't know if such thing exists or it is mandatory to have a website at first. Because I want to start if from the very beginning so after seeing some success I can think of making my own site.
regards
Ursomeoned

[It IS possible to make money online without owning a website, but it's MUCH more difficult. You're handicapping yourself if you don't own your own website. One way to start simply in affiliate marketing is to create a free blog with Blogger.com. You can also set up a page at Squidoo. You can tinker around with these things experimenting before you get your own website. Don't be scared of creating your own site, though. Just take it one step at a time. Our affiliate forum is a good place to ask questions. Allan.]
Comment #5 (Posted by Bart Thomason) |
Allan... Greetings! Read a lot of your "stuff"... Do you have affiliation with you? Respectfully, Bart

[We don't have an affiliate program for AssociatePrograms.com, but we do have one for SpeedPPC.com. It pays 50% commissions on a highy regarded product. Allan.]

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