Many people when ask me what do you work? I tell them that I work in “Affiliate Marketing”, everytime I told them they just make a face: “What the heck is that”. I try to explain them many times but again they take it as a joke or just a “Hobby” I told them just Bazzinga! and smile. That’s why I would like to explain it as much as I can with a brief and clear definition.

Affiliate marketing, also called web/online marketing, internet marketing, or plainly e-marketing, is essentially a new age marketing strategy used since the advent of internet to promote products or services. Through affiliate marketing, anyone who wants to promote any sort of product or service can do so without spending much. Affiliate marketing has allowed people to distribute information in ways, which are not only easily understood but are fast, cheap and easy.

Under affiliate marketing, methods such as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), banner ads, e-mail marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and affiliate marketing are used to promote products and services.

Affiliate Marketing Vs. Paper/Radio/TV Marketing

While newspaper marketing allows people to read about a product, in a maximum of 1 page but was never considered live; then came radio marketing that allowed people to hear about the products live, and was used as a marketing toll till the mass use of television as a media started.

TV allowed people to hear and see what the products are and virtually feel them; but there were disadvantages. TV promotional campaigns were costly to make, promoters spent lot of money for slots to promote their products; and reach was limited to places were a cable connection or at least a TV was available.

So What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing has many descriptions, yet all have the same meaning. Affiliate marketing is a huge business piece on the Internet. It is a cooperative effort between merchants and an affiliate’s website. For many years now, affiliate marketing has proved to be a cost-efficient, measurable method of delivering long-tern results. It has become famous for Internet sites who are trying to make some extra or additional income for their site. Every day, people get interested to affiliate marketing and want to make money out of it. But in many cases, these new affiliates do not fully understand the affiliate world and make costly mistakes. In other words, affiliate marketing has often been misunderstood.

One of the common misconceptions that are being associated about affiliate marketing is “selling”, though selling is an important activity of affiliate marketing and the central function of a business operation. Another is that affiliate marketing is commonly linked with “advertising”. While the importance of advertising in marketing a certain product is not to be underestimated, the fact of the matter is, advertising like selling, is merely a part of the many functions of marketing.

In affiliate marketing, an affiliate is compensated for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer provided through his efforts. The said compensation may be made based on a certain value for each visit. The most attractive aspect of affiliate marketing from the merchant’s viewpoint is that no payment is due to an affiliate until results are appreciated.

Affiliate marketing is typically being run by affiliate networks and this affiliate networks are composed of two functional bodies, the group affiliates and the group merchants. Each has their special function and role when it comes to affiliate marketing. The affiliate network acts as a third party between the merchant and the associated affiliates. The network provides the technology to deliver the merchant’s campaigns and offers. The affiliate network also collects commission fees from the merchant and then pays the affiliates which are part of the program.

The merchant is any web site owner that wants or desires to take advantage of performance based marketing. The benefits to the merchant are many. First, the merchant maintains and operates the affiliate program. If it would be extracted, the merchant needs to do their part by researching interested affiliate websites to ensure that they are a good fit for that particular website. Finding a fit for their merchandise would be the key to more generated income. The merchant has access to markets and customers without him spending valuable time searching out. Banner ads on affiliate sites are not distracting to the site user. It might produce interest for that product and drive the consumer to the merchants’ website. It is also the merchant who decides how much he is willing to pay for each sale that results from a visitor sent from an affiliate.

The affiliate or the affiliate marketer also sees a lot of benefits. The affiliate is a web site owner that promotes one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing can generate a full-time income for the affiliate. But this is not an easy task to accomplish. The affiliate needs to have a better understanding with the merchant what the commission will be, expected payment method and time involved in the contract. The affiliate has also the responsibility to stand for the merchandise their user based would be most interested in. For example, if the site has a user base of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then on-line job openings such as surveys would be a good match for them. This group would also appreciate direct links to children’s products and informational sites. Merchandisers often provide targeted, best-seller items and personal support to their affiliate. They often offer sales promotions that will benefit the merchandiser as well as the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is a great situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If they would work together, they can be an advantage to both. Plus the fact that it seems to make sense, it is easy and inexpensive way to start, and you can be up and running within a few days. But there is one thing to consider, it is how to get traffic and make your offer different than all others.

Affiliate Marketing Benefits

Internet on the other hand is not just a cheap method to promote a product or service, its reach is virtually unlimited as internet travels through satellite, so wherever a person has a computer and can access internet with a device such as modem, he/she can view a product or service. Also accessing internet does not require setting up of a dedicated infrastructure; with just a wi-fi connection people can do anything on the internet, whether promote or just view any product or service.

Internet allows people to make creative marketing campaigns’, these campaigns can be targeted at any particular individual/group of individual/businesses. Marketers can add more zing to their campaigns by using various software tools that help to enhance the look of the product or service.

The low cost of internet marketing also allows people with tight budgets to still market their products online, and reach out to maximum number of people with in a short period of time. A major advantage of using the internet as a marketing tool is the least time required to promote the products.

All one needs to do is to develop some codes that make the product or service viewable in the most presentable manner and post it on the internet. Through affiliate marketing, people can get instant response on their products or services owing to the interactive nature of internet.

Through affiliate marketing, selling products and services online becomes real easy. All one needs to do, is to register properly to buy or sell products or services. All in all internet marketing amalgamation of marketing strategy, software design, advertising skills, and sales pitch. This guide on internet marketing will allow people to more about the various aspects of affiliate marketing.