Merchants and Affiliates- Benefits of Both

There are multiple interpretations to affiliate marketing yet all mean pretty much the same thing. In terms of a coordinated effort to bring together both the merchant and the affiliate, affiliate marketing is controlling a lot of the spotlight. As long as I've been involved in affiliate marketing it has proven to be a very reliable, economically feasible way of producing useful results. many webmasters employ it as a method to garner additional revenue for their online operation. More and more people are becoming interested in affiliate marketing and are trying to learn the necessary aspects to profit of it. Unfortunately, in many cases, first time affiliates don't comprehend enough of the basic affiliate tenants and make unnecessary mistakes.

An all too common misconception with respect to affiliate marketing is 'selling'. Although selling is tantamount to affiliate marketing and one of the main thrust of a business operation it is nothing more than one of the many aspects of online marketing.

Another misconception is that ‘advertising’ is of top importance in affiliate marketing. Although the importance of advertising in a particular product shouldn't be underestimated, the fact still remains, advertising like selling, is one of the many aspects of online marketing. The point is that NO particular aspect should be given priority over another.


Within affiliate marketing, an affiliate is paid for every subscriber, visitor and/or customer provided by way of his efforts. The amount paid forward can be predicated of a specific value for each visit. For those of you familiar with Pay Per Click this will ring a bell. An attractive feature of affiliate marketing from the viewpoint of the merchant is that NO payment will be due to an affiliate until that affiliate has shown qualitative results.

More often than not affiliate marketing is being run by affiliate networks and these affiliate networks are built upon two functional halves, the group affiliates comprising one and the group merchants comprising another. Each has their designated role in affiliate marketing. The affiliate network acts as a mediatory party between the merchant and the associated affiliates. Through this network, the technology is provided to deliver the merchant’s campaigns and offers. Another responsibility of the network is to collect commission fees from the merchant and then pay the affiliates, which are part of the program.

A merchant can be described as any web site owner that wants or desires to take advantage of results driven marketing. The merchant, in most cases is able to recieve a myriad of benefits. First, the merchant can maintain and operate the affiliate program. For the benefits to be extracted, the merchant needs to do a bit of research on interesting affiliate websites to ensure that they find a program that can assist in achieving their goals. Finding a good home for their merchandise would be the key to more generated income. As a merchant one has access to markets and consumers without spending valuable time searching about. Banner ads are another benefit. When used properly they can produce interest for that product and drive the consumer to the merchants’ website. The merchant is also given the ability to dictate how much he is willing to pay for every sale that is a result of a visitor sent from an affiliate.

The affiliate marketer has many benefits for himself as well. The affiliate can be described as a web site owner that promotes one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. There are many who use affiliate marketing to generate a full-time income for themselves. However, this is not an easy task to accomplish. The affiliate must have a clear understanding with the merchant as to - what the commission will be, time frame of contract and expected payment method. The affiliate is also responsible to solicit the merchandise their user based would be most interested in. For example, if a site has a user base composed of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then online job openings such as EBay reselling would be a good match for them. Another example would be to place links to children's products and informational sites. Merchants who are on top of their game will often provide targeted, best-seller items and personal support to their affiliate partners. They often offer sales promotions that will benefit both the merchandiser as well as the affiliate.

To give a better example of what I am explaining I provided this video illustrating how you can create Amazon affiliate links.


Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If a strong relationship is forged each can be a strong catalyst to each others business. For those of you online with fairly new business ventures this method is a fairly easy and inexpensive way to assist in generating revenue. Always keep in mind that there are many others on the net involved in affiliate marketing which is why there is no room for complacency.

Do your business the favor and ask yourself what can I offer to the consumer that is going to stand out from so many others businesses?

Regards,

Julian