Affiliate Marketing Introduction

History of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing started out or the credit has been given to Amazon.com back in 1996. They founded a program that encouraged average people to sign an agreement document to affiliate or partner with the company Amazon.com to promote their products with the intention to pay the affiliate a commission per sale that was made as a result of the referral. The Terms of Service specified all of the rules to abide by and the limitations as how the Amazon.com website could be promoted. The payment schedule was on a monthly basis, so if the affiliate could send over lots of visitors and they made purchases that affiliate could earn some substantial earning for doing referrals also known as affiliate marketing. The terms of service contract and commission fees  were subject to change, but it’s been a profitable method for the company Amazon.com also called merchant or advertiser and it’s affiliates to generate sales and earn extra money. This created great opportunities for both to partner and make great money. The affiliate program caught on in popularity, since it’s simple to implement, makes sense, and works to generate sales. So, affiliate programs gained huge popularity and spread all over the internet for all kinds of companies, since it was so successful and helped Amazon.com to make huge earnings just online, since they didn’t have any physical stores available.

Why you should start an affiliate marketing business

If, you are considering starting an online business endeavor “affiliate marketing”is probably your best choice, simply because it’s a low cost business solution, simple to develop a website built around your products and services, easy to get started, easy to get lots of information, fast to get into, you can promote just about anything you can imagine ranging from merchandise goods to professional services. As an affiliate marketer you can promote such items as tractors, software, books, electronics, language courses, pianos, weight loss supplements, cell phones, laptops, PCs, Play stations, LCD televisions, GPS, music CDs, DVD movies,tax return services, auto insurance, travel services, mortgage leads, debt solutions, the list is too huge to list, it’s just about endless opportunities.

How affiliate marketing works

A company creates the affiliate program and specifies rules, payment commissions, payment percentages, payment cycles. Affiliates visit the site and read the Terms of Services and decide, if they want to affiliate for that company. Also, the company usually has advertising tips and promotional graphics, html links, banner links, text links and more.

The affiliate can place these ad links on their simple sites to pre-sell the goods and services of the merchant company. Affiliate marketing is a performance based program where, if an affiliate can send lots of buyers they can become very profitable quite easily and fast. Affiliate pay fees and commissions vary from merchant companies and affiliate programs. There are many techniques and methods to send visitors to either your own website or merchant sites. These include traditional marketing and newer online strategies. Will be highlighted here and further explained in later posts.

Offline Marketing Strategies- calls, direct mail, business post cards, billboards, road signs, car magnetic signs, directory listings, magazine ads, business cards, flyers, TV ads, radio ads and other promotional items, such as pens, t-shirts

Online Marketing Strategies – blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, Pay Per View, classified ads, forums, social bookmarking, emails, web 2.0, video