Affiliate Compare - Affiliate Marketing Introduction

Affiliate marketing is mainly conducted online by way of advertising products, banners and links on a website or via PPC search engines such as Google Adwords. What makes affiliate marketing so unique is that the advertiser or merchant only pays commission when an actual sale is made.

The actual commission value is usually based on a percentage of the sale, a set value is sometimes called a 'Bounty'.

If you have a website and wish to generate revenue from it without having to sell products, advertising space or to develop complex technology, affiliate marketing allows you to earn revenue by simply promoting other sites. It is an easy and effective way for you to earn money from your website(s).

There are lots of companies who now run their own independent affiliate schemes, for example www.bridal-jewellery.co.uk has their own scheme which allows you to earn a commission on selling wedding jewellery.

But, If you do not want to sign up to programmes individually and have to hunt for them on the internet there are a number of 'umbrella' companies called 'affiliate networks' that have hundreds of companies listed, and you only have to sign up once in order to access all of their company programmes.

Major Affiliate Networks

UK	US
TradeDoubler	LinkShare.com
Commission Junction
Affiliate Future	Australia
Paid on Results	Commission Monster
Affiliate Window
Online Media Group (OMG)

Affiliates then download the tools they want to use such as datafeeds, buttons, links and banners and commence promoting the merchant.

It is important to try and pick companies that sell products or services that match the same theme as your website. For instance there is not much point if you have a website about religion and add banners and links about ann summers.

It is also a good idea to try and market something on your site, that is not heavily marketed elsewhere, as Gambling and Credit cards are one of the most competitive areas on the internet, due to the large returns that can be made. But then again CDs, DVDs and Books are probably the biggest selling items on the internet.

Merchants provide affiliates with text links, banners or buttons to place on their websites. They then pay a commission to the affiliate when a visitor takes a specified action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.

Through traditional affiliate networks the affiliate usually has to wait for the advertier to grant acceptance to the affiliate that they can work with the program. At Affiliate Compare there is no need to wait to be accepted by each advertiser in turn as once your site has been accepted you will be ready to promote all the sites.

When a visitor to an affiliate's website clicks on one of the merchant's advertisements, a cookie is typically placed on the visitor's computer that identifies the merchant, affiliate and user. When the visitor makes a purchase online or fills out a form, the transaction is tracked and recorded.

View our Affiliate Programs Directory which contains a number of affiliate programs in different product and service categories.

AFFILIATE MARKETING INTRODUCTION