What is Affiliate Marketing?
That’s a good question – and it has a simple, basic answer – it’s when a company or group decides to sell its services or products thru an intermediary (read salesperson) for a set return per action, the action being a sale, a lead, a conversion etc. In a nutshell, that’s exactly what affiliate marketing was, and is, today. Saying that, however, opens such a huge can of worms that it’s almost impossible to touch on the MLM subject matter, which has driven affiliate marketing to such an extent that too many people now see them as being intrinsically linked, and not for the better.
Amazon was the initiator of the affiliate marketing boom online, when it opened its doors to other sales avenues waay back in ’97. Since then, huge numbers of companies have copied that model, and it has driven countless millions in sales over the past few years that it’s hard nowadays to NOT see an advert or link on a site that doesn’t have some affiliate marketing in step with it.
That link to NY Times on your favorite site? Probably an affiliate marketing link. The coupon on your local mechanic’s site for ZZ dollars off? More than likely an affiliate marketing site link. It’s become such a part of our online world it’s more a hunt for those that don’t do it, than for those that do. While it looks like it’s everywhere, the main reason for it is that for a relatively low cost, you can engage a sales force that outweighs your own company to a staggering amount, and see the returns from it almost at will.
It’s not unheard of for companies to close they’re affiliate marketing sections simply because they cannot keep up with demand from these marketing arms. Some companies exist solely to supply affiliate links to marketers, and from that themselves earn a substantial income anyway!
As there really is no such thing as a free lunch, it’s worth mentioning here that for this program to work it does need to pay decently for the affiliate’s themselves as no-one will really put a lot of effort into it for you if the return is not good enough, so if you’re looking to market a new product that costs $300 per sale, and you pay your affiliates $1 per sale, well, you’re just not going to have that many affiliates, are you? So use common sense when using affiliate marketing, and all will be well.
