Affiliate marketing is an arrangement by which you earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.
Affiliate marketing is sometimes also known as performance marketing or CPA marketing. The definition of affiliate marketing makes it different than other forms of digital marketing.
Although it’s a form of online adverting, affiliate marketing is much different than just hosting ad banners.
Unlike ad banners, with affiliate marketing, you usually don’t get paid unless a visitor “converts.”
Typically, a conversion is defined as a purchase made by the prospect (the visitor to your site). But some merchants define “conversion” differently. It can be as complex as a customer not only purchasing a product but also performing a specific action after that purchase is made.
In other cases it can be as simple as an email lead.
One of my favorite affiliate marketing sites is Click Bank but almost any merchant offers an Affiliate program. Signup with your favorite company, get setup with their affiliate program and start sharing your affiliate link.
At the high level, this is how affiliate marketing works:
- A visitor to your blog reads an article on your website.
- The visitor then clicks on an affiliate link, which redirects the visitor to the merchant’s website.
- On the merchant’s site, the visitor then performs the desired event.
- The affiliate is credited for the event.
