Affiliate programmes

Affiliate programmes are run by people trying to sell a service or product. They then pay a commision to everyone that refers them a client.

Sometimes this involves having a link or banner on your site, and when someone clicks it they get a cookie so the seller knows they came from your site, other times it could be selling the products / services from your site branded to look like your own, when someone buys they pay the company running the affiliate programme and not you. but you still get a commision.

Paul

I have recently got involved in affiliate marketing and have made my first few pounds. Please drop me a message if you have any specific questions that I could help with.

I am seriously thinking about writing a starters guide to AM as I have learned a lot in the process.

Link to an example affiliate aggregator listed below, these are one of a number of companies that put affiliates together with marketers and track sales and make payments.

Affiliate Future

Hello,

I have just signed up a week ago as a Merchant on Affiliate Future and from my understanding what you need to do as an Affiliate is sign up to any affiliate programmes which take your fancy or are relevant to the website that you will use to promote the products.

You don't get paid for clicks, you get paid in a variety of ways, at differing levels - which is one of the things you need to check before signing up. You could be paid for collecting referalls from one site or a % of the sale value for another.

Some affiliates just use banners on their website to market the merchant sites, others have set up directories, shops, PPC or money back schemes - there are many ways to market the merchants sites.

You also need to see how the affiliate programmes will pay you your commission and how frequently, as this varies. On Affiliate Future, I have to keep a 'pot' of money available at all times, so that when a sale is completed from an Affiliate referal, it registers on the system and then they take their commission from the 'pot'.

The merchants can help you by providing banners, product feeds, various special offers to promote, competitions, etc.

A forum you should definitely look at is http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/ as it will provide masses of information and you will be able to talk to other affiliates.

Anyway, hope the above helps.

Kate

p.s. You can sign up to my programme is you like - http://www.bitsnstuff.co.uk/acatalog/Affiliate_Scheme.html

Hi,

One of my sites is an introductory guide to affiliate programs, which will hopefully explain the basics for you as well as providing details of recommended networks and useful resources at:

http://www.affiliatemax.com

Here is a good definition of what affiliate marketing is from Valueclick/Commission Junction:

What is an affiliate?
"An independent party that promotes the products or services of an advertiser in exchange for a commission on leads or sales. The publisher displays ads, text links, or product links on its Web site, in email campaigns, or in search listings and is paid a commission by the advertiser when a visitor takes a specific action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase."

Basically there is a tracking code in each link and if a visitor clicking on that link goes on to make a purchase or provide a qualified lead then you will get a commission or lead fee for that action. This usually has to take place within a specific period of time - anything from 24 hours to 365 days or more, although 30 days is about average. Occasionally you will get paid per click (eg: by kelkoo or pricerunner), but usually the visitor will have to make a purchase or take another specific action such as requesting a catalogue.

Don't forget that the global nature of the internet means that as well as the UK, you can also target the USA market by building sites aimed at a US audience and featuring products/services from relevant US merchants. :wink:

If you are hoping to make money from Christmas shopping traffic you will need to get your skates on as it can take months for search engines to index your site and get decent listings.

Hope this helps!

Mark.