Small Business Resource: Affiliate Marketing

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November 29, 2006

Affiliate Marketing - Does it Really Pay?

Affiliate marketing's been a staple of the internet marketing scene for many years now. It's highly touted as a money maker for newbies and experienced marketers alike. But does it really pay to be an affiliate marketer? Let's take a look to learn more...

Basically affiliate marketing is an agreement between a web site owner and a merchant. The web site owner's actually an advertiser for the merchant or product creator. The agreement is a contract between the two parties that stipulates that the site owner can use various methods including the space on his site to promote the merchants goods. The merchant meanwhile agrees to pay a percentage of each sale generated through the affiliates personalized link.

This benefits both sides because the product creator spends nothing to advertise their goods and the affiliate pays nothing to research and develop new products.

This creates a win-win situation.

The product creator wins by saving money on advertising, which is one of the most costly aspects of doing business, by passing this cost on to affiliates. Basically it's a pay-per-performance deal because the merchant doesn't accrue any costs until the sale's made and the merchant pays the specified commission.

The affiliate marketer wins by being able to sell an already developed product, thus saving the time and money on the front end by not having to deal with R

Posted by David at November 29, 2006 10:42 PM