A look at affiliate marketing

Here is a look at affiliate marketing. If you have ever considered affiliate marketing, here is some outlined information that can help you with that decision. This will discuss what affiliate marketing is, who mainly runs it and who benefits from it.

What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an internet marketing practice where businesses reward their affiliates for each new customer brought about by their marketing skills. Affiliate marketing is an industry where a number of different companies and individuals perform this kind of internet marketing by promoting the products and services of their partners.

Who is affiliated marketing run by?
Affiliate marketing is run by affiliate networks formed of two groups, group affiliates and group merchants.

The affiliate network is a third party between the merchant and the associated affiliates. The network provides technology to deliver the merchant's campaigns and offers. The affiliate network also collects commission fees from the merchant and then pays the affiliates.

The merchant is any web site owner that wants to take advantage of performance based marketing. The merchant maintains and operates the affiliate program. Finding a fit for their merchandise would be the key to more generated income. The merchant has access to markets and customers without them spending a valuable amount of time searching it out. The merchant is who decides how much they are willing to pay for each sale that results from a visitor sent from an affiliate. Many merchants like affiliate marketing because the merchant does not incur a marketing expense unless results are produced, except for any start up costs. Some businesses owe much of their success to this marketing technique.

The affiliate marketer also sees a lot of benefits. The affiliate is a web site owner that promotes one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. The affiliate needs to have a good understanding with the merchant what the commission will be, the expected payment method and time involved in the contract. The affiliate has also the responsibility to stand for the merchandise their user would be most interested in.

Who benefits from affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing programs are commonly used by large and small companies as a low risk way of getting new customers. For years, affiliate marketing has been a cost efficient method of delivering long-term results. It has become very popular for internet sites that are trying to make more income for their site. Many people have been interested in affiliate marketing and want to make money out of it. The problem is that some new affiliates don't understand how the affiliate world works and in return make expensive mistakes.

Misconceptions of affiliate marketing:

Publishing equals success
The biggest misconception people have is that affiliate marketing only requires you to publish your link and you will earn a commission. Most marketers fail to realized that just like any other business you must build a relationship with your prospective customers and keep sending your message to them multiple times. It has been estimated that it takes seventeen contacts with a prospect before he/she will make a purchase.

Same steps mean same results
Doing the same things as others have done in the past, doesn't mean yours will be successful. Try to think outside of the box. Be creative and patient. Those things alone could set you apart from the rest of the affiliate marketers.

Work is minimal
Another misconception is that the amount of work involved in promoting a product will be minimal. Advertising any online product or business can be costly and very time consuming. You cannot just rely on search engines to drive traffic to your website.

A great site creates a lot of great traffic
Catchy and fun web sites, original content, and easy routing do not guarantee high web traffic. Much more planning and work must go into each site to produce a high volume of traffic.

Affiliate marketing is a great situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If both work together, they can be an advantage to each other. Affiliate marketing is an easy and inexpensive way to start producing customers, and you can be up and running within a few days.

When taking a look at affiliate marketing, you will discover it is a business like any other and when treated with proper planning and persistence, it will generate an income for you that you can be proud of.