With the fascinating and rapid increase of the internet around the world e-commerce has also grown by leaps and bounds. In fact, e-commerce today has outgrown the traditional marketing and purchase of goods and services such that in the field of consumer industries there is hardly any company that doesn’t have a foothold in the area of internet marketing. Over the time with significant research into methods of making e-commerce a mainstay in their business companies or sellers have started newer and newer methods of driving traffic to their websites. However, it was later realized by astute marketing companies that it wasn’t sufficient enough for traffic being generated by the help of search engine optimization, but that the resulting traffic should make use of the offers that a website of a particular product offers. For this, around the year 1994 after the World Wide Web was born, the concept of revenue sharing by paying commission to referral businesses was made use of by the affiliate advertisers taking the advantage of the World Wide Web.
In other words, the website publishers or advertisers set a paid fee for each referral that came to their website through the concept of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing to some extent even goes a step further than other internet based marketing methods. Affiliate marketing not only uses organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, email marketing, display advertising, but also publishes reviews of products or services offered by clients or parties. Thus, it is seen that the main objective of affiliate marketing is to drive traffic for one website to another. And the concept of revenue sharing makes this effort almost automatic with participatory method of marketing. It is seen, after a careful analysis and deep study of internet marketing by different companies which use this form of affiliate network that 80% affiliates today use revenue sharing method or cost per sale (CPS). The other 19% uses the method of cost per action (CAA) while the remaining 1% uses the method of cost per click (CPC). This quite obviously shows that more affiliate network advertisers are trying the safer methods of cost per sale which doesn’t bring in any form of fraud or malpractices as in the case of cost per action and cost per click.
It is also to be noted that the affiliate network advertisers are growing in great numbers and it is on record that among the most notable giants in this form of marketing are Amazon and Google. Google with its strong base in internet marketing with Google Ad Sense would pose a great danger to the smaller entities which are actually also in the fray. However, over time the internet as always hopes to come out with answers as to how to enable the smaller affiliate network advertisers to sustain the onslaught and survive to tell their tales of success.
An affiliate model is an incredibly powerful strategy to help online marketers increase their revenue-producing model. The most appealing component of an affiliate model is that you are not required to manage, maintain, and carry an inventory of products! That means less paperwork, shipping, and warehouse management.
How an Affiliate Model Works
With this type of business model, a website serves as a ‘store-front’ for certain goods or services. That website is based on a particular niche product and the content of the site supports and enhances the value of the site to visitors and customers. A niche product focus enables a website owner to leverage the sales of relevant products and services through an affiliate relationship.
Website owners (the “store-front”) focus on creating compelling, unique content related to the particular niche. As they increase their value to potential customers, their website traffic increases. The increase in website traffic also increases their likelihood of creating high conversion rates for the sale of affiliate products and services.
Accessing the Affiliate Products
Gaining access to the affiliate’s products through this model is simple. The website owner links with the affiliate program through an affiliate network to establish a connection. Once the connection is established, the affiliate program’s link is prominently displayed on the website. As the niche marketer creates valuable content, that also includes references to affiliate products and links, traffic is driven to the affiliate’s website where a purchase is made.
Once referrals and purchases are completed, the money starts flowing!
E-commerce in Action
The affiliate model is e-commerce in action. E-commerce is any method of buying and selling products over the Internet. It is a method of providing valuable goods or services in response to a consumer’s needs. Through the affiliate model, it is even easier to identify the most lucrative niche markets for products.
Website niches or themes are evaluated and the affiliate programs associated with them are complementary to the website content and theme. This makes the affiliate programs more attractive to website visitors. They are already interested in the type of affiliate product being promoted, making them more likely to click-through to the affiliate’s website.
Always keep in mind that the greatest success with an affiliate model comes by selecting the best affiliate programs. Some affiliate programs pay more than others. Some pay based on ‘clicks’, while others only pay on actual sales. But don’t assume you’ll get paid with EVERY click to the affiliate. Many of them pay-out “per one hundred clicks”. Some affiliate models include a payment per visitor referred. Be sure you understand the payment structure for the particular affiliate model you consider.
The affiliate model is an incredibly effective way to increase your online presence and grow your business. It offers opportunities that are not traditionally available in the offline business since it is quick and easy to get up and running. Take advantage of the affiliate model to get your business moving today for a better future tomorrow.