Affiliate Marketing for Fun and Profit

Just what is affiliate marketing, anyway?

Affiliate marketing is a system that has developed online over the years, but it's not a new way of marketing at all. Before the internet, business the world over has always found a way to reward a referral or lead that generates interest in a product. These days, the system of rewards is more sophisticated and potentially much more lucrative, being world-wide.

In affiliate marketing, if someone puts an affiliate link on their website, and a visitor clicks that link, then the owner of the website gets rewarded. Types of rewards range from referral commissions to points. The web site owner is called the 'host' and the company that rewards them is called the 'merchant.'

Web site owners use a range of banners and text links to generate interest for affiliates. They are paid 'per click' or 'per sale.' Software is available to track sales, count clicks, and view accounts, account tiers and payment history.

Typical pay-per-click commissions reward between two and four cents. Typical pay-per-sale commissions, usually based on amount, range from four percent to fifteen percent of the sale price.

Merchants using an affiliate program would be wise to speak to an accountant about local laws on affiliate programs and 'Tier 2' affiliate programs. (In the 'Tier 2' system, when the host sends a contact to the merchant, and that contact becomes an affiliate for that merchant, the host gets a percentage of all the contact's rewards.)

Promoting web sites with affiliate marketing is people helping people online, the biggest and best marketplace this world has ever seen.

Sources
http://affiliates.modchipstore.com/
http://www.clockwatchers.com/shopping_cart_affiliate.html