Affiliate Marketing to promote your site - What to look for?

In today’s cut throat internet competition, many small to medium web companies have been finding it difficult to survive. And when it comes to survival, humans usually find out numerous ways to keep alive. One such tool that is being harnessed by more and more websites is the concept of affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is not just about A putting a link on B’s website for a price. Instead, affiliate marketing involves the promotion of a website or service through the efforts and space provided by a second portal. And for each new client the former gets, the latter gets a commission. The commission is determined according to some mutually agreed formula and is generally along the following lines – pay per click (number of clicks by internet surfers on the company link displayed on the second party’s website), registration for any promotion or scheme through the same medium, or outright sale of a product. Amazon.com is one of the pioneers of affiliate marketing and a large number of small and medium websites have gained immensely through its marketing programs.

Affiliate marketing is slowly becoming the preferred marketing tool on the net because usually businesses do not pay unless they get results. It means that no matter how many links you display or whatever products your website promotes for a seller, if nobody clicks on the links, you get no money. Therefore, it is important to watch out for what kinds of products or brands you agree to endorse on your website.

According to available research, roughly $6.5 billion worth of commissions have been handed out to affiliates in 2006. The most lucrative sectors within affiliate marketing have been consumer retail, finance, games, travel and telecom which have earned great results over the last couple of years. Adult content and online gambling too are very active sectors in this segment.

There are different kinds of affiliate sites that work and generate revenues in diverse ways. Perhaps the most common ones are the search engines like Google or Altavista that use the pay per click model for revenue generation. Next there are the “reviewer” sites – websites that test products and rate them according to various set parameters. The newer entrants to affiliate marketing are blogs and RSS feeds in which future customers get feedback from individuals.