Affiliate marketing may be one of the greatest ways to drive revenue up for your business. How do we know this? Well, did you know that there are 11,400 affiliate programs in the US alone?
In addition, 16 percent of all orders placed online are a result of affiliate marketing!
Online sales will reach $4.2 trillion dollars by the end of this year, so 16 percent through affiliate marketing is a whole lot of money!
Our ultimate guide is going to tell you everything else you need to know, so keep reading!
How Exactly Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Affiliate marketing is a buzzword that’s been around for a number of years now, something we’ve all heard, but don’t necessarily understand.
Affiliate marketing is basically a successful referral system. Ultimately, a retailer or business will reward an affiliate marketer with a commission on the number of successful referrals they’ve made.
Although, typically, affiliate marketing usually uses the number of actual sales as a result of the affiliate marketer’s efforts and not just referral numbers.
With affiliate marketing you’re looking at four main members in the process:
- The affiliates are the people doing the marketing of the product to earn commission
- The product creators are the brand trying to increase their sales
- The networks help to manage the affiliates
- Consumers will be the buyers at the end of the process
So, let’s take a look and the next ‘need-to-knows.’
Affiliate Marketing: Important Terminology
There are so many acronyms to know when it comes to affiliate marketing! Here’s a list and a brief description to familiarize yourself:
- What is EPC? Earning-per-click is a term used by businesses to determine how much they’ve earned per click or sales through affiliate marketing
- What is PPC? Pay-per-click is a type of affiliate marketing where the marketer gets paid for the number of clicks generated
- What is PPL? Pay-per-lead means that the affiliate marketer gets paid for leads they generate, and not just on clicks
- What is PPS? Pay-per-sale is a structure that allows all the risk to lie with the affiliate marketer, as they will receive the pay out only on successful sales
Now you know what everyone means when these acronyms are thrown around. So what do you need to know before you started?
Success in Affiliate Marketing for Business
As a business interested in driving up revenue through affiliate marketing, there is one thing we would like to tell you:
Ensure that your interest in affiliate marketing and the program that you decide on suits your brand. If you’re going to have people online that are promoting your products and services, you’ll want them to be the type of people that your ideal target market would respect.
Affiliate marketing can also be an extension of your brand’s online perception, so make sure you start with the right strategy in place.
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