Today, both the merchants and the affiliates can see clearly that it can work for both of them. The merchant sees it today as the chance to advertise their products at a lower cost. The affiliates, on the other hand, sees this as an easy way of earning profits online by doing what they like most, and that is by creating websites. Just as the popularity of this has shifted into greater heights, so has the people's outlook about it changed. No longer it is considered today as an alternative method for the merchant to advertise his products, or as a source of additional income for the affiliates. For merchants and affiliates alike, this is now considered as a main source of profits and revenues. So the question now is what type of this marketing will work best for you? Are all such marketing programs the same? Are the benefits the same? Or are there affiliate marketing programs that work better than the others? For more help visit to:www.affiliate-directories-online.com. There are actually different types or classes of marketing, and the number of types will depend on how one will classify them. Affiliates are often paid on commission basis, although other merchants would opt to pay a fixed fee. But no matter what the basis of the fee is, it is generally higher than the fee paid to affiliates in a pay-per-click affiliate program. In this type, for more help visit to:www.affiliate-sale-booster.com. The affiliate is paid whenever the visitor he referred to the merchant's site fills up an application form or any similar form related to the business of the company. Compensation for this type is based on a fixed fee whose rates approximate that of the fixed fee in the PPS type. For more help visit to: Aside from these three specific types of marketing, a lot of other affiliate marketing types exist. If the classification is based on the depth of the affiliate network, it can be classified as single-tier, two-tier, and multi-tier affiliate marketing. There is also another type that pays the affiliate each time the customer he has referred purchases something from the merchant's site. Single-Tier, Two-Tier, and Multi-Tier Affiliate Marketing. These types of marketing are based on the different levels or tiers in the affiliate network by which payments are made. In a single-tier affiliate marketing program, the affiliates are only paid based on the direct sales or traffic he has referred to the merchant. In two-tier affiliate marketing programs, the affiliate is not only paid for the direct traffic or sales that he refers to the merchant's site, but also on every traffic or sales referred by various other affiliates who joined the affiliate program through his recommendation. Multi-tier works the same way, although the affiliate gets additional commission for a wider number of affiliates in different tiers in the affiliate network. Residual Income Affiliate Marketing In residual income affiliate marketing, the affiliate gets paid not only once for every customer he has referred to the merchant's site. Rather, the affiliate is also paid whenever the customer he has referred returns to the site and purchase another product. Compensation for such type is based on either sales percentage commission or fixed fee basis. The different affiliate marketing types would virtually work differently for merchants and affiliates alike, and each would generally have their own list of benefits. Which type of affiliate marketing will work best for you? It is not really for me to tell. Rather, it is for you to choose which type of affiliate marketing program will suit your needs and characteristics best.