What is Affiliate Marketing?



Affiliate marketing is quite simple to explain:

you promote and market a product or company in

return for a commission if a sale or lead is made

from your marketing efforts. With online affiliate

marketing you simply place your affiliate ID embedded

links on your web pages and if a customer clicks

your link and proceeds to that designated company's

site and makes a purchase or signs up for a service,

you earn a commission.

Affiliate marketing, if done right, can prove to be

a very lucrative venture. Commissions can run anywhere

from a few pennies to thousands of dollars for just

one click or sale. Professional marketers develop

affiliate relationships with hundreds of companies

and build sites to promote these companies and products.

Needless to say, the advent of the Internet has been

a golden opportunity for affiliate marketers to really

expand their promotions and marketing. As more as more

customers choose to buy online, advertising and purchases

keep increasing at a maddening pace.

To accommodate all this online ecommerce we have seen

the birth of large affiliate networks, operated by

large corporations. Make no mistake, affiliate marketing

is big business, accounting for billions in sales and

commissions.

What is an Affiliate Network?

An affiliate network is a third party facilitator

which brings affiliates and companies together.

It connects Advertisers (companies with products

or services to sell) together with Publishers (those

who display and promote these products or services)

so they can do business. The affiliate network does

all the tracking, accounting and payment of commissions.

The following Top 10 list of the best Affiliate Networks

is compiled by an actual full-time affiliate marketer

who has worked these programs for over five years. This

list is subjective and based on first-hand experience.

It should be seen in this light and every marketer probably

will have a different list or have these in a different

picking order depending on the type and nature of their

marketing.

But this list of the 10 Best Affiliate Networks will

give you a general rundown on these affiliate networks

and how they operate.

1. Commission Junction (www.cj.com)

Now owned by ValueClick, Commission Junction was one

of the first affiliate networks. It is also one of the

most important with many of the Top Fortune 500 companies

listed here.

CJ is an international network with excellent stats and

tracking (some of the best you will find), along with

regular monthly payments makes this the obvious first

choice for anyone wishing to try affiliate marketing.

For those new or old at affiliate marketing, CJ also holds

regular seminars and training sessions.

Most merchants offer pay-per-lead or pay-per-sale, one

of the best features is the performance bonuses and

incentives. As most experienced marketers will know,

selling 50k to 100k each month for merchants will bring

in the big incentives or bonuses.

Commissions run as high as 50% but most are in 3% to 15%

range. You have the option of direct deposit for your

payments. One major plus, CJ will tell you which merchants

and ads are earning the most revenue for affiliates so you

can easily choose which merchants are worth promoting.

2. ClickBank (www.clickbank.com)

ClickBank is another professional affiliate network with

excellent stats and tracking. Easy to use and pays every

two weeks.

ClickBank is slightly different from the other networks

in that it deals mainly with digital download products.

The commissions from ClickBank are usually much higher

than the other networks, around 40% to 50% or more.

ClickBank has over 10,000 products but keep in mind,

info-marketing products will have stiff competition from

all the savvy and well established Internet marketers

promoting these same products. Consider youself warned!

The most successful marketing tactic here is to first

dominate your targeted niche with your blogs and sites,

then find affiliate products to match your content or niche

subject matter, whether it be gardening equipment, gaming

laptops or Mediterranean cruises!.

3. LinkShare (www.linkshare.com)

LinkShare is another excellent affiliate network. It

is one of the oldest affiliate networks on the web.

LinkShare was recently acquired by the Japanese Portal

Rakuten, with a price tag of $425 million.

Very good stats and reporting with their Synergy Analytics

system. Many Top Fortune 500 companies are presented here so

you will no trouble finding products and services to promote.

LinkShare pays commissions as they receive them from merchants

- monthly checks.

4. Affiliate Window (www.affiliatewindow.com)

Affiliate Window is an UK based affiliate network which

offers top brand companies and good commission rates.

Pays once a month and has excellent stats.

Savvy affiliate marketers know promoting in other

countries can be much easier than promoting in the

American market place. Mainly because these other

countries haven't become saturated with online marketers,

little competition means more sales.

5. Amazon (www.amazon.com)

Amazon is another excellent affiliate network to join

if you want to sell products from your site or blog.

Amazon has excellent stats and the links are very

easy to create and place on your web pages.

You also have the option of creating your own

store with Amazon aStores. Amazon also now has

context link ads and Widgets!

Commission rates are somewhat lower than the other

networks but making sales thru Amazon is much, much

easier. You will make more sales mainly because Amazon

is a well known and trusted online company. Amazon

now pays monthly.

6. Shareasale (www.shareasale.com)

Shareasale is yet another easy system to work with

good stats and simple to create links. With 1,700+

merchants to choose from, Shareasale is another

good affiliate network to promote.

The control panel is easy to use and the reporting

is very good. Usually pays the month following your

sales.

7. Google (www.google.com/adsense/)

Many won't think of Google as an Affiliate network but

it does run affiliate products thru its Adsense program.

Very few products but like everything from Google it

is professionally run and top caliber all the way.

Please note, top marketers know affiliate links/products

on their content pages will return 10 times what Google

Adsense will give them. However, these marketers will also

know using Google Adsense on less targeted pages throughout

your sites or blogs will give you a healthy return.

Besides receiving that monthly check from a multi-billion

dollar company like Google will put a smile on your

face every time.

8. LinkConnector (www.linkconnector.com)

LinkConnector is a relatively new affiliate network

which launched in 2004. It has Pay Per Click, Pay Per

Sale and Pay Per Lead. Good stats and reporting.

Worth checking out for their different types of new

affiliate technology such as Direct Linking which

passes pagerank along to the merchant's site.

9. CPA Empire (www.cpaempire.com)

Great CPA (Cost Per Action) network especially if

you do a lot of email marketing and promotions. Geared

towards acquiring leads and sign-ups but does offer other

merchants as well. Good stats and reporting.

10. Independents

Individual affiliate deals with different companies which

may or may not be listed with the major networks above.

Your independent affiliate deals will be some of your most

lucrative since you can sometimes work out separate private

commission rates and bonuses. Aim for residual income here.

Don't ignore this aspect of affiliate marketing as it will

pay the highest dividends.

Keep in mind, all the above affiliate networks are middlemen,

they come between you and the merchant you're promoting.

For affiliates with a proven track record, who have shown

they can deliver the customers and sales, a private deal

cutting out the middleman/fees can prove very beneficial

for both parties. If you're fortunate enough to become known

as a super affiliate, these private deals will become more

common and more profitable.

Professional affiliate marketers use all of the above

networks to create multiple income streams from their

marketing efforts. In the process, they build a healthy

monthly income for themselves and their families. There

is no reason why you can't do the same.