When starting of with affiliate marketing you may not know the different types of affiliate programs available for you to start your online business, and which affiliate marketing opportunities will be of interest to you. It's very important to understand the basics of affiliate marketing, so you don't waste your precious time with marketing campaigns that are not suitable for the type of affiliate program.



If you need the basics of affiliate programs, then read on, because I'm going to discuss the different type of affiliate programs and affiliate marketing opportunities available for affiliates today.

Affiliate programs can be categorized into two types, which are pay per click (PPC) and pay performance (PPP). Basically they both bring satisfactory results, depending on how you evaluate them.

Pay per click (PPC)

Pay per click affiliate programs have gained popularity amongst affiliate marketers. It maybe because it's quite easy to make money with pay per click. Pay per click affiliate programs pay affiliates every time they refer a visitor to their website, regardless if the visitor buys or not. The merchants can either offer text or banner ads for the affiliate to choose and paste on his website. So when a visitor clicks on the text or banner ads, the affiliate gets paid a certain amount or percentage agreed with the merchant. You would not expect to get big bucks from a single click because most single clicks can be as low as $0.05. But if you can drive lots of traffic and generate lots of clicks, then you can make quite a lot.

Pay per performance (PPP)

Pay per performance is the most lucrative type of affiliate program for affiliates, because with pay per performance the merchant pays the affiliate when the visitor buys the product (Pay per sale) or signs up for anything the merchant is offering (Pay per Lead).

This type of affiliate programs are popular amongst merchants and are often used by finance and insurance companies who need sign-ups for their business to grow. And most of, if not all info products also fall in this category. The commission pay out is quite considerate ranging around 15% to 50%. So if the product is selling for $150 and you get 50% a sell, your commissions will be $75.

Tier affiliate marketing

Tier affiliate marketing or different level affiliate marketing are affiliate programs that can benefit affiliates from referring others to the affiliate program.

Tier affiliate marketing can be categorized into different groups named single-tier, two-tier, and multi tier. And are all based on the different levels in the affiliate network by which payments are made.

In single-tier affiliate marketing, affiliate commissions are only paid on traffic or direct sales he/she refers to the merchant. Then in two-tier affiliate marketing, the affiliate is not only paid for direct sales that he refers to the merchant, but you are given the opportunity of referring other people to the affiliate program and once they sign up and become affiliates, you get a certain percentage of all sells they make. Multi-tier affiliate marketing is similar to two-tier affiliate marketing, but you the affiliate get additional commissions for a wider number of affiliates in different tiers. You get a percentage of your referrals referrals.

Residual income affiliate marketing

Some affiliates take residual income affiliate programs the “to go” affiliate program. Because with residual income you are given the opportunity as well to refer other people to the affiliate program, but get paid every month as long as the referral stays a member of the affiliate program. So it's like continuous checks month after month.

Knowing the different types of affiliate programs is your foundation on starting your own online business. You can now be able to evaluate which type of affiliate program you will be excited about marketing, and start your marketing campaign. Do remember that if does take work to generate money online, but with these basics you are on your way to online marketing success.