Affiliate Program is a campaign where small website owner registers with any manufacturer, supplier or product providers website. The small website place a link, banner, product advertisement on his/her website. When any user from his/her website go through these links and make a deal or buy/purchase the product, the website owner get paid with a fixed commision.

The affiliate or associate program model was initiated by Amazon in 1996 and as of now there is a counts over 450,000 sites in its network. That is a big reason behind increadible growth of the amazon.

As merchants have rushed to build programs, an entirely new category has been born: affiliate networks. Running a network of affiliates is not rocket science, but it does require quite a bit of time and commitment. For that reason, many merchants are finding that outsourced providers offer a compelling solution.

Some vendors like LinkShare provide tracking, reporting, and affiliate recruiting. Other programs like Dynamic Trade and Commission Junction offer additional services: cutting checks, sending out end-of-year tax forms, and responding to webmaster queries. Complete do-it-yourselfers should check out the listing of affiliate scripts at the CGI Resource Index. Several dozen scripts are listed, ranging from freeware and shareware to scripts costing a few hundred dollars.

In a few short years, affiliate marketing has become a significant force in how commerce on the web occurs. Thousands of merchants now use affiliate marketing to get business done. The model is now being flexed to drive behavior beyond mere commerce transactions.

And yet for all the jargon and hype, affiliate marketing is about connecting buyers and sellers and rewarding those that facilitate the connections. After all, the value isn't in the transaction, it's in the relationship...


Share your thoughts and experience on the Affiliate Marketing!

Thanks,
Monica
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