Affiliate Marketing - Different Types There are a number of reasons why affiliate marketing programs are so popular as they are today. The most probable reason, however, could revolve around the fact that the benefits of affiliate marketing have become clearer to a lot more people today than in past times. Today, both merchants and affiliates can utilize affiliate marketing with about the same relative success. The merchant can advertise at a lower cost, while affiliates can easily profit today by creating websites online with which to advertise almost unlimited products. As the benefits of affiliate marketing have shifted to greater heights, so has the general public view on affiliate marketing. Merchants often no longer view affiliate marketing as an alternative method of promoting merchandise - many merchants gain profit solely through affiliate marketing now. Also, many online business operate solely in affiliate sales! Affiliate Marketing is now considered as a main source of profits and revenues for many successful business people today. So the questions that remain now are: What type of affiliate marketing will work best for you? Are all affiliate marketing programs the same? Are the benefits the same? Are there affiliate marketing programs that work better than the others? There are actually different types or classes of affiliate marketing, and the number of types will depend on how one will classify them. The most basic affiliate marketing programs, however, fall under two categories: pay-per-click (PPC), and pay-per-performance (PPP). • Pay Per Click (PPC) PPC is the most popular type of affiliate marketing for affiliates with small websites. PPC is probably the easiest way to earn money. With this affiliate marketing type, the merchant pays his affiliate whenever a visitor is referred to his site - that is - whenever someone clicks through the merchant's banner or text ads. The affiliate is paid a certain value even if the visitor he referred does not purchase anything from the merchant's site. Typical fees for PPC are usually limited and usually do not exceed a dollar for every click. • Pay Per Performance (PPP) PPP marketing is most popular among merchants, and is also the most lucrative type for affiliates. With PPP, the merchant only pays the affiliate whenever an affiliate referral translates into an action. This means - whenever a referred visitor actually buys something from the merchant's site or when the visitor becomes a lead. This situation results in a lot of savings for the merchant. On the other hand, it becomes the most lucrative type for the dedicated affiliate, too, for commissions in PPP affiliate marketing usually comes in the range of 15% to 20% of the actual product sales. Pay-per-performance affiliate marketing can be further classified into two popular types: pay-per-sales (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL). * Pay Per Sale (PPS) In situations where PPS is utilized, merchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever a referred visitor from the affiliate visits the merchant site and actually buys something there. Affiliates are usually paid on commission basis, although other merchants would opt to pay a fixed fee. 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. * Pay Per Lead (PPL) PPL is slightly different than the PPS type, and is often used by insurance and finance companies, or other companies who rely on leads for their company to grow. Here, the affiliate is paid whenever the visitor he referred to the merchant's site fills out application forms or any similar forms related to the business of the company. Compensation for this type of affiliate marketing is based on a fixed fee. Rates are approximately that of the fixed fee in PPS type marketing. Aside from the specific types of affiliate marketing above, a lot of other affiliate marketing types exist. If the classification is based on the depth of the affiliate network, programs can be classified as single-tier, two-tier, and multi-tier affiliate marketing. There is also another type of affiliate marketing 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 are based on the levels or tiers in the affiliate network by which payments are made. A single-tier affiliate marketing program will pay affiliates at the surface level, based on direct sales or traffic referred to the merchant. All previously mentioned affiliate marketing types (PPS, PPL, PPC) fall under single-tier classification. • In two-tier affiliate marketing programs, affiliates are paid for the direct traffic they refer to merchant websites as well as traffic/sales referred by various other affiliates who joined the affiliate program through his/her recommendation. Multi-tier affiliate marketing 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 Here, an affiliate gets paid for every customer he has referred to the merchant's site - and then also gets paid for the same customer's subsequent visits and purchases on the merchant site. Compensation is based on either sales percentage commission or fixed fee basis. The different affiliate marketing types all have different 'benefit' considerations for merchants and affiliates, but one thing is certain - affiliate programs are POPULAR! Find programs that suit YOUR needs as either an affiliate or a merchant. |
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