Basics Of Affiliate
Marketing
By: Matt Bacak
Whether you realize it or
not, if you've been on the
Internet today, you have
encountered
affiliate
marketing. If you have ever
"clicked thru" one site to
order something from
another, the first site
probably received a portion
of the sale. For instance,
independent booksellers have
limited shelf space for
books. But they can offer
their customers an almost
unlimited inventory of
titles by affiliating with
companies like Amazon or
Powell's. The more orders,
the bigger the
affiliate
percentage.
Visitors to your site are
interested in lots of things
that may or may not be
related to your product. But
when you know your customers
well, it's simply a matter
of affiliating yourself with
sites that offer what they
want. What you receive is
just a small percentage of
the sale, but it adds up,
especially when you consider
that all it costs you is a
link on your web page. And
usually, the more sales your
affiliate makes from
your "click thru" traffic,
the bigger your percentage
will be.
The key to success in
affiliate marketing
is being able to track
referred customers. As an
affiliate manager, you
want a system that reliably
tracks what you want, with
minimal effort on your part,
and without affecting the
performance of your site or
server. Over the last few
years a variety of
technologies and strategies
have been developed in an
attempt to improve accuracy,
convenience, and
flexibility.
There are at least half a
dozen methods, but by far
the most preferred method is
Cookie Tracking. It's
popular because it makes
tracking affiliate-referred
sales so convenient, without
negatively impacting your
site. This system writes a
small text file, called a
"cookie," to a user's
browser when they click on
an
affiliate link.
When you are the referring
affiliate, the cookie holds
your ID, so that at the
merchant's order page, you
get
credit for
referring the sale. One
drawback is that many
computer users disable
cookies, although most
choose not to, since their
favorite sites require them.
One bonus is that the
merchant can save the
information, so that even if
a customer buys long after
clicking through your site,
you still get
credit
for the sale.
Affiliate marketing, at its
best, is a win-win scenario.
It's an easy way to offer
your customers more of what
they want, while you
benefit, both in terms of
building goodwill and making
money.
About The Author:
Matt Bacak became "#1 Best
Selling Author" in just a
few short hours. Recent
Entrepreneur Magazine's
e-Biz radio show host is
turning Authors, Speakers,
and Experts into Overnight
Success Stories. Discover
The Secrets
http://promotingtips.com
Copyright Matt Bacak -
http://promotingtips.com
