Affiliate Marketing Terms Defined

Posted by Denise Griffitts on Aug 4, 2011 in Internet Mastery | 0 comments

For new online marketers it can get a little confusing trying to define what some of the more common affiliate marketing terms are. This quick explanation should help.

Affiliate Program: This is a system that is built to track sales by third parties. The third party’s incentive to sell is defined by the affiliate program owner and is usually a percentage of the sale or a pre-determined one time payout. A high quality affiliate program will include a control panel to view traffic and sales, obtain sales materials for the product or service that you (the affiliate) is marketing, and the ability to keep in touch with the affiliate with news and updates.

Affiliate: An affiliate (you) is simply a person who signs up to sell another merchants product or service. The affiliate (you) is paid a commission for each sale they create for the merchant.

For example, one of the greatest affiliate marketers I know is Rosalind Gardner, author of the Super Affiliate Handbook. This book is one of the very first books that I purchased online as a download and is an important part of my entrepreneurial library. I also recommend and promote it as an affiliate, which is exactly what I am doing now as an illustration. I know Rosalind. I have followed her career and business advice for many years. I have interviewed her several times on my Internet radio show, Your Partner In Success Radio. So am I confident that I am promoting one heck of a product? Yes. In fact, let’s make that a “Hell Yes!” I greatly admire Rosalind’s work and am hoping that if you are interested at all in affiliate marketing that you will purchase and study her book and follow her on her blog. She is in my opinion, quite simply the best person to learn affiliate marketing from. If nothing else, connect with her on her blog and on Facebook!

Some of my favorite affiliate programs:

• ClickBank
• Commission Junction (CJ.com)
• Shareasale

What you need to know:

When I mention a product or service in my blogs, I give you my word that I am using it myself and think enough of it to endorse it. I NEVER promote a product or service that I am not fully familiar with and that I don’t use for myself in my own life or business. More often than not the link is my affiliate link, and if you click through using my link and purchase something, I will get paid. Not all links are affiliate links however, as I am always willing to share great advice, tips, products or services from people who do not have affiliate programs set up.