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A friend of mine recently introduced me to the world of affiliate marketing. I have decided that this is a very worthwhile use of time (yours and mine) so for those of you unfamiliar with this opportunity, here is what I have learned so far

1. Affiliate Marketing definition:
An agreement between a merchant and advertiser to pay the advertiser a commission of the initial sales made by those customers forwarded to the merchant's site by the advertiser.

2. How Affiliate Marketing works:
As an advertiser (or publisher) you place affiliate links on your website that advertise a merchant's site. These links are unique to you (by including a code associated with your affiliate account) and so are identifiable. When someone clicks on your link, the merchant web site drops a [tracking] cookie on the user's PC which essentially tags that customer as one of yours. If that customer then goes on to purchase goods or services (within an agreed time frame) from the merchant, the web site knows that you are owed commission (due to the cookie) and this is paid into your account.

3. Signing up with an affiliate:
Whilst some web sites run their own affiliate schemes, by far the majority will use an affiliate network. These are companies that sign up multiple merchants to simplify the merchant/advertiser relationship.

Some examples of these to try would be: Affiliate Future in the UK or Commission Junction in the US

4. Driving traffic to your affiliate:
This is where the science, craft, or sheer good luck comes into it. Your only real job in all this is to steer the traffic in the most efficient way. Obviously you should consider advert placement carefully, and don't be afraid to experiment with different options. You could also consider the world of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising such as Google AdWords. I will write more about this in another article. Stay tuned.

A final word should go to one of my favourite sites. A4U Forum is a UK based site but is a fantastic resource for anyone looking into this subject. Some of the content may appear daunting initially, but stick with it and you will reap the rewards!

Learn more about this author, Matt Lawless.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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