What is an affiliate programme?

In order to increase their market share, many online businesses allow individuals and other companies to promote their products as affiliates. The affiliate places the company's ads on their website and commissions are earned when certain actions occur, such as when a person clicks on one of the ads and subsequently makes a purchase. The ads contain special linking code so that the referral can be tracked back to the correct affiliate. Cookies and/or IP logging are normally used so that the affiliate still earns a commission even if the customer doesn't make a purchase straight away. The number of days that can pass while still being eligible to earn a commission can vary from one day up to several months, and depends on the terms and conditions set by the company. Some programmes even pay out commissions for qualified leads or clicks even if no purchase is made.

Affiliate programmes can be very profitable but many people find it hard to make any money out of them. A successful affiliate campaign requires you to select highly targeted products and banners, and works best if you recommend a product or service as part of the dialogue on your website.

Popular affiliate programmes

Commission Junction (CJ) acts as a sort of agent, connecting thousands of advertisers and content publishers through their affiliate system. Although CJ takes a cut out of the fees paid by the advertisers, the system offers advantages for all parties; Publishers don't need to sign up to lots of separate affiliate programs and they can feel confident that they will be paid due to CJ's strong reputation. Advertisers are also happy because there are thousands of publishers in CJ's network that are ready to display their ads.

clickXchange.com Affiliate Network - clickXchange.com, is a leading affiliate marketing solution provider. Web publishers maximize their revenue and site content providing advertisers with traffic, leads and sales. Currently 6 commission structures supported.