What's an affiliate?

Affiliate Marketing is a method in which you get other websites to advertise your products/services and you pay them and the Affiliate provider a percentage of any sales/bookings you make.

Adverts/banners of different sizes are made available on the Affiliate provider’s site for people to utilise on their website.

Give me an example

An example would be a website dedicated to Motor Racing information which would apply to be your affiliate because your website sells cars.

If approved, they would have a banner on their website that would link directly to the ‘cars for sale’ page on your website. Via a ‘cookie’ installed on their computer their activity would be tracked and if they eventually bought a car, the owner of the website would receive a percentage of the transaction.

What does it cost?

Payment would be handled by the Affiliate provider and you would receive a monthly breakdown/invoice. There is usually a cost associated with this which includes a fee to join the scheme per annum, and a further charge per annum for the management of your account by the Affiliate provider, plus the percentage commission of each transaction. If no transactions occur it is also possible to have a ‘pence per lead’ or ‘enquiry’ arrangement. For example, 5p per enquiry or brochure request directly related to the affiliate.

So for instance, if someone buys a product on-line via your site then you will be billed anything between 2.5% and 7.5% (on average) depending on what rate you choose to set. This ‘commission’ goes to the owner of the website who has your link. The benefits of this over ‘Google Adsense’ is that you approve which sites are your affiliates.

Who uses it?

This method is employed by over 950 companies in Europe including many large international companies such as Apple, Dell, Virgin Airlines, John Lewis etc. They also send out regular newsletters to all their affiliate members reminding them of special deals that companies are offering.