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In the world of internet marketing, you will often hear affiliate marketing described as a “win-win situation”. This may well be the case, owing to the benefits gained by both the marketer and the hosting website. So where does a beginner start with affiliate marketing and affiliate networks?

What is an Affiliate Network?

Affiliate Networks

Affiliate marketing refers to the idea of a company allowing another company to display their advertisements on their website – for instance, a food retailer publishing their ads on a restaurant’s website. An affiliate network acts as a go-between between companies that wish to advertise their products or services (these are called “merchants” in affiliate marketing terminology) and websites that are willing to display their ads (the “affiliates” or “publishers”). Essentially an affiliate network is a group with several publishers and merchants as its members, which allows publishers a high degree of convenience in promoting products that their audience is likely to be interested in, and allows merchants to easily promote their products and also track their popularity.

Examples of Affiliate Networks:

• Google AdSense: This is one of the most popular affiliate networks, allowing all publishers to display Google Ads relevant to their content. It is free to participate in and join, and allows the publishing website to earn as the ads are clicked by site visitors.
• Commission Junction: This is possibly one of the largest American affiliate networks, and the publishing website is paid by the merchant whenever the ad causes a sale – i.e. commission based payment.
• ClixGalore: This is an international affiliate network and operates in several different regions such as Australia, Japan and the UK. They offer various affiliate programs and the mode of payment is either pay per click or commission based, depending on the specific merchant and publisher.

Benefits of Affiliate Networks:

For the merchant, joining an affiliate network has the following benefits:
• New sales channels are opened, and in many networks you only pay if sales leads are actually generated.
• The hassle of handling the arrangement’s details is taken up by the network, and good networks still allow the publisher some control while handling the smaller details.

For the publisher, joining an affiliate network has the following benefits:
• The network will ensure that you get paid your due commission on any sale made because of your displaying the advertisement.
• It is a great way to supplement your income, and as long as you choose good quality products to promote, it will not harm your reputation in any way.