Affiliate Marketing is an internet marketing arrangement where a business rewards an affiliate for sales that the affiliate brings the business.  According to Rosalind Gardner, the “Affiliate Marketing Queen:”  “Basically, any company trying to do business on the web WITHOUT an affiliate program nowadays is dead in the water – and they all need affiliates to promote their products!”

Large Fortune 500 companies have started affiliate programs to sell their merchanchandise; companies like Sony, Barnes & Noble, Dell, Staples, Dell, Old Navy… just to name a few.  These are companies that realize they can increase their profit margin and cut down on their overhead by establishing relationships with people like us, contract employees or most commonly known as affiliates.

The reward is monetary and usually not handled directly through the business. There is a distinction between Direct and Indirect Relationships you will have with a sponsoring company.  While Indirect Relationships are more common and should be considered the general rule, there are always exceptions to rules.  He is an exception to that rule…

Direct Relationship

A Direct Relationship is really quite simple.  There is no third party arrangement.  You simply sign-up directly with a company.  Quite a few Internet Marketing Programs and Super Affiliates manage their affiliate relationship this way.  Another great example is found with website hosting companies.  Global Domains International (GDI) and HostGator are both hosting companies that directly manage their own affiliate relationships.

 Getting Paid and Transacting Business

Let’s face it, everyone wants to know how … the means by which, they are paid their commissions.  Here are the two most used, thereby most popular methods of payment on the Internet.  Plus, they both offer their own Affiliate arrangements.  So, not only can you use these services to transact your Internet business, you can also refer their services and generate addional income for your business.  You establish a direct relationship with these two companies.

 

If you do not already have accounts with PayPal and AlertPay, you should sign up with both …immediately!  There is no charge.

 

Sign up for PayPal and start accepting credit card payments instantly.

 

Note:  I receive the majority of my commissions via my PayPal account. 

 

Indirect Relationships

This is the most common and most profitable Affiliate marketing relationship to establish …once you pay structure has been established.  Here is a description of Affiliate marketing:
Let’s face it, a large business might have thousands of affiliate marketers and that is just too much for the business to handle.

Courtesy Wikipedia.com

As a consequence, new companies have emerged to provide this management function.  These are known as Affiliate Managers or Brokers.

They also help you, as an affiliate.  You do not have to go through the process of contacting businesses independently.  They list the businesses under contract, explain their sales policies, the commissions offered, and provide you with code for Banners and Text Ads to place on your website. They also collect your commissions, combine your earnings, collect your relevant tax information (W-9s), and issue payment directly to your bank account or by check.  You get to decide which you prefer.
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Here are some of the Affiliate Managers/Brokers with whom you establish a relationship. These are your suppliers.

 

ClickBank

Well established with over 10-years experience, ClickBank is the online retail outlet for over 12,000 digital product vendors and their more than 100,000 active affiliates.  ClickBank makes a sale somewhere in the world every three seconds,   serves over 200 countries, and are consistently ranked as one of the most highly trafficked sites on the web.  Plus, they offer the most lucrative Affiliate marketing arrangement available!  ClickBank has the highest earnings potential of any affiliate.  It’s the biggest.  It’s the best.  Join, then spend time learning their program.  You will highly rewarded for your effort.

Click Here to Sign-up for ClickBank

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 ShareASale.com

There are currently over 2,000 Businesses plugged in to the ShareASale Network. Each of these merchants have a product or products to sell, needs you help – and each is ready to commission you on that sale if you bring a customer to them.

The idea – and the implementation – are simple. You decide which merchants to promote, what products to promote, and how to promote them.  When your commissions are generated, you can see your stats in real-time. All payments are consolidated from the programs you participate in, and are paid with one check or direct deposit by ShareASale.

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Commission Junction (CJ.com)

Apply to join advertisers’ programs, get immediate access to their entire inventory of links and begin placing their offers on your Web sites, in e-mail campaigns, or in search listings. In addition, strategic advice and featured weekly advertiser offers are available through CJU Online, their online resource.  Click below to join their huge network of publishers and to learn more about their program.

 

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A Word of Caution: Acceptance into these affiliate programs is not always automatic. For example, Commission Junction will want to match the sponsoring company’s products with the content of your website.  If you do not have a website, you cannot open an account!

Basic Training 101, Lesson 4: What is Branding?