Wednesday, February 22, 2012

How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Campaign

By Cruz Sullivan


Some business owners opt to start an affiliate marketing campaign as part of their overall marketing strategy. In most cases the affiliate marketing campaign is only a small portion of the overall marketing strategy but there are some business owners who opt to rely exclusively on this type of marketing. The main purpose of doing this is to save money while still achieving valuable advertising. However, once a business becomes more successful they should consider being more proactive and combining affiliate marketing with other types of Internet marketing such as placing banner ads and orchestrating an email marketing campaign. This article will take a look at what affiliate marketing is and will provide insight into why this is popular and how it can be used effectively.

An affiliate marketing campaign is basically a matter where other website owners put ads for your company on their websites. These website owners are known as affiliates. It is critical to learn how this sort of marketing works. In general the affiliates are given code for your banner ad to place on their website and given the freedom to market their own web site as they see fit. In promoting their website they are also attracting attention to your website because of the banner advertisement directing visitors to your own web site.

One of the most appealing elements of affiliate marketing is the affiliate is just compensated when he creates a desired result. This means the business owner isn't obligated to pay the affiliate unless the affiliate is successful. Success may be defined as generating traffic to the web site, resulting in a sale or even resulting in the internet user registering on your website or filling out a survey. The compensation for affiliates is generally based on cost per click, cost per lead or cost per sale. Cost per click and cost per lead are usually paid in terms of a flat fee which is awarded to the affiliate each time an internet user either simply clicks through the banner ad on his website or performs a specific action after clicking through the advertisement. Cost per sale may result in the affiliate being awarded a flat fee or a percentage of the sale depending on the agreement between the company owner and the affiliate.

The most effective use of affiliate marketing is to actively look for affiliates with a proven track record of marketing the companies which they support. Many affiliate programs are open to anyone with a web site and it is not directly damaging to allow those who are not especially knowledgeable about marketing to run your banner advertisement but it is far more worthwhile to look for affiliates who are quite skilled and creating website traffic to their own website. This is critical because the more visitors they get each month the more likely your web site it to get interest from visitors who click on the affiliate's banner advertisement.

One more factor of affiliate marketing which can impart to success or failure is the design of your banner ads. It is critical to remember affiliate marketing is seen the same way other types of marketing are seen and care should be taken to make banner advertisements which will be attractive to your target audience. This means everything from the colors of your advertisement to the size and style of the font should be carefully thought of to create an attractive advertisement.




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