Affiliate marketing is a very under rated and under-utilized form of internet marketing. It is achieved through the use of affiliates, or for the purpose of marketing, a related company. Affiliates promote a hosts business, and for every customer they send from their site to the host site they receive some type of reward. Affiliate marketing success can be achieved if done correctly.

Any and all businesses can and do benefit from referrals. There are many different kinds of referrals and some are applicable to both internet and non internet forms of marketing, whereas some are only applicable on the World Wide Web. Referrals are any form of marketing where one person or business sends customers towards another business. It can be done through word of mouth, through the distribution or display of business cards or flyers, or, as in the case of internet affiliate marketing, by provision of a link on ones website which leads to another. This link can be in the form of an ad, or merely a text link.

To be successful through affiliate marketing, one of the key elements is to advertise on a relevant site. Let’s say your product is a stroller. You stand a much better chance of success if your affiliate sites are those relating to child care, or child care products than if you choose a hot rod website.

Affiliates receive some type of reward for their service and use of web space. Different types of affiliate programs exist, such as:

PPC or Pay-Per-Click – With this program, the affiliate earns a pre-determined amount of money each time someone clicks through to the merchants website from theirs.

PPI or Pay-Per-Impression – An impression means a single view of the advertisement. Once again a pre-determined amount for commission will have been negotiated beforehand, and any view of the merchants ad will warrant an impression.

PPS or Pay-Per-Sale – This program will see the affiliate realize a pre-determined percentage of each sale made at the merchant’s website from a visitor directly following the ad on the affiliates website.

PPL or Pay-Per-Lead – With pay per lead, a pre-determined commission will be earned by the affiliate for any click throughs from their site resulting in a membership sign up, account creation, or filling out of forms on the merchants website.

Affiliate marketing success can be achieved with some ingenuity and the right choice of affiliate sites.