How Do Affiliates Promote Merchants?

How Do Affiliates Promote Merchants?

Affiliates are digital marketers who are paid on a performance basis. Every

type of marketing strategy will be found in the affiliate world, and affiliates

can often be seen at the forefront of breaking technology and applying it to

marketing strategies.

The basic aim of an affiliate is to send targeted traffic (that means customers

who are very likely to perform the desired action) to a particular merchant’s

website. Affiliates may promote as many merchants in as many industries with

as many tactics as they wish, but usually affiliates will start to specialise.

Most of the tactics will be the same as those that the merchant employs, but

will reach a different part of the Internet population. Effective tracking takes

care of any overlap, and will help a merchant to adjust their spending for the

most effective ROI.

The main types of affiliates can be broken up as:

• Personal websites

• Content and niche sites

• Email lists

• Loyalty sites (points or cash back or charitable donations)

• Coupon and promotions sites

• Comparison shopping (see also PPC advertising)

• Search affiliates (search arbitrage)

Affiliate marketing came to the fore as a way for personal websites to make

money, though this now forms a small part of the marketing mix. Affiliate

marketing does still provide some income for these websites. However, we will

focus on those endeavours which are created purely for affiliate marketing.

Content and niche sites are websites created specifically around a topic, and

any products promoted will carry affiliate tracking. For example, an affiliate

might create a site dedicated to digital cameras, with tips and downloads to

help you get the most out of your camera. It could review a number of different

cameras, and offer links to purchase those cameras online. All of those links

will be affiliate links.

Seasonality is also a key time for content sites. Websites can be created

specifically for Christmas, Mother’s Day and many more key retail seasons.

Some affiliates run large opt-in email lists, and they market particular

merchant offers through their email newsletters. Some renegade affiliates

would use spam email to promote merchant offers, but as affiliate marketing

has matured, there are usually terms and conditions to prevent such promotion.

As affiliates earn a percentage of a sale, some affiliates “split” this with the

customer and create cash back or points based shopping sites. There are also

some that donate a percentage of the commission to a charity.

Some of the most successful affiliate marketers are those who promote various

merchants through paid search: PPC advertising on search engines. As these

affiliates seek to find the highest Earnings per Click (EPC) for the lowest Cost

per Click (CPC), this is also referred to as search arbitrage.

Affiliates will find any means possible to promote offers. As new products and

platforms become available, marketers and affiliate marketers find new ways

to make them work. Some other examples of affiliates promoting merchants

include:

• Toolbars and other browser extensions

• Social network applications