Affiliate Marketing Basics

An affiliate marketing network is a third party service that
administers affiliate programs on behalf of both the merchants and affiliates.
In an affiliate network the members are either merchants or affiliates.

Without affiliate marketing networks merchants would have to find each
affiliate individually and similarly affiliates would have to source programs
one by one. Also each party would have to see to their own tracking etc. With a
network merchants get access to all the affiliates and the affiliates get access
to all the programs offered by the merchants and the network service takes care
of all the aggregation tracking etc.

So why aren't affiliate marketing networks universally used. One reason might
be that it adds an extra layer of complexity. Instead of dealing direct one is
going through a third party with its own terms and conditions. For instance a
networks might require an undertaking from affiliates not to advertise competing
products from other networks where theirs are being advertised.

Another is that affiliate marketing networks charge for their services. The
network operates rather like a two tier program where the network is the top
level and the affiliates the next level down. The network negotiates the master
affiliate agreement with the merchant and recruits the affiliates who operate
like a downline. Of the  commission paid by the merchant a small part is
retained by the network and the rest goes to the affiliate.

On the plus side if you deal with multiple affiliate programs within a
network where some are big earners and others not, its nice getting just one
payment for the total earnings in a given period, rather than having to worry
about individual commission thresholds etc.

Being part of a affiliate marketing  network means that all the tracking
is taken care of for you which means one one regular periodic payment rather
than having to keep track of what is owed from where etc. It is perceived to be
more reliable and trustworthy to deal with networks and certainly more
convenient leaving more time to concentrate on marketing rather than admin.

Generally you need a website, an email address and some traffic to your site
in order to apply to join a affiliate marketing network. Once a member of the
network you need to join a program before displaying their banners etc on your
site.

There are many online affiliate networks operating. Below are some popular
ones. Take some time to read the reviews at
clickquick.com and
Affiliate Review

Commission Junction
is one of the leading global networks. Joining the network is free but keeping
the account active requires regular transactions. Be aware that If account
activity does not meet the specified Publisher Service Agreement terms the
account will be deactivated without any advance warning.

LinkSharepioneered online affiliate
marketing (1996), and today runs the largest pay for performance affiliate
marketing network on the Internet . If is free to join . they offer high quality
programs and some big name merchants. You can join as many programs (from the
hundreds available) as desired with a single username and password.

Websponsors
Is another leading global network for pay-per-lead programs. Membership is free
but you need upwards of 100 unique visits a day or 3000 per month. They do not
ask for exclusivity. Minimum payment $15

Direct Leads
is another pay-per-lead network. It is part of directresponse.com (1994) .
Membership is free but traffic (3000 per month) is required.

Click Bank is a network for products that can be downloaded from the web to the purchaser i.e. there is no shipping of goods only electronic delivery. Its extremely
popular for software ebooks etc and commissions are good. One reason for its
popularity is because it offers online merchants very affordable credit card
processing facilities for their sites. A drawback for affiliates is that some
merchants have visible affiliate signup facilities on their sites so your
potential customer can just sign as an affiliate and use that link to buy the
product in which case you lose out on the transaction. The same applies if the
merchant offers alternative payment methods to credit cards and the buyer
chooses an alternative eg Paypal.

Share a Sale
This is one of the smaller but steadily growing networks. The site is very clear
and easy to navigate. Its free to join and payment is possible via check or
direct deposit which is a huge plus for non US based affiliates.