What You Need to Know About Online Affiliate Marketing

Online affiliate marketing is a natural outgrowth of the Internet. After all, most online content is in the form of ongoing conversations – it makes sense that the merchant would want to join those conversations through affiliate marketing programs.

Unlike traditional advertising, affiliate marketing can save you a lot of money because you only pay for performance. You only pay affiliates when their content successfully persuades consumers to visit your Web site and take some action there – buying your products or signing up for your mailing list. The fact that you only pay for success makes affiliate marketing a far better return on investment than traditional advertising.

As a merchant you have choices to make about how to go about affiliate marketing online. You can either set up your own affiliate program or sign up with a network. Setting up your own affiliate network will take more time and money – you’ll need to invest in special software, and have an employee who manages your affiliate marketing for you. However, you won’t have to pay commissions to anyone other than your affiliates.

If you want your affiliate marketing venture to get off to a faster start with a smaller initial investment, go with an affiliate network. With an affiliate network most of the work has been done for you, including the recruitment of affiliates.

Another thing you need to consider when setting up affiliate marketing campaigns is the cost of merchant accounts. You have many merchant account options to choose from regardless of whether or not you’re setting up an affiliate marketing program for your business. If your program goes through a merchant account provider you’ll need to pay for the software as well as for the transaction cost and other fees. A third party credit card processor will charge you a percentage when purchases are made through your affiliate program. Your choice of credit card payment management system will depend in part on how much capital you have to spare after setting up your affiliate marketing program.