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Articles → What is an affiliate program?

Introduction
This article is a beginners guide to affiliate programs. If you are unsure what they are, or would like to learn more about them, then this article is for you. I am going to explain what they are, how they work, and how best to use them.

How it begins
Lets say I run an internet poster site. I stock the posters, and when a visitor to my site orders the posters, it is my responsibility to make sure the payment is processed, and the order is dispatched by post in good time. Like all internet businesses I need visitors to know about my site or I won't get any visitors, and therefore any money. Advertising is expensive, so what are the alternatives? The answer is: an affiliate program.

How the affiliate program works
They way the affiliate program works is that I give other webmasters a link with a special code, which they can use to link to my site. In return, if they refer a visitor to my site, and the visitor buys something, I give them a share of the profits. This share of the profits is called 'commission'.

How much commission to affiliate programs pay?
This varies a lot from one program to another. Some pay as little as 5% while others as much as 50%. However, it is worth remembering that 5% of a large payment can be more than 50% of a small payment.

What is a recurring commission?
If we move away from the poster example, and consider a product like web hosting. With web hosting the customer is often billed every month or every year, instead of just once. So many web hosting companies with affiliate programs offer recurring commissions. That way, I get paid every time the customer gets billed, which means I could establish an income for years, just by referring one customer.

Why are affiliate programs so great?
This is simple. Because you don't need to worry about any of the hassle. You haven't got to handle any payments, process any customer orders or deal with shipping. You simply link to the product site and they take care of the rest.

How to make the most of them
There is no point in just putting links to any old affiliate program on your site. If you run a photography website why put affiliate links to a poker site? Instead, make your affiliate programs relevant. If I ran a photography website, I would put affiliate links to posters, cameras and maybe a photography magazine. That way, I know my visitors will be interested in those products and therefore much more likely to purchase from them.

Copyright notice

You may reproduce this article but only if you leave all links in the article intact and put: "Copyright Affiliates Rated" with the link intact at the bottom.