About affiliate programs

What is an affiliate program?
Affiliate programs (also known as referral programs or associate programs) are where a organisation pays webmasters for the referral of a potential customer. This is usually achieved through linking to the organisations' website. The organisation would then be called the "merchant", and you would be called the "affiliate". As long as you're attracting traffic, it's an easy way to earn money from your website.

How do they work out how much to pay me?
There are many different methods of calculating payment.

The traditional method is commission. Your visitor has to actually buy something before you get paid. You could get a commission anywhere between 10% and 35% of the sale. There are also two tier programs where you get paid commission on sub-affiliates' sales.

Another method is the pay per click through method, where you get paid a small amount everytime your visitor clicks on a banner that links to the merchants' site (perhaps between 3 and 10 cents).

Then there's the pay per lead method, which according to surveys, is outperforming the previous two. This is kind of a compromise between the first two. The merchant offers something for free, and if your visitor signs up for their freebie, you get paid! You could get around $1 or $2 for your lead. $2 per lead is pretty good considering the visitor doesn't have to buy anything. If you're generating a lot of traffic, this could add up to be quite a large amount.

How do they know the customer came from my site?
Different merchants have different ways of tracking your visitors. A popular method is through the use of cookies. Some of the better merchants track your visitors for years which is a good way to make sure you get rewarded appropriately.

For example what happens in the event that your visitor didn't buy anything that first day, but bookmarked the merchant site and returned directly to them in order to buy something at a later day?

You still get paid!

How do I join an affiliate program?
Most affiliate programs are very easy to join. It's just a matter of filling out a form including your email address, and postal address (so they can send you the money).

Who offers affiliate programs?
Affiliate programs have become very popular. Some companies have been offering affiliate programs for years (such as Amazon, and Chaosmusic). Next time you're at a popular website, have a look for a link entitled "Affiliate program" or perhaps "Earn money from your website". Even the major search engines pay you money to provide a link to them.

To get started, check out the Affiliate program directory or read the Affiliate program reviews.