Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Affiliate Marketing Basics

By Don Bethune

Affiliate marketing are a group of marketing programs which allow advertisers to reimburse webmasters for putting up advertisements on their webpage or within the e-mails they send. In the same way an particular company would pay for space in the newspaper or on a billboard, they pay for space on your website.

The ease with which a webmaster can participate in affiliate marketing programs has made it one of the most well known ways to earn income without leaving the comforts of home. Many people have their own websites and this allows almost anyone (housewives, homebound, etc.) to have their own 'home business' and realize monetary freedom.

From the above lines a simple question arises. How and why do advertisers pay to webmasters for just putting up their advertisements? Well the answer is more than simple. Webmasters who receive several thousands hits a day on their webpage are among the top that are posted on various search engines.

Having an add on such a page would be lucrative to any company as it can account to hundreds of new customers everyday. Therefore the price that advertisers pays to the webmasters depends on the number of hits of the webpage on which the add is going to appear on.

Advertisers using affiliate marketing programs pay based on the several types of actions that occur as a result of a website user clicking on their ad. Some pay per click, per thousand click, per action after click, per lead, per completion, and many others.

In a cost per click scale the webmaster will be paid based on the number of times a person using the website hosting the ad, clicks on the link directing them to the advertiser's website. In the per thousand click scale the webmaster is paid for every thousand times a web user clicks on the ad's link. A per action scenario means that the web user must not only click through the ad link, but also complete a particular action, such as filling out customer information, signing up for a contest, completing a purchase and so on. Another payment scale type is cost per lead which is similar to cost per action, but the webmaster sends potential customer information.

How do you as a webmaster choose the right affiliate marketing program for your websites? Many webmasters simply search the internet! The best way to determine which program best suits your site is to search for affiliate programs, evaluate the payments schedules offered, and determine if ad placement is suitable for your site based on size and location requirements.

The income earned from such programs can vary depending on the number of hits your webpage receives. But is the income taxable or not? It depends on the region you are staying in and the type of government. The opportunities in this field are enormous and are worth exploiting! - 16755

About the Author: