What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does it Work?

I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of affiliate marketing, but haven’t fully figured out how it works, how people make money with it, and more generally what affiliation really means.

How come ? Today we’re going to cover all the questions you have about affiliate marketing, including:

-What is affiliate marketing?

-What are the relationships in affiliate marketing?

-What are affiliate networks?

-What is the best affiliate network to start with?

1. What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a form of pay-for-performance marketing where an affiliate sells items on behalf of a merchant for an agreed rate or percentage of the sale.

This is a great form of advertising for e-stores since funds are only exchanged after a sale is completed, but it works for all business models.

As long as you have a product to sell, or can find a product to promote, you can participate in affiliate marketing.

What sets this form of marketing apart is that it benefits everyone involved. On the customer side, they are able to find products they might not have found on their own and get the approval of someone they (presumably) trust.

When it comes to marketing, the merchant, and the network (we’ll come back to that later), everyone gets a share of the sale.

Almost 80% of brands have an affiliate program, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Affiliate marketing revenues have increased nearly 25% year-over-year since the second quarter of 2017.

Sometimes called a partnership program, affiliate marketing programs come in all sizes and shapes to suit the many businesses to which they are attached.Affiliate programs can work for you even if you are not a big name. Entrepreneurs across the web use affiliate marketing programs to sell their products.

2- What are the relationships in affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is all about the relationships forged between people. The relationship between the client and the affiliate must be based on the same foundation as the relationship between the affiliate and the merchant: solid trust, fair conditions and transparency.

There are three parties involved: the client (public), the affiliate (promoter), the merchant (owner of the business).

First, the affiliate finds a product and connects with the merchant. Then, the affiliate and the merchant agree on a given commission rate, either a fixed fee or a percentage .

Affiliates then promote the product to their audience, often using a promotional link to track their sales and referrals. Once the transaction is complete, the merchant remits the commission.

3-What are affiliate networks?

Affiliate networks adapt between the affiliate and the merchant, adding a third party to the sales composition.

In many ways, they make life easier in affiliate marketing. The networks connect affiliates with merchants and products they might not find on their own, they also provide merchants with a large database of potential partners to work with.

Most major brands are part of an affiliate network. One particularly well-known in the Arab region is ArabClicks.

4-What is the best affiliate network to start with ? 

ArabClicks is a huge affiliation network, it gathers merchants or advertisers and affiliates together in one platform.

It is a famous network in the Arab region and one of the bests globally, it is the right platform to start working with. Wether your have a business or products you want to sell or you are an affiliate willing to promote products and ear commissions for it, ArabClicks Academy will give you all the advices and help you need to excel in affiliation.

Summary

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance marketing where a product is sold on behalf of a merchant by an affiliate. In exchange, the affiliate receives a commission on the sale.

There is nothing more important than the relationship between affiliates and merchants. Remember, they are not your subordinates or bosses: in an affiliation system, you are partners who work to help each other.

If you do it well enough, you can build a business from scratch while putting money in your pocket.

If you don’t know how to find an affiliate or merchant to work with and want to get started as soon as possible, ArabClicks is the right place for you to start.

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