What is Affiliate Marketing?

In the world of online advertising, affiliate marketing is one of those terms that you hear over and over again. Stories about people who have made a very nice living from their own homes are all over the Internet. But what exactly is it? We’ll explain it in simple terms using an example.

Let’s pretend there’s an online retailer called “TechyTracky” that sells tracking devices you can hook onto your key-chain (we’ve all misplaced our keys at one point or another). They want to create awareness of their product, but they lack the skills and resources to do this on their own. They specialize in engineering and product design, not online marketing.

Now let’s pretend there’s a popular tech blogger named James. He has thousands of subscribers who read and engage with his posts daily, and he wants to make a living doing what he loves: writing reviews about gadgets. His loyal audience sits in anticipation, ready to buy the latest tech as soon as he blesses it with a positive review.

You can probably see where this is going. Wouldn’t it be great if TechyTracky could make use of James’ audience reach to promote their product?

This is where the affiliate network (such as MaxBounty) comes into play. Advertisers like TechyTracky often partner up with networks because they know how difficult it is to find influencers like James. On the other hand, affiliates like James partner up with networks because of how many different products and services they make available for him to market. With just a few clicks, James can promote multiple tech products, including TechyTracky, and make money off every sale or lead he helps to generate.

Now, TechyTracky can create awareness of their product, and James can make a living writing his tech blog.

This is how affiliate marketing works in a nutshell. It is an ecosystem that provides advertisers with the best, most influential affiliates; and affiliates with the highest converting products and services (also known as offers).

In our example, the advertiser was selling a tech product, and the affiliate was a blogger. In reality, the advertiser can be a producer of any type of product or service, and the affiliate can market their offers using a variety of different methods. They can utilize numerous traffic sources to get an advertiser’s brand in front of a user.

So why is affiliate marketing so popular? We have to look at it from the perspective of both advertisers and affiliates.

For advertisers:

• Wide reach: Digital marketing is the fastest growing form of advertising due to its wide reach.
• Influence: It allows advertisers to tap into the skills of individuals who are experts in online marketing, and who can promote a brand to the target market.
• ROI: It is a low risk, cost effective, pay-for-performance form of online advertising.
• Accomodating: Advertisers can set up campaigns at networks that aim to obtain sales, app installs, e-mail acquisitions and other actions to meet their specific marketing objectives

For affiliates:

• High reward: Successful affiliates can earn upwards of $1,000 a day.
• Work from home: It allows you to earn a living from the comfort of your own home, doing what you love.
• Low-cost: There are no fees or costs associated to becoming an affiliate.
• Passive income: You can generate a steady stream of income that requires little action.
• Inclusivity: There are constantly new products and services that you can choose from, no matter you area of expertise.

It should be pretty evident now why so many organizations include affiliate marketing in their marketing strategies, as well as why the industry attracts so many affiliates. It is a win-win scenario for all those involved. With a great network at the center of it all, advertisers can be sure that they only pay for quality leads, and affiliates can be sure they will get the highest payouts possible.

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