Affiliate marketing is a very common marketing tool for sites that have products and services where they can instantly share percentages or sums of revenues made with those that deliver traffic.
Types of affiliate marketing
There are generally two forms of affiliate marketing:
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Traditional affiliate marketing
The traditional form of affiliate marketing involves connecting people who want a certain product with people that sell or offer that product. The seller generally decides on a percentage or lump sum of money that the affiliate will receive every time somebody they send over converts. This is a very good marketing strategy that offers a win for both parties involved. This is a very effective marketing technique for affiliates that understand a market very well and know all the ins and outs of it.
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Cost Per Action (CPA)
CPA is a newer form of affiliate marketing that usually involves the use of a middle-man that connects sellers (merchants) to websites with targeted traffic (publishers). CPA can be used to generate a number of things such as:
- Sales
- Leads
- Subscriptions
- Information
CPA allows for smarter marketing and more targeted marketing to really pay off. The merchant only pays when the desired action is reached, and the publisher is only paid when the desired action is fulfilled. For instance, Publisher A could send 10,000 visitors to Merchant A and if only 3 of those users took action Publisher A would be paid for 3 actions. Publisher B, on the other hand, could send only 100 visitors to Merchant A and have 20 of those convert. Publisher B would be paid for 20 actions for much less traffic.
