An Affiliate Program Network for Your Affiliate Marketing System?

By: Alan Richardson

If you're a student of internet marketing, you certainly know the value of affiliate marketing system partnerships as an effective, inexpensive and lucrative method of advertising your products or promoting those of others. As a merchant, developing a network of online businesses promoting your product, on a commission basis, is an optimal way of multiplying your potential customer base. On the other end, as an affiliate, promoting the products of other merchants, for a cut of the profit, is an excellent way to earn a substantial income. So, what's the best affiliate marketing system for you?

Well, one method entails searching the web, looking for merchants whose products complement your own web business product or service. Once found, check out the merchant site and if they offer an affiliate program, sign up. Insert the advertising provided on your website, and you're on your way.

Another method involves joining an affiliate network. If you are finding it difficult to search and find appropriate affiliates for your affiliate marketing system, them exploring one of the many affiliate network programs available may be the answer.

An affiliate program network, in essence, performs as the link between merchants and individual affiliates. Indeed, an increasing number of merchant affiliate programs are using affiliate networks to connect them to interested affiliates. For example, LinkShare, one of the more populate affiliate network providers, maintains and manages the affiliate marketing programs for a significant number of varied merchants, covering a range of businesses, products and services. It currently has more than 6,000 affiliate site members on its network, and growing. Affiliate networks like LinkShare profit from setup fees, monthly account maintenance fees and commissions.

Because of their role as a central link between advertisers and promoters, affiliate program networks serve as a fine starting point for merchants seeking to advertise their wares or affiliates wishing to promote products for profit. For merchants, the network serves as a vast marketplace for their offering. A place to advertise what they want to advertise, if you will. The chances for finding interested markets and businesses to promote their product are significantly increased in such a marketplace.

And for affiliates, the network provides a one-stop place to find a number of targeted business related products to promote. No need to perform multiple searches on the web.  All merchants are listed by category, making them easier to find and to compare their products, commission rates and other affiliate benefits.

So, are large affiliate networks like LinkShare the way to go? It depends. Let's look at the downside.

• Merchants are required to pay a fee to use the services and technology provided by third part program networks such as LinkShare. And because of this,  their commission rate to affiliates is often lower than if the affiliate deals with the merchant directly.
  
• Payout to affiliates in a network affiliate program can take longer as the network programs only send payment after they have recieved their fee from the merchandiser.

And the upside to working through an affiliate program network? In a word, convenience.

• A single location for finding products to promote or promoters for your product, resulting in significant savings in time and effort.
  
• Ease of tracking your business partner's performance through monthly statements and reports provided by your network program. They provide an 'at-a-glance' look at sales activity for all merchants and all affiliates. Such statistical tracking provides you valuable information on which relationships are working and which are not, helping direct where you should be concentrating or shifting your efforts.
  
• Maintenance of all visitor statistics to assist your marketing efforts.
  
• One source of affiliate commission payout. One regular monthly lump sum. Makes for easier account managment and earnings tracking.
  
• Consistent secured access to information.

My opinion? Affiliate program networks should most definitely be a component of your business's affiliate marketing efforts. In fact, for some merchandisers, it is the only way for you to become their affiliate. And if you wish to affiliate with merchandisers outside the network, you are free to do so. To me, it's a win-win.

Copyright 2005 Alan Richardson

About The Author Alan Richardson is a well-known internet consultant and publisher with http://www.optimalwebservices.com - a Web resource firm in North Easton, Massachusetts, offering free advice and information for web-based small businesses and entrpreneurs. To read other articles by Alan, click here. To signup for the free 'Optimal Web Services for Small Business' ezine, click here