Choosing Affiliate Marketing Programs

Affiliate marketing programs have been around for years. Amazon.com is probably the best known success story in this type of online marketing. Basically, an affiliate marketing program has an affiliate merchant interested in advertising on other websites. The affiliates host ads on their websites and when users click on the merchant’s ad, the affiliate is paid a commission.

Although big success stories like Amazon get a lot of attention, there are many affiliate marketing programs available. These programs are used for advertising by large and small organizations and publishers, or affiliates, use affiliate marketing as an effective way to monetize blogs and websites and generate an additional revenue source.

If you are interested in affiliate marketing programs, the first step is to select a program that will meet your needs. There are a few things to consider when choosing affiliate marketing programs, in order to find the program that will be the best fit for your website or blog. Choosing according to your niche will help you get the best return for both the advertiser and the publisher.

You’ll want to make sure that the program you choose is reputable. Of course, you want reputable sponsors for your advertisements and quality placements that will bring targeted traffic to the website. Advertisers should start by selecting a program that has a network of vetted publishers to help you find publishers working toward the same goals of generating traffic and increasing revenue.

Consider the commissions paid by affiliate marketing programs and how they are paid. You’ll want to find out if the commission is fixed or a percentage, and whether advertisers are paying for each click or on each sale, as in a pay for results model. Consider how commissions are paid, and issues such as the payout schedule, minimum payout amount, method of payment and other issues related to payment.

In the end, whether you are a merchant or a publisher, you want program that fits your niche. For the most successful affiliate marketing programs, the advertiser should have products that are a good match and targeted to an audience that is similar to put your ads in front of the right people. If the publisher and advertiser is a good match, there is a better opportunity to generate income from the arrangement.

What technology is available from the affiliate program? How are results of ad campaigns tracked? Whether you are the publisher or advertiser, you want an easy to use system with tracking tools to generate reports with information to assist in managing and planning future campaigns. It should be relatively easy to monitor your affiliate marketing efforts and the results.

Media Trust offers a full range of services for affiliate marketing and our extensive network of advertisers and publishers provides many opportunities to increase income for advertisers and publishers. We have the service and technology to create and manage campaigns across a wide range of online media. Visit Media Trust to learn more about affiliate marketing programs.