Types of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing Categories

Affiliate marketing has become popular these days because the benefits and the potential associated with it are clear to everyone. This online business is beneficial both for the merchant as well as the affiliate. Merchants are able to advertise and sell their products at lower costs through affiliates, whereas the affiliates work through their websites to earn commission. Affiliate marketing programs can easily be divided into two categories: pay-per-click (PPC), and pay-per-performance (PPP), and these categories can be further classified into various other categories.

Listed below are different types or classes of affiliate marketing and how they work.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): This type of affiliate marketing is popular with affiliates having small websites, wherein the affiliate guides a visitor through his efforts to the merchant’s banner or text ads. The merchant pays a minimal amount depending upon the clicks made by the visitor to the affiliate even if the visitor has not purchased anything from the merchant.
Pay –Per-Performance (PPP): In this type of affiliate marketing the merchant pays the affiliate only when a visitor does some action like buying a product or registering with the merchant. The commission associated with such program is usually high ranging from 15%-20%. This program is popular because the merchant saves a lot through it and the affiliate earns a substantial amount of commission.

Pay –Per-Performance can be further divided into pay-per-sales (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL).

Pay-Per-Sales: In this category the affiliate receives a fixed commission or commission on percentage basis from the merchant when the visitor buys some product or service through the efforts of the affiliate. The amount of commission in this case is usually higher.
Pay-Per-Lead (PPL): In this category the affiliate receives commission form the merchant if the visitor he referred to the merchant’s site registers himself by filing some form or does some transaction. Usually the commission associated with this program is fixed.