» Affiliate Marketing Types
There was a time when affiliate marketing was considered just an alternative advertising method, but today the merchants and publishers identify it as the main source of their daily income and profits. Though, affiliate marketing is soon gaining popularity, there are several things about it which people need to have a thorough idea about before they go in for the actual program.
One of these is about the types of affiliate marketing programs that are available like:
◊ Pay-Per-Click (PPC): This is one of the most popular types of affiliate marketing techniques, practised mostly by affiliates having small websites. As the name suggests, in this type, the merchant pays his affiliate only when some visitor clicks on the merchant's banner or ad and is automatically directed to his site. The best part about this type is that, the merchant pays the affiliate even if the visitor doesn't purchase anything from the merchant's site. The usual amount paid by the merchant is only about a dollar per click.
◊ Pay-Per-Performance: This is a bit different from the PPC method in that, here the affiliates are paid depending upon their performance. This means that, whenever an affiliate referred visitor makes a purchase from the merchant's site or becomes a lead, the affiliate gets paid. With this type, not only are the merchants at an advantage, but it is also a lucrative method for the affiliates since, they can receive up to 15% to 20% of the actual sales amount.
(a) Pay-Per-Sale: As the name suggests, in this type, the affiliates are paid depending upon each visitor that the affiliate refers to the merchants site and who actually buys something from the merchant's site. Though, several merchants pay their affiliates on commission basis, most prefer to have a fixed fee.
(b) Pay-Per-Lead: This method is especially preferred by the insurance and finance companies, who mostly rely for the growth of their company on leads. This type slightly differs from the PPS type in that, here each visitor that the affiliate refers is not required to purchase anything but, instead required to fill up an application form related to the business of the company.
◊ Residual Income Affiliate Marketing: This is an extremely beneficial type for the affiliates since, here the affiliate gets paid not only once for every customer that he refers to the merchant's site but, rather for each time the customer returns to the merchant's site for another purchase.
Besides these main affiliate marketing types, it can be also classified according to the depth of the affiliate network as single-tier, two-tier and multi-tier affiliate marketing.
