"Affiliate marketing is an online advertising channel in which advertisers (online merchants that sell products or services) pay publishers (independent parties that promote the products or services of an advertiser on their Web site) only for results, such as a visitor making a purchase or filling out a form, rather than paying simply to reach a particular audience" -Commission Junction
Affiliate marketing is a kind of outsourcing that allows the business (advertiser) to focus on their core product or offering while the affiliates (publishers) focus on what they do best, marketing and converting.
Advantages:
- Only pay when a sale is made
- Easy to manage spending
- Easy to measure return on investment
Disadvantages:
- Affiliates can hurt your brand and reputation if their marketing methods are not carefully controlled
- You have to compete with them in the search engine
- Competition from your affiliates drives up advertising costs for your own marketing
sources: searchengineland.com, cj.com
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Thanks for the post! An awesome guidelines for affiliates. Affiliates always walk by with their brand they are promoting and must be more aware with their brand's reputation.
Cheers for this post Nick!