Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs or associate programs are arrangements on which an online company Web site pays affiliate Web sites a commission to send them clients or traffic. These affiliate Web sites post banner or links redirecting to the merchant's site and are paid according to a particular agreement. This agreement is usually based on the number of people the affiliate sends to the merchant's site, or the number of people they send who buy something or perform some other action. Some arrangements pay according to the number of people who visit the page containing their merchant site's banner advertisement. Basically, if a link on an affiliate site brings the merchant site traffic or money, the merchant site pays the affiliate site according to their agreement. Recruiting affiliates is an excellent way to sell products online, and also a cheap and effective marketing strategy.