The Different Types Of Affiliate Marketing

By Andrew Kelly

Affiliate marketing programs has never been as popular before as it is today. Why? There can be a number of reasons. The most probable reason, however, could be the fact that the benefits of have become clearer to a lot of people now than they were before.

Today, both the merchants and the affiliates can see clearly that can work for both of them. The merchant sees today as the chance to advertise their products at a lower cost. The affiliates, on the other hand, sees as an easy way of earning profits online by doing what they like most, and that is by creating websites.

Just as the popularity of has shifted into greater heights, so has the people's outlook about it changed. No longer is considered today as an alternative method for the merchant to advertise his products, or as a source of additional income for the affiliates. For merchants and affiliates alike, is now considered as a main source of profits and revenues.

So the question now is what type of will work best for you? Are all programs the same? Are the benefits the same? Or are there programs that work better than the others?

There are actually different types or classes of affiliate marketing, and the number of types will depend on how one will classify them. The most basic programs, however, falls under two categories: pay-per-click (PPC), and pay-per-performance (PPP).

Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC is the most popular type of for affiliates with small websites, and probably the easiest way for them to earn money. In this type, the merchant pays his affiliate whenever a visitor is referred to his site, that is whenever someone clicks through the merchant's banner or text ads. The affiliate gets paid a certain amount even if the visitor he referred does not purchase anything from the merchant's site. However, typical fees for PPC affiliate programs are small, usually not exceeding a dollar for every click.

Pay Per Performance (PPP)

PPP is the most popular among merchant and is also the most lucrative type for the affiliates. In this type of affiliate program, the merchant only pays the affiliate whenever his referral translates into an action-that is whenever the visitor he has referred actually buys something from the merchant's site or when the visitor becomes a lead. This means a lot of savings for the merchant. On the other hand, it becomes the most lucrative type for the dedicated affiliate, for commissions in PPP usually comes in the range of 15% to 20% of the actual product sales.

Pay-per-performance can be further classified into two popular types: pay-per-sales (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL).

Pay Per Sale (PPS)

In a pay-per-sale type of affiliate marketing, the merchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever the visitor he has referred to the merchant's site actually buys something from the merchant's site. Affiliates are often paid on commission basis, although other merchants would opt to pay a fixed fee. But no matter what the basis of the fee is, it is generally higher than the fee paid to affiliates in a pay-per-click affiliate program.

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