Published by admin on 07 Apr 2012
History of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can be used no matter what you are selling, from the simple edge protector to the more expansive stacking strength packaging systems as part of custom packaging solutions to a wide range of services that do not depend on a physical product. Typically this type of marketing actually pays different sites to funnel traffic to a central business. Both the affiliate and the main business owner benefit from the shared efforts. There are 4 key elements in affiliate marketing that combine to make it successful. These elements are the merchant, the network that handles traffic, the affiliate, and the consumer. Secondary, but unnecessary parties that might be included are management agencies, super-affiliates and third party vendors.
Affiliate marketing differs from referral marketing in that affiliates typically are solely motivated by money, while referral marketing focuses on personal relationships and long term sales connections to increase sales over time. While underused on its own this form of marketing does impact e-retailer’s marketing methods. Many affiliates use other forms of internet marketing alongside their main effort. This includes organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing and pay per click, e-mail marketing and display marketing. Consumers need to be wary however, because some affiliates will publish fake reviews or use other unorthodox methods to increase their income.
The practice of affiliate marketing goes back to 1989, with the founding of the Prodigy Network by William J. Tobin. By 1993 the company the concept was designed to promote was generating over 6 million dollars a year. In 1994 this concept was moved to the Internet and a number of patents taken out on it. Related and developed along side this but independent of it were the cyberotica sites that used a cost per click method. Another related tactic is BuyWeb for CDNOW which sells music direct to buyers. Perhaps the grandparent of all affiliate programs is the Amazon associate program. This works by placing a text or banner ad for a book. When that book is sold through that link the affiliate earns a commission.
Remember the development of affiliate marketing over time encompasses many products, from the lowly edge protector through stacking strength packaging which are part of custom packaging solutions, books, music, and other services. While the practice has only been around about 23 years it has made major impact on the shape of online business. 6.5 billion dollars across the globe are pad to affiliates each year if not more. Major fields that use this are adult websites, gambling websites, retail industries, and file sharing databases. Joining these long time users are mobile phone, finance, and travel information services as hot areas for affiliate marketing. In the future this field should expand into blogging, social,and interactive spheres. It is becoming the tool of choice for personal bloggers, writers, and small website owners also. As new technologies develop this form of marketing looks to keep pace with such developments including use of public networks to promote self made videos.