Affiliate marketing programs have never been as popular before as it is today. Why? There can be several reasons. The most probable reason, however, could be the fact that the benefits of different types of affiliate marketing programs have become clearer to a lot of people now than they were before. Today, both the merchants and the affiliates can see clearly that affiliate marketing can work for both. The merchant sees different types of affiliate marketing today as the chance to advertise their products at a lower cost. The affiliates, on the other hand, sees affiliate marketing as an easy way of earning profits online by doing what they like most, and that is by creating websites.

Simple Affiliate Marketing Programs

Pay Per Click (PPC)

The most common kind of affiliate marketing, PPC is often considered the simplest manner for making money online. The affiliate has links to the merchant’s products or services on their website, and each time a person clicks on those links, they earn a small amount for it. The user doesn’t have to make a purchase either, simply clicks generating revenue for them.

The kicker here is that PPC affiliate programs don’t pay a lot, usually less than a dollar per click.

Pay Per Performance (PPP)

You're likely to have heard of PPP affiliate marketing, with many referring to it when they speak of affiliate marketing. Merchants only pay you when someone purchases a product or service after they use your referral link. For the affiliate, it's the best kind of marketing program as the general commission can go around 10 to 20 percent of the price of the product. Compared to PPC, there are fewer chances of success but when it does come in, it can be fairly lucrative in comparison.

Grow your online visibility

Pay-per-performance affiliate marketing has further subtypes: pay-per-sales (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL).

Pay Per Sale (PPS)

Pay-per-sale affiliate marketing is an extension of Pay-per-performance marketing, such that the merchant pays the affiliate a certain amount of money each time they make a sale using the referral link to the merchant’s website. Affiliates can receive a fixed amount or a commission off of the sales. Regardless of the payment strategy, it’s easily higher than anything you’d make with Pay Per Click (PPC).

Pay Per Lead (PPL)

Pay-per-lead affiliate marketing is a variation of pay-per-performance marketing, frequently utilized by companies that require leads to grow. Rather than rely on sales, these rely on users to fill up some type of form or data to become a lead. Whenever a user uses one of your referral links to access the merchant's side and fills up the application that it refers them to, you'll earn a specific amount from it. You generally earn a fixed amount per lead in this form.

There are various forms of affiliate marketing types, and these can vary depending on their depth as well. They’re referred to as the different tiers of marketing.

Single-Tier, Two-Tier, and Multi-Tier Affiliate Marketing

Single-tier affiliate marketing refers to the kind of affiliate marketing where you’re relying only on either generating revenue through Pay Per Click (PPC) or Pay Per Performance (PPP) exclusively.

Two-tier affiliate marketing programs reward the affiliate for the direct sales or trafficthat they bring in for the merchant's platform, but the traffic or sales through other affiliates that join the affiliate program with the help oftheir recommendation also generate revenue for them.

Multi-tier affiliate marketing is an extension of the above butthe affiliate earns even more commission througheven more affiliates present within the affiliate network that could be working in various tiers.

Residual Income Affiliate Marketing

In residual income affiliate marketing, not only do you get paid for each instance a customer is referred to the site, but there’s also a payment for each time the referred customer uses the site again and buys another item. The kind of compensation for Residual Income Affiliate Marketing varies from merchant to merchant.

Types of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing Programs

Now you’re wondering if all affiliate marketing programs are the same? If they’re different, which one’s the best for you? Do they share the same benefits or is there any choice that’s more suited to your needs? Pay attention to the different affiliate marketing options you’ve got.

Coupon Sites

Some of the most popular kind, coupon sites are good for eCommerce websites, as they’re incentives for people to shop online. Generally, these are discount codes and deals on products or services. The affiliate makes some commission each time someone uses their code for a product purchase.

Review Sites

Review sites are also becoming increasingly popular, and it’s easy to find some of these options on Amazon or its partners. They provide Amazon review websites, allowing them to profit from the platform. The reviews are focused on helping the consumer out, giving them a transparent review of a product.

Similarly, the websites need to be catered to meet SEO requirements while being keyword-rich.

Mobile

Many websites have emphasized adding affiliate links to their apps, which helps users reach a coupon comparison or shopping platform in case they provide an application for their users. A common application for this is Pandora, which sends users to the iTunes store each time someone clicks on an affiliate link. Being one of the biggest user bases in the world, mobile affiliate marketing has a lot of scopes, and marketers are getting crafty with it.

Conclusion

There are a plethora of options out there and there's no one size fits all solution that will work for everyone. There are people out there satisfied with PPC, while others strive to make the most out of it with PPL and multi-tier affiliate marketing. It's up to you to decide which one is the most feasible for you and learning the ins and outs of that particular strategy.

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