The Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing
The Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing
The Pros and Cons of Affiliate MarketingMost people have never head of affiliate marketing which is surprising considering the potential it can create for an online business. An affiliate is someone who invests their own time and resources into promoting an advertiser's offer in return for a small commission if they create a sale. An affiliate network is a middleman in between affiliates and advertisers.
An advertiser will employ an affiliate network to promote their offer(s) and the affiliate network will list it in a database that is accessible to the networks affiliates. An advertiser will specify a price that an affiliate will get for every sale they generate which is usually a few dollars.
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If affiliates decide to promote an advertisers offer, they are given a unique link to the advertisers offer which will track how many people resulted in a sale from people finding the website through that link. To get people to the advertisers website, affiliates will begin using their own marketing techniques that they have learnt and developed over time. They may begin setting up PPC campaigns or post links in different forums. Most affiliates will start a niche website that has relevant content to the advertisers offer. For example. If an affiliate decides to promote a web hosting offer, they may set up a website reviewing web hosting which praises the offer they are promoting.
The great part about affiliate marketing is advertisers only pay when an affiliate generates a sale. So to most, affiliate marketing is the sure way to go since it gives the highest return on investment.
Although affiliate marketing may seem like a flawless way of advertising, there are many things that can go wrong. Since affiliates are using their one time, money and resources to promote an offer, they are willing to push the limit just to make that extra buck. An affiliate does not care about the company they are promoting as long as they get a cheque in the mail.
Recently affiliates have started to dominate the online market with fake blogs and news stories portraying real people that have "tested" the product they are promoting. The average online user will believe the well put together story and most likely purchase the advertisers offer. These techniques are beginning to come under fire from the average consumer as being false and misleading, and are connected in their minds directly to the advertiser's own efforts. As these pages often feature vastly inflated claims in regards to the product they are selling, they are increasingly providing a negative connotation to the advertiser's own corporate image.
Additionally, affiliates will often use the same fake blog or article for multiple products creating brand confusion in the eyes of the consumer. Effects of this brand confusion can be seen prominently on forums such as complaintsboard.com where because two different companies have had the same affiliate promote them, the companies and their "negative business practices" will be forever linked.