I have compiled this list of common questions related to affiliate marketing and hope that DP members will find it useful as a starting point. What is an affiliate program? An affiliate program is a partnership between website owners and various merchants. The merchants reward website owners who promote their products or services for generating revenue. You, as a website owner, will earn a certain sum of money (commission) every time you refer a customer to the merchant and that customer becomes a client. What is an affiliate? An affiliate is the website owner who promotes products or services offered by various companies in exchange for a commission. What is a merchant? The merchant is a company or individual who sells certain products or services and who will pay affiliates a commission for every sale they generate. What is an affiliate link? An affiliate link is the method merchants use in order to keep track of their affiliates. Thanks to affiliate links, merchants know exactly when you send them traffic so that they can reward you accordingly. You can expect an affiliate link to have a form similar to the one below: What is an affiliate agreement? Affiliate agreements are the terms by which the relationship between affiliates and merchants is governed. They clearly state under what circumstances affiliates are paid and how much they are paid for promoting a certain product or service. What is affiliate software? Affiliate software refers to various software programs which merchants use in order to manage their affiliate program. It should deal with everything from signing up affiliates and generating affiliate links to tracking impressions, clicks and sales. What is a commission? A commission represents the amount a webmaster who promotes a certain product or service earns for each generated sale. What are click-through rates? They are rates at which users click a certain link which brings them to the website of a merchant. A click-through rate of 5%, for example, means that out of every 100 visitors, 5 click on the link in question. What is a charge back? A charge back is an action which has the fact that a certain commission is cancelled as a result. What are cookies? They are small, round and flat cakes. But since this is a webmaster forum, the term "cookie" is also use to describe text files stored on your computer which allow merchants to track all sorts of information which is of interest to them such as what affiliate has referred you to their website. What are conversion rates? They are percentages of the total number of clicks which result in sales. What is Cost Per Action? CPA is the cost a merchant will pay every time an affiliate makes a sale. What is Cost Per Click? CPC is the cost a merchant will pay for every visitor a certain webmaster refers. What is Cost Per Thousand? CPM is the cost a merchant pays for every 1000 banner impressions. What is an impression? An impression occurs every time a certain banner advertisement is displayed on a page. What is above the fold? The part of the page which a visitor can view without having to scroll down. Based on screen resolutions, the "above the fold" part varies from user to user (from monitor to monitor). What are recurring commissions? They are commissions which are paid out every time a certain customer is charged by the merchant (for example services which involve a monthly fee). What are residual earnings? They are commissions which are paid out every time a client referred by a webmaster purchases a product or service from a certain merchant. What is ROI? Return on Investment is a term which reflects what a marketer has earned on his investment. In other words. The more sales you are able to generate using a certain budget, the higher your ROI will be. Who are super affiliates? They are the affiliates which produce the most sales for merchants (a small fraction of the total number of affiliates). What is Viral Marketing? Viral marketing occurs when word-of-mouth comes in as an advertising vehicle for a certain product of service (for example, if people refer their family members, friends or contacts to a merchant). Hope you've found the thread useful, F1RM
Nice information but newbies here would be more interested in how to start up an affiliate income .Anyone who can guide a newbie like me? Please PM me.
It's always best to know the terms though. If you don't know what things mean then affiliate marketing can become a whole lot harder for you.
Learning how to walk always comes before running This thread is meant as a basic guide for newbies as far as the frequently used affiliate marketing terms are concerned. Once you learn the basics, simply browse through DP and you will be able to take the learning process one step further. Best wishes, F1RM
Glad you've found it useful If anyone would like to contribute with additional information newbies may find useful to this thread, input is more than welcome. Best regards, F1RM