Sara Altschule

Posted 7 months ago

What Is An Affiliate Program? 

An affiliate program is when an online merchant pays a commission for referring traffic to their site or store. 

How Do Affiliate Programs Work?

Affiliate programs work when the affiliate marketer creates a link to the merchant’s site. The marketer gets paid by either how many leads the marketer can send to their website, or by how many purchases they help facilitate. Oftentimes, the commission is agreed upon when the relationship is created between merchants and marketers. 

Who Can Join an Affiliate Program?

Anyone can join an affiliate program but there are caveats. Each program will vary. Some may require a certain amount of followers, whether that be social media followers or the number of users coming to your own website. There also may be an age requirement, depending on the merchant. For others, the requirement may be how relevant is the merchant’s product to yourself and your audience. That is why it is important to evaluate each affiliate program on a  case by case basis. 

Affiliate Programs vs. Affiliate Networks

Think of an affiliate network as a middleman between the merchant and the merchant and the affiliate marketer. They help merchants find affiliate marketers and vise versa. An affiliate network is a good route to go if you’re new to affiliate marketing. They will help matchmake you with the best merchant fit. 

How To Join Affiliate Programs

You can either join an affiliate program through a company’s website. If they have an affiliate program, they will have a whole landing page dedicated to how to join their program. Or you can join through an affiliate network or marketplace, like ShareASale or Amazon.com Associates Program.