Affiliate Marketing Links to Merchant Web Sites

Affiliate Marketing Links to Merchant Web Sites

Affiliate Marketing Links to Merchant Web Sites

Affiliate marketing is promoting a merchant's online store in the affiliate web site. There are several ways to do this, all depending on what the affiliate is marketing and what their web site is like.

SOME AFFILIATE MARKETING LINK TYPES AND METHODS

NOTE: You can link to a merchant store's home page, or to a specific product or group of products.

- TEXT LINKS. With this method, the affiliate links to the merchant's site or product using only a hyperlink. It's both convenient and effective marketing. The merchant ad doesn't interfere with your web site design. People probably won't even know it's an ad until they click on it. (But to deliberately trick your visitors in this way is a breach of business etiquette, so don't forget that.)

- BANNER LINKS. This affiliate marketing method is pretty weak. Most users ignore obvious ads like banner ads. Unless the banner ad is perfectly targeted on your audience, it will miss by a mile.

- CO-BRANDING LINKS. Here when a customer clicks on an item to buy it, they go to a page that looks like it's still part of the affiliate's web site. In reality, they are already in the merchant's web site. But it has been customized to so they won't know they're in another site. This is excellent for making your online business site look more professional.

- STORE FRONT. Use this option if you want to sell lots of related items quickly. With this affiliate marketing method, the buyer will know they are no longer in the original (affiliate) web site.

- SEARCH BOX. Visitors will see a search box in the affiliate's web site to search the merchant's site. It can be annoying for visitors who think they are searching the affiliate site but end up elsewhere.

AFFILIATE MARKETING TIPS.

Our advice is to use plain text links whenever possible. This keeps your web site clean and trim and not too commercialized. Add graphics to get the buyer's attention. Use co-branding if possible.

Also, place your text ads above or below your navigation bar. This is usually the left side of your screen. Make them look like a part of your site and put vital keywords in the anchor text. For example, "Affiliate Marketing Software" if your visitors go to your web page looking for affiliate marketing info.

Of course, how profitable an affiliate program can get depends on the arrangement between affiliate and merchant. We advise you to look not just at the type of products a merchant is selling, but also their payment methods.