What is an Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is an alternative way to run a brand's advertising campaign. Organizations wishing to increase their income engage arbitrageurs and media personalities who spread information about them through online promotions and encourage users to take a targeted action, such as registering on a website or making a deposit. Of course, affiliates do not promote for free and receive monetary remuneration, the amount of which depends on the payment model they choose.
Read on to learn about the pros and cons of working within an affiliate program, as well as how to become an affiliate and discover an additional source of income.
Affiliate Program: how does it work?
An affiliate program is like a mechanism made up of parts such as a brand, an affiliate and a customer. If one of the components falls out of the link, the system will start to produce errors, which will lead to a short circuit. Putting aside metaphors, let's get to the point — an affiliate program works according to a certain scheme, where each participant has a clear role and a specific task.
| Role | Task | Benefit |
| Brand | Increasing recognition, expanding the client base | Increase in revenue |
| Partner | Attracting audience, redirecting traffic | Passive income |
| Customer | Taking a targeted action | Access to services |
To summarize, the initiator of an affiliate program provides marketing tools. The affiliate, in turn, uses these tools to attract traffic. And the potential client interacts with them.
Types of affiliate programs
There are many types of affiliate programs on the offer market. Often there are two main payment models for cooperation: RevShare (Revenue Share) and CPA (Cost Per Action). They differ from each other by the fact that in the first model partners are paid a percentage of the income from the work with the attracted client, while in the second payment is charged only in the case of a certain action of the user, for example, registration on the site. Thus, CPA allows the owner of the advertising platform to earn quickly, and RevShare will be more profitable in the long run.
In addition, there are other types of affiliate programs:
- CPC (Cost Per Click) ― a model where advertisers pay for users to click on banners, for example;
- CPI (Cost per Install) ― a model in which the advertiser is paid for installing applications;
- CPV (Cost per Visit) ― a model in which payment is made for a user's visit to a landing page within a specified time;
- CPS (Cost per Sale) ― a model in which an affiliate receives a commission or a percentage of the actual sale of a product or service.
How much can I earn from an affiliate program?
The affiliate program is based on a mutually beneficial relationship, that is, both parties receive income. The amount of earnings will directly depend on the arbitrageur's choice of cooperation model and how many days, months and years ahead he thinks. For example, for a quick payback and reinvestment is more suitable CPA, and for a long-lasting quality audience ― RevShare. When you are making a decision, it is recommended to base it on the following parameters: your traffic source, audience and financial possibilities. As a consequence, if you have enough money to start advertising and not expect income from it, you can try RevShare. But when you don't have an audience yet and your budget is limited, it's better to go for CPA.
Traffic sources in arbitrage
Traffic sources are websites, marketplaces, and applications that bring users to a brand's website. The list of acceptable sources varies from the organization that developed the affiliate program. Most often companies partner with website owners, as well as people who blog on social networks: TikTok, Kick, Facebook, Twitch, Pinterest, Zen, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter (X) and YouTube.
Marketing tools for brand promotion
Marketing tools are promotional materials provided by a brand that a partner can use on its resource to promote the company. This includes banners, tracking links and promo codes that allow an organization to record, thanks to a unique identifier, which partner has brought new customers to the site. As well as mobile applications with tags embedded in their code to track the source of installations.
How to use a banner on a website?
Banners are one of the most popular and effective types of attracting traffic. It is a graphic image that includes advertising context. Webmasters can place them in the header of the site or on the side (left or right). Users do not always click through to the end of the page, so it is important to focus on the most obvious places.
We recommend analyzing whether banners have a positive impact. To do this, pay attention to such metrics as:
- CTR ― click-through rate;
- Post-view ― conversions made some time after viewing the banner;
- Post-click ― sources from which the user returned to the advertiser's site;
- Brand lift ― evaluation of brand awareness and interest in the brand;
- Search lift ― comparing the audience that saw the ad and searched for the company using key queries with the audience that did not see the banner but searched for the organization in a search engine.
Affiliate link types
Referral links identify an affiliate by linking them to a specific offerer, just like other marketing tools. They are classified into three categories: standard, deeplink and smartlink.
The functionality of standard links is that when a potential client clicks on a link, he will be redirected to the main menu of the advertiser's site.
In the second case study, the user will go to a specific page, for example, the registration form. According to statistics deeplink is more profitable to use, because a person is more likely to make a targeted action.
As for smartlink, a relevant offer is selected for the client based on location, operating system and other parameters.
What are promo codes for?
Promo codes are part of a marketing strategy that aims to encourage new users to register on a brand's website and make a deposit. As a rule, they come in the form of a bonus to the first payment. The promotion method is good because it is applicable to absolutely any platform: on websites, social networks, blogs, mobile applications.
How to choose an affiliate program?
Choosing an affiliate program you are going to work with is an important step that determines whether your earnings will be reliable or not. In order not to lose money, you should adhere to such criteria as:
- Conversion rates;
- Commission;
- Integration;
- Quality of promotional materials;
- Support of partners;
FAQs
What is the main task of an arbitrageur in affiliate marketing?
When you are working with a brand on an affiliate program, the arbitrageur's priority is to attract users and direct them to advertising offers so that they make a targeted action.
What user data does smartlink analyze?
Smartlink analyzes data such as location, IP address, connection type, operating system version, browser version, and device type.
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