What Is An Affiliate?

A beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing.

In the 1990s, the World Wide Web revolutionised marketing by opening new doors to market, and distributing products and services through countless websites visited daily. Search engines came along in the mid ‘90s, catapulting the internet into “a massive e-commerce and information machine”. Websites could offer great content of useful information at the touch of a button. This was the birth of online marketing, which in turn gave rise to affiliate marketing.

An affiliate is literally a form of attachment or connection of a group or individual to an organisation: when one entity forms an alliance with a company. In business terms there are two contexts of affiliation:

1. In corporate law and taxes, an affiliate is a company that is related to another company, usually by being in the position of a member or a subordinate role. Two companies may be affiliated if one company has control over the other, or if both are controlled by a third company.
2. In online retailing, one company may affiliate with another to sell products or services. The seller has a website on which affiliates may sell products. The seller has control over the site and pays a commission to affiliates. This relationship is sometimes called “affiliate marketing”.

What distinguishes affiliate marketing from other business relationships is that this form of association maintains the affiliate as an independent party. That is, they are not employed or tied to the company they are affiliated with.

There are great benefits to be gained from affiliate marketing, but before you take the plunge there are some important factors to consider. The company product or service you wish to be affiliated with needs to match your website or blog. You need to take into account whether your readers/visitors could take offence or be delighted by your promotion of the third party. Does the product/service fit into your category of topics? As you are effectively endorsing a product/service, perhaps you should think about trying it yourself before you agree to enter an affiliate marketing agreement. It would have a counter effect if your readers experience dissatisfaction at a website that you yourself have recommended.

There is another business model when it comes to affiliation. Instead of looking for brands that fit to your existing website or blog, the alternative is to create websites especially geared to featuring pre-chosen affiliate companies and products. This is a business in itself as the sole purpose of your website will be to use it as a platform to feature other people‘s products. You could set up a whole set of sister websites to spread across different markets and watch the percentages of profit adding up. Be aware though that this is a full time job, and that you will need to create enough traffic on your websites to even consider affiliated marketing as an option.

So is affiliate marketing the answer to unemployment?

Many websites now offer the chance to earn a healthy living by becoming their affiliate. The temptation lies within the fact that you don‘t even have to leave your home – you could literally be earning from your living room sofa.

There are around 20 affiliate marketing UK companies which mainly deal with large well-established brands, covering all kinds of products including niche categories. They have a backend which shows them exactly how much money they are earning from each affiliated brand.

Students in the UK are now facing the prospect of unemployment due to a declining jobs market. According to the Guardian, “MoreNiche, an affiliated marketing company that allows third parties to sign up for free, and whose member retailers pay commissions of up to 40% a sale, has seen a 26% increase in the number of graduates using its services to set up online businesses after failing to find employment.” There is, however, a catch. Just by placing ads you can earn a small regular income, but making the big bucks requires a lot of dedication and hard work. The massive benefit however is the flexibility of your working hours. If you are studying and attending classes, working hours can be arranged around these commitments to fit your timetable.

As doing online business becomes more and more competitive, so will the demand for website owners to become affiliates. But fear not, as with all things, quality work and dedication can lead to fruitful outcomes.

Become a UK2 affiliate today by joining the UK2 affiliate program: click here to find out more and start making money from your website.