The affiliation world is a fairly simple concept, but its network and systems of payment can be somewhat complex. Let’s take a quick look at what affiliation is, and if it may be right for your company.

Think of affiliation like a circle. You have a website that caters to people looking to purchase a car. You come across several websites that give good advice and tips on how to buy a car, or even better, a review site that may offer some real value for buyers looking to understand the pros and cons of their new potential purchase. This review site has long established itself as the go to site for people interested in researching new cars.

You write an email to the site owner, either through their social page or from the website itself, and you can explain to them that you are interested in having your site appear in a small or large blurb somewhere on their site. The site agrees and within a few minutes you see your site is now being advertised on theirs. This is the beginning of an affiliate relationship.

Once an end-user clicks on your ad they will come to your site through a tracking id that will determine how many visitors are clicking through on your ad. Depending on the deal structure that you work out with the review site, which could include structures such as CPA (one time fee) or Revenue share (net fee), you will begin to understand if the payout is worth the acquisitions.

Your conversions will be tracked by a shared system which ensures that once you get a sale the affiliate will also get a commission. Affiliation can be a very useful way to market your website to a specific demographic. Its an effective approach for almost any online business and something certainly to consider when you create your next yearly budget.