What Are the Different Types of Affiliate Marketing Programs

Affiliate marketing programs has never been asmerchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever the
popular before as it is today. Why? There can be avisitor he has referred to the merchant's site actually
number of reasons. The most probable reason,buys something from the merchant's site. Affiliates are
however, could be the fact that the benefits of affiliateoften paid on commission basis, although other
marketing have become clearer to a lot of peoplemerchants would opt to pay a fixed fee. But no
now than they were before.matter what the basis of the fee is, it is generally
Today, both the merchants and the affiliates can seehigher than the fee paid to affiliates in a pay-per-click
clearly that affiliate marketing can work for both ofaffiliate program.oPay Per Lead (PPL)
them. The merchant sees affiliate marketing today asThe pay-per-lead type of affiliate marketing is a slight
the chance to advertise their products at a lower cost.variation of the PPS type and is often used by
The affiliates, on the other hand, sees affiliateinsurance and finance companies and other companies
marketing as an easy way of earning profits online bywho rely on leads for their company to grow. In this
doing what they like most, and that is by creatingtype of affiliate marketing, the affiliate is paid
websites.whenever the visitor he referred to the merchant's site
Just as the popularity of affiliate marketing has shiftedfills up an application form or any similar form related to
into greater heights, so has the people's outlook aboutthe business of the company. Compensation for this
it changed. No longer is affiliate marketing consideredtype of affiliate marketing is based on a fixed fee
today as an alternative method for the merchant towhose rates approximate that of the fixed fee in the
advertise his products, or as a source of additionalPPS type.
income for the affiliates. For merchants and affiliatesAside from these three specific types of affiliate
alike, affiliate marketing is now considered as a mainmarketing, a lot of other affiliate marketing types exist.
source of profits and revenues.If the classification is based on the depth of the affiliate
So the question now is what type of affiliate marketingnetwork, it can be classified as single-tier, two-tier, and
will work best for you? Are all affiliate marketingmulti-tier affiliate marketing. There is also another type
programs the same? Are the benefits the same? Orof affiliate marketing that pays the affiliate each time
are there affiliate marketing programs that work betterthe customer he has referred purchases something
than the others?from the merchant's site.
There are actually different types or classes ofSingle-Tier, Two-Tier, and Multi-Tier Affiliate Marketing
affiliate marketing, and the number of types will dependThese types of affiliate marketing are based on the
on how one will classify them. The most basic affiliatedifferent levels or tiers in the affiliate network by which
marketing programs, however, falls under twopayments are made. In a single-tier affiliate marketing
categories: pay-per-click (PPC), andprogram, the affiliates are only paid based on the
pay-per-performance (PPP).direct sales or traffic he has referred to the merchant.
Pay Per Click (PPC)All the previously mentioned affiliate marketing types
PPC is the most popular type of affiliate marketing for(i.e. PPS< PPL, and PPC) fall under the single-tier
affiliates with small websites, and probably the easiestclassification.
way for them to earn money. In this affiliate marketingIn two-tier affiliate marketing programs, the affiliate is
type, the merchant pays his affiliate whenever a visitornot only paid for the direct traffic or sales that he
is referred to his site, that is whenever someone clicksrefers to the merchant's site, but also on every traffic
through the merchant's banner or text ads. The affiliateor sales referred by various other affiliates who joined
gets paid a certain amount even if the visitor hethe affiliate program through his recommendation.
referred does not purchase anything from theMulti-tier affiliate marketing works the same way,
merchant's site. However, typical fees for PPC affiliatealthough the affiliate gets additional commission for a
programs are small, usually not exceeding a dollar forwider number of affiliates in different tiers in the
every click.affiliate network.
Pay Per Performance (PPP)Residual Income Affiliate Marketing
PPP affiliate marketing is the most popular amongIn residual income affiliate marketing, the affiliate gets
merchant and is also the most lucrative type for thepaid not only once for every customer he has
affiliates. In this type of affiliate program, the merchantreferred to the merchant's site. Rather, the affiliate is
only pays the affiliate whenever his referral translatesalso paid whenever the customer he has referred
into an actionthat is whenever the visitor he hasreturns to the site and purchase another product.
referred actually buys something from the merchant'sCompensation for such type of affiliate marketing is
site or when the visitor becomes a lead. This means abased on either sales percentage commission or fixed
lot of savings for the merchant. On the other hand, itfee basis.
becomes the most lucrative type for the dedicatedThe different affiliate marketing types would virtually
affiliate, for commissions in PPP affiliate marketingwork differently for merchants and affiliates alike, and
usually comes in the range of 15% to 20% of theeach would generally have their own list of benefits.
actual product sales.Which type of affiliate marketing will work best for
Pay-per-performance affiliate marketing can be furtheryou? It is not really for me to tell. Rather, it is for you to
classified into two popular types: pay-per-sales (PPS)choose which type of affiliate marketing program will
and pay-per-lead (PPL).oPay Per Sale (PPS)suit your needs and characteristics best.
In a pay-per-sale type of affiliate marketing, the