What is Affiliate Marketing? and why do you need to know?

Well written, see his blog for more: Tourism Smart Marketing

You join a company's affiliate program and once you're approved, you get a special code that you include on all links you have to their site. When someone visits your site, clicks on one of your affiliate links, and then goes to the vendor and actually buys a product or service, you are paid a small commission.

For example, if you were to sign up as an Amazon.com Associate (Amazon calls their affiliates "associates") you can easily use its Associates area to search for a particular product and then be shown the exact code you need to embed an affiliate link on your own Web page or weblog.

This sales model might not seem earth-shattering, but it is estimated that affiliates accounted for a total of $6.5 billion in sales in 2005. That's a lot of commissions!

Remember, the beautiful thing about an affiliate program is that there's no salary to pay, no health benefits, no office to stock, no computer to buy. In fact, a company can double or even triple its affiliates without incurring any cost whatsoever. It's the sales version of "pay per click": affiliates are only paid when the transaction is completed, so there's no risk.

Unsurprisingly, a small number of affiliates generate the majority of sales just as one or two retail outlets will lead their corporations in sales. Indeed, a common figure you hear when you talk with companies that have affiliate programs is that 5% of affiliates generate about 95% of sales.

If you are a tourism business looking for a way to increase online bookings or sales, you should definitely be considering an affiliate marketing program. What better way to empower thousands of other Internet people to help you sell your service or product, and you only have to pay them when you get a new customer!

Tourism Smart Marketing :: Affiliate Marketing