How Affiliates Help to Generate Quality Leads

Affiliate marketing is one way to build high-volume leads with no upfront cost and a significant return on investment. Simply put, the business owner (called the merchant) partners with webmasters (called affiliates). Affiliates publish a link to the merchant’s website. Leads are generated for the merchant, and affiliates earn a predetermined amount for each lead.

Affiliates will sign up to promote a merchant’s business because they think the merchant’s products or services will be helpful to their visitors. Affiliates generally reach a similar market as the one sought by the merchant. The program works well because affiliates are, in effect, sharing their existing traffic flow with the merchant. Leads developed through affiliates will therefore be pre-qualified. Further, since leads come through action on the potential buyer’s part, an interest in the merchant’s product already exists, making the likelihood of conversion high.

Establishing an affiliate program can also help improve a merchant’s rankings with search engines. The more people who click on the merchant’s link from affiliate websites, the higher that merchant will be ranked. This gives the merchant a better position in search engine listings, which leads to even greater traffic.

The cost of running an affiliate marketing program makes it a highly favorable option. There are several ways that affiliates are paid, and these are pre-determined by the merchant at the outset of the program. Pay-per-click (PPC) means the affiliate is entitled to compensation for each visitor that clicks on the link to the merchants website. Pay-per-Action (PPA) means the affiliate is paid each time visitors take specific steps, such as providing their name and email address to receive a newsletter or more information. Pay-per-Sale (PPS) means the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate when a sale is generated through the affiliate’s website. Pay-per-Impression (PPM) means the affiliate is paid simply for displaying the merchant’s ad or link. PPA and PPS arrangements are more favorable to the merchant, who pays only for leads with high potential for conversion or only when a sale is actually made.

For best results, merchants can determine the criteria for affiliate partners in advance of establishing an affiliate program. The best affiliate partners will be those with content-rich websites in a field related to that of the merchant. This will ensure that any leads generated through the partnership will come from the merchant’s desired market.

Another factor in how successful an affiliate partnership will be, is the ease of use that visitors enjoy when navigating the affiliate’s website. A site that is difficult to use will not hold visitors long enough for them to take action. Ease of use leads to higher conversion rates.

Through affiliate marketing, merchants stand to gain a massive amount of exposure, increased traffic, an ongoing supply of leads, and ultimately, more sales.