Online affiliate marketing is one of the many products of the Internet boom in the mid 1990’s. Due to the nature of the system and the way in which money is generated and clients determined, it could only work through a complex computerised system such as that made available by the World Wide Web. Whilst the system may appear simplistic from a business point of view, the inner workings of the affiliate program require some unique calculations.
In a standard situation, when a company wishes to advertise they can do so by hiring an advertising team, and then paying for advertising space. However the affiliate marketing program is very different. The affiliate sites are not paid up front for their trouble, they are paid as customers join through their site. If we take the model of one of the most successful affiliate programs, that of sports betting there are significant calculations that need to be made in order to accurately work out how and when to pay an affiliate.
Unlike in other affiliate programs, the sports betting sites pose a unique problem. Affiliates have the option to be paid a percentage of the money that a player who joined through them generates...