Generally, a company signed with an affiliate marketing corporation will supply a variety of link styles, including text links, graphics links and even search box links. Affiliates can choose from them. These links rest on the corporations website. They are gleaned by the affiliate for the best fit for their sites. The corporation will then track the activity for the link including the number of impressions, the number of clicks as well as the amount of purchases and commissions due the affiliate site.
Affiliate marketing corporations however often receive a cut of the sale in addition to the affiliates. They do not work for free. While this adds to the cost of making a sale, the companies realize that without the additional exposure the sales probably would not happen. The companies get the additional benefit of customer information for potential future sales.
By bringing affiliate marketers together with companies offering commissions for sales several companies in the internet market place are capturing a piece of the affiliate pie. Their role is to manage the affiliate programs for the companies while ensuring the sites offering referral links are paid...