Affiliate marketing is considered by many to be a key ingredient in a companys marketing strategy and it can provide your online business many benefits. The added bonus is that ads placed on affiliate sites cost nothing unless a sale is made. Most forms of advertising cost a business up front while they hope they placed their ad in the right media, hoping for more business. With affiliate marketing you do not pay for ad placement until you make a sale.
When you consider affiliate marketing simply a tool for free advertising, you should also realize the other benefits. Your name is getting to more people with each affiliate with which you sign up. Essentially, they are helping market your site. Since the affiliates do not make money unless they sell something advertised on their site, it is in their best interest to market their site, giving more people the chance to view your ad.
One of the hidden benefits of affiliate marketing is its effect on your search engine ranking. One of the elements search engines use to determine page rank, or being listed at all, is the number of quality links back to your site from other websites. If you confine your affiliates to...