Affiliate programs are a manner by which individuals known as affiliates bring together companies and businesses to promote what they have to offer. An affiliate becomes known as a webmaster affiliate and provides a connection point between a customer and a website or series of websites. For example every time a customer or subscriber or visitor goes to a given website and clicks on a product or purchases something, the affiliate who belongs to the affiliate program is rewarded in one way or another. Affiliate programs are a way to encourage and increase sales because the affiliates are able to spread the word. The more affiliate programs that are put into play the more traffic that will find its way to the websites in question.
Affiliate programs are also sometimes called associate programs and in this case an online merchant pays a commission to an affiliate of the site to bring more traffic his way. The more exposure a site receives the more chance it will have of garnering more sales. Affiliate programs often yield successful results by using such online tools as Traffic Swarm, Empowerism and SFI.
In terms of affiliate programs, links for the merchant’s...