Are you a webmaster looking for supplemental income?

Are you a webmaster looking for supplemental income?

 Do you want to start an internet business but don't have any products to sell?  If this is the case, affiliate marketing may be the ideal solution to your concerns.  You won't have to worry about the things you have to sell with affiliate marketing.  All you need is a website with enough content related to the products of a certain online company that offers affiliate programs.  You can start making money right immediately by becoming a member of the program or an affiliate!

Affiliate marketing is a business relationship that is formed between a merchant and his affiliates.  An affiliate marketing associate commits to direct some traffic to a merchant's website.  If such traffic results in a conversion, such as a visitor purchasing a product from the merchant's website or becoming a lead for the company, the affiliate who directed the traffic will be reimbursed.  Compensation may be in the form of a percentage sales commission for sales generated or a flat fee determined upon the affiliate's application to the merchant's affiliate program.

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most popular online marketing approaches today, promising numerous benefits to both merchants and affiliates.  Almost every merchant or retailer website now has an affiliate program anyone can join.  Most businesses would persuade consumers to join affiliates or members of their program by offering huge commissions, lifetime commissions, click-through money, and a variety of other incentives.  But, will all of these affiliate programs offer the same advantages?

Most affiliate programs will give you a one-time commission for each sale or lead you to bring to the merchant's website.  Commissions for this type of affiliate scheme are often significant, ranging from 15% to around 60%.  Other affiliate schemes will pay you a set amount for each click-through or traffic you send to the merchant's website.  Programs like these typically pay a tiny amount for each click-through, usually no more than a half-dollar.  The advantage of this type of program is that the visitor is not required to purchase for the affiliate to be reimbursed.

The residual income affiliate program is another form of affiliate scheme.  Residual affiliate schemes often pay only a small percentage of the sales commission for each sale directed to the merchant's site by the affiliate.  This commission is frequently only 10% to 20% of the sales commission.  As a result, many people disregard residual affiliate programs in favor of high-paying one-time commission affiliate programs.  Is this group making a mistake, or are they making the correct decision?

We can't say for certain whether customers are making a mistake by choosing a high-paying one-time commission affiliate scheme.  But we can surely state that ignoring residual affiliate programs is a big error.  Residual affiliate schemes do pay at a reduced rate, but merchants who offer such programs will typically pay you recurring and continuous commissions for a single affiliate-initiated sale!  For example, in a one-time commission scheme, you are paid only once for the same effort you put into marketing a certain affiliate program, however in a residual program, You are compensated on a consistent and ongoing basis!

So, do you see the advantages of advertising residual affiliate programs now?  Or are they still ambiguous?  If things remain ambiguous, let us clarify them with this example.

Assume there are two online merchants, both of them provide web hosting services on their websites.  The first retailer offers a one-time commission affiliate program that pays $80 for each affiliate-initiated sale.  The second merchant has an affiliate program as well, however, it is a residual affiliate program that pays only $10 for each affiliate-initiated sale.  As an affiliate, we may be drawn to the first merchant's offer right away because $80 is a lot more than $10.  However, by considering things before proceeding, one may be able to realize that the second merchant provides us with more opportunities to earn a larger sum of money.

If you directed traffic to a merchant and it resulted in a sale, you will be reimbursed once by the first retailer for the sale you initiated.  However, with the second merchant, you will be paid on a monthly basis for as long as the consumer you brought to the merchant continues to use the web hosting service.  That is, for the same effort of bringing one consumer to use the merchant's service, you are rewarded regularly in residual affiliate programs, whereas you are only paid once in one-time commission affiliate programs.

So, is it worthwhile to promote residual affiliate programs?  Yes, since you almost always make more money from these types of affiliate schemes in the long term!  And how well would residual affiliate programs suit you?  Probably not, but possibly.  It's not really my place to say.  However, given the benefits that residual affiliate marketing can provide, it would be foolish to disregard such schemes.