An affiliate can be a company with hundreds of affiliates or a single person who started a blog as a personal project at home.

We want to begin sharing the story of affiliate marketing, who are the people involved, how does it work and how you can participate. In this post we explore the types of ideal sites and those that can benefit the most from affiliate marketing.

Editorial & News sites

Editorial and news sites are prime candidates for affiliate marketing. They cover a wide range of topics from product releases to opinion pieces and industry overviews, have a large readership and attract a lot of traffic. While other marketing formats like native ads and banners may be the main breadwinners for these publishers, affiliate marketing offers a strong and sustainable additional source of income. Plus, it fits right within the content in a way that doesn’t disrupt the user experience!

Blogs

Bloggers dedicate a lot of time to narrating their experiences, reviewing merchants, and curating their favourite products – all of which is ideal content for monetisation. Because affiliate marketing is centered around merchants rewarding publishers for the sales they generate through their content, affiliate technologies allow bloggers to earn money for their role in consumers’ purchase journey without changing their editorial practices.

Mobile Apps

Affiliate marketing doesn’t just work for web based applications, it’s also ideally suited to mobile apps. Whether it’s through Link APIs (you can find out more about ours here) or shortened, affiliated URLs, there are plenty of ways for app developers to monetise their content through affiliate marketing!

Forums

Online studies have shown that nearly 60% of purchase decisions for products such as consumer electronics are influenced by peer review. Forums, with their dedicated communities of users posting opinions on products and services, are ideally suited to affiliate marketing. By using affiliate technologies, they can easily monetise content posted on their platform without having to rely on sponsorships or banner ads.

Social Networks

It was recently reported that 65% of consumers use social media to find the perfect gift. This is just one example of social networks’ massive influence when it comes to consumers’ purchase journey. As the owner of a social network, you can capitalise on these merchant and product links to earn money in a way that doesn’t impact the user experience. Just don’t forget to disclose so as not to anger your users! Most people are very understanding of sites monetising their content, as long as it’s done in a non-intrusive and transparent manner.

Coupon, Voucher and Sales Sites

By using affiliate marketing, these sites have the unique opportunity to earn commissions every time people make a purchase using their featured promotions and codes. Though some merchants are very particular about what coupon sites (if any) they work with, most value their influence in driving purchases and are happy to reward them for referrals, as long as they comply with the IAB guidelines.

These are just a few of the most known examples of affiliates. We hope that it is just a matter of time for you to realize that any person with an online space can be an affiliate. You just have to find the merchants that best fit your site and the right tools to promote them.