Affiliate marketing is currently big business for those looking to earn an income through the internet. There are lots of reasons why affiliate marketing has become an attractive proposition, but just what exactly is it all about? Read on to go the low-down on this money-spinning strategy.
With a rather large, all-encompassing definition, stealth marketing can describe many different types of internet marketing campaigns. The marketing term (aka undercover marketing, buzz marketing or guerrilla marketing) describes any marketing tactic used to appeal to consumers, when the buyers do not know they are being targeted.
In this sense of the definition, stealth marketing can be used in crowded marketplaces, television shows, or any other form of entertainment where marketing is not suspected. So, for example, when a movie-goer is watching a scene in a grocery store, the product placement of the Coca Cola on the shelf behind the main actor is a stealthy move for Coke to advertise without the consumer's expectation.
In the world of flashy advertisements, annoying marketing campaigns, invasive businesses, and online money making ideas, you have to know the ins and outs of online marketing in order to get your slice of the online income pie. Many people seek to make money through online stores, niche sites, blogs, and even scams, but many of these online money making ideas wouldn't be possible without the benefits of affiliate marketing.
According to the ultimate online information source, affiliate marketing is: "a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts...Affiliate marketing-using one website to drive traffic to another-is a form of online marketing, which is frequently overlooked by advertisers..."
What does all that mean in non-internet geek speak? Well, in simple terms, affiliate marketing is basically how one online business scratches the back of another. Google is one of the world's largest affiliate marketing programs. Google Adwords users are participating in affiliate marketing by paying to advertise on websites linked through the Google affiliate program. Businesses pay for their ads and links to their sites to be posted on other people's websites. When someone clicks on an affiliate ad, the website owner gets a PPC (pay per click) rate. The more people who click on the affiliate ad, the more money that website can make.