An Affiliate Network (AffNet) is an association between three types of websites:
-
Affiliates or Publishers - These are websites that boast a substantial level of Internet traffic.
-
Merchants or Advertisers - These are websites that offer goods and services for sale.
-
The AffNet website itself acts as an intermediary between Affiliates and Merchants.
Affiliates attract visitors to their website primarily by hosting content that is relevant to a particular
group of consumers. An example might be a home improvement website featuring articles of interest to
do-it-yourselfers. Visitors to this website in turn present a potential source of revenue for the Affiliate.
By placing Merchants' ads on their website, the Affiliate can sell their home improvement traffic to
purveyors of home improvement products.
When a visitor clicks on a Merchant's ad from an Affiliate webpage, they are redirected to the Merchant's own
website where they have the option to purchase goods and services. If the consumer does in fact make a
purchase as a result of the Affiliate link, the Affiliate makes a commission on the sale - either a flat fee
or a percentage of the purchase price.
The AffNet facilitates Affiliate/Merchant partnerships. They register Affiliates and Merchants
on their network and provide the means for the two groups to contact each other. Most importantly, they track
every sale originating with their registered Affiliates and use this information to credit/debit
Affiliate/Merchant accounts based on the transaction. The AffNet itself generates revenue by taking a
percentage of each transaction.