The mechanics behind getting paid for promoting affiliate products

Affiliate marketing is offering products and services that don’t belong to you and getting paid commissions in return. You can offer these products or services on your blog or website. In a nutshell if you are a blogger, you find a product or service that you like and promote it to your readers, you then earn part of your profit on each sale that you make. Don’t have a blog yet? set one easily at iPage

So how do you get paid in the end? lets explore the mechanics behind this. The merchant has affiliate program software that enable him to manage this whole process. Here is a quick view of what happens behind the scenes:

• When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product. The affiliate includes the link in their blog posts or content and or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find more about. Example: Affiliate marketing resources. When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.
• Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.
• If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.
• The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (Clicks) and sales.
• The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

You can also read: Affiliate marketing terms.

Graphical view of the processes

It is easy to follow the flow in the diagram above. This works the same for any affiliate product or service.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Successful Affiliate Marketing