Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are a way of making your website earn money for you.

Lots of businesses on the internet attract traffic by advertising on other sites.  The way that this works is that your web page includes links to a merchant site and you get paid an agreed commission based on the sales your website sends the merchant’s way.  While commission agreements and percentages vary— based on anything from click-throughs through to actual sales —they can be generous for very little work on your behalf.

It’s possible to create your own website (or utilise your existing site), to push your organisation’s traffic to these affiliates.  If someone clicks on one of these advertisements and subsequently makes a purchase, a commission is paid to the referrer (you). This kind of advertising is called Pay Per Action (PPA), since the affiliate isn’t paid for carrying the merchant’s advertising link or graphic on his site, but only when a visitor performs a certain action (visits, fills out a form, makes a purchase).  Choose which websites you will advertise based on their suitability to your members and the level of commission they offer.

Affiliate programs work best when they are aligned with your members’ interests and usual spending: think sporting equipment, DVD rental, groceries or other everyday items for example.

Once the original link is created on your website, remind members to support sites that you are affiliated with — and your group will earn commission.