The webmaster signs up with the merchant to become an affiliate. The merchant gives back an identification code. The code identifies where the customers comes from.

The webmaster advertises or promotes on his web site a product or a service from the merchant's site. In the link to the merchant's site, the webmaster includes the identification code so that the merchant can identify customers buying from the webmaster's site.

When an user coming from an affiliate's site buys something on the merchant's site, the webmaster earns a percentage of the sale's price.

The most important thing is to select a product that appeals to the users of the site. DVDs, movie posters, tickets sell better on a movie site than subscription to a casino, web hosting offers or bank account services.

Many affiliate programs work more or less on the Internet. They can be sorted in two categories: merchant's site and affiliate center.

A merchant's site provide an affiliate program internally without help from a third-party. Only the best of them manage to build trust with webmasters and potential partners.

The recommended merchants are:

Merchant Type Rate Advise

Amazon.com Almost everything 5 to 7,5% Select Amazon.com items close to the content’s topics

All Posters Posters 25 to 30%
Use posters as pictures on the site

An affiliate center (or network) links merchants with webmasters. Some of the centres have a portfolio of hundreds of merchants. It is recommended to select merchants close to the interest of the site's users.

Centers offer variable rates based on products and merchants specificity. At this stage, it is important to point out that many webmasters complain about centers statistics. Between 10% to 30% of visits (and sales ?) could not be taken into account. Affiliates earn between $0.1 and $1 for 1,000 visitors. It needs a lot of visits to earn a little bit of money.

The recommended affiliate centers are:

Center Type Advise Merchants

First Coffee Network Europe The best european center Hertz, MisterGoodDeal, PromoVacances, La Redoute, etc

Commission Junction USA and World Use in addition with Amazon.com
eBay, LastMinute.com, O2, New York Times, USA Today

Link Share USA and World Use in addition with Amazon.com
Apple store, McAfee, Disney, American Express, Macy's

4 revenue types can be found on the Web:

- Sell a product or service by yourself (e-commerce)

- Sell a product or service with a partner (affiliation)

- Put advertising on the site

- Provide a paid site or paid content

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