Affiliate Programs Thrive Online
Posted on May 16, 2003
Affiliate programs may not have the buzz they once had. Many webmasters were turned off by affiliate programs when the dot-com crash came, affiliate programs were canceled and many checks went unpaid. However, despite the crash and the industry slump, the affiliate industry continued. Today, affiliate providers like Linkshare.com, CJ.com, Performics and BeFree continue to connect merchants with website owners. And companies like Amazon.com continue to rake in profits from its large independent network of affiliate websites.
Aberdeen Group analyst Kent Allen tells the The E-commerce Times, "E-commerce is getting its act together, and in doing that, people are going to be revisiting the affiliate idea. There are lots of small merchants finding success with these programs."
The affiliate networks, like Linkshare and Commission Junction, can pool affiliate payments to publishers from more than one merchant. This makes it easier for a publisher to hit the minimum required to get paid than when they have to do individual affiliate programs for multiple merchants.
