Advertising
Log in to saveDigital marketing term
Affiliate Marketing
A performance model where a publisher earns a commission for a tracked sale or lead. The advertiser pays when a result lands.
Detailed explanation
Tracking usually uses last-click coupons or affiliate links. Cash risk is low; coupon sites bidding on brand terms and low-quality traffic are the downsides.
Commission structure must fit margin. Rules should stop affiliates from capturing brand search you already own.
Disclosure of paid partnerships is both a legal and a trust issue. Hidden affiliate links damage content quality and platform rules.
Frequently asked questions
- Is affiliate the same as influencer marketing?
- They overlap. Influencers sell content and audience; affiliate is always a tracked commission model.
- What is the biggest risk?
- Trademark bidding and coupon intercepts: you pay commission without gaining a new customer.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- CPACPA (Cost Per Action) is a pricing and performance model based on completed actions such as a sale or form submission.
- UTMUTM parameters are tags added to a URL so analytics can distinguish campaign traffic by source, medium, and content.
- ConversionThe defined action you wanted completed: a purchase, signup, download, or form. Traffic without that count means the campaign flew blind on its results.
- Influencer MarketingInfluencer Marketing is a marketing method that partners with people who hold trust and influence over a specific social media audience to promote a brand's product or service to their followers.
- Profit MarginProfit Margin is a core financial performance indicator that shows the percentage of a business's total revenue that becomes actual profit, revealing how much of sales converts into real earnings.