Create strategic affiliate marketing relationships via Commission Junction

Affiliate marketing (or pay-for-performance marketing) is where an advertiser pays for real, measurable results rather than paying to reach a particular audience. A publisher advertises the products or services offered by advertisers in exchange for commissions on leads or sales generated. The publisher displays banner advertisments or text links on a web site, in email campaigns or in search listings, and is paid a commission by the advertiser when a visitor takes a specific action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase on the advertiser’s site.

Publisher advantage: Through their relationship with Commission Junction, publishers get access to a large selection of brand-name products to promote. The publisher can select exactly the products that best fit the intended audience, and doesn’t have to establish a separate business relation with each advertiser. As a trusted third party, Commission Junction ensures that the appropriate commissions will be paid for each lead or sale provided by the publisher. Publishers receive commissions for all their Commission Junction advertisers at the same time, reducing overhead costs.

Advertiser advantage: To the advertiser, Commission Junction provides a vast network of independent publishers that together form a formidable marketing channel. Instead of slowly finding each suitable publisher and building separate business relationships with them, advertisers can immediately expose their offering to the entire network of Commission Junction publishers and within a very short timeframe have their products promoted by many publishers simultaneously. The advertiser pays only for accountable, measurable results such as leads or sales. All commissions for all the publishers in the Commission Junction network are paid simultaneously, reducing overhead.

How it works

1. To create a performance-based marketing program, an advertiser joins Commission Junction and make their advertisments available for placement by a publisher. Each link is assigned a commission, such as a fixed amount per lead or a percentage of a resulting sale on the advertiser’s web site.
2. Publishers apply to join the advertiser’s program. Advertisers can approve all new publishers automatically, or through a manual screening process.
3. Upon receiving the advertisers approval, the publisher selects and places the advertiser’s offers on their web sites, in their email campaigns, or as part of search listings.
4. When a consumer clicks on a publisher’s link, a cookie is set on the visitor’s browser that identifies the advertiser, the publisher, and the specific link and payment rates.
5. When the visitor makes an actual purchase online or fills out a form, that transaction is tracked and recorded by Commission Junction. Upon recording the transaction, Commission Junction handles all of the collection and processing required to ensure fair and timely commission payment for the publisher, and all of the administration and verification necessary to ensure qualified sales and leads for the advertiser.

Promoting your product through Commission Junction gives you measurable results at a known, controlled cost.