Want to start earning extra money online? The following Affiliate Marketing Terminology will help you better understand the many options and processes available to you as an Affiliate:
- Impressions: This is the number of times your banner / link will be viewed. It is different to a click in that someone may visit a page which contains your banner / link several times without ever clicking on your link.{Impressions are typically not reported on email promotions, only on those pages which include a special script for tracking these impressions. When running banners, it is handy to know how many people click on it versus those who view it only – i.e. impressions to clicks ratio}.
- Clicks: This is the actual number of clicks on your banner / link. In other words, it is the equivalent to the number of times someone “takes action” on your banner / link. This is the key measurement factor you should be looking at.
- Raw / Unique: Many systems use IP tracking which helps to identify the number of unique visitors who view or click on your link/s. So when you see a Raw / Unique statistic of 100 / 45, then you know that of the 100 people who clicked on your link, only 45 were unique – i.e. the other 55 clicked more than once.
- CTR: Click Thru Ratio – a % figure of the number of people who viewed versus took action
- Campaign: This refers to a particular offer rather than a specific promotion (e.g. last week) which you ran. You can run promotions on every campaign as often as you wish.
- Sub-Affiliate: An Affiliate who has signed up under you. Often described as your 2nd Tier. This is your DOWNLINE of fellow introducers … and you earn commission on each sale they generate. The level of commission varies. As guide, most systems pay 10% of the commission earned by the introducer – e.g. if they earn $50.00, your 2nd Tier commission is $5.00. Not every affiliate program offers / provides a sub-affiliate structure.
- CPA: Cost per Action – this term normally applies to cost per sale (i.e. the payment of commissions on “sales”) campaigns.
- CPS: Cost per Sale – An alternative term for CPA Campaigns.
- CPC: Cost per Click – this term applies to those Campaigns where you get paid on each click you generate. Googles Adsense service is an example of this – i.e. you earn a fee on every click you generate on the ads they provide.
- CPL: Cost per Lead – you get paid on every qualified lead you generate.
- Tracking: This simply describes the process for defining where your traffic is coming from.
There is additional terminology used in the Affiliate Marketing industry. The above though are the ones which newbies ask me to define / explain most often.
NOTE: Every affiliate programs operates differently. Many larger Affiliate Networks tend to provide access to a variety of campaign types so understanding the above will assist you in deciding which campaigns to promote.
Click here for an overview on some of the traffic and promotions options you can / should explore as an Affiliate.
