Understanding The Benefits To An Online Affiliate Marketing Program - 1

By Author: Mark Madson
Total Articles: 2
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Some people still do not know the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web, and think the terms are interchangeable. They are not. The Internet was around long before AOL flooded the world with branded floppies and CDs containing their software. It goes as far back as the 1960s when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense in charge of developing new technology for the military, ventured into the new realm of computer networking.

It all started with ARPANET, which eventually evolved into the Internet, and a new software tool known as NLS, the first "hypertext" standard, and an ancestor of the Internet's "graphical user interface," commonly called the World Wide Web. In other words, the World Wide Web is the easy-to-navigate front end (or "layer") that makes the Internet available to regular folks and not just computer nerds or government agencies.

The background story is necessary for you to get a complete picture of the early development of the now-ubiquitous Web, and introduce the cast of important characters. Like it or not, it was pornography ...
... that drove the development of Web technologies and applications, with most informed observers agreeing with adult industry leaders that Cybererotica was either the first or among the first to create an affiliate marketing program. They were followed in short order by CDNow and its "BuyWeb" program, and Geffen Records.

Amazon.com began its "associate program" in 1996, allowing the placement of banners and text links on sites so visitors could "click through" to Amazon and buy the item (books at first). The site from which the buyer arrived at Amazon would earn a commission on any subsequent sale. Although not the very first merchant to have an affiliate program, Amazon did create the first widely known one, and it provided a model for many to follow.

Proof in the pudding

The growth of Amazon and other companies following this once-revolutionary model should attest to the ultimate benefit of an online affiliate marketing program - business growth and profits. In 1997, in fact, Amazon submitted a patent application for the "essential components" of its affiliate program, although several "e-tailers" beat them to the punch, including AutoWeb.com, KBkids.com and a few others.

In the early Internet days, "e-commerce" or "e-tailing" websites were thought of as ploys or gimmicks, but some of these sites eventually grew bigger than the original companies that created them. The most active areas for affiliate marketing today are the adult, gambling, financial, travel and mobile phone industries. They all benefit from the additional reach and exposure that is possible with affiliate marketing programs, and constant refinement of the tools - search optimization, creative uses for Google's AdSense, viral marketing methods ("word of mouse") - will indicate the direction that the leaders are taking.

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