Profile of an Affiliate Publisher

Feb 28, 2017 | Ecommerce

Affiliates come in all shapes and sizes. Learn the main types and how they operate to diversify your marketing program.

Affiliate Marketing

The amount of time that consumers spend online is increasing, so it is not surprising that U.S. Digital Ad Revenue is also increasing. According to Business Insider, U.S. digital ad revenue is expected to reach nearly $100 billion by 2021. Digital advertising takes many shapes and sizes just like your customers. The U.S. Affiliate marketing spend is expected to have an annual growth rate of 10% until 2020 (LinkedIn Pulse).

As you develop your first affiliate marketing strategy, you will find that the market is incredibly diverse with thousands of different publishers to work with. Take into consideration these general profiles and make sure you recruit a variety of publishers that meet your needs as an advertiser.

Cashback & Reward Sites

Digital savvy audiences are looking for ways to get the most out of their purchases. Well known publishers such as Ebates and TopCashBack have been offering users rewards for purchasing through their sites both in the U.S. and internationally for years. These programs use part or all of the commissions that they earn from sales and offer it back to users that sign up for their program in either cash or gift cards.

Coupon & Deal Sites

Everyone loves a good deal. These sites find a variety of ways to take your offers and serve them up to audiences hungry for your promotions:
 

  • Users can search for local coupons (Groupon)
  • Dedicated editors search for the best online deals (Brad’s Deals)
  • Users post the deals that they find at affiliate merchant sites (RetailMeNot)

Content & Blogging Sites

Content is still king, right? Blogging and content will require a strategy that differs from the other publisher types to optimize your returns, but they boast advantages of having a loyal and targeted audience for your products. Some will review your products or review your company to attract customers to your store, but others will also offer opportunities to advertise with banners and text links.

Product & Price Comparison Sites

True to the name, these sites offer users to search for a variety of products and view prices from the different affiliates. Keep in mind that it may take some optimization and up front work to get the most out of any comparison engines. If you are working through an affiliate platform, consider setting up a product feed that imports automatically.
 

This short list of publisher types will help you get started in shaping your affiliate marketing plan. The Informatics Digital Marketing Team works with hundreds of publishers and is poised to help you get the most out of your efforts. Contact us to learn more about getting started with affiliate marketing or optimizing your campaigns today.


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