Affiliate marketing is the promotion of products and services on various online platforms in exchange for a commission on the sales of those products and services. In this model, the advertiser pays only a commission, which means they don’t risk wasting their advertising budget. Commission-based advertising is one of the most effective and safest ways to promote an online store.

Commission-based advertising – who takes part in an affiliate campaign

The parties involved in affiliate campaigns are:

• Advertisers – online stores that want to increase sales by promoting their offer across various websites, in exchange for a commission on each sale.

• Publishers – website owners, bloggers and social media users who want to earn money by recommending advertisers’ products.

• Affiliate network – an online platform that enables instant cooperation between advertisers and publishers in performance-based models.

Affiliate marketing in the Cost Per Sale model is a win-win collaboration, because every party involved benefits:

• The advertiser pays only for specific, completed sales or marketing results, eliminating the costs of ineffective campaigns.
• The publisher invests only their time and advertising space, without having to put their own money into products or storage.

Advertisers in the webePartners network are online stores and companies providing online services. Dedicated affiliate programs are created for advertisers. Publishers join these affiliate programs to promote advertisers’ products on their own online properties.

After joining a program, publishers receive tools that allow them to recommend products in various ways on their channels, and for every completed transaction they receive a commission on the sale.

The affiliate network safeguards the settlement process and maintains good relationships between both sides, and the entire process takes place within the affiliate system.

Who benefits from commission-based advertising?

Commission-based advertising is a great option for any advertiser, because you only pay for a completed sales action – in other words, you pay for advertising only when you earn.

As an advertiser, if you choose e.g. Google Ads, you need to be aware that if the campaign is poorly managed, your budget can be wasted and traffic and sales in your store may not increase. In affiliate marketing, settled in the Cost Per Sale model, this risk doesn’t exist. The advertiser can be sure that cooperating publishers will be highly motivated, because the way they promote the products directly impacts their earnings from the partnership.

For publishers, affiliate marketing is a way to monetize even the smallest online activity. Thanks to affiliate links, publishers can recommend products on various websites as well as on social media. Affiliate marketing can be a source of additional passive income or a profitable online business.

Publishers are keen to work with advertisers on a commission-based advertising model. This is because this form of cooperation gives them full control over how much they earn and how they earn it. They have complete freedom of action, as the affiliate network provides not only affiliate links that can be placed in content, but also banners and widgets that are highly visually appealing and eye-catching, and can additionally be adapted to the aesthetics of a specific online space.

Publishers independently decide which advertisers they want to work with and how they promote the products. The cooperation is voluntary and they can end it at any time without giving a reason.

How to encourage publishers to work on a commission basis

Showcase your affiliate program to encourage cooperation on a commission basis

Publishers are the key link in affiliate collaboration. Without publishers, there are no sales. That’s why you should always include information about the option to join your affiliate program on your website. Promote your program at every opportunity – on your blog, in social media, everywhere.

Invite publishers to join your affiliate program

As an advertiser and seller, you know best where you want to be promoted and which websites you’d like to work with. In the webePartners affiliate network you have two ways of inviting publishers, which should constantly complement each other:

Use the Affiliate Marketplace, a publisher database available in your advertiser account in the “Manage Publishers” tab. You get access to publishers with matching reach and topics. Analyze each publisher’s activity and send an invitation via the internal messaging system. Once the invitation is accepted, the publisher is automatically added to your program.

Find your own potential publishers online and contact them directly to invite them to affiliate cooperation. To make this outreach as effective as possible, remember to clearly communicate the benefits the publisher gains by joining your partner program. A dedicated landing page for your affiliate program will be extremely helpful here.

Share discount codes

Użytkownicy Internetu stale poszukują zniżek na produkty, które chcą zakupić. Udostępniając kody rabatowe dla danych wydawców, którymi mogą oni podzielić się ze swoimi użytkownikami, sprawiasz, że są oni zadowoleni ze współpracy. Możesz także wysyłać do wydawców paczki PR ze swoimi produktami, które będą mogli przetestować. Wtedy ich działania na Twoją rzecz, będą jeszcze bardziej wiarygodne.

Afiliacja to nie tylko prowizja od sprzedaży

Cost Per Lead – a fixed rate for each completed action

CPS is of course not the only option. Another billing model is CPL, or Cost Per Lead. This is a rate paid for delivering a specific action. Importantly, with this model you don’t pay a commission on sales, but a fixed amount for completing a defined action (delivering a sales lead) that you set in advance. These actions can vary widely: filling out a form on the website, registering for a service, signing up for a newsletter, downloading an ebook, etc.

Cost Per Click – payment for ad clicks

Another option is CPC (Cost Per Click). This is a fixed rate per ad click. In this model, the advertiser pays a fixed amount for every click on the ad that redirects the user to the online store. There is no requirement for any further action to occur, such as a purchase or lead form submission. A simple click is enough for the publisher to receive payment. From the advertiser’s perspective, this is the most risky model, because it does not guarantee any sales.

Hybrid models

There are also various combinations, the so-called hybrid models, e.g. CPS + CPL. These two options can be combined when, within a single service, the buyer not only makes a purchase but also performs another action, such as downloading a free report. Another option is CPS + CPC or CPL + CPC. These models most often support email campaigns run with publishers.

The last option among hybrid models is CPS + PR package. It’s worth knowing that collaborations with content publishers (bloggers, influencers, YouTubers) are very often based on reviews of selected products. In such cases, it’s a good idea to send them a PR package with the products that are to be promoted on a commission basis. When they can actually test the cosmetics, games or clothes themselves, their recommendations become much more credible.