Affiliate marketing is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as 'retailer' or 'brand'), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as 'the affiliate'), and the customer. The market has grown in complexity to warrant a secondary tier of players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third party vendors.

Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine marketing (PPC - Pay Per Click), e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing fake reviews of products or services offered by a partner.

Affiliate marketing is commonly confused with referral marketing, as both forms of marketing use third parties to drive sales to the retailer. However, both are distinct forms of marketing and the main difference between them is that affiliate marketing relies purely on financial motivations to drive sales while referral marketing relies on trust and personal relationships to drive sales.

Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers' marketing strategies.

Noun

affiliate (plural affiliates)

1. Someone or something that is affiliated, or associated; a member of a group of associated things.

   The local channel was an affiliate of a national network.

affiliate (third-person singular simple present affiliates, present participle affiliating, simple past and past participle affiliated)

1. (transitive) To adopt; to receive into a family as a son; hence, to bring or receive into close connection; to ally.
2. (transitive) To fix the paternity of; — said of an illegitimate child; as, to affiliate the child to (or on or upon) one man rather than another.
3. (transitive) To connect in the way of descent; to trace origin to.
4. (intransitive) To attach (to) or unite (with); to receive into a society as a member, and initiate into its mysteries, plans, etc.; — followed by to or with.

• Affiliate Software@ (19)
• Consultants (13)
• Resources (61)

• Affiliate Networks (22)
• Per Click Programs (1)
• Per Lead Programs (5)
• Per Sale Programs (105)

• Residual Income Programs (3)
• Two Tier Associate Programs (2)
• Weblogs (18)

• Business: Opportunities: Partners Programs (14)
• Computers: Internet: Web Design and Development: Authoring: Webmaster Resources (26)
• Games: Gambling: Consultants: Online: Affiliate Opportunities (77)

• ThiefWare
  thiefware.com
  Unethical use of eZula TopText, WhenU, Gator, and other Internet technology and software in affiliate marketing.
• Sportsco.com
  sportsco.com
  Fantasy sports affiliate program, earn money by referring others.
• Revenue Magazine
  revenuetoday.com
  Magazine for the affiliate marketing industry.