2. Online affiliate marketing is one of the many products of
the Internet boom in the mid 1990's. Due to the nature of
the system and the way in which money is generated and
clients determined, it could only work through a complex
computerised system such as that made available by the
World Wide Web. Whilst the system may appear simplistic
from a business point of view, the inner workings of the
affiliate program require some unique calculations.
3. In a standard situation, when a company wishes to
advertise they can do so by hiring an advertising team,
and then paying for advertising space. However the
affiliate marketing program is very different. The affiliate
sites are not paid up front for their trouble, they are paid
as customers join through their site. If we take the model
of one of the most successful affiliate programs, that of
sports betting there are significant calculations that need
to be made in order to accurately work out how and when
to pay an affiliate.
4. Unlike in other affiliate programs, the sports betting sites
pose a unique problem. Affiliates have the option to be
paid a percentage of the money that a player who joined
through them generates for the sports betting site.
Therefore the sports betting site or the affiliate program
needs to be able to track and accurately calculate a players
betting, in order to pay the affiliate the correct amount.
Firstly the affiliate is assigned a unique URL, so that the
sports betting site can accurately locate where exactly the
new player has joined form. The second problem is then
keeping a record of the player once they are on the site, so
that the affiliate is rewarded as and when thy generate
money. This is usually done by assigning the new player a
unique number, which can then be monitored by the
sports betting site, allowing them to reward the affiliate as
5. The system is complicated in terms of the dynamics of the
payment, especially when compared to the simplistic
method of paying up front. But in truth the sports betting
affiliate program is a simplistic automated system, which
works time after time. This is a fact backed up by the
thousands of sites that continue to stay with or join the
affiliate-marketing program and by the huge profits that
these sites are able to command. The effectiveness of the
affiliate program industry has also benefited the Internet
industries including but not limited to sports betting. It
has also offered the opportunity to thousands of small site
owners to create a small revenue for themselves, as well
as creating an industry in which new businesses can be
founded purely to take advantage of the lucrative
marketing program.