Online marketing is the medium which revolutionized the concept of interactive marketing. Advertising or promoting a product or a service using the internet as the medium is known as online marketing. Even though the initial stages of the introduction of the internet didn’t portray the fullest potential of it being used as a marketing tool, its development throughout the years has made it an essential medium for all commercial enterprises in diverse industries.
Along with the development of online marketing many original marketing strategies have been developed throughout the years. One such innovative model of marketing is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a contract between a website owner and an online merchant agreeing on a particular method of revenue sharing. The website owner will place advertisements or links which will attract customers to the merchant’s website.
Affiliate marketing is identified to be a two way beneficial marketing strategy where the online merchant will have an increased number of customers and the website owner will earn a share of the merchant’s profits. A website owner can earn with the use of three techniques in affiliate marketing: pay per click, pay per sale and pay per lead. Hence the exact method of payment will be agreed upon between the two parties when signing the contract. Even though it’s relatively easy to identify how a website owner benefits through affiliate marketing, quantifying the benefits obtained by an online merchant is complex. For that reason affiliate marketing statistics are made available for online merchants to ease their decision making process.
Generally affiliate marketing statistics provide information regarding marketing efforts of the online merchant. One of the most common types of information provided through online marketing statistics are the number of visitors to the merchant’s site, technically termed as website traffic. In addition certain affiliate marketing statistics provide information regarding ranking for keywords of the target audience, durations of the stay on the website, countries they come from etc. which has a direct impact on how the marketing campaigns of the online merchants can be maintained or improved. Moreover keeping track of affiliate marketing statistics can assist in predicting future sales and profits of the relevant online merchant. It is also identified that affiliate marketing statistics becomes vital information when preparing marketing articles aimed at the interests of the online merchant.
Keeping track of affiliate marketing statistics can be carried out manually or through tracking softwares. However if the organization seeks for efficiency and a high level of accuracy it is recommended to use a tracking software where results are generated automatically. Therefore an online merchant who employs affiliate marketing strategies can use affiliate marketing statistics to accurately plan future events on the site which will enhance business activities both in the short and long run.
