History and Development of Affiliate Marketing

Online affiliate marketing has turned out to be one of the most innovative and advantageous concepts in Internet marketing. In this age of cut-throat competition, an astute marketing campaign is a prerequisite for success. Affiliate marketing is, in simple words, a platform for merchants and affiliates to come together and work in a programme that leads to better revenue generation for both.

This concept traces back its history to the year 1996. According to Internet sources, the Chief Executive Officer of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, met a guest in a cocktail party who wished to sell books on her websites. Bezos spontaneously offered her commission for linking her website to Amazon. This simple idea led to the inception of the 'Amazon Associates Programme', the first affiliate programme of its kind. Associates of Amazon were asked to place banner links on their sites in order to sell books individually or divert traffic to Amazon by placing a link on their websites. Visitors often reached Amazon's homepage through the websites of their associates. For every such visitor, associates received a predetermined amount of commission from Amazon.com. In the month of July, 1996, Amazon's affiliate programme was actually formed. However, there are reports that insist that the idea of Affiliate Marketing Networks existed even before the Amazon episode. Epage and CDNow are also known as the two pioneers of this form of marketing.

Ever since its inception, this marketing format has increasingly gained importance amongst online buyers and sellers. In fact, many big businesses devote greater amount of time, money and resources to the online marketplace instead of a full-fledged marketing team. In the US and UK, Affiliate Marketing is the most prevalent and effective means of promoting one's products or services. The sectors of retail, gambling and adult stuff are considered to be the most rewarding in the present day scenario. Entertainment, broadband services, travel, mobile phones, finance, etc are expected to witness an upsurge in the times to come.

As is the case with Search Engine Optimization Services, Affiliate Marketing is also going through a phase where every other website owner is willing to experiment with these new techniques in lure of greater profits. As indicated by its history, this format is expected to continue churning out positive results in the future as well.