Affiliate marketing is an increasingly popular way to promote businesses on the internet. An affiliate is rewarded for each visitor or subscriber found through their efforts. Essentially, this is the modern version the finder's fee. This type of plan works well for the merchant since no fees are paid to the affiliate until they see results. It's not uncommon for e-commerce sites to run their own affiliate marketing programs. Other e-commerce vendors use a third-party service that will track the traffic and sales created by the affiliate. Affiliate marketing has been the vehicle of success for many companies and the increase in revenue is usually 15-20% of a vendor's online revenue.

Network marketing is beginning to find its way into the fold but affiliate marketing programs are usually one tier. For merchants who are considering offering an affiliate strategy there are several possibilities available. Some of the solutions include stand-alone software, online shopping carts that have affiliate features, hosted services, and third-party affiliate networks. As the concept grows, many merchants opt to refine their terms and conditions to prohibit the affiliates from spamming.

Previously, affiliates would often resort to spamming techniques sent through email. These not only irritated consumers, but it clogged the Internet with computer-generated mail. Many affiliates are now onboard and create large volumes of generated web pages that are devoted to keywords and keyword phrases. This allows the search engines to target their sites. Google came to the rescue and created an algorithm called "Big Daddy" in February 2006. This allowed Google to remove a large quantity of duplicated content from the master index. This also means that an affiliate marketer has to rotate and update content on a regular basis.

The concept is responsible for creating a lot of new business across the globe and is expected to evolve greatly. It offers an affiliate the opportunity to hitch on to a company that is already well established in the market, and it becomes a win-win situation for everyone involved. The hopeful affiliate still has to realize that the adventure has to be taken seriously. While the merchant can offer training and timely advice, promoting the website or business is left up to the affiliate, and this means understanding the rules of engagement.