Affiliate Marketing will generate an estimated £2bn in UK online sales this year.

E-Consultancy Roundtable Briefing October '06

According to the affiliate networks, Blue Chips are the biggest spenders on affiliate marketing, with investment in this area still growing across industries such as Financial Services, Travel, Retail, Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Gaming.

E-consultancy Affiliate Marketing Networks, Buyers Guide 2006

According to TradeDoubler, it is not uncommon for affiliate marketing to account for up to 30% of online sales for some companies.

E-consultancy Affiliate Marketing Networks, Buyers Guide 2006

• Integration - Easily integrated with other online marketing strategies such as PPC, SEO and link building.
• Low risk - Affiliates charge on a performance basis so you only pay if something happens whether you've arranged this as a click to your site or a sale.
• FREE or very cheap advertising - Sites within the affiliate network will promote you and, even if someone using any of the sites doesn't click your details, they'll still see it, so you may take advantage of free advertising!
• Hit the top ten in Google - Affiliate sites promoting your brand may appear in either the natural or sponsored results section in the search engines results pages. Your page rank in Google may also increase as affiliate publishers reference and link to your site.
• Innovative pricing structures - You may find options for Pay Per Click, Cost Per Click or Cost Per Mille (ie cost per 000 of impression) instead of a commission on sales.
• Learn about new online promotion techniques - Affiliates might use innovative techniques throughout their network. Communicating effectively with your affiliate's means you could learn and adopt techniques for your own online marketing strategy.

• Use a professional online marketing agency to handle your affiliate marketing strategy. This ensures that the best affiliates to compliment your business are chosen to gain maximum sales.

• Choose a reputable affiliate or network - Check the areas your information will be published online before you begin an affiliate campaign. This will ensure your brand is not associated with porn or gambling sites.
• Check the affiliate or network provides effective reporting - Some networks offer very specific analysis down to product level. Quality statistics will allow you to easily track your performance.
• Use a network - Affiliate networks have access to thousands of sites and channels to advertise your business. Using a network also means you have greater control as you only have one point of contact. Find out the affiliate networks we use
• Easy cost management and administration - Instead of paying lots of different sites and trying to manage this you only pay for the performance of the overall network. Some affiliate networks charge a set-up fee whilst some are free.
• Ensure that you have clear communication - Keep in touch with your affiliates to track their performance and share ideas. A good idea would be to provide affiliates with monthly press releases so they can keep up-to-date.