The Center Of The Internet

Did you know that affiliate marketing existed even before we really had affiliate marketing on the internet? Affiliate marketing is revenue sharing at its finest, but to be exactly honest with you this concept has existed for many, many years. Revenue sharing is nothing more than giving other individuals a commission for referring people to this product. By no means is this new to business.

Think about it, how long have businesses such as Avon or the many of other similar businesses that exist been around? The concept, though a little different, is essentially the same. They pay their affiliates or consultants as many of them like to be called, a commission to get the word out about their firms.

To be honest with you, these businesses existed before I even really knew what the web was all about or even had my first personal computer. Affiliate marketing on the web was first used with the adult websites. Those doing business in the adult industry would pay a commission to marketers as a pay per click type of deal.

online affiliate marketing started outside of the adult industry with the first non-adult website in 1994 with CDNow. With their program, domain owners were able to advertise various artists and their CD’s linking directly to CDNow and earning a commission on those sales.

The next step forward in the Affiliate Evolution came when Amazon entered the stage. By allowing advertisers to place text links or banners on their pages, Amazon could boost revenue and give a commission to the advertisers at the same time. Of course, these are the large business, but there were many others who had started differing forms of affiliate marketing.

In the next few years, you would find several businesses jumping on the affiliate marketing bandwagon. Everyone from those selling products to adult websites and even to gambling websites began to tap into the power of affiliates. They quickly learned that where others promoted their products or websites, sales were certain to follow.

At the same time, not only were they paying commissions to their old affiliates, but they were finding that other people wanted to join in on the fun as well and wanted to become affiliates themselves. This allowed the affiliate marketing industry to expand at an enormous rate.

Today with blogs, communities, and the various technologies available to the everyone, affiliate marketing is growing and continues to change. To be honest, the Affiliate Evolution will likely continue for a a while, it will continue to expandand realize better opportunities and methods. Now, we have the mobile phone which allows for greater exposure and business.

Do not any time soon. In fact, look for it to take off in new directions as the world itself continues to change as well. The Affiliate Evolution continues.