The Basics of Affiliate Marketing: Definition, Background, Benefits, Lead Gen and First Steps

When people hear “affiliate marketing,” imaginations might run wild with visions of unsavory practices and FTC settlements.

Affiliate marketing - handshake

But in its purest form, affiliate marketing is a robust channel, even for generating leads. To clear the air a bit, we turned to a few experts and resources to piece together a foundational view of affiliate marketing.

Definition
According to the IAB, affiliate marketing is “an agreement between two sites in which one site (the affiliate) agrees to feature content or an ad designed to drive traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate receives a percentage of sales or some other form of compensation generated by that traffic.”

MediaWhiz defines affiliate marketing as a “method of marketing whereby publishers/affiliates conduct marketing campaigns on behalf of an advertiser.