There are different kinds of affiliate marketing. The basic class of affiliate marketing programs falls into two categories. Pay Per Click (PPC) and pay per performance (PPP).

Pay Per Click (PPC) Affiliate Marketing

PPC  has always been the most popular type of affiliate marketing for affiliates with blogs and small websites, and probably the easiest way to make money online. In this type of affiliate marketing, the merchant pays his affiliate whenever a visitor is sent to his site or blog through the merchant’s banner or text ads. The affiliate is paid a small amount, even if the visitor he referred does not buy anything from the merchant’s site. However, the rates per click are usually small and may not exceed a dollar for a every click. It also depends on blog niche and market competition.

Pay Per Performance (PPP) Affiliate Marketing

PPP affiliate marketing is very popular among traders, and is the most rewarding for members. In this type of affiliate program, the merchant pays the affiliate only when the referrer  make an action. That is whenever the visitor he referred actually buys something from the merchant’s site. This also means a merchant does not have to make much direct marketing effort. On the other hand, this type of affiliate marketing becomes financially most rewarding for the affiliate regarding  to the commissions. In PPP affiliate marketing members usually make 15% to 20% of sales from the actual product. And in the case of e-products or goods and the affiliate commission can go as high as 70 – 75% of the sale price.

Pay for performance affiliate marketing can also be further classified into two types, pay per sale (PPS) and pay per lead (PPL).

Pay per sale (PPS) Affiliate Marketing

In a pay-per-sale type of affiliate marketing, merchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever the visitor. He referred to the merchant’s site actually buys something from the merchant’s site. Affiliates are paid off on a percentage base, although other merchants choose to pay a fee. However, no matter what the base rate is its usually higher than the money you get in the pay per click.

Pay per lead (PPL) Affiliate Marketing

The type of  affiliate marketing is a slightly different from PPS type and is often used by insurance and finance companies and other businesses that depend on the prospects for their business to grow. In this type of affiliate marketing, the affiliate is paid whenever the visitor, he referred to the merchant’s site fills up an application form or any other similar form related to the business of the company. Repayment for this model of affiliate marketing is based on a decided fee. In general, the conversion rate of sales is the highest in the case of PPL, as the visitor is not obligated to buy anything but only complete a non-financial transaction, such as filling out an application form, subscription a newsletter, etc.

Quick Tip: Apart from above affiliate marketing, a lot of other affiliate marketing types exist. If the classification is based on the depth of the affiliate network, it can be classified as a single level, two-level, multi-level affiliate marketing.