Affiliate program system

The affiliate program system has been in place for over ten years.  This system allows companies to affiliate themselves with a website, thus driving that webmaster’s traffic to the company website.  Surfing on the internet is called such because you can be one place one minute and, without your knowledge, you could be “magically” taken to a totally different place.  This “rerouting” of traffic is something that the traffic cop has been doing since the beginning of time; but in terms of going places, it is extremely frustrating and very inconvenient to be forced into going somewhere you never intended.  So it is with the affiliate program system.

There are many names for it lately, bi-polar, attention deficit disorder, autism, whatever you want to call it, the results are the same…a mindless bouncing from one thing to another, unable to concentrate long enough to finish a task, doing multiple things at once!  It’s simply maddening!  The internet is designed to provide information, and inundate us it does!  We can go to the computer with every intention of researching something for a school project and inadvertently end up looking at clothes, electronics or something else totally unrelated!  Why?  The affiliate program system is part of the “HOW”, but the why is a totally different beast!

Suppose you are searching for new telephone service because you’ve recently moved into a new condo.  You go onto a local telephone company’s website and boom!  A pop-up shows you an awesome deal on satellite TV. service.  Well, you’re going to need that, too.  You read through everything and sign up!  Great!  You log off and get this nagging feeling that you left something undone.  OH!  The phone!  You get back on line, look at another website and it happens again.  Before you know it, you’ve successfully outfitted your new condo with everything!  Everything that is, except for a phone!  The distractions are nerve racking and, if you’re not careful, can take you to places you never thought you’d end up!  Looking at Amazon.com?  For an intelligent read, right?  All of the sudden, their affiliate:  “Joes shack” has got you thinking FOOD, and you’re dumped into the world of porn!  This, of course, is the VERY moment your thirteen year old son or daughter happens to come up and ask you a question…the computer locks up and you can’t minimize, exit out or in anyway remove this “auspicious” picture.  Explain that one!

Affiliates advertise on other websites in order to attract customers who don’t go exactly to their website, but go to a “related search” website.  The affiliates pay the other website owners and everyone is happy.  Consumers have a larger base to choose from without having to “surf” for everything.  Affiliates can reach a broader audience and therefore make more revenue from the sales generated by the “hits”, or leads.  Website owners are happy because they’re being paid per click or per “something” and everyone is doing at least “something” so the income is pouring in!