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One of the ways many merchants are finding to increase exposure as well as sells is through affiliate marketing. Instead of paying for advertising, they are getting exposure on many web sites operated by others and paying them a commission on sales generated by referrals from their site. This cooperation between the two forces helps not only the merchant with more sales. It also helps the affiliate make additional income and by being affiliated with several companies they can realize a good income selling other people's merchandise.

Online companies usually offer their own creatives in different sizes to appeal to a wider range of web sites and can also stipulate which sites can sponsor their ads. Many companies will not accept affiliates who sponsor ads with those that offer adult 'themed information, gambling or other activities it deems to be against the integrity of the company.

They may also refuse admission into its affiliate ranks web sites that sponsor ads from competing companies and sites that show little traffic or the promise of growth. Although they do not pay any commissions unless sales are generated, many see small, unattractive sites as being demeaning to their company's vision. They try to maintain a certain level of dignity in their company and want their affiliates to display the same professionalism.

Using affiliate networking can work in two ways, the first of course is an increase in the number of the companies ads being displayed on a larger number of websites. The second may be an improvement in page rankings on search engines. Most engines look at several different aspects of a web site when establishing their position on their page and one of those is the number of quality links from other sites. If the sites carrying the company's advertisements, linked back to them, it can be counted as a link to the main company.

Merchants that go through an affiliate marketing program sponsored by a third party may not receive this benefit as the link begins by going through the affiliate sponsor before going back to the main company's site, all hidden from the user. This results in the link sponsoring company to receive the benefit of the link back for which the search engine is looking. Using a third party also incurs additional costs paid by the merchant that not only pays commission to the affiliate for the sale, but also pays a commission to the third party sponsor of the affiliate program.

Many companies are finding they can create a position within their own organization to run their affiliate program, paying their salary by the money saved from paying the third party. This also can give them better control over which sites they accept as affiliates. Link backs from direct affiliates do count in search engine ratings.

Another advantage to affiliate marking programs is the merchant does not have to offer a compensatory link back to the affiliate. Many link exchange programs were in use as companies tried to increase the number of other web sites pointing to them, but that arrangements can create a clutter of links on a page and damage the integrity of the company's home page.