What Does Affiliate Mean?
Chances are, you’ve heard the word affiliate lot, it’s a part of the modern technological world that is growing by the day. But what exactly does affiliate mean?
The Dictionary Definition
Here is where things get quite difficult to put in writing, because affiliate is both a verb and a noun, and these two words are heteronyms, meaning they’re pronounced differently yet spelt the same.
The verb to affiliate is to be connected to something, i.e. this person is affiliated with this particular company, pronounced basically like a-filly-eight.
The noun affiliate is different, but also sort of the same, it also means a person or organisation that is affiliated to a larger body, but in a slightly different way, this one is pronounced a-filly-ut, and is what we’re focusing on here.
The Modern Affiliate
An affiliate in the modern word is not an associate of a company as the old school noun definition suggests, not exactly at least.
Instead, an affiliate is an independent company that is connected to one or more companies in an industry. For example, a CBD affiliate may be a news and information site that provides up to date stories about the CBD world, along with descriptions and reviews of certain CBD products.
With this information, will be hyperlinked, these hyperlinks will take you to the sites of the companies that this affiliate site is, well, affiliated with, where you can buy products, and the affiliate site you went through will earn a small commission.
Is that the same as the verb to affiliate? Now we’ve written that it isn’t we’re less sure, it has sparked some fairly intense debate in the office. Anyway, it’s probably not important.
Why Are Affiliates Everywhere?
The one thing that is definitely true about affiliate (the noun, not the verb) is that you’re likely to be hearing it in a lot more places than you used to be these days, because affiliate programs have become a huge part of modern industry.
Not all stories are good, for example, affiliate sites caused some issues in the iGaming industry in the UK in recent years by producing material that contradicting regulations in terms of what could and couldn’t be said.
However, the majority of stories you read are likely to be about people who have made tidy sums of money through passive income by making an affiliate site and simply watching the zeroes pile up in their bank accounts, which brings us to the next logical question.
What is An Affiliate Site?
An affiliate site is, in simplest terms, a middle-man between buyer and vendor, kind of like drop-shipping (in fact, drop-shipping is a form of affiliate marketing, ish) but with more work put into it (and arguably a little more soul).
But why is that necessary?
In many industries, it isn’t really, and when an affiliate is simply providing the same products as the company it is middle manning for, it isn’t at all.
However, the best affiliate companies do more than just provide links for you to access products you could access easily enough by Google searching them.
The best affiliate sites offer guides, reviews, and information to help you choose the best version of the product you are looking for, comparing quality, price, and anything else that matters to give you a strong sense of what you’re getting before you buy it.
Sure, these affiliate companies make a commission when you click on the links on their sites to buy the products, but it doesn’t cost you anymore and it’s a worthy thing to make money for when done right.
If you’re thinking of becoming an affiliate marketer yourself, be aware that it is not as easy as many online resources would have you believe, it takes a lot of work, and is a competitive world.
However, if you do things right, and are willing to put the work in, it can, possibly, be a strong source of passive income.
The CBD industry is one of the best opportunities for affiliate marketing in the modern world. If you want to get involved and see if you can benefit from this fast-growing industry, click here and become a Plant & Hemp affiliate today.
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