An advertiser is a company or individual who wants to sell more, get more leads or get more visitors to their website. In other words, they are those who want to have their products or services promoted by publishers. Advertisers can be anything from webshops, electricity companies, loan companies, charities or small businesses. If you want to sign up as an advertiser with Adservice, click here.

A publisher is a person or company that acts as an affiliate and promotes the advertiser´s products or services. Publishers can be bloggers, influencers, website owners, news media or anyone who has a platform to reach potential customers. You can typically find relevant publishers through an affiliate network.

An affiliate network is an online platform/business that connects businesses (known as advertisers) with individuals or companies (known as affiliates or publishers) who want to promote their products or services and earn commissions in the process. This partnership is based on a performance-based model where affiliates receive a percentage of sales or a fixed commission for each successful referral or action they generate. An affiliate network is further tasked with handling other practical aspects of affiliate marketing such as tracking, statistics and paying commissions to affiliate partners.

Affiliate Marketing works by providing publishers with unique tracking links or codes that they can use to direct visitors to the company´s products or services. When a visitor makes a purchase or performs a specific action (e.g. sign-up or download), it is tracked back to the specific publisher, who then receives a commission.

In Affiliate Marketing, there are usually 4 players: 

 

1. The Advertiser - An advertiser can be anything from an online shop to a charity organization that wants to sell more, get more leads or get more visitors to their website. The advertiser decides what the publisher should be paid for. 
2. The network - Advertisers typically set up their affiliate campaigns with an affiliate network. An affiliate network is a company that connects advertisers with relevant publishers/media partners who promote their products or services. The affiliate network´s task is to track sales, leads, visits and clicks and to pay out the earned commissions. 
3. Publisher - The publishers/media partners are the ones who are responsible for promoting the advertisers´ products/services through their own channels. The channels can be anything from websites, news media, blogs, influencers or social media. Examples of publishers include BT.dk, pricerunner.dk or ønskeskyen.dk. 
4. The customer - The final player in affiliate marketing is the customer. For the whole concept of affiliate marketing to work, there must be a customer who clicks on a link, fills out a form, buys a product or signs up for a subscription. Only then is a commission paid to the publisher.

You can find publishers or media partners through various channels. You can join an affiliate network and gain access to their network of affiliates/publishers.

The time investment in affiliate marketing varies depending on your goals and efforts. It can be as simple as creating an account and a campaign with an affiliate network and setting up tracking, which can take anywhere from an hour to a couple of hours. Afterward, it more or less runs on its own.

However, if you wish to take a more comprehensive approach, where you consistently create content, analyze results, and optimize your campaign, it can require several hours of work per week. It's worth noting that affiliate marketing generally demands significantly less time and resources than other forms of marketing, as media partners largely handle the marketing aspect.

*Note: At Adservice, we assist our clients in setting up and continually optimizing their affiliate campaigns. In this way, we collectively strive to achieve the best possible results for our clients and media partners.

In the context of affiliate marketing, self-service refers to an approach where you, as an advertiser, take control of the entire process. This includes choosing media partners, creating campaigns, and monitoring results. Self-service offers greater flexibility and control but also demands more engagement and knowledge of affiliate marketing.

*Note: At Adservice, we also offer a self-service solution. However, this doesn't mean you're left entirely on your own. Adservice is always available to assist in case of issues or if you need help or guidance with your affiliate marketing.

To get started with affiliate marketing, you typically need to follow these steps:

1. Choose an affiliate network or platform.
2. Create an advertiser account.
3. Select the products or services you want to promote.
4. Create campaigns and set the desired commission rates for affiliates.
5. Monitor the results and make necessary adjustments.

*Note: Adservice is the largest affiliate network in the Nordics. With us, you can easily start affiliate marketing and reach a large number of potential customers through our extensive network of skilled media partners. Additionally, Adservice offers industry-leading tools, providing you with access to your own dashboard to monitor your affiliate campaign's performance, among other features.

Media channels in affiliate marketing refer to the platforms or channels where your media partners promote your products or services. This can include websites, blogs, social media, emails, and more. The choice of media channels depends on your target audience and marketing strategy. At Adservice, you can choose from the following media channels:

Website Content: Basic affiliate marketing channels like blogs, comparison sites, articles, and other content pages.

App Content: Publishers are allowed to advertise the campaign inside their smartphone apps.

Social Media Content: Publishers can promote the affiliate campaign using influencers, social media pages, groups, or chat.

Cashback: Publishers refer to your campaign and offer a kickback fee for purchasing products.

Loyalty Programs: Publishers include your campaign in their loyalty program and offer users a special deal.

Voucher Codes: Allow publishers to refer consumers to your campaign through voucher codes, special offers, or similar.

Voucher Code Extensions: Publishers can use your voucher codes in their browser extension.

Search Engine Marketing: Publishers can promote the affiliate campaign directly through ads on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Social Media Ads: Publishers can promote the affiliate campaign directly through ads on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media.

Comparison Shopping Service: Publishers can promote products from the campaign on Google Shopping and other shopping services.
*Note: This channel is essential for e-commerce clients who want to succeed in their affiliate marketing efforts.

SMS: Publishers can promote the campaign by sending custom emails or newsletters.

Emails: Publishers can promote the campaign directly by sending custom emails or newsletters.

The costs of affiliate marketing vary depending on the client. At Adservice, there are no startup costs or fixed ongoing expenses. As a client/advertiser at Adservice, you only pay a self-determined commission rate when a desired action is performed through the affiliate network. Typically, you pay for sales, new leads or clicks generated by the media partners in the affiliate network.

A product feed is a data file containing information about your products or services, such as product descriptions, prices, images, and availability. This feed is used by the affiliate network's media partners to display your products on their websites or other platforms, making it easier for them to promote your products accurately.

Note: When uploading your product feed to Adservice, be sure to include as much relevant information as possible. This will help our media partners market your products or services effectively, resulting in better conversion rates and increased revenue for your online store.

Yes, as an advertiser at Adservice, you have the option to choose which media partners can promote your affiliate campaign. This gives you control over selecting partners that best match your brand and target audience. You can also define criteria for approving or rejecting media partners. Alternatively, you can let Adservice handle the approval of media partners for your affiliate campaign.

Review the media channels you have allowed for your affiliate campaign. If you have an e-commerce store and, for example, haven't enabled the CSS channel, you may be missing out on a lot of traffic and sales. Don't hesitate to reach out to Adservice if you're unsure about which media channels are a good fit for your business/online store.

Review your commission rate. Is your commission rate lower than your competitors'? Is your commission rate lower on one affiliate network compared to another? A higher commission rate motivates media partners in the affiliate network to promote your products and services. Feel free to contact Adservice for guidance on commission rates.

Update your product feed regularly to ensure it contains the latest information about your products. Make sure there are no "broken products" and provide all necessary details about your products/services.

Be patient, as it may take time to build an effective affiliate marketing campaign. Continue to fine-tune and optimize over time for the best results. Also, keep in mind that it may take some time for media partners to start running your affiliate campaign, as it's their own decision whether to promote your products.

Contact your account manager or the customer success team at Adservice if you still need assistance in optimizing your affiliate campaign. Contact information for the customer success team: customersuccess@adservice.com.

Adservice or other affiliate networks usually have a tracking mechanism in place that uses cookies or unique referral links to track and identify sales coming from their publishers. When a sale is generated, you will see it in your affiliate network's dashboard/control panel and it will be associated with the specific publisher that referred the customer.