Terminology and designations in affiliate marketing

Understanding terminology in affiliate marketing is crucial for anyone looking to succeed in this business. The glossary provides key terms such as: “commission”, “conversion rate” and “cookie expiration date”, knowledge of which allows affiliates to effectively communicate with merchants, navigate affiliate programs and optimize their marketing strategies. Knowledge of the slang also helps in accurately interpreting performance metrics and reports, leading to better decision-making and higher earnings. Without a solid grasp of these terms, affiliates might struggle to fully understand program requirements, track their progress, or identify opportunities for improvement, ultimately hindering their success.

Glossary used in the industry:

Affiliate: An individual or company that promotes products or services of another company in exchange for a commission on resulting sales or leads.

Affiliate Agreement: The terms and conditions set by a merchant that affiliates must agree to and follow when promoting their products.

Affiliate Link: A unique URL assigned to an affiliate to track their referrals to a merchant’s website.

Affiliate Manager: A person responsible for managing an affiliate program, recruiting affiliates, and ensuring their success.

Affiliate Network: A platform that connects merchants with affiliates, providing tools for tracking, reporting, and payment.

Affiliate Program (Advertiser): A program set up by a merchant that allows affiliates to promote their products and earn commissions on resulting sales or leads.

Attribution Model: A method used to determine how credit for a sale or conversion is assigned to touchpoints in the customer journey.

Banner Ad: A graphic advertisement that affiliates can place on their websites to promote a merchant’s product or service.

Chargeback: A transaction that is reversed, often due to customer disputes or fraud, resulting in a commission deduction for the affiliate.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click on an affiliate link or advertisement compared to the number of people who view it.

Commission: The amount of money an affiliate earns for each sale, lead, or action generated through their affiliate link.

Conversion: When a referred visitor completes a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.

Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (conversion) after clicking on an affiliate link.

Cookie: A small piece of data stored on a user’s browser that tracks their activity and attributes sales or leads to the appropriate affiliate.

Cookie Duration: The length of time a cookie remains active on a user’s browser, allowing an affiliate to earn a commission if the user converts within that period.

CPA (Cost Per Action): A pricing model where affiliates earn a commission for a specific action taken by the referred user, such as signing up for a newsletter.

CPC (Cost Per Click): A pricing model where affiliates earn money for each click on their affiliate links.

CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions): A pricing model where affiliates earn money based on the number of times their ads are shown, usually per thousand impressions.

Creative: Marketing materials provided by the merchant (or self-created) for affiliates to use in their promotions, such as banners, email text, landing pages and videos.

Deep Link: An affiliate link that directs visitors to a specific page on the merchant’s website, rather than the homepage.

EPC (Earnings Per Click): A metric that shows the average earnings generated for every click on an affiliate link, calculated by dividing total earnings by the number of clicks.

Landing Page: A specific webpage where visitors are directed after clicking an affiliate link, designed to convert them into customers or leads.

Lead: A potential customer who has shown interest in a product or service, often by providing contact information or signing up for a trial.

Merchant: A company or individual that offers products or services and runs an affiliate program to promote them.

Niche: A specific segment of a market that an affiliate focuses on to target a particular audience.

Offer: Is a product or service that an advertiser sells to end customers.

PPC (Pay Per Click): A pricing model where affiliates earn money for each click on their affiliate links, similar to CPC.

PPS (Pay Per Sale): A pricing model where affiliates earn a commission for each sale generated through their affiliate link.

PPL (Pay Per Lead): A pricing model where affiliates earn a commission for each lead generated through their affiliate link.

Reversal: When a commission previously earned by an affiliate is deducted, usually due to a refund, return, or fraud.

Rebill: A payout model for recurring paid subscriptions to merchant services or products.

ROI (Return on Investment): A measure of the profitability of an affiliate’s marketing efforts, calculated by dividing net profit by the cost of the investment.

SaaS (Software as a Service): Software delivered and accessed online, often used by affiliates to track performance and manage campaigns.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The practice of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results, driving more organic traffic to affiliate content.

Sub-Affiliate: An affiliate recruited by another affiliate to join a program, often earning the recruiting affiliate a commission on their sales or leads.

Super Affiliate: An affiliate who generates a significantly higher volume of sales or leads than average, often earning substantial commissions.

Targeting: Target audience for a specific niche or product. Usually based on interests or needs.

Tracking ID: A unique identifier added to an affiliate link to track which affiliate is responsible for the traffic and conversions.

Tracker (TDS): Is an advertising campaign tracking and optimization platform that allows you to track clicks and conversions to analyze your advertising campaigns.

Traffic: The number of people who have visited a site/page in a certain time.

Two-Tier Program: An affiliate program that allows affiliates to earn commissions not only on their own sales but also on the sales generated by affiliates they recruit.

Unique Clicks: The number of distinct individuals who click on an affiliate link, as opposed to total clicks, which may include multiple clicks by the same person.

Upsell: A sale of related products to the main advertised offer in one order.

Verticals: Is a specific category or niche of products and services that are promoted by affiliates, e.g. weight loss products.

Vendor: Is a developer of an application or service that is promoted through an affiliate network.

Whitelist: A list of approved affiliates or domains allowed to promote a merchant’s products, used to ensure quality and compliance.

Affiliate marketing slang

A/B Testing: Is a method of comparing multiple versions of a web page, text, image, or app to determine which one performs better on key metrics.

Affiliate Hustler: A highly motivated and often successful affiliate marketer who works tirelessly to maximize their earnings.

Angles: Are unique approaches used in creating media and funnels to promote products.

Clickbait: Eye-catching content designed to attract clicks, often used in headlines or images to lure visitors to affiliate links.

Cloaking: A method of disguising an affiliate link to make it seem more attractive or trustworthy to visitors. Also, cloaking is used to substitute the link when checking the launched campaign by bots of search engines or affiliate programs, bots are directed to the “white page”, and real users to the money page with aggressive marketing or containing “gray methods” of promotion.

Cookie Stuffing: An unethical practice where multiple cookies are placed on a user’s browser without their knowledge to gain affiliate commissions.

Evergreen Content: Content that remains relevant and valuable over time, continuously attracting traffic and conversions.

Funnel: The process or path that guides visitors towards a conversion, often consisting of multiple stages such as awareness, interest, decision, and action.

Geo-Targeting: Customizing content or advertisements based on the geographic location of the visitor.

High-Ticket Offer: A product or service with a high price point, resulting in higher commissions for affiliates.

Hops: The number of clicks on an affiliate link before a conversion occurs.

LTV (Lifetime Value): The total revenue generated from a customer over the entire duration of their relationship with a business.

Media Buyer: A partner who is responsible for buying traffic from networks for an ad campaign, usually a position on the team.

Money Page: A highly optimized webpage designed to convert visitors into customers or leads, often featuring affiliate links.

Nofollow Link: A link attribute that tells search engines not to follow or pass authority to the linked page, often used for affiliate links to avoid SEO penalties.

Pixel: A small piece of code placed on a webpage to track user behavior and conversions, helping affiliates measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Reciprocal Link: A mutual agreement between two websites to link to each other, often used to boost traffic and SEO.

Spy-service: Is a tool that allows you to analyze and track your competitors’ advertising campaigns to gain insights and strategies to improve your own promotional tactics.

Scraper: A tool or software used to extract data from websites, sometimes employed by affiliates for research or competitive analysis.

Shave: The practice of merchants underreporting or not crediting all valid conversions to affiliates, often seen as unethical.

Squeeze Page: A landing page designed to capture visitors’ contact information, such as email addresses, often used to build an email list.

Sticky Cookie: A cookie that remains active for a longer duration, increasing the chance for affiliates to earn commissions from repeat visitors.

Viral: A type of content that is quickly and widely distributed to users, often through social media via repost.

Whale: A term used to describe a highly valuable customer who generates significant revenue, often targeted in affiliate marketing campaigns.

You definitely need to learn all these glossary terms to:

• communicate with managers of affiliate programs;
• hire specialists and give them tasks;
• quickly get into discussions on profile forums;
• communicate with other marketers more fluently at meet ups;
• navigate to the industry more effectively;
• use professional tools;
• search for the necessary information in the network.

Now you’re ready to go on a big journey with our rich affiliate marketing guide!