Affiliate/Affiliate Network

An Affiliate Network acts as an intermediary between Publishers. It allows website Publishers to more easily find and participate in Affiliate Programs which are suitable for their website (and thus generate income from those programs), and allows websites offering Affiliate Programs (typically online merchants) to reach a larger audience by promoting their Affiliate Programs to all of the Publishers participating in the Affiliate Network.

Revenue

Traditional Affiliate Networks enable merchants to offer Publishers a share of any revenue that is generated by the Merchant from visitors to the Publisher's site, or a fee for each visitor on the Publisher's site that completes a specific action (making a purchase, registering for a newsletter, etc.). This would be CPA (Cost per Acquisition) marketing.

Severice & Benefits

For Merchants, Affiliate Network services and benefits may include tracking technology, reporting tools, payment processing, and access to a large base of Publishers. For Affiliates, services and benefits can include simplifying the process of registering for one or more Merchant Affiliate Programs, reporting tools, and payment aggregation.

Costs

Affiliates are generally able to join Affiliate Networks for free, whereas there is generally a fee for Merchants to participate. Traditional Affiliate Networks might charge an initial set-up fee and/or a recurring membership fee. It is also common for Affiliate Networks to charge Merchants a percentage of the commissions paid to Affiliates.

In regards to Optizmo

Mailers are: Affiliates/Affiliate Networks, ESP's, and Publishers

Advertisers utilize Mailers to send out their email campaigns. What makes an Affiliate/Affiliate Network unique is that they have their own existing lists that they will scrub/cleanse against an Advertiser's suppression list (this could be an unsubscribe or opt out list or an existing customer list).