In Short –
- An affiliate program can be many things but each affiliate program is specific
- An affiliate agency is a single thing but acts as a store that has many different offers
Lets dive a bit deeper into these!
Affiliate Agencies:
Affiliate agencies act as an online “store” that fill their shelves with offers from advertisers. The closer to direct the Affiliate agencies are to the advertiser the higher the payout they can provide to their customers (YOU). As an affiliate you sign up with the affiliate agency and they do a bit of pre-screening on you at the front door. If you pass their screening process then they will let you into their store.
When your in an Affiliate agencies store you then see all of the offers that they have from their advertisers. Depending on the Affiliate agency, all or some of the offers will be available to you once you walk in. Most of the time there are offers that you need to request to run. The reason this barrier is in place is to the benefit of the agency as they only want to give out those offers to trusted affiliates who can provide a win for the advertiser (client). If you prove yourself on the other offers that are open to you the agency will then open up those more sensitive offers.
The Affiliate agencies act as a gateway between the advertisers and the publishers. The agency manages and oversees the publishers and their traffic, then pays the publishers for their conversions. The advertisers then pay the agency.
Affiliate Programs:
Affiliate programs are simply a structured agreement and payment plan between any party with an offer, or offers, and an affiliate (publisher).
For example, a case can be made that agencies have an Affiliate Program. A better case can be made that Amazon has an Affiliate Program. Another affiliate program can be made between an Affiliate and a Vendor, such as BassPro, JCPenny, or any other company that will pay an affiliate for converting traffic. You could own a furniture company and have an affiliate program that pays for conversions, but that does not make you an affiliate agency, that makes you a vendor with an affiliate program.
Another way to think of an Affiliate Program is a product or service that is owned by a company. The company has determined what their conversion rate it and or margin. They are willing to pay for a number of leads/installs/views or purchases for an agreed upon sale commission. This allows them to grow and you to make some side income. Generally, Affiliate Programs only have a related umbrella of offers