In today's online marketing world, merchants and affiliates know that affiliate marketing is an advantage for both of them. The merchant benefits from being able to advertise their products at a lower cost while the affiliates benefit by earning profits online.

The many different types of affiliate marketing work differently for both merchants and affiliates alike, and each type has their own benefits.

Listed below are some of the most common types of affiliate marketing that are available:

Pay Per Click (PPC):
The merchant pays the affiliate whenever a visitor is referred to his site, that is whenever someone clicks through the merchant's banner or text ads.

Pay Per Performance (PPP):
The merchant only pays the affiliate whenever his referral translates into an action - that is whenever the visitor he has referred actually buys something from the merchant's site or when the visitor becomes a lead.

Pay Per Sale (PPS):
The merchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever the visitor he has referred to the merchant's site actually buys something from the merchant's site.

Pay Per Lead (PPL):
The affiliate is paid whenever the visitor he referred to the merchant's site fills in an application form or any similar form related to the business of the company.

Single-Tier affiliate marketing program:
The affiliates are only paid based on the direct sales or traffic he has referred to the merchant. All the previously mentioned affiliate marketing types PPS, PPL, and PPP fall under the single-tier classification.

Two-tier affiliate marketing programs:
The affiliate is not only paid for the direct traffic or sales that he refers to the merchant's site, but also on every traffic or sales referred by various other affiliates who joined the affiliate program through his recommendation.

Multi-tier affiliate marketing:
It is basically the same as the Two-tier program, except that the affiliate gets additional commission for a wider number of affiliates in different tiers in the affiliate network.

Residual Income Affiliate Marketing:
The affiliate is paid every time the customer he has referred, returns to the site and purchase another product or when a customer signs up for a monthly membership.

As you can see there are many to choose from. You will need to make your decision based on which type of affiliate marketing program will work best to meet your needs and preferences when starting out in affiliate marketing.