After online advertising, it is affiliate marketing that has captured the attention of the web experts and advertisers. Affiliate marketing is one of the most potent tools for marketers or advertisers who want immediate results. Web experts or site owners are happy with this change as they have additional means to earn with their web sites.

It came as a big surprise to many when world famous conglomerate and manufacturer, Sony Corporation, announced its affiliate marketing service. Media giants like Time AOL have also been interested in the services and many others are still considering the option. There must be reasons and some prior home work completed by these companies to reach to such conclusions.

The marketing book with its principle has added new pages on marketing on the web. Today, the lifestyle of people has changed and so has customer behaviour. Buyers now spend hours reading the reviews and specifications on the Internet and then only go for a decision. When it is all done, they do not even have to go to the store – one click on the merchant site, credit card details and the product reaches within 24 hrs.

To make a positive image of the brand, products and services availed by a provider, web site owners are bombarding the psyche of the consumers with all kinds of content – reviews, flashy pictures, specifications; which in fact none of the popular stores offer.

In India the markets are still ruled by the traditional practices. There are two reasons for the slow and delayed start made by affiliate marketing in the country. Internet reach and consumption is limited to principal cities and connectivity has been a major concern.

The progress in Indian affiliate market has further been slackened by some common misconceptions about Internet services. Internet is still considered to be insecure and online transactions are hardly favoured by the customers. Few cases wherein the customers have proved these perceptions as wrong and baseless are those of online booking of air tickets and hotels.

Indian affiliate market will take some years to mature. As soon as Internet services are up to the standards and misconceptions are cleared, the growth will steeply rise without losing time any further.