Internet marketing is also called affiliate marketing, and vice versa. These two different things have both stuff in common, and for most people it's easier to just use them interchangeably. This article will explore what the difference is between them, and situations that you might want to use just one or the other.
Affiliate marketing is what most affiliates on the internet today engage in. You can ask anyone who will be earning money from affiliate marketing and they will reply 'internet marketing'. Huh? They're different? Well, they are, however one is broad, while the other is a little more specific in its usage. Can you guess which is which? That's right, internet marketing is the broad term, because people even non affiliates can use it to describe what they are doing.
I am really thinking specifically of the way businesses are run. Today with the internet being such a large part of everyone's lives, businesses (the ones that we would probably call traditional) engage in internet marketing on a regular basis. It's simply a part of the world of marketing in this world now. However, when people talk about marketing online, what do they usually call it (when referring to normal companies)? That's right, they usually call it 'online marketing', rather the internet marketing. This proves that the phrase 'internet marketing' is almost shunned a little in the world of 'proper' marketers.
Affiliate marketing on the other hand is directly related to affiliates. After all, people who aren't affiliate marketers cannot engage in the world of affiliate marketing, can they? That simply does not make any sense. So, if you are explaining to someone what you do for a job or a little extra money, then affiliate marketing is the way to go. Internet marketing can be used too, but as mentioned above, it can also be used for other purposes too.
So why do people like me use the terms as if we're all talking about the same thing? After stepping back for a second, I can see that it would be confusing to anyone who wasn't totally 'in' with the world of internet/affiliate marketing.
Simple.
It's just a habit. For some weird reason, it's like we can never quite make up our minds about what we are doing. Affiliate marketing is, I totally agree, a far more specific term to what we as affiliates do. But internet marketing also has a nice ring to it, and can be easier to explain to people, as it already give them an idea about what you do for a job.
So, if you're after information that tells you when to use each phrase, follow these simple rules: Use affiliate marketing if you want to be totally specific as to what you do for, like, your job. Use internet marketing if you feel like a bit of a change. After all, in the world of affiliates, they pretty much mean the same thing, think about the number of jobs that you can do that! Actually, ignore that last bit, there's probably heaps.