Many companies have found a good deal of success with affiliate marketing. Rather than paying people to show your banners or even paying them on a per-click basis, you only have to pay out when the potential customer fulfills a certain action. This is usually signing up for a mailing list or completing a sale.

There is one very important question that you’ll need to ask yourself before you embark on an affiliate marketing journey for your company: should you handle the program in-house or should you list the offer through an affiliate network? Both options have their definite pros and cons, so it’s up to you determine which is a better fit for you.

In order to handle an affiliate program in-house, you’ll need to purchase certain software to manage affiliates, payouts, and other such concerns. The plus side is that you are completely in control and you don’t have to pay any further commissions to the software developers. The down side is that you’re pretty much on your own and any exposure for the program falls on your shoulders.

On the flip side, you could list your affiliate offer through a network like Market Leverage or Clickbank. The plus side is that you don’t have to deal with any of the finer details, since the network does that for you. There is also the added advantage of increased exposure, since existing affiliates in the network can search for and find your offer in the list. The down side is that you have to pay the network a certain percentage in order to manage your program and this eats into your bottom line.

Which technique do you think is more advantageous? It really depends on your specific circumstances, resources, and other related factors.