Overall Internet advertising is expected to grow by 13.4 percent in 2007, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and affiliate marketing – the generation of sales and leads through advertising on others’ sites – is positioned to take on an even larger role within the expansion of the overall advertising market.

“I think we can expect another year of meteoric gains for affiliate marketing,” says Shawn Collins, the co-founder of the Affiliate Summit and one of the industry’s foremost experts. Collins also notes that 2005-06 holiday spending growth was 26 percent, and he expects affiliate programs to also increase with this uptick.

“The biggest challenge in the coming year for affiliate marketing is for the positive forces in the industry to dispose of the garbage in the space, including using better lead verification from the likes of TARGUSinfo,” Collins says. “In the past, there was simply too much junk information being bought and sold. As more advertisers audit the integrity of the data they are buying, the focus is shifting from quantity to quality."