System method and article of manufacture for internet based affiliate pooling

A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for providing Virtual Affiliates to an existing affiliate system, the computer program code comprising:

• a code segment for configuring an existing affiliate system to receive referrals from source Webmasters of an affiliate pool of Webmasters, including:
• a code segment for assigning a unique identifier for each of a first
• plurality of Webmasters each operating at least one web site;
• a code segment for receiving a user request for a target Merchant affiliate system URL from a web site operated by a particular referring Webmaster of the first plurality of Webmasters, wherein the user request includes the source unique identifier for the particular referring Webmaster, and wherein the target Merchant affiliate system includes a unique identification system for its own affiliated Webmasters;
• a code segment for correlating the received source Webmaster unique identifier to a target Webmaster unique identifier corresponding to the unique identification system of the requested Merchant affiliate system;
• and
• a code segment for generating a URL for the requested Merchant affiliate system, wherein the URL includes the correlated target Webmaster Merchant unique identifier, whereby the URL can be utilized to access the requested Merchant affiliate system, and further provide identification of the source Webmaster for requisite tracking.

A system for providing Virtual Affiliates to an existing affiliate system, the system comprising:

• logic for configuring an existing affiliate system to receive referrals from a referring Webmaster in an affiliate pool of Webmasters, including:
• logic for assigning a source Webmaster unique identifier for each of a first plurality of Webmasters each operating at least one web site;
• logic for receiving a user request for a target Merchant affiliate system URL from a web site operated by a particular referring Webmaster of the first plurality of Webmasters, wherein the user request includes the source Webmaster unique identifier for the particular referring Webmaster, and wherein the target Merchant affiliate system includes a unique identification system for its own affiliated Webmasters;
• logic for correlating the received unique identifier to a Merchant unique identifier corresponding to the unique identification system of the requested Merchant affiliate system;
• and
• logic for generating a URL for the requested Merchant affiliate system, wherein the URL includes the correlated Merchant unique identifier, whereby the URL can be utilized to access the requested Merchant affiliate system, and further provide identification of the source Webmaster for requisite tracking.