Affilliate Marketing

[Darren]

:confused:

Could someone please explain this process in greater detail?

[Farhan]

One type of online marketing in which you authorize other sites to refer your service and/or products by sending visitors to you. In return they get a percentage of profit if the visitor makes a purchase from your site. Some popular affiliate programs are Amazon, Ebay etc.

Taking the example in SEO world,

Msn, Yahoo, Aol etc show top 3 resutls from Overture. Now when someone clicks the site which is from overture, Msn, yahoo or Aol gets a percentage of the cost of click the advertiser has bidded on.


Hope this helps.

[incessantsoul]

Affiliate marketing.. goes like this..

You ask another internet marketer to sell your product for you and for ever sale he makes for you you give him a percentage of the selling price as his commission.

Usually commissions are sent out monthly. If it is your product that is being sold, you have to do all the credit card processing (and shipping) etc....

Affiliate programs are a great way to promote your site. They are very cheap and extremely profitable for both you and the affiliate. You need to run an affiliate management software to maintain a database of your affiliates. You get free advertsing and sales and the affiliate is also happy.

Usually discussing your affiliate strategy with your affiliates will make them(and you) very rich. Since you already have a profitable marketing technique, your affiliates will benefi from it instantly as their sales will increase and hence so will yours.

hope that's clear
Sid

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums incessantsoul! :hi:

Thanks for the post!

Your signature uses vbcode for the link, btw. :)

[Advisor]

Usually discussing your affiliate strategy with your affiliates will make them(and you) very rich.I think that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Very few affiliates ever actually get rich off of affiliate programs.

Yes, it can sometimes be a good way to earn some extra money if you do it correctly, but don't go into an affiliate program thinking you're going to get rich, or you'll be sorely disappointed.

I've found that the best kind of affiliate programs are those that fit in with the general theme of your current business and/or site. For instance, I'm a WordTracker affiliate. I use WT, and have since it first came out. I couldn't do my job without WordTracker and heartily recommend it to my newsletter subscribers and site visitors. I would recommend it whether or not I was an affiliate, but being an affiliate lets me get a little bonus now and then. It works, because it fits in with what I do, I know and like the product, and I can recommend it from my heart. Plus, it's something my own target market is interested in.

The other element of being an affiliate is having a certain amount of credibility built up. People trust me when I recommend things like WordTracker, because they know me from my newsletter and my site, and they know I wouldn't steer them wrong. People are much more apt to buy from someone they trust.

So, in sum, if you want to be an affiliate and make some money, don't expect to make millions, sell stuff you already know and like, make sure you're trustworthy, and NEVER EVER abuse that trust.

Jill

[maninderwalia]

Hi!
How would you keep track of such transactions?
Suppose I become affiliate of xyz site and lot of visitors through my site go to xyz site then how would I keep track how many people have gone to xyz site via me.
Is there some program or software which keeps track?

Hope I am able to explain the query.

[Advisor]

YES! There are tons of different software and programs out there to help affiliates. You can sign up with places like ClickBank that do everything for you, or you can purchase your own affiliate software that keeps tracking of the links, etc. With a program, they'll send out the checks and everything for you (but they cost more). It all depends on what meets your needs.

Jill

[WebSavvy]

If you're looking for affiliate software to start offering an affiliate program of your own I suggest using the Ultimate Affiliate 2000 MySQL edition by Steven Miles from GroundBreak.com. It's what I have used now for a few years on a number of different affiliate programs that I offer.

It's very easy to use. Highly configureable. Very stable and very reasonable.

[kneelsit]

http://www.marketingtips.com/assoctrac/index.html
Have just spent over 10 hours looking at Affiliate program software to try and decide on which way to go. Must admit that the above group stand out as well worth considering. The cost of $677 seems reasonable and everything is hosted on their servers. A monthly fee of $47.00 applies to cover costs of keeping everything running.

NO I have not signed up as yet but believe I probably will.

Avoid like the plague commission junction.:- $1,000 up front, $45 monthly fee, a 30% rip-off on commissions you pay, PLUS a penalty if your total commissions fall below $250 in any one month. Sheesh!!

[Advisor]

Hey Greg,

Are you thinking about this for selling your chairs? If so, and because it's such a big ticket item, you might want to simply do your own affiliate program script. A good one is: Commission Cart: http://www.cgiscriptcenter.com/comcart/

I haven't used it myself, but have used some other software from this company. I believe with the commission cart, you set up a special shopping cart, and your affiliates will be tracked that way, through the cart. You'd have to send out your own affiliate checks, but since your product isn't one that will probably be selling tons and tons each month, it should be easy enough to do. I think affiliate programs like the one you mention above are better if you have a lower priced product and expect to sell hundreds a month.

Jill

[kneelsit]

Good point Jill. and thanks for the suggestion

Seems like it "horses for courses".

The program Deb mentioned above seems good value to me - if you are in a small way as I am.

On this not re. value - I just opened my email this morning, an auto-response mail from < protrack@affiliatesoftware.net >and it offered a guided tour.
plus $50 off the price blah blah. Oh! that's not the price of their software which seemed reasonable at $400, but the price of their monthly service fee. Huh? - no mention of such a fee on their site Simply spoiled what was otherwise a great presentation.

Is the L$ mentality affecting these types everywhere?

Greg.

Jill would appreciate a private note back when you have a minute.


:)

[kneelsit]

http://www.associateprograms.com/search/howto.shtml

Darren, The link above is worth going to as it gives a run-down on all the various affiliate programs (software) out there and has an abstract on each one with "just the facts" clearly explained. Written by Allan Gardyne - another Aussie :) - the recognised 'guru' of affiliate marketing

[nitewing2]

I have been using ultimate affilliate since March and I have to say it is a good one.

I did almost a years research on affiliate programs until I found what I felt was the best of the rest...besides, Smiles is a great guy and willing to help any way he can...through the forums, through email or on site.

Worth a look.

Ann/nitewing2

[bodyboy909]

I am currently looking for a affiliate program that will work with commerceSQL (my shopping cart). I am talking to ground break about the Groundbreak Ultimate Affiliate program. It looksa nd sounds like a great script and its been reccommended twice now in one day. for $200 I think it cant be beat. $100 for set up if you want to let them deal with installation. I am looking forward to getting this going. Only thing, I am talking to two otehr guys now. One wants $100 and the other only $60 for the same deal but different programs. Id like to save some money but I think I have heard too many good thigns about the Ultimate Affilate program to go anywhere else at this point.

Any tips for finding people to become affiliates once I have my program available for people to sign up? I will of course have a link on my site but any other more aggressive techniques?
vince-

[Dan0]

I wouldn't call it "aggressive," but all the tools that help you search for potential link partners (Arelis, etc.) can also be used to look for potential affiliates. Just don't fall into the temptation of 'bulk mailing' to recruit 'em. Go after them one at a time. The best affiliates are only going to be peeved at bulk mail.

[Kal]

Does anyone in here sell their SEO services via affiliates? I was tossing up with the idea a few months ago but rejected it as I thought it might open up a potential spamming issue (with affiliates sending out unsolicited email etc with our brand all over it).

We primarily sell through resellers now (web designers, ad agencies etc) as we can educate them throughout the process. But I'd be interested in hearing from any SEOs who use affiliates. Advantages? Disadvantages?? Thanks in advance.

[markymark]

I've been considering promoting my SEO services via an affiliate program for a while also, but I would have to change my business model in order to attract good affiliates. I don't have packaged deals and there is currently no option for online ordering. You'd need both to get half-decent affiliates to sign up. The alternative would be to offer a per lead program, but this would open it up to potential fraud and make the management of the program a nightmare.

So, I haven't gone ahead with it. Shame really as I know some extremely high performing affiliates who would probably join if I set something up. But I like the way I do business now and don't want to change it.

[Dan0]

The best way to use affiliate programs is to have some kind of packaged offering. Whether it's a site review, usability study, rankings report, whatever it is, it should have a fixed price and be ordered online.

That's the "lead" product. You can pay commissions to affiliates because they have generated the lead for you. Once you have a customer for the lead product, you can market your full range of services to them.

The main advantage to this is that you can find *qualified* prospects (you know they are ready, willing, and able to spend money; and that they are interested) without dropping your own $$$ on advertising.

Once you establish a good lead product, with a good conversion rate, you can do your own marketing and advertising to promote that product, or recruit more affiliates. You do have to be selective with affiliates, though, and you can't let just anyone promote your services.

[mmmpph]

My two cents based on numerous affliliate programs that I have seen, had personal experience with, and known the participants:

If you are a merchant looking for affiliate site owners:
* Choose your software carefully. Many have problems with tracking and I have seen many that will even show more clicks than impressions. Pretty hard to do if you think about it. Yet still harder to explain to your affiliates.
* Customer service is crucial. Get to know your affiliates. They have a million to choose from and it's pretty much easy come, easy go. Affiliate hopping is a problem.
* Decide if you have the time to find affiliates and manage them. Unless you have a great big name, few people are going to come begging to become your affiliate. There is a lot of overhead and you have to question whether you have the time to do this AND run your business. Also, would you do just as well to put your efforts and cash into marketing and sales? Many merchant find out that the software company that sold them the affiliate software has given them a song and dance and whipped out the few merchants that this has worked for. Many others find that they are spending their time promoting and running an affiliate business instead of the business that they intended to.
* Consider that you may run into someone spamming your name. A site that doesn' t have much traffic but has a lot of time and the desire to make a bundle off selling your product/services may decide to spam the world with your name attached. He will get the blame but your name is also mud.
* Nobody is going to get rich here despite the claims of a few. Don't sell it that way or your affliate will be short-lived and you may find less than kind references to your company on some BBS. Affiliate merchandising may not be a bad business if you have all of your other channels full and you have time left over. The worst thing that you can do is to put your program out there and then forget about it, planning that it will do its work for you.
* Affliate marketing isn't a great sales tool but it is a pretty decent branding tool. Treat it as such. If you only go for the sale, you can spend years without much. Get your business name out there and associate it with a service and it will eventually pay off as long as you get and keep enough affliates and choose them carefully.

If you are a site owner looking for an affiliate merchant programs:
* There are tons out there. Many will accept anyone and will try to make it sound like this is quite an honor. Good affiliate programs are picky and want you to be successful. Others will let anyone in because it's free advertising and they don't care. If you find one that automatically approves you, they obviously don't care so move on.
* Choose your affiliate program wisely. Make sure that your affiliate fits your market and that it fits your site. If you don't, you won't be successful and you may blemish your reputation.
* Watch it carefully for a month and see what happens. If you aren't getting click-throughs, something is wrong. Move on. If you are getting click-throughs but no sales, it still isn't working. Your reader may be disappointed after the click, or the merchant may be shorting you. Move on. It doesn't matter if you have an affiliate program with the most recognized and respected name in the business. If it isn't making you money, so what?
* Calculate your potential and review the payment program carefully. Consider the real life chain of events that must happen from the other end. Example: A pharmacy program that pays on a percentage is far better than one that pays a flat fee, if and when someone buys. The problem is that the consumer that clicks through can only download some application material which must be faxed in with new prescriptions from the doctor. Once these are approved, the consumer can then go to the merchant's site and place an order. They don't have to come back through your site. Therefore, unless a cookie is placed, you've lost your commission.
* Read the fine print. Some affiliates only credit you if the purchase is made on the first click but not if someone comes back later. You may be missing on some sales if that is the case. Others will credit you for as high as 30 days by placing a cookie.
* Know that you will lose readers. Someone that clicks on the banner may not come back, especially if it doesn't open a new window. Is the potential loss of a reader worth the potential profit to be gained?
* Affiliate programs won't make you rich. There may be a few affiliate sites that do alright but most do very little. It generally isn't even grocery money.
* Consider that you will be doing all the work upfront and have no control over whether the merchant that you are affiliated with will give good service or even have inventory in stock. The risk is entirely on you and the merchant has nothing to lose. In any other line of business, this isn't a good foundation for doing business. If you aren't going to be happy with this situation, affiliate marketing isn't for you.
* Consider an exchange program instead of an affiliate. This is where for every X times that you have a user come to your site and their popunder loads, your popunder comes up under another site. The best one that I have found is at
Exit Exchange (http://www.exitexchange.com). For every two banners that load on your site, one pops under somewhere else. You in effect get a 50% increase in your visitor traffic. Most people won't be interested but you maintain control over what information is presented and you can get some interested parties who previously had no idea that you existed. Other exchange programs exist but I haven't seen many that you can compete with quality. Most other exchange programs seem to have more problems and often have junk banners. I don't recommend this for a regional or local site as the chances of hitting a potential client are pretty slim.

[polarmate]

Originally posted by mmmpph
If you are a merchant looking for affiliate site owners:
* Choose your software carefully. Many have problems with tracking and I have seen many that will even show more clicks than impressions. Pretty hard to do if you think about it. Yet still harder to explain to your affiliates.
Do affiliate programs still pay by the number of impressions? I thought that pay-per-click or pay-per-lead was more the norm today. Any statistics on how many merchants offer CPM type affiliate programs?

* Decide if you have the time to find affiliates and manage them. Unless you have a great big name, few people are going to come begging to become your affiliate. There is a lot of overhead and you have to question whether you have the time to do this AND run your business. Also, would you do just as well to put your efforts and cash into marketing and sales? Many merchant find out that the software company that sold them the affiliate software has given them a song and dance and whipped out the few merchants that this has worked for. Many others find that they are spending their time promoting and running an affiliate business instead of the business that they intended to.

My experience has been quite the reverse. Once I had my affiliate program in place, I haven't needed to do much in terms of search for affiliates. We have a prominent 'self-ad' on our homepage about our affiliate program and we have had a very good sign-up rate. Every once in a while I have to hold an affiliate's hand while they place our banners on their site. There are star affiliates who perform consistently and our affiliates generate a lot of business for us and get much more than 'grocery money' in return.

If you are a site owner looking for an affiliate merchant programs:
* There are tons out there. Many will accept anyone and will try to make it sound like this is quite an honor. Good affiliate programs are picky and want you to be successful. Others will let anyone in because it's free advertising and they don't care. If you find one that automatically approves you, they obviously don't care so move on.
I strongly disagree. We choose our affiliates very carefully but we allow automatic sign-up as it reduces our overhead. It also ensures that the affiliate web site owner gets a chance to review our banners and start including them on their web site. We encourage our affiliates to write to us as soon as they have placed a banner on their site. They *always* get a response. Not only do I take a look at the site to ensure that the banners have been placed correctly, I also take that opportunity to check out the site. If it is against our TOS, their account is terminated immediately.

* Watch it carefully for a month and see what happens. If you aren't getting click-throughs, something is wrong. Move on. If you are getting click-throughs but no sales, it still isn't working. Your reader may be disappointed after the click, or the merchant may be shorting you. Move on. It doesn't matter if you have an affiliate program with the most recognized and respected name in the business. If it isn't making you money, so what?
It *depends* entirely on the type of products sold on the merchant site. On my e-commerce site for example, an average sale is $200. Customers have a plethora of similar products to choose from. Sometimes we are in dialog with them for over a month to help them decide which product is the best for them. They may or may not convert within 30 days.

* Calculate your potential and review the payment program carefully. Consider the real life chain of events that must happen from the other end. Example: A pharmacy program that pays on a percentage is far better than one that pays a flat fee, if and when someone buys. The problem is that the consumer that clicks through can only download some application material which must be faxed in with new prescriptions from the doctor. Once these are approved, the consumer can then go to the merchant's site and place an order. They don't have to come back through your site. Therefore, unless a cookie is placed, you've lost your commission.
Are you saying that there needs to be a conversion as soon as the click is made? Cookies are always placed on the customer's computer and the validity period of these is set by the merchant. The problem arises when the same customer gets to the merchant site from different affiliates. Our affiliate program gives the credit to the last affiliate web site that the customer came through even though it was really the first affiliate web site that introduced the customer to us.

* Read the fine print. Some affiliates only credit you if the purchase is made on the first click but not if someone comes back later. You may be missing on some sales if that is the case. Others will credit you for as high as 30 days by placing a cookie.
OK I did not read this far when I made my comment about the cookie. Even then at least a session cookie would need to be placed on the customer's computer. Do you know of any merchants that use this type of an affiliate program? I would be interested in finding out what products are typically sold using this type of an affiliate program.

* Consider an exchange program instead of an affiliate. This is where for every X times that you have a user come to your site and their popunder loads, your popunder comes up under another site....
Ugh! Popunders are almost as bad as pop-ups. But that is my personal opinion. There are reports that newsletter sign-ups increase significantly when there is a pop-up when a visitor enters the site or a pop-under that remains open even after the visitor has left your site. The decent thing to do would be to include a 'Never show me this page again' checkbox which then writes a cookie if the response is 'Never!' As the web site owner, you would then need to check the value of this cookie before deciding to open up the pop-up/pop-under.

[dragonlady7]

Wow, this was really informative! I've been wondering what all this affiliate stuff was forever! Thanks, guys. At least I know what all the words mean now!

[Catfish]

my 2 cents...

I have made over $70,000 in one year with affiliate programs so yes you can make money with them. However, having an affiliate program does not constitute having content on your website.

As a former affiliate manager for http://www.guitartrader.com I will say that hooking up with cj.com was an excellent business choice. Not only is the software interface very usable, but we got an average of 10 to 20 affiliate signups everyday because of the size of their network including sites like BizRate which is an excellent site to have on your team. I have nothing but good things to say about cj.com even though there customer service is sometimes a little lacking. The only thing I wish they did differently is link straight to the URL of the affiliate program site so that those sites would get more link popularity instead of their server. But with the amount of money that was generated with that program, its a small complaint. Hope that helps.

[SteveMichael]

Hi,
Affiliate marketing is one of the major online marketing.This is one of the best way to earn money through online.It's a simple work to start affiliate marketing.
The only need is to own a site or a blog.
If you own a site or blog then you can sign up for any affiliate program.One thing you must know is that affiliate marketing will not bring you success untill you work hard.

[verifiedtrading]

Affiliate marketing means that you sign up with a company that promote products on line and when you sign up with, you have your own ID and when you refer any body or promote any product, you will get your commission. Some of these companies are free to join like SFI and some you have to pay.

[url removed]

[BizBlogged1]

Refer [removed] for more details about afflliate marketing.

[url removed]

[Danny]

Bizblogged,
why is it that you don't seem to be aware that dropping links in forums negatively affects your business ?

People should run like hell if they find out that a business needs to spam forums to get some attention.