|
Planning
Your Program
There are many factors you need to consider when planning
your program. Affiliate programs are becoming increasingly
popular and as more and more merchants recognize the power
of a good affiliate program you will receive increasing
competition from rival sites trying to lure your affiliates
into their program.
Plan your program with your affiliates in mind not just
blinkered on your sites increased profits. Remember that if
your affiliates are profiting from your program then so are
you.
Before launching
your program review your current site. This
will be critically scrutinized by affiliates considering
whether to join your program. Some merchants take the view
that it costs nothing to join a program, but in my eyes as
an affiliate, I am going to invest time and effort to
link traffic out of my site. I expect a return on my efforts
and if I don't think your site has what it takes to convert my
traffic to sales then I'm going to join another program.
If you don't
already own a copy may I recommend Ken Envoy's
book 'Make
Your Site Sell'
this comprehensive book covers the
topic of designing a site to sell in great detail.
Happy
with your site's ability to sell? What about your
proposed affiliate program. After a site critique next on
the 'shall I join this affiliate program' list will be to
examine-
The commission rates being offered. Are they fair? How
do they compare to other programs offering similar products?
Consider your commission payments carefully. Amazon has
recruited hundreds of thousands of affiliates offering
a low commission against low cost items, but will this work
for you?
Probably not!
Committed and loyal affiliates are going to expect a fair
income for their efforts.
A number of programs have recently launched their program
offering a limited period paying a higher commission level
to kick-start their program. A good idea perhaps but what
happens at the end of this period?
There is nothing to stop you arranging higher commission
levels for the best performing affiliates - in fact this is
strongly recommended
I'm also going to look at your banners are they up to scratch?
Checking click through statistics can become a little addictive
and I expect to be able to feed this obsession with real time
on-line stats. I would also appreciate email notification
as and when I have achieved a sale.
Your affiliate agreement will get the once over,
excessive minimum payment clauses will be taken into
consideration.
Your reputation will also make or break a decision. Word
travels real fast on the Internet and if I see reports posted on
discussion forums of unfair practice, late payments or reduced
commission's due to hidden charges I will not join.
A survey by refer-it, an affiliate directory provides further
insight into affiliates judging your program -
Q1.Do you read the terms and conditions statement when applying
to an affiliate program?
46% - Yes
26% - No
28% - Sometimes
(of 204 respondents)
Q2. What do you value most in an affiliate program?
51% - Commission
26% - Product for sale
9% - Co-branded store
7% - Affiliate Discounts
5% - Statistics
2% - Newsletter
(of 286 respondents)
Q3. How many affiliate programs have you joined?
One - 20%
Two - 13%
Three - 15%
Four - 11%
Five - 41%
(of 183 respondents)
Building Your Team Of Affiliates
With your program ready to accept affiliates announce your
program to all the affiliate directories. There is a growing
number of revenue sharing directories each attracting
a great number of webmasters actively sourcing programs to join.
These directories are very popular some with loyal subscribers
exceeding tens of thousands. What's more most of these directories
publish regular ezines listing the latest entries, creating even
more exposure for your program.
Once listed your program will usually be placed in a prominent
position on the directory under the 'new entries listing'. An
editor's recommendation will quite literally make your affiliate
numbers soar. Plus the ongoing entry under the relevant
directory classification will attract a steady stream of
motivated and targeted affiliates actively seeking a revenue
sharing program.
Let Affiliate
Announce help. We will submit your site to the
top 40 affiliate directories. Hand submitting according to the
individual directories submission policies.
Freeing your time to build your business.
You should also contact potential affiliates directly. There
will probably be a number of highly trafficked but
non-competitive sites, attracting your potential customers.
Contact the site owners offering the opportunity to
earn an additional income by joining your program.
You ought to proceed with caution here. I am not suggesting
you email all and sundry with over-hyped spam promoting your
program. This will do you more harm than good. A reputation as
a spammer can quickly destroy a good program.
If you are going to email an invitation make it personal,
review the site in question, compliment a feature or aspect
of their site.
Demonstrate a personal invitation to join your program, and how
easy it would be to earn an additional income by doing so.
The larger sites seem to be cursed with too much email and not
enough time to reply. Why not pick up the phone, send a fax or
snail mail - you'll get noticed and won't be filed in the same
in-box as all the other get rich quick' scams.
Two Tier Programs
Finally consider operating a two-tier program. This
harnesses the power of affiliate marketing by encouraging
your affiliates to promote your program for you.
Two tier programs work by offering your affiliates an additional
smaller commission against sales generated by affiliates they
have introduced to your program.
If you take this approach be careful that you don't create a huge
network all busy simply recruiting additional affiliates but not
actually promoting your product and generating sales. Focus on
helping affiliates generate click thru's and making sales.
Also ensure a strict no-spam policy. Do not let affiliates ruin
your reputation in their over enthusiastic attempts to sign up
hundreds of sub-affiliates.
Affiliate Announce Customer Comment
"I was honored to be one of the first clients of Affiliate-Announce's
submission service. Neil was especially responsive and generous
with his time as he explained the program and registration
process to me. Within 24 hours I was receiving confirmation
from dozens of directories around the world, letting me know that
my program had already been listed.
Neil also followed up a number of times to make sure that I was
satisfied with the service, (which I was!).
I recommend Affiliate-Announce's
submission service to any and all
affiliate programs large and small. With a price so reasonable,
and
service so exceptional, I would have to say that you simply can't
afford NOT TO!"
Gregg Feldman
Affiliate Program Manager
Magazineoutlet.com
Survey results reproduced with permission from Refer-it.
http://www.refer-it.com
Keeping
Your Affiliates Loyal
As mentioned above the rise in popularity of affiliate programs
will continue to increase. More and more competing programs will
be trying to lure away your best affiliates into their program.
Lets examine some ideas to keep your affiliates loyal and protect
your new found income channel.
Perhaps this seems obvious but ensure your affiliates are paid
their due commissions on time.
Lack of support is also a great way to lose hard working
affiliates.
You will receive lots of queries from affiliates, make sure
they are handled quickly and professionally.
Continue to help your affiliates, keep improving your site,
continue creating and testing new and improved banners.
Develop a community, give your affiliates a forum to exchange
ideas. Send out a regular newsletter motivating and encouraging
your affiliates.
You will find a large number of affiliates join your program
and then do nothing with it. Look out for those that haven't
yet put their links into place, offer help and use your
newsletters to motivate.
Another consideration - most programs do not allow affiliates
their commissions against sales bought for their own use. I
do not understand why. Affiliates are likely to join your
program because they like your products. If they are encouraged
to continue to use your products then they are more likely
to write glowing testimonials recommending you to their visitors.
Recently new programs have introduced the ultimate in affiliate
loyalty incentives. Lifetime commissions. Working in the true
spirit of a partnership these sites guarantee lifetime commissions
against ongoing sales from customers they have introduced
Which Links Attract
The Most Click Thru's ?
The latest statistics from the Linkshare Affiliate Network
demonstrate which links generate the most click thru's-
Product Links - 2.18%
Text Links - 1.80%
Storefront Links - 1.43%
Email Links - 1.31%
Banner Links - 1.12%
>From these figures you can see the importance of encouraging
your affiliates to use the most effective linking methods.
Text links win hands down. Encourage your affiliates to use your
products and write a genuine testimonial for your company.
Make it easy for them. After the sign-up process provide them
with not just banner adverts but a selection of well crafted
text links with their affiliate ID code built in.
Quality copywriting will make a big difference to your networks
click through ratios and when you compound even a tiny percentage
increase across hundreds or thousands of affiliates it makes a big
difference!
Also provide graphics and product shots to enable affiliates
to create their own product links. Your advanced and best
performing
affiliates will have the skills to craft their own product links
if you provide them with the tools.
by
Neil Durrant
Affiliate
Announce
Silly
Mistakes Affiliate Merchants Make
In a crazy rush to launch affiliate programs, merchants are
making all sorts of mistakes.
As a result, they're looking bad to the people they need to
impress most - potential affiliates.
Here are mistakes I've seen made by companies that are
submitting programs to the AssociatePrograms.com directory.
-No contract
Believe it or not, companies hopefully launch affiliate programs
without first drawing up an agreement for potential associates
to read.
-Major facts missing
Several times I've seen contracts which fail to mention how
much commission the affiliate will be paid, or when. Cutting
and pasting a standard contract from theaffiliateprogram.com
isn't enough. Affiliates really will expect you to have added
useful details.
-Details inconsistent
If just before launch date you decide to increase your payout,
remember you need to update your contract, too. I've seen a 10%
commission offered on the affiliate sign-up page, and 8%
offered in the contract.
-Spelling and typing mistakes
Please ask someone who pays attention to detail too proof-read
your site. When one credit card merchant launched its program
the site looked beautifully professional - but was spoilt by
glaring typing mistakes in the first few sentences on the main
page.
-Hidden links
If you don't want the link to your affiliate program to be
obvious to your main customers, that's fair enough. However,
if you do want webmasters to find the link, make sure it exists.
Yes. Some people do forget.
-No FAQ page
As well as your main FAQ, it's an excellent idea to have another
list of frequently asked questions for affiliates. You don't have
any questions yet? Why not show your site to a few friends and
write down their questions?
-No names
If you forget - or aren't willing - to publish your name and
physical address on your site, don't expect people to trust you.
They will wonder what you have to hide.
-No privacy statement
What are you planning to do with the names and e-mail addresses
you collect? Your affiliates have a right to know.
-All the usual errors
I've seen some pretty weird and not-too-wonderful sites. All the
usual advice on usability and navigation apply if you want to
avoid annoying people. Will it really matter if you delay
another day or two while you improve your site?
We all know how easy it is to overlook things, and how often
things go wrong in unexpected ways. So it's a good idea to iron
out the bugs by beta testing your program with a handful of
webmasters. That way, only a handful of friends see your mistakes
instead of 1,000 affiliates.
Allan Gardyne
Associate Programs
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com
| 
