Archives for October 2004

The comments below are nearly five years old, so please be forgiving on any outdated notions and dated references. 🙂

I think it’s interesting to see that a handful of these folks have stuck it out and enjoyed ongoing success in affiliate marketing.

Two guys in particular, Declan Dunn and Todd Crawford, are still doing great things, and both just spoke this past June at my Affiliate Summit conference.

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Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?

No way! In the coming year, make sure that you remember your affiliates and everybody else who helps your program to succeed. In fact, now is a great time to sit down and make some resolutions for your affiliate program.

The affiliate marketing industry saw fantastic growth and prosperity in 1999, and 2000 brings the potential for even greater gains.

I’ve gathered together for you what some of the leaders in the industry hope to see or accomplish in the industry in the year to come. Learn. Think. Resolve.

“We have seen a shift towards performance-based partnerships aligned with consumer buying behavior. The financial markets have responded favorably to the vision of performance-based marketing as demonstrated by our recent IPO. This will fuel more investment and opportunities in this new market sector. My goal is to help leading sites level the online playing field through innovative practices that align value with performance.” – Dave Feng, Director Industry Practices, Be Free, Inc.

“Make ALL of my online purchases through my own affiliate links!” – James Marciano, Founder, Refer-it

“My first resolution is to help merchants and affiliates wake up to the fallacy of the ‘click and bye’ affiliate model. I am determined to introduce more people to the ‘click and BUY’ affiliate model Nexchange developed. My second goal is to help affiliates do better site merchandising. By site merchandising, I mean thinking like a retailer when embedding commerce in content.

“Finally, I am hopeful that the major players in the affiliate marketing industry will form a cooperative industry group. We must work together to establish industry standards. Since a rising tide lifts all boats, wouldn’t it be great if we could all just get along?” – Joe Michaels, Co-Founder and President, Nexchange

“I’d like to teach the world to sing… Whoops, sorry, wrong tune. I’d like to persuade a few merchants to stand out from the crowd by introducing better, fairer contracts, including commissions for lifetime customers. My own goal is really simple, and hard, to go a whole day without touching a computer. I haven’t managed that since early 1998.” – Allan Gardyne, AssociatePrograms.com

“I would like to see the major affiliate networks abandon their exclusivity clauses that keep merchants from joining multiple networks. It probably won’t happen, but it would be nice.” – Michael Benavides, Director of Business Development, AutoFusion, Inc. / CarPrices.com

“The Year 2000 will see the maturation of the affiliate model. There is a parallel in the franchise industry of 40-50 years ago. It took decades for franchisers to wake up. McDonald’s was one of the first with Hamburger University. ‘Ham U’ ensured the success of their franchisees by providing the tools, information, and infrastructure necessary.

“The first e-merchants who make quantum shifts in attitude towards their affiliates will also reap the rewards… which are far, far greater than ever before, in this bright, new millennium.” – Ken Evoy, President, GoodBytes Information Products Inc.

“Our New Year’s Resolution is to provide the affiliate community with the best customer and technical support, the easiest management system, and a paycheck every month – that’s 12 paychecks in the year 2000.” – Todd Crawford, Vice President of Sales, Commission Junction

“We will see incredible growth next year in affiliate marketing as merchants strive to strengthen their partnerships with their affiliates. We will offer our Affiliate Partners more tools and services to help them succeed with MP3.COM, and Affiliate Partners will receive one of the most robust reward/payment systems for their efforts.” – Jeffrey Jennell, Affiliate Marketing Team, MP3.COM

“Our goals for the year 2000 include strategically aligning ourselves with other e-commerce companies that have or are in the process of building an affiliate program channel. We will still continue to strive for excellence as an educator for our affiliates and advocate for true and honest business practices for web mankind.” – Steve Tirella, Executive Director, E-Commerce Exchange

“I’d like to help a million people learn how affiliate marketing works in 2000. With that knowledge, Netizens can build great Web sites that make their lives – and the lives of others – a better place.” – Daniel Gray, Author, “The Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net”

“Two words: constant improvement. Just months after launching our program, we called our affiliates and asked them how we could improve. Their feedback guided the improvements that we made in 1999 and helped our program grow. Over the course of the year 2000, the needs of our affiliates can change quite a bit! In the New Year, we want to be the first to identify the new and different things that we can do to make our affiliates more successful.” – Dan Clifford, Director of Strategic Alliances, Career Central

“In the year 2000 I want to generate 5,000 ActiveStorefronts generating over $5 million in gross sales via our tested, affiliate merchandising approach. My ultimate goal is to empower as many affiliates to make sales instead of trying to sell advertising at their sites. Unlocking the power of affiliate programs means putting the right offer to the right list, and I will share new tools to make this easier for affiliates to put into action now.” – Declan Dunn, Vice President, Active Marketplace

“During 2000 I hope to see more merchants using their affiliate program as a high priority component in their business. I also hope to see merchants providing their affiliates with good quality content, and paying residual commissions. My personal goal is to help and contribute to this development while having as much fun as possible! :-)” – Ola Edvardssson, affiliatetips.com

“In the new year I would like to see more people understand the true power of affiliate programs. They will become the new dominant advertising method online within a few years and those that get on board now will have enormous advantages. My real wish (but not expected) is for regular advertising mediums to accept and use affiliate programs in the offline work (instead of the occasional ‘per inquiry’ some businesses do). It would be an enormous evolution and change in the way business is conducted in the world today.” – Corey Rudl, CEO, Internet Marketing Center

So what are you going to resolve for 2000… Get more sleep? Lose ten pounds? Break sales records with your affiliate program? I can’t help you with the first two, but I have resolved to help you strengthen your program by providing tips and comprehensive industry coverage. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and profitable 2000!

KowaBunga! Technologies, the industry leader of private affiliate tracking and management solutions for online merchants announces a successful soft launch of the first “open” affiliate network, Kolimbo.

In only three months, Kolimbo has already generated over 35,000 new relationships and $2 million in new sales for KowaBunga!’s clients. Overall, Kolimbo is growing at a pace of 35% each month. Full public launch of Kolimbo is expected December 1, 2004.

Like traditional affiliate networks, Kolimbo pairs up merchants (“advertisers”) with affiliates (“publishers”), and then provides tracking and reporting to both parties for facilitating performance marketing deals, like cost per acquisition and cost per click. Access to Kolimbo is free to all KowaBunga! clients using their “My Affiliate Program” brand software.

Kolimbo’s “Open” Network vs. Traditional Affiliate Networks:

• Cost Savings for Merchants Means Higher Commissions for Affiliates – Kolimbo does not charge the 20%-30% transaction fee surcharge Merchants pay the traditional affiliate networks. (e.g. A merchant paying $100,000 to affiliates would pay a traditional network at least $20,000 [20% of $100,000] in surcharges.) Merchants can pass some of this infrastructure savings on to their affiliate partners, in exchange for increased promotions by their affiliate partners.
• Open Relationships Fosters Profitable Relationships – Kolimbo provides a centralized platform for facilitating direct, private relationships between Merchants and Affiliates, instead of limiting communication between the parties. Merchants and affiliates have complete control over every aspect of their relationships.

“Our unique market position as the provider of private affiliate program solutions, serving over 1,800 merchants and 500,000 affiliates world-wide, has given us the opportunity to offer this valuable new service,” said Todd Farmer, CEO of KowaBunga! “We care about the success of our merchant’s affiliate programs, and Kolimbo helps our merchants succeed.”

Industry insiders and analysts have praised the launch of Kolimbo. “KowaBunga! is to affiliate marketing as JetBlue is to the airline industry,” said Shawn Collins, proprietor of AffiliateManager.net, a leading industry discussion board. “They do a hundred little things to make managing an affiliate program efficient and painless. Now with Kolimbo, they have all of the upsides and none of the downsides of a traditional network.”

Kolimbo Offers Value to Merchants and Affiliates
Kolimbo merchant, Alan Earl from iDishNetwork.com, has already reaped the rewards of Kolimbo, “As a merchant, we need access to top quality affiliates but are simply unwilling to pay the extraordinary network fees that are associated with a solution like Linkshare or Commission Junction. Kolimbo allows us to ‘have our cake and eat it too.’ Our affiliate registrations have increased daily since the Kolimbo introduction and we’re confident that it will only get better.”

For affiliates, Kolimbo offers a convenient, free platform to find and manage their private relationships. Kolimbo affiliate, Wendy Shepherd of StudioMatrix.com says, “I have been working with hundreds of affiliate programs through many providers for about 7-years. Kolimbo is one of the most user-friendly networks on the internet today. I love the ease of finding merchants, stats and advertising creative in one area.”

MyReferer.com, leading provider of “private” affiliate tracking an management solutions, today launched MyReferer.Network a Free Network for Affiliates working with MyReferer’s Merchants.

This new offering reflects MyReferer’s continuing efforts to be a leader in the development of affiliate marketing software and services. Unlike traditional Networks, MyReferer.Network does not take “network commissions”.

It is beneficial to Affiliates who are used to sharing their earnings with networks. Also, MyReferer’s Merchants now have all the benefits of running “private” programs with access to a network of affiliates.

Benefits for Affiliates include: Direct access to Merchant Areas with one ID and Password – No need to remember several affiliate IDs or Passwords; “One-Click” Signup Process; Aggregated Reports; Report based on currencies; New programs added weekly.

Being listed/advertised is an option for Merchants and it is not part of the MyReferer.com Service. Merchants may be listed free of charge, but their program inclusion on the new site is always subject to editors’ review.

Affiliates can find MyReferer’s Merchants with which they already have a relationship, and add them to their MyReferer.Network account, even if Merchants are not listed on the website (any program using MyReferer.com Technology).

Affiliates and Merchants enter into direct contractual relationships through the “One-Click” signup process. It is Affiliate sole responsibility to research the Merchants before entering into an agreement. Merchants are responsible for paying the commissions and MyReferer make no warranties or representations of any kind. It is a FREE Affiliate Network.

MyReferer decided to list only a few Merchants during the “beta” period ending January 2005. Several affiliate programs should be launching through the Network within the next few months. MyReferer.Network is Free for Merchants and Affiliates. MyReferer.Network website is available at myreferer.net

If you are conducting business online, the question is no longer whether or not you should have an affiliate program. The question now is how to set up a successful affiliate program.

Forrester Research recently published a report (New Affiliate Marketing Models) stating that affiliates deliver 13 percent of online retail sales today. By 2003, this figure is projected to increase to 21 percent of online sales.

When you take this into consideration, along with the fact that affiliate marketing has emerged as the predominate online marketing strategy, it’s no surprise that companies are feverishly incorporating affiliate programs into their marketing plans.

On the surface, the concept is very simple: A Webmaster joins your affiliate program; a web surfer visits the site of your affiliate; the surfer clicks your banner and shops at your site; you pay a commission to the affiliate for the sale.

But there is more to affiliate programs than a simple flowchart of success. There is a lot of uncommon knowledge regarding the establishment and operation of an affiliate program, which will make the difference between your program becoming a success or a failure.

For every virtue that contributes to a successful program, there is a vice that can undermine an otherwise successful program. Below, I have outlined the seven deadly sins that can break an otherwise quality affiliate program.

1. No affiliate manager and/or customer service
E-Commerce Exchange runs a very successful affiliate program. They explicitly lay out the way their program works, provide marketing and sales tools, offer a variety of graphics and basically operate a model program. But the key to success for the E-Commerce Exchange QuickCommerce affiliate program extends beyond their online presence. E-Commerce Exchange follows up with a telephone call to new affiliates to provide one-to-one help and guidance.

Many companies launch a program with the anticipation that it will be a self-administered gold mine. But the truth is that it is a necessity to have a person dedicated to the day-to-day operations of the affiliate program. And this person should be easily reached with customer service questions. If there is no name attached to the program, as well as some level of customer service, your program is doomed from the start.

2. No answers to frequently asked questions
Even though you have a FAQ (frequently asked questions) for your site, that’s not enough if you are going to operate an affiliate program. Your main FAQ may cover your site thoroughly, but there are a wide variety of questions that are specific to your affiliate program: Does it cost anything to join your program? How can I sign up for your program? How do I create a link to your site? When will I get paid?

If you don’t know what people are going to ask, try asking a handful of friends and employees to navigate through your program and ask them to each write down 2-3 questions. Answer these questions and you’ve got a FAQ. As your program grows, you will receive questions from your prospective affiliates – whenever you answer a new question, be sure that the question and answer are added to the FAQ.

3. No privacy statement and contract
Do affiliates join your mailing list when they sign up for your program? Do you intend to sell or share your database of affiliates with other companies? If so, it is recommended that you share this information with your affiliates. If you decide not divulge this information, you could seriously harm your credibility.

How often will you be paying your affiliates? How much will you be paying? Is there any reason why your affiliates would forfeit their commission? Although these documents may seem like unnecessary bureaucracy, they are absolutely essential. Spell out your terms in a contract or operating agreement and not only will you gain more credibility, but you will also avoid potential legal disputes.

If you do not currently have a privacy policy, you can refer to the privacy policies of some other companies and adapt as necessary, or you can create one easily with a free service, such as the TRUSTe Privacy Statement Wizard.

4. No investment in the affiliates
Low commissions can be a huge stumbling block for your program. How much is enough? This is a tricky question with many variables. Will you be paying a flat fee on each purchase, a percentage of the sale, or for each click?

In some categories with low margins and high prices, it is reasonable to pay out a low percentage. But in many segments, it is unacceptable to offer less than 5 percent of the gross sale. Flat fees and pay per click models are totally dependent on the product and cost. In order to determine the best commission for your program, research your competitors and try to give a little more than they are giving to the affiliates.

Of course the bottom line is a key factor, and you’re not going to give up your entire margin for the sake of the affiliate program, but if you are offering a paltry commission, you will not have any affiliates. On the contrary, a small increase in commission will help to grow your program at a more rapid pace.

5. No way to find your affiliate program
Believe it or not, there are quite a few companies that operate affiliate programs, and they do not link to the program from their homepage. People must be able to find your program if you want them to join you in marketing your product or service. While the affiliate program directories, such as Refer-it and AssociatePrograms.com, will generate some traffic to your program, you cannot expect to operate a successful program if you rely solely on this method.

Not only should you display a prominent link on your homepage, but it is also a good idea to incorporate a blurb in your e-mail signature about your affiliate program. If you have a newsletter, plug the program. When you send out an invoice, plug the program as well.

6. No statistical reporting
Do your affiliates have a means to track their statistics online? They are going to expect this feature and if you do not provide it, your competitor probably does. Don’t risk losing affiliates for this reason.

If you utilize a third-party affiliate solution, the online reporting should be a given. At a minimum, you should provide your affiliates with a breakdown of the pay periods, sales, returns, and total balance.

7. No online application
Just as with the online reporting, you should also be provided an online application if you are using a third-party affiliate solution. If you choose to create your online application in-house, note that some potential affiliates will be sensitive about the transmission of their personal information.

Bear this in mind, because if you do not have a secure server for transmission of their personal information, you could be turning away a lot of potential salespeople. Your affiliate program has to reach a certain level of sophistication, and if it fails to do so, you are going to turn away a lot of prospective affiliates.

Affiliate programs are experiencing dramatic growth, and the industry is projected to continue ramping up in the years to come. In the past month, the industry was further validated by the mainstream as Be Free, a third-party affiliate solution, had a very successful IPO, and AOL finally launched an affiliate program.

Quite simply, if you have an online business, you should have an affiliate program. But don’t just do it – do it right!

FeedBurner, a very cool service that provides RSS feed syndication, has incorporated a new option for their feeds: the Amazon.com Associates Service.

The Amazon Associates Service enablers bloggers to automatically place items from Amazon.com related to their content directly into individual feed items, and it follows an insertion frequency plan that you control (i.e. an Amazon affiliate ad after each post in your feed, every other post, etc).

If you’ve got an RSS reader, you can see this in action by subscribing to the AffiliateTip.com Blog feed.

And just a couple days ago, Brian Clark predicted that “XML-based ad services for RSS feeds are going to be amazing growth area in 2005.”

In addition to FeedBurner, it seems that Yahoo is looking into this sort of thing for Overture.

This is an article I wrote nearly five years ago when I was working at Refer-it. For nostalgia sake, I’m reprinting it as it was originally written, including the inaccurate statement that Amazon had the first affiliate program. 😉

Performics today announced that it has been awarded the top position in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 list for Chicagoland, a ranking of the fifty fastest growing technology companies in the area by one of the nation’s leading professional services firms.

Rankings are based on the percentage of growth in fiscal year revenues over five years, from 1999-2003.

Performics, a leader in search engine marketing and affiliate marketing, was a private company at the time of the rankings and was recently acquired by DoubleClick Inc in June 2004.

Performics is now a performance- based marketing division of DoubleClick.

James Crouthamel, General Manager of DoubleClick’s Performics division, credits a talented and rapidly growing base of employees, the firm’s progressive performance-based advertising model, and a strong client base for the company’s growth rate from 1999-2003.

He said, “Everyone involved at Performics has contributed to this success. We have the privilege to work with some of the best brands on the Web and have become a valued extension of their online marketing departments. We owe many thanks to our clients, distribution partners and employees, all of whom contributed to the success of Performics over the years.”

Performics has approximately 140 individuals in their Chicago office.

Read the complete press release at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041005/nytu153_1.html

“LinkShare, one of the Web’s largest affiliate networks, recently awarded–and then revoked–a $15,000 prize based on increases in revenue to a company accused of using spyware.

On Sept. 22, LinkShare awarded TheDesktopShopper.com a quarterly Titanium Award, which goes to the affiliate that increased its revenue by the highest percentage over the same quarter the previous year.

But, after other affiliates complained on the advertising/affiliate marketing chat site ABestWeb that TheDesktopShopper.com had been blacklisted by several watchdog watch sites, LinkShare revoked TheDesktopShopper.com’s award. However, as many affiliates were quick to point out, this is the second time LinkShare has given its Titanium Award to an affiliate believed to use suspect practices.”

Visit http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsID=272087 for the complete article.