Shawn Collins' Blog

Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

  • Home
  • About Shawn
  • Contact
  • Learn Affiliate Marketing
  • Disclosure
  • Archives

Archives for November 2004

Affiliate Tip – Geo-Target Your Visitors

November 30, 2004 by Shawn Collins

Since we’re working on the World Wide Web, it stands to reason that we should be targeting different regions with appropriate offers.

world-map-icons

For instance, if a person from Boston hits your sports memorabilia site, it would likely be most effective to push Red Sox and Patriots goods on them.

But when somebody hits your site from Liverpool, England, they are more likely to buy goods for the Everton Football Club than for teams from the New England area.

It’s all about better serving the customer by anticipating their needs and building a relationship that encourages the customer to return for subsequent purchases.

But personalization is generally a costly bell and whistle, and the average Webmaster cannot afford to add this functionality into their site.

Well, I just came across Geobytes’ GeoDirection, which is a free service that dynamically redirects visitors based on their geographic location.

This JavaScript redirection tool is ideal for affiliates that wish to redirect browsers based on their City, Region or Country, using Geobytes’ IP Address map technology.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate Tips

Ask Shawn Collins: Becoming an Affiliate

November 29, 2004 by Shawn Collins

Q: How do I, in becoming actively involved as an affiliate to another website, technically speaking, actually place the affiliate ad on my website usually. Do I need to be knowledgeable as a computer technician? I need an example of how to technically, on my computer screen, become an affiliate. Is there only one way involving copying and pasting there logo on your website or is there another general way.

Shawn CollinsA: In order to begin the journey of becoming an affiliate, your first step is to create a Web site. This requires that you have a host for your site, as well as a means for creating and uploading your pages.

As far as hosts, my personal favorite is PHP Webhosting ($9.95 a month).

Also, if you are serious about your efforts as an affiliate, I would urge you to purchase a domain name for your site. As far as domains, I like GoDaddy ($8.70 a year).

In order to create the pages for your site, you’ll need an HTML editor. HTML is the language used to create Web pages.

HTML is really easier than it looks. You can code the pages by hand (in Notepad), but it will take some learning on your part.

You can also jump right into a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) HTML editor, in which you can compose pages with a basic knowledge of Windows applications.

In fact, you can save a MS Word document (in the newer releases) as an HTML file — just save it as a “Web Page.”

According to a poll I took of ClubMom affiliates, 75 percent were using Dreamweaver, MS FrontPage, and a handful of other HTML editors for their sites.

Another 25 percent were composing their sites by hand with raw HTML or using Arachnophilia, which is a great free program (it’s what I use, even though the Dreamweaver devotees keep trying to convert me) that is basically raw HTML with shortcuts for some of the monotonous keystrokes.

When the HTML pages have been created, then you will need to upload them. Some hosts offer a utility to upload from the host interface.

Otherwise, you will need an FTP program. I use WS_FTP to upload my pages.

The affiliate programs will provide you with snippets of HTML code to add to your site to display banners and text links. These snippets of code will include your affiliate ID, so the companies will be able to credit any referred leads or sales to you.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Affiliate Tip – Test Your Links

November 28, 2004 by Shawn Collins

It may seem like a very basic suggestion, but you would be surprised how many people upload affiliate code that is accidentally corrupted.

links

Case in point – one of my top ten ‘super affiliates’ was recently running bad links.

It’s essential for you to test, because you deserve to be paid for every referral you make to affiliate programs. And the tracking is erased when the links are corrupt.

The biggest culprit is when gremlins in HTML editors mangle the code.

Sometimes, various HTML editors will attempt to correct or beautify your code, and the result can be a big mess that sends traffic minus tracking. Or the click goes right to a dead link.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate Tips

Ask Shawn Collins: Communicating with Affiliates that Ignore You

November 28, 2004 by Shawn Collins

What is the best way to handle affiliates who don’t obey the rules; i.e., bid on trademarked terms, don’t update datafeeds for years, etc.? These people make decent sales, so I don’t want to drop them, but repeated emails aren’t working! Any suggestions?

This can be a big problem. As I mentioned recently in an article at iMediaConnection, only 45 percent of affiliates always read the affiliate agreement.

So chances are that your affiliates are oblivious to your affiliate agreement, and if they are not responding to your email, it may be due to their having an outdated email address with your network, or a spam filter is catching your mail.

However, it could also be that they are knowingly ignoring your messages, because they are aware that they are breaking the rules, and they are going to string you along for as long as you’re willing to let it go.

Either way, it’s time to step up the communication efforts. If you have a phone number for them, start calling. If the number on file is not correct, try dialing the number they’ve used when registering their domain(s) by going to http://www.allwhois.com/

If you still strike out in your contact attempts, I’d urge you to go old school and try reaching them through snail mail. Either send them a letter, or if you’re dealing with lots of folks not responding to you, try a direct mail postcard campaign.

If these steps do not result in a response, I’d suggest terminating their account for violating your affiliate agreement (assuming you account for the issues you mentioned in the agreement).

As far as I am concerned, you cannot have a mutually beneficial partnership with somebody that refuses to communicate with you.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Ask Shawn Collins: Affiliates That Stuff Cookies

November 26, 2004 by Shawn Collins

Q: I need to know what to look at to check that affiliates aren’t engaging in cookie stuffing and other problem behaviors. How is this done?

Shawn CollinsA: I’d like to preface this by saying that I am not an expert in sleuthing for cookie stuffing. I know some things about it, but one of the main ways that I keep up on the methods for stuffing cookies and some of the big perpetrators is by keeping an eye on the affiliate marketing message boards.

That said, there are many ways that affiliates effectively stuff cookies, and some are widely considered to be acceptable by affiliate programs, while others are strictly taboo.

A few years ago, I was speaking with a big casino program affiliate at an Affiliate Force conference, and he told me how he was making massive earnings with the affiliate programs by using IFRAMES.

Basically, he would join all of the big affiliate programs, and set up the IFRAME code to feature the affiliate links as 1×1 pixels. This way, when people hit his site, they would be cookied by all of the affiliate programs in the IFRAME without ever noticing a thing.

You can recognize this sort of behavior by looking at the source code of the affiliate’s site and searching for the word: IFRAME. Also, when you hit their page, look at the status area at the bottom of your browser – if you see tons of different URLs loading in, that could be a another sign of cookie stuffing.

Some affiliates also utilize a JavaScript to stuff cookies, but this is more difficult to recognize.

And then there are two of the more mainstream methods: pop-ups and pop-unders. While these are generally considered to be acceptable forms of marketing (aside from being annoying), they are stuffing cookies. The end user isn’t requesting to see the page of the company that is popping up or under, but they are getting a cookie anyway.

There are other methods, too. And the scammers are always innovating new ways to beat the system, so it’s essential to constantly learn about the new methods.

Take a look at Ben Edelman’s site, http://www.benedelman.org, for more details on cookie stuffing and other tricky methods used by online marketers to generate affiliate commissions.

There is also an upcoming service called AffiliateFairPlay that “will provide Compliance Testing Results and will assess various mechanisms utilized by affiliates to invoke tracking mechanisms and the conditions utilized to invoke the tracking.”

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Communication 101 for Affiliate Managers

November 25, 2004 by Shawn Collins

I would like to publicly thank (most of) the affiliate managers out there, because your lack of communication with affiliates makes me stand out.

Send thank you cards to people you meet

To those of you who can’t be bothered with responding to emails from your affiliates, who publish those one-paragraph newsletters, and who don’t bother to keep in touch with your top affiliates – thank you.

Seriously, I try hard to please my affiliates, and I’ve got to admit that I eat it up when I get emails that say:

“Having a great manager like you is truly a blessing in the midst of confusion.”

“I’m a new affiliate, and I want to thank you for all of your support.”

“Thanks, Shawn. You really help make things easier for us.”

“I love the professional way ClubMom handles the affiliate program.”

Below, I have outlined my manifesto for creating and maintaining happy and productive affiliates.

Create a Newsletter with Meat

If you’re an affiliate of any programs out there (and you should be!), I’m sure you’ve seen some of those one-paragraph emails that are being passed off as affiliate program newsletters. Forgive me, but I’m going to have to quote Clara Peller here: “Where’s the beef?”

If you are going to contact your affiliates, there should be a good reason. Present them with mission-critical information, tools, resources, etc.; otherwise, your newsletter is just another thing to drag and drop into delete land.

In addition to any urgent messaging, I generally include the following in my affiliate newsletters: updates and news about our program; links to our newest promotion; tips on search engines and general marketing and content for their sites; a short feature on the ClubMom affiliate of the month; a list of the top 10 commission earners for the previous month; and a plug for a similar program (in exchange for the same in that program’s newsletter).

Target the Good, Bad, and Ugly Affiliates

Don’t limit your contact with affiliates to a newsletter. You should also be touching base and stroking the high performers. What does it cost to send out 20 or 30 T-shirts to your top performers? Easy answer: a lot less than it costs to find 20 or 30 new top performers.

How about those inactive affiliates? The brutal truth is that as many as 90 percent of your affiliates will never bother to put up links. So make it easier. Send out email to the inactive affiliates with code for one of your links. Tell them you are available to help and include your contact information.

Between the super affiliates and the inactive affiliates, you’ve got everybody else. Talk to them, too. Identify under-performers, and offer incentives of a raise in commission or a flat-fee bonus if they give preferred placement to your links.

Great Customer Service Is a Must

If you’ve ever tried to contact the average affiliate manager (because we’re all affiliates by now, right?), you know that it’s sometimes impossible to get a response. If you’re not responding to your affiliates, you’re sending a message that they are not important. Don’t send that message.

Don’t outsource your customer service either. While it may seem onerous to maintain your contacts with affiliates, it can really pay off. Yesterday’s under-performer can easily be a search engine tip and a domain away from becoming one of your top affiliates.

What sort of turnaround time do you usually have for your affiliate inquiries? Now, put yourself in an affiliate’s shoes and think about how neglected you would feel if it took days for you to receive a one-line response.

I try to make it a practice to respond within 24 hours, 7 days a week. Generally, I get a handful of queries over the weekend, and I can knock them out in an hour. It makes Monday morning easier, and it makes my affiliates happier.

Call me an obsessive-compulsive, but don’t call me late to dinner.

Groupthink Can Be a Good Thing

What are your affiliates thinking? There’s an easy way to find out – start up an Yahoo Group, and you have a ready-made focus group about your program. I started up a ClubMom Affiliate Yahoo Group, and it’s been a tremendous resource.

The basic function here is an email discussion list where your affiliates can interact with one another to share tips, strategies, and success stories with your program. I use my eGroup to make announcements and bounce ideas off a segment of affiliates.

We all know how important it is to test banners, buttons, and text links, but that’s easier said than done. So if I’m trying to decide on different creatives or have an idea I’d like to develop, I run it by the ClubMom Affiliate Yahoo Group.

This free service also enables you to upload files (I use this to archive my monthly newsletters and search engine tips), provide links (I tell my affiliates where to find free hosting, registrars, marketing tools, etc.), and run polls.

If your affiliate program is not meeting your expectations, I would suggest that you examine your methods of communication with your affiliates. Educate, target, respond, and interact. If you communicate it, the results will come.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

10 Tips for Your Affiliate Program

November 24, 2004 by Shawn Collins

By Shawn Collins
iMediaConnection

There are many ways to make your affiliate program stand out and get noticed by affiliates. But some affiliate programs stand out for the wrong reasons. You see, it’s good to be a diaper dandy of affiliate marketing, but not so good to stand out as a red diaper baby. But enough of the Dennis Miller esoterica, let’s discuss the nuts and bolts of getting your affiliate program in the spotlight.

Affiliates sometimes have a short www.memory, so you’ve got to constantly take steps to get your affiliate program noticed for recruitment and later re-noticed for retention. I’ve got a ten step plan to help you make this happen.

1. Make your affiliate program better than the rest

What would you say if a prospective affiliate asked you why they should join your affiliate program? Most affiliate managers don’t have a quick answer for this. Ask yourself what are the three reasons an affiliate should pick your program over your competitors and formulate an elevator pitch.

Some highlights you might like to include are your conversion rate, average sale amount, EPC, top ten monthly affiliate earnings, suggested keywords for the PPC search engines and details on your data feed (this last is not applicable to all affiliate programs). If your numbers don’t look stellar, start working on repairing them.

Complete article at http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/4673.asp

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Starting a Member Rewards Site

November 22, 2004 by Shawn Collins

Q: I’m thinking of starting a member rewards site where members get rewards for banners, etc they click. Do you know if advertisers which pay good $ / click (like eBay) actually like this idea? Is is important that you tell them before you sign up that your website is an incentive based website?

Shawn CollinsA: There are a couple of things to consider when putting together a member rewards site that will act as an affiliate.

  1. Sub ID Tracking – You will need to build an infrastructure to reconcile the Sub IDs, so that you know which of your rewards members are due how much affiliate commission. Some of the networks require applying and/or signing a special agreement to do Sub IDs.
  2. Know the Rules of Each Affiliate Program – Some affiliate programs will forbid any sort of incentive for their click, lead, or sale. And some networks will ask you in your application whether you are an incentive site.

In general, merchants do not like incentive sites. Sure, they’d rather have the sale over seeing their competitor get it, but when a transaction is incentivized, the customer or user is being loyal to the deal, not to the merchant.

As far as eBay in particular, they do not allow affiliates to offer any sort of incentives without prior permission:

“Terms Governing Incentive Sites. You will not directly or indirectly offer any consideration or incentive for any Commission-Earning Activity or for clicking on an affiliate program-coded link unless expressly authorized to do so in writing by CJ. Each such written authorization will authorize only one specific incentive.”

Last time I checked, Amazon did not permit incentives, either. It’s a tricky landscape, so be sure to to clear things with merchants in advance.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Jump Start Your Affiliate Program With Internal Support

November 22, 2004 by Shawn Collins

So, the boss has been reading all of the great things about affiliate marketing, and the next thing you know, you’ve been anointed as the affiliate manager. You pick a solution provider and things are ready to roll, right?

Not exactly. If you are going to run a successful affiliate program, it is vital that you build internal support. And it all comes down to three basic tenets: activate, educate, and organize.

Activate the program. Before you can manage your program, it has to exist. Your first move should be to make fast friends with the IT folks. They’ve got a lot of stuff on their plate, so if you hope to get proper attention during the implementation process and after the program has gone live, you’d better have an “in” with them.

They’re people just like you and me — they get hungry in the middle of the day. So offer to take them out to lunch to discuss your technical needs. You know how Milton Friedman said there is no such thing as a free lunch? Well that’s not strictly true, especially when you’re trying to get your program up and running.

You will also want to establish a rapport with the finance department. After all, they are going to be cutting the checks to pay your affiliates. Whether it is asked of you or not, create an aggressive budget that covers commissions, service-provider fees, education and marketing for your program. The finance crew does not like surprises.

In addition, write up a detailed plan with the short and long term goals for your program. Just how are you going to produce all of those amazing results? What methods will you be using to market your program and acquire new affiliates? If you want the vp of marketing to take your program seriously, they have to be able to take you seriously.

Educate yourself and your co-workers. Odds are that the majority of people in your office do not have a clue about affiliate marketing. By the way, how much do you know? One of the best ways to learn about your affiliates is to become one yourself.

No excuses. Even if you don’t know a thing about creating a web site, you should create one. Domains are cheap these days, and you can get free hosting all over the place. There are tons of free HTML tutorials available online, or you could use a WYSIWYG software like MS FrontPage to create your site without any knowledge of HTML.

After you have figured out how to set up a site and joined some affiliate programs, make an announcement in your office that you are willing to help any of your co-workers do the same. By helping your co-workers set up their own sites and instructing them about affiliate programs, you will be establishing more awareness and support for your program.

You should be publishing a monthly newsletter to your affiliates that includes mission-critical news, tips, success stories, and co-marketing plugs for complimentary affiliate programs. Send your newsletter to every affiliate, as well to all of the people in your company (if your company climate permits).

Organize the company behind your program. The results for your affiliate program will be very tangible, so show that qualitative and quantitative information with everybody. Don’t be shy about tooting your own horn, since nobody else is going to do it for you.

Broadcast those affiliate milestones to your company at staff meetings and make them ask themselves, “How did we ever operate without the affiliate program?” When you get positive feedback about the program, share it with everyone. As Oscar Wilde once said, “Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.”

It’s impossible for you to find every site that may become your next great affiliate. So ask around the office for co-workers to refer potential affiliates to you. Their job is also to work with dot-coms in your industry, so they likely know some gems that you have not come across.

Also, encourage suggestions about the overall program — send details of the program to everybody from the receptionist to the CEO and ask for feedback. And violà! You’ve got the company interested in your job, and you’ve got some additional questions for the affiliate FAQ.

You will find that internal support is imperative to the success of your affiliate program. Not only will it make your life and job more pleasant, but it will also assist you in perfecting your program.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Ask Shawn Collins: How to Make Affiliates Happy

November 21, 2004 by Shawn Collins

Q: What can you do/give besides increasing commission to make affiliates happy?

Shawn CollinsA: There isn’t one solution for every affiliate program, so the first thing I would suggest would be to ask your affiliates what they want.

As far as components of your affiliate program that will make affiliates happy, and increase the chances that they will actively promote your affiliate program, consider the following feedback from affiliates in the AffStat Report:

  • Length of Time for Return Day Cookies
    87% of affiliates want the cookies for return days to be active for 30 days or more.
  • E-mail Creative and Suppression Lists
    60% of affiliates maintain an opt-in list for their site(s). Many of these affiliates are interested in running your offers in an HTML solo e-mail. But to do so, they will need quality, tested creative, as well as a mechanism like UnsubCentral to scrub their e-mail suppression list(s) against yours.
  • Promoting your Company with Pay Per Click Search Engines
    33% of affiliates are promoting their affiliate links through pay per click search engines. And if you are ok with it, many affiliates would like to bid on your brand name. David Lewis makes a compelling argument for this practice in his ReveNews blog, “PPC Bidding by Affiliates: It’s about Controlling Your Brand.” Either way, let your affiliates know your rules, and provide them with keywords that convert well for your program.
  • Offer a Variety of Linking Types
    Affiliates need you to provide them with the tools they need to promote your company. That means a couple 468×60 banners and a text link that’s simply your company name will not suffice. As you can see from the chart below, affiliates want banners, dynamic rich media, data feeds, text links, storefronts, HTML for solo e-mails, pop-ups, and individual product links. You might be surprised to see that 37% of affiliates want text links. I know I’m surprised at how many affiliate programs don’t provide text links of different lengths for e-mail newsletters and such. Like I said earlier, ask them what they want.
  • The Face of Your Affiliate Program
    When affiliates were asked about the most important factor in choosing a merchant, 22% cited the affiliate management of the program. Affiliates want to know who to contact if they have a problem or question, so make this as easy as possible. Do this, and word of mouth spreads that you’re an accessible affiliate manager – buzz marketing is a great affiliate recruitment tool.
  • Competitive Commission Structure
    In addition to affiliate management, affiliates are also choosing the programs they join based on payout amount and history (18%) and EPC (20%). If your commission structure falls below your competitors, you’re going to have an awfully hard time making your affiliates happy, or retaining them for that matter.
  • Commission Frequency
    The frequency that you issue commission payments will have an impact on your ability to recruit and retain affiliates. 68% of affiliates polled said that this is a factor when they are deciding which programs to join. The standard is net 30 days from the end of each month.
  • Methods of Commission Payment
    Affiliates want options for the way they receive their commission checks from you. While 45% are content with a check, 39% prefer direct deposit, and 13% want their funds via PayPal. Also, 2% of affiliates (generally the bigger players) wish to receive commissions by wire, and 1% (popular with casino affiliate programs) prefer NETeller.
  • VIP Commissions
    In your question, you mentioned increasing commissions, but there are various ways to do it. I would suggest publishing a base commission rate, but being prepared to pay a VIP commission rate to the higher volume affiliates from the start. Or at least make a tiered reward structure available to all of the affiliates.
  • Communicating With Your Affiliates
    Affiliates want to hear from you, but not too often. Bear in mind that they belong to dozens or hundred of affiliate programs. More than half think that a monthly communication (i.e. affiliate program newsletter) is sufficient. And the vast majority want to hear from you by e-mail, rather than IM or phone.

So how you structure your affiliate program and run it day to day will have a significant impact on the happiness of your affiliates. Treat them like respected partners, ask them what they want, and then do your best to give it to them. Good luck.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Next Page »

Social

  • View shawncollins’s profile on Facebook
  • View shawncollins’s profile on Twitter
  • View shawncollinsatx’s profile on Instagram
  • View affiliatetip’s profile on Pinterest
  • View shawncollins’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View affiliatetip’s profile on YouTube

Blogroll

  • Affiliate Manager
  • Austin FC
  • Austin, TX Airbnb
  • Bose Hearing Aids
  • Extra Money Answer

Return to top of page

Copyright © · Shawn Collins Consulting ·

 

Loading Comments...