Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for December 2004

Affiliate Summit Early Bird Registration

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Register early and save. We recommend that you register early for Affiliate Summit 2005 (June 13-14 in Las Vegas). Early registrations can save as much as $500!

The Affiliate Summit 2005 Early Bird registration rate is $995. You can pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express) or check.

This rate is good through February 13, 2005. The rate from February 14 through April 13 will be $1,295. Any registrations after April 14 will be $1,495.

Register now at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/registration.shtml

Affiliate Summit 2005 Speaker Proposals

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Affiliate Summit 2005 will be taking place on June 13-14, 2005 in Las Vegas. Details on the venue will be released shortly – we’re working on the hotel bids now.

Speaking proposals will be accepted through February 14, 2005.

Submit your proposal at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=95545789006

We will contact speakers whose proposals have been accepted by the end of February 2005.

Ask Shawn Collins: Get Paid to Complete Surveys

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Q: I am a publisher registered both with CJ and Linkshare. I have noticed there are dozens of websites who are giving users rewards for completing surveys etc. I was wondering if you knew any advertisers which offer this facility through CJ, Linkshare or any other program. It would be great to get paid to offer users in a multi-user website to complete surveys locally (in our user-environment) and reward them accordingly.

Shawn CollinsA: As you mentioned, there are lots of survey related sites out there. They range from the reputable to the shady, with lots in between.

Here are some of the companies, with affiliate programs, I have heard about most often:

  • goZing.com
  • Greenfield Online
  • Lightspeed Research

For what it’s worth, LightSpeed Research has ranked in the Top 10 Affiliate Programs list for AffiliateTip.com a number of times this year.

As far as incentivizing people to complete the surveys (providing them with rewards), be sure this is acceptable with each affiliate program before doing it.

Just because you see somebody else doing it doesn’t mean it’s permitted by the affiliate program. It’s always best to review their affiliate agreement and/or ask the affiliate manager questions.

Ask Shawn Collins: Perils of Data Feeds

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Q: Everyone heralds the effectiveness of data feeds, but what about the fallout – duplicate content? Search engines (most notably Google) are known to penalize web pages – and sometimes entire websites – that contain “substantially duplicate content” (Google’s own words). Is it worth the risk of having your entire retail site dip in the organic serp’s because hundreds of affiliates share the same content as your site?

Shawn CollinsA: You bring up a good point. When numerous people are serving up duplicate content, nobody really benefits.

The search engine algorithms consider a number of factors when determining the relevancy of a given site. One of those is the duplication of content.

Plainly speaking, Google doesn’t want to serve up a results page that is dominated by the a list of sites that feature duplicate content. It takes away from the integrity of their results and provides the end user with a lousy experience.

I certainly don’t think it’s worth risking the placement of your organic listing in exchange for the hope that hundreds of affiliates with duplicate copy will provide an incremental benefit.

You are bound to see diminishing returns if you open the flood gates and make your data feeds publicly available without any sort of gatekeeping.

I would suggest having your data feed(s) password protected and work with affiliates that will bring some sort of unique approach to the way your data feeds ae displayed.

When you provide the data feed to the affiliates, you are giving them raw material. It’s a blank canvas that requires their creative display, extraction and enhancement.

It’s all about adding value to the user, because that’s the reason Google is indexing the sites of your affiliates in the first place.

Ask Shawn Collins: Miva OK for Affiliate Tracking?

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Q: I am going to start an affiliate program as a merchant and have been looking at MyAP, CJ, and my soon to be shopping cart affiliate software from Miva. My question – why pay $999 to MyAP or more to CJ when Miva does it for free? Do potential affiliates look at the monitoring software and disregard programs because they aren’t MyAP or CJ?

Shawn CollinsA: On the surface, it may seem like Miva makes sense. But when you dig deeper, you’ll find that the Miva Merchant affiliate technology is terribly lacking.

When you ask why pay MyAP or CJ when Miva does it for free, the operative word there is “it.” Basically, the list of things Miva doesn’t do (in comparison to MyAP or CJ) is a lot longer than the list of things it does offer (very basic tracking and reporting).

So MyAP and CJ offer a robust package – they truly do “it.” Miva is sub-“it”. Not to belabor the point, but Miva is essentially a Yugo at the Indy 500 of affiliate solution providers.

Aside from the technical limitations, using Miva to power your affiliate program implies that you are not willing to invest in your affiliate program.

There are other options that won’t break the bank:

  • Affiliate Clicks (MyAP lite)
  • DirectTrack
  • Groundbreak.com Ultimate Affiliate
  • shareasale.com

As far as affiliates disregarding affiliate programs that don’t use certain technologies, you will definitely find it a challenge to recruit affiliates if you are using a home grown, little known, or bare bones technology.

Ask Shawn Collins: Multiple Networks

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Q: I’m a new affiliate manager and I’m wondering about the benefits (if any) of signing up with multiple networks (CJ, LinkShare, etc.)? Or is it enough to select just one?

Shawn CollinsA: I’m not sure if you’ve launched your affiliate program yet, or not. But if you’ve already signed on with LinkShare, the prospect of working with a second network is a moot point, because your contract with them forbids doing so.

Back to your question. It is fine to work with just one affiliate network, and that’s the most popular method currently.

However, there are a number of companies that work with multiple affiliate solution providers, because they want to leverage the advantages of each.

For instance, Company X might run their main affiliate program through CJ, in order to tap into the resources and perks that CJ has to offer.

But they may also have some relationships they wish to run through a MYAP program outside of CJ to avoid the transaction fees.

The reasoning here is that by setting up a second affiliate program at MYAP, the merchant can pay a nominal monthly service fee (starting at $50) to run a handful of high volume affiliates.

This can make sense if the affiliate manager is proactively prospecting and recruiting affiliates. In this case, the affiliate manager is initiating the relationships, rather than having CJ facilitate the introduction between the affiliate and the merchant.

It all comes down to your resources – don’t start two affiliate programs before you’ve determined that you can properly manage a single affiliate program.

Affiliate Tip – Page Rank Search

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One of the burning issues for affiliates is their Google Page Rank, as well as the Page Rank for other sites for potential link exchanges.

If you are not familiar with Page Rank, it is a numeric value that represents the relative importance of a site on the Internet. Well, in the world according to Google, anyway. The way it works is that when a site links to another site, Google sees this as a sort of vote for that other site. The more inbound links/votes that a site receives, the more important that page is seen by Google.

But, just like in Animal Farm, all links are equal, but some are more equal. The Page Rank of the site giving the link to the other site factors into the weight given to the link.

That’s a very simplified version of it. Page Rank is simple, yet complicated method for Google to determine the importance of a given site. It’s one of a number of factors that determine the ranking of a site in the Google search results.

Anyhow, in order to boost your ranking in Google, you might try exchanging links with targeted sites. One way to find the Google Page Rank of a site is to install the Google toolbar. If you’re wary of installing things on your machine, there’s a neat tool called PR Search.

Visit http://www.affiliatetip.com/affiliate_tip_32.php for more details.

Ask Shawn Collins: Best Auto Merchants

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Q: What companies offer the best auto related merchants in their affiliate programs? I just signed up with LinkShare and Commission Junction, but they don’t seem to have that many automotive merchants.

Shawn CollinsA: It all depends on your criteria as to what makes the best affiliate program. There are automotive merchants for various auto-related brands and products across all of the networks.

For instance, a cursory look in the Automotive section in the AffiliateTip.com Directory reveals the following examples:

  • Be Free: CARFAX
  • CJ: Eastwood Company
  • LinkShare: DriveWerks
  • Performics: AutoAnything
  • Shareasale: DIYAutoparts.com

I am not aware of any one network specializing in automotive merchants, so I would suggest going to your favorite auto sites to check whether they have an affiliate program.

Often, if a company has an affiliate program, they will have a link in their footer that reads: Become an Affiliate or Affiliate Program.

Sustaining Affiliate Program Success

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This week I’m back with more handy advice for those of you who are serious about improving your affiliate programs and increasing the number of your active affiliates.

KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Make your navigation simple and easy to understand for the visitor. Leave the whiz-bang stuff to somebody else. Create pages that load quickly, and provide pulldown menus, navigation bars, and search functionality for your users.

When it comes to banner ads, check the load time. Some banners may drastically slow down the loading of your page. Images should be kept to a minimum, as some banner ads have more bytes than the entire HTML of your page. When using larger banners, place them near the bottom of your page. Visitors can begin reading the text at the top while the page is still loading.

There are free JavaScripts that can easily be added to your site to help with navigation, including menus, redirects, and pop-ups. When you add a search feature to your site, it serves a dual purpose: navigation and finding affiliate promotions to make updates. When affiliate programs are placed on hold, or when time-sensitive offers must be replaced, you can use the search box to find the links that need to be revised or removed. It helps to add the name of the merchant or product to your keywords when adding a link.

The Freshness Factor

It’s important to refresh links often (no less than every three weeks) or use rotating links to keep the offers fresh. Newsfeeds, horoscopes, and other features, such as free email, message boards, and chat, will also give your visitors a reason to return.

Your site must have a purpose and a reason for people to stick around. The one-page site with lots of links to affiliate programs (the banner farm) is just no good for anybody. Visitors will never come back, and you will never make any commissions.

When you create content, you should use it on your site as well as in a newsletter. Turn your visitors into subscribers by publishing an e-zine or newsletter. Visitors come and go, but most subscribers stick around. By marketing to your visitors via email, you can encourage them to revisit your site while delivering your affiliate offers to their inboxes.

Go Beyond the Banners

You have to do more than just post some affiliate banners on your site. Just like you, your visitors are immune to banner advertising. To maximize the clicks through your affiliate links, try writing a recommendation or review.

Dedicate an entire page on your site to each affiliate program that you recommend; there, you can explain the benefits of going to those sites. Such testimonials are very effective, because your visitors trust your opinion.

You can also leverage your opinion and reputation by writing reviews for the product or service that you promote. For instance, book reviews are a natural place for an affiliate link.

My Friend, the Affiliate Manager

Don’t be afraid to contact the affiliate manager to ask for special links. The average affiliate uses the links that are provided to everybody. The average affiliate also earns infrequent, small commission checks. If there is a product or service on the merchant site that you would like to link to directly, just ask for it.

If the affiliate manager can’t be bothered to create a special link for you, don’t be bothered with his or her program. Develop a relationship with the affiliate managers, even if you’re not yet a top performer. Offer feedback, and ask questions about how you can improve your performance.

The Numbers Game

It’s vital that you stay on top of your statistics. Know which programs are working for you. Don’t just look at the total amount of money; look at the average order size, as well as the click-through and conversion rates. This will tell you which links to promote more and which ones to drop.

Also, make an effort to promote a limited number of quality programs rather than a large quantity of lower-quality programs. You should be very picky about which affiliate programs you join, because if you join every one that looks good, you will be quickly overwhelmed.

It simply will not do you any good to make a few cents from 100 different affiliate programs. What you need to do is make more money from a few great affiliate programs.

These are by no means the only ingredients for improving your program’s recipe, but they do make it a little better. Share them with your new and inactive affiliates, and you’re likely to see your active rate increase. After all, an affiliate is a terrible thing to waste.