Archives for October 2006

Q: Can affiliate marketing be used to sell one-of-a-kind products, and if so, how?

A: There is only one thing that affiliate marketing cannot be used to sell, and that is the product or service that isn’t otherwise selling on the Internet.

That is a problem I see repeated over and over again. Somebody has a grand idea to sell something online, but they don’t bother researching and testing to determine if there is an audience for their product or service.

Nor do they perfect the selling process before launching an affiliate program.

Affiliate marketing can provide incremental sales for a product. If you”ve already established a site that is selling a product, then you should explore affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is not a magic bullet, it’s a marketing channel to increase your existing online sales.

Q: I am launching a site for school programs and want to add a page with affiliate links. While checking out, the buyer must select the school they wish to benefit by that sale (a portion of the sale goes to the school). How can we have that tracking for each school?

A: You will need to add a sub-ID parameter to each affiliate link that populates an ID for a given school when it is selected.

These sub-IDs are needed by many affiliates, such as affiliates that provide rewards or incentives to members and need to distinguish which person referred a given action.

The same applies to identifying which school should benefit from a purchase at your site.

You can break out the tracking for schools appending your affiliate URL with any word, number or combination with most affiliate solution providers. The number of characters varies from system to system.

Note – some companies require that you notify them in advance and/or sign a special agreement before using sub-IDs.

Q: Can you please tell me how I can do analysis to determine if my affiliate program is good, and can you please give some references of the affiliate Web sites or books?

A: The caliber of your affiliate program is subjective – it depends on the category you are in. After all, there are very different metrics at play for Amazon.com than for an e-book seller. Margins, conversion rates, brand name, etc. all play a role.

In order to do competitive analysis, I would suggest setting up a real affiliate site with a domain, unique content, etc.

Then apply to the affiliate programs in your category and promote them as an affiliate. This will enable you to review the competitor’s creative, receive their communications, and get some insight into their conversion rates.

In the case of competing affiliate programs where the EPC is public, you can combine that data with your other findings to formulate snapshots of those affiliate programs.

As far as Web sites and books, have a look at affiliate marketing blogs and affiliate marketing forums for the latest information. Books are generally not up to date on the latest issues.

Q: We sell products that have a high conversion rate but low market exposure, and so we want to set up an affiliate program. Where do we start?

A: As the old adage goes, slow and steady wins the race. A lot of folks are anxious to see magic happen with an affiliate program from day one.

I would advise you to take your time to set up your affiliate program (expect to spend four weeks) to be sure all of the pieces are in place.

I wrote a book about affiliate program management, Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants, back in December 2000 (it came out in April 2001).

The book is dated in some aspects, but the overall principles to get started are largely unchanged. Pick up a copy as a primer on things.

One part of the book is an action plan to get you started.

As far as a topline list for getting started, here are some things you’ll need to do:

• Development of a strategy and budget for your affiliate program
• Affiliate solution provider evaluation and selection
• Competitive analysis
• Technical implementation
• Creation of a comprehensive affiliate agreement
• Designing a personalized communication strategy for each segment of affiliate, based on their level of activity

If you are feeling lost, you might want to check out the prospect of an Outsourced Affiliate Program Manager.

Good luck.

Q: I am on a fast and furious mission to get 6,000 more subscribers in the next 10 days. Would you have any suggestions or ideas on some ways to get maximum exposure for an affiliate promo like that?

A: That is not a very large goal, assuming you have a competitive payout, a subscription that people want, and a form that is not too long.

If all of those pieces are in place, I would suggest going to your top performing affiliate over the past three months and offer a raise in commission to refer those 6,000 subscribers within the timeline.

Ask them how they plan to accomplish the goal, so you’re not left with promises and 128 subscribers in ten days. Give a deadline to respond and move on down the line of performers until you get a taker.

One component that can potentially compromise the quality of your subscribers, but will help in hitting the numbers, is to allow for affiliates to incentivize the offer.

If you are going to allow incentives, I’d suggest reviewing each one to determine if it will be likely to contribute to lesser quality subscribers.

In the event you don’t have super affiliates that can bring the number of subscribers you need, contact some CPA networks and see what they can do for you.

There’s a chance nobody will bite on the offer, so just ask them what you need to do to make it more attractive for them.