 | | |  | | | | Nexternal Nexus v.4.12 | | |
The Nexternal Nexus is a monthly newsletter sent by Nexternal Solutions to people serious about online sales. We hope that this information is useful in improving your online business. | | | |
 | | | | Affiliate Marketing 101 | | | |
Affiliate Marketing 101What is an Affiliate Program?
One of the most cost effective and powerful methods of increasing online sales is the use of an Affiliate Program, often also referred to as “Performance Marketing”. An Affiliate Program is essentially a commission based, virtual sales force for your online business. You, as the Merchant, will offer a set commission amount for bringing in sales. Since you are in full control of the commission amount that is given – and commissions are only due when actual sales occur (No per-click or per-impression fees) you are able to consistently control the costs of the program. Your Affiliates will promote your site – and will earn the set commission ONLY when their traffic converts to sales on your site.
So what and who are these Affiliates?
An Affiliate is simply a person with a website - using the traffic from their website to direct consumers towards online merchants. For example, an Affiliate might run an online shopping mall dedicated to pets and pet products. The visitors to that particular website would be good targets for ads that feature a Merchant selling pet related products. The Affiliate is compensated for any sales that result from his/her efforts to push the consumer towards a Merchant. Basically - they become the virtual sales force for a Merchant.
How can you make your Affiliate Program stand out?
Affiliates have a lot of choices when it comes to which Merchant they are going to promote. The following are a few of the key sticking points - some very simple but effective ways that you can help your program rise to the top.
1. KEEP YOUR PROGRAM DYNAMIC
Creative Tools and Dynamic Programs - Affiliates need to be treated individually. No two affiliates are alike, so your program may need to bend and flex to accommodate all of the different types. Having a multitude of different creative available such as email creative, banners, full-page creative, etc. will help the affiliate in finding the correct one for them. You may need to create special hybrid programs for individual affiliates - such as special coupons, rotating creative, bonuses, and other special deals to top-performing affiliates.
2. DATAFEEDS
The presence of a quality datafeed will have a great positive impact on your ability to recruit the desirable “Super Affiliates”. Why? With a datafeed, an affiliate can search for, identify, and create links and full pages for the exact products that match his/her audience - all in a matter of minutes. Without a proper datafeed, this process can take hours, days, weeks... The prospect of having to spend several weeks on just one merchant will drive the affiliate away.
3. COMMUNICATION
Your affiliates are your online sales force. Thinking of them as people - and not just numbers or websites - will go a long way in building the type of long-term relationships that you need. There are a number of ways to manage communications with your affiliates, but one of the most popular is to participate in affiliate message boards such as www.abestweb.com. These message boards allow affiliates to confer with other affiliates and talk about the pros and cons of each program. If you are there to answer questions, and to help with any problems, your affiliates will see your intentions to provide a real support channel for their efforts.
4. ADWARE/SPYWARE
This is an extremely explosive and complicated issue in the industry, but the basic idea is that there are commonly known software programs that act as affiliates. The software is often bundled with free downloads on the internet, and is commonly referred to as “Spyware” or “Adware” among other terms. This software has been known to re-direct commissions from the deserving affiliate, into their own account. As mentioned, this issue is extremely controversial - but by declaring that your program is “Adware Free”, your affiliates will have the added sense of security.
5. TRACKING GAP
“Tracking Gap”, also known as “Return Days”, is defined as the length of time allowed between a “click” action, and a commissionable sale on your site. For example, if your Tracking Gap is set to 30 Days - a customer has 30 days from the first time they click on an affiliate’s link, before that tracking expires. The longer this value is - the more attractive it is to an affiliate.
Affiliate Programs can be a powerful sales channel for your online store if you take them seriously. By setting your Affiliate Program up on an Affiliate Network such as Shareasale.com, you will benefit from the exposure to the thousands of affiliates that comb the network looking for sites to market.
This article was written by Shareasale.com. Shareasale.com, provides technology allowing Merchants to easily and quickly setup Affiliate Programs as well as connect them to a network of participating affiliates. If you have any questions about Affiliate Programs in general, or Shareasale.com, please feel free to email shareasale@shareasale.com or call (312) 321-0487. Shareasale is offering a special promotion waiving its $150 setup fee for readers of the Nexternal Nexus. Click here to get started.
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