 What is Affiliate Marketing?
|
|
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Through Affiliate Programs you sell third party inventories on your website and get paid a commission for your services.
The more products or services you sell of your Affiliate Marketing Partners through your website the higher your
commission earnings will be. How much percentage you get paid as commission will be on the agreement you sign with
your Affiliate Partner.
Remember, not all Affiliate Marketing programs are lucrative online business opportunities; it is always best
practice to give the agreement a through check before venturing into an Affiliate Marketing Program.
|
|
Affiliate Advantages!
|
Affiliate Advantages!
- you don't have to develop excellent products -- it has already been done for you. You simply judge and pick the best available ones, from the best available merchants!
- you don't have to spend large amounts to manufacture and store inventory
- no need to take and process a single order, or worry about getting paid (you don't even need a merchant account!) -- you simply send people to your affiliated merchants, then get paid when they buy
- you don't have to handle or ship a product -- your merchants do that
- you'll never have to answer customer e-mail (inquiries and support are 24/7 issues that can easily eat up 50% of your day)
- they cost nothing to join (beware of the few that do)
- your affiliate business can be started part-time, on a shoestring.
|
|
So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?
|
|
So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?
Ask questions first before you join an affiliate program. Do a little research about the choices of program that you intend to join into. Get some answers because they will be the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on.
Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining.
When do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued.
What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale.
How are referrals from an affiliate�s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? You need to be confident on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day.
What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links.
Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and impressions besides the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to be able to hit ratio.
Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know the products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.
Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two tier program pays you for the business, plus it also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee.
Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? 5% - 20% is the commission paid by most programs. .01% - .05% is the amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays for impressions, the amount paid is not much at all. As you can see from the figures, you will now understand why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is important.
These are just some of the questions that needed answering first before you enter into an affiliate program. You should be familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program should have before incorporating them into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program choices these questions. These can help you select the right program for you site from among the many available.
|
|
Affiliate Marketing Terms
|
Affiliate Marketing Terms
This is a basic list of terms that you'll come across in discussions about affiliate marketing.
Some are fairly obvious, but others will be explored in greater depth on individual entries.
Who's who? There are three main players in affiliate marketing
- The Affiliate: Affiliates bring internet readers to the website of merchants. Some, like BCL, are online publishers with established audiences. Others use PPC and email.
- The Merchant: Merchants sell products and services online. They use the affiliates to bring them more potential customers or clients. In publishing terms, they are advertisers.
- The Affiliate Network: Although some merchants have the resources to run their own affiliate programs, most use affiliate networks. The networks provide the tracking software and statistics for both the Merchant and Affiliate and a varying range of other services.
How you work out what to pay
- per sale - normally % of sale, but occasionally a fixed amount per sale. This is the most common model, but obviously requires an online ordering process like a shopping cart.
- per lead - mainly used by service industries where the successful submission of an online form is tracked and paid at an agreed rate. A lead is a lead regardless of whether you turn it into a sale.
- per click - often used when neither of the above forms are appropriate or to promote and information website. Unlike ppc on search engines, the price of the click using affiliate software is usually fixed.
- per 1000 Impressions - less common and used for brand building.
Other terms
- cookie duration - this determines the number of days that the sale or lead will be tracked after the customer followed the affiliate link. This allows for customers who don't make up their mind immediately.
- repeat sales or sub-sales - this allows for multiple transactions from the same customer within the cookie duration period.
|