This always seems to cause much confusion amongst web-based business owners. They often seem to think that it is complicated and this probably deters some from including it in their marketing and sales strategies.
There are any ways through which you may set up an affiliate program. Most will cost you some money but these will be minimal when compared with the extra revenue a properly run affiliate program will bring in the long run.
This blog post will go through some of the available options for any prospective web site owner who is serious about having an affiliate program.
1. Do it yourself
Unless you are an expert coder then this is not option for you. Even if you were pretty handy at coding there is the possibility that the script may contain bugs which will hamper the progress of a successful affiliate program
2. Purchase affiliate tracking software
This is a far more popular method than the first option that I have mentioned. There are companies that have written affiliate tracking software and they are ready to be installed into your website. The developers of the software have tested this software and it also has stood the test of the webmasters themselves.
Affiliate tracking software is available from such companies as iDevDirect L.L.C, Omnistar Interactive and Interneka. They all provide very good software. Subscribe to this blog and I will provide a detailed review of each software solution.
3. Register your business with an affiliate network
This is an alternative route to the previously mentioned methods. This route involves registering with an affiliate network such as Commission Junction or ClickBank. You specify the percentage of each sale that should be credited to your affiliate and also give the affiliate network your details and the URL of your main website etc. etc.
The affiliate network then handles your affiliates and enforces your terms and conditions for you.
The affiliate network typically requires a fee per sale also.
The first answer to this common question is that not every business needs an affiliate program. Although, saying that, any business owner that is trying to grow his/her online business should have one implemented for some very important reasons. I have listed the main reasons why you should have an affiliate program for your online business:
1. An affiliate program is an automated advertising campaign
With your affiliates busy trying to earn commissions for themselves they are in effect placing your website in front of people. Even if most of these people do not make a purchase at least they have been introduced to your products and or services and may possibly bookmark your website in their web browser or maybe tell their friends about your website.
2. You do not pay your affiliates unless they bring you some sales.
As a business owner this is probably the most attractive aspect of an affiliate program. The commissions earned by an affiliate are strictly sales based. If he/she has not referred any buying customers to your website then he/she simply does not earn any money. Imagine how great life would be if all your costs were only sales based!
3. An affiliate program can be used to leverage trust from your affiliate’s website’s visitors.
Let’s think about this. Your affiliate owns a website that has loyal visitors. Your affiliate places your link/banner on their website. Their visitors see your affiliate’s banner relating to your website. You are now automatically leveraging the trust and loyalty that exists between your affiliate and their visitors. These visitors may never have even heard of you or your business before but now thanks to your affiliate program you have just earned some more fans and more sales!
4. An affiliate program can be used to build your subscriber list or increase your Google Adsense earnings.
The traffic (website visitors) that come to your site via your affiliate may not buy anything but if they are interested in your website or your services they may choose to subscribe to your mailing list (if you have made one available). They may also generate revenue for you by clicking your Google Adsense adverts that appear on your website.
5. Increased links to your site improves your Search Engine Rankings.
The placement of your site in the search engine rankings is proportional to the amount of links pointing to your site.
So let’s say that you have 10 affiliates that have websites which have on average a total of 20 webpages (small site) and they have their website set up so that your banner appears on every web page, then this means that you have 200 links back to your own website. This will not go unnoticed by Google or Yahoo or Microsoft! You will higher search engine placements for keywords related to your website’s content. This means more website traffic and more sales.
6. A two-tier affiliate program will promote your website virally.
Let me explain. A two tier affiliate program is another feature of many affiliate programs. If you implement a two-tier affiliate program then any affiliates you have will earn commissions on any affiliate that signs up under them. So this not only encourages your affiliate to make sales but it also encourages your affiliate to recruit more affiliates.
Let’s crunch some numbers. If you have ten affiliates and they each recruit 10 more affiliates and each of those recruits ten more, you now have one thousand strong online sales army that are actively trying to earn commissions by promoting your services or products. Just don’t forget that nobody gets paid unless they bring in sales! Many business owners rely solely on this kind of set-up while they focus on other areas of their business that needs their attention.
7. An affiliate program is an advertising campaign that pays for itself.
There is no guarantee that newspaper adverts, television/radio adverts or search engine pay-per-click will ever bring you paying customers and when they do you have to suffer the advertising bill before you ever get a return on your investment. This, unfortunately, is not always profitable. This is not the case with an affiliate program. Your affiliates promote your site by placing banners (that you will design and make available to them) on their sites. The banners get viewed by people and they may click your banner and may purchase something from your site. You pay your affiliate a commission (typically a % of the sale price).
See the difference?
Yes, the only cost incurred is the commission paid to your affiliate.
All of this may seem very appealing and although an affiliate program does require effort to set-up and run it is a very lucrative opportunity for any person who owns a website and is especially people who may be struggling to get new customers and make sales.
Conclusion:
Any online business owner should now realise the importance of having an affiliate program. The simple act of implementing an affiliate has enormous direct and indirect benefits for an online business. An online business can have scores of people working hard to earn commissions by promoting a merchants products or services and in the process giving the merchants website greatly increased exposure.