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Is an Affiliate Program Right for You? Affiliate Programs are the BIG THING on the web. That is to say, they're very popular right now. It's a great way the Big Guys are marketing their websites on the internet - beyond newsgroups, direct email, discussion lists, and traditional ad-style marketing. Affiliate Programs allow websites to market themselves without lifting a finger. Sounds great, right? Here's how it works: The website designer creates or installs a program on their host server which allows visitors to fill out a form and become "affiliates" or "associates" of the website. The program posts their vital information on the server and tracks the traffic (or purchases) each affiliate brings to the website. The websites offering affiliate programs pay their affiliates for the traffic they bring, sometimes limiting the payment by only offering it for paying customers or even first-time customers. Successful affiliate programs are more effective than banner advertising on popular, targeted websites or top listings in search engines for bringing in orders because they encourage other webmasters to use their promotion skills and visitor loyalty to bring new, targeted visitors to the website offering them. Affiliate programs made Amazon.com successful. It's like having a voluntary sales force working solely on commission! There are a lot of ways to set up an affiliate program. You must decide whether or not to screen applicants, what you are going to pay them for, and how much you will pay. You must also decide how much you will help your affiliates "sell" your website. Are you going to give them a banner? A button? A choice? Will you offer internet marketing tips or link to pages that do? Some websites (and affiliates) see affiliates as sales representatives who work on commissions. The websites who offer affiliate programs don't need to pay salaries, so it doesn't matter whether the affiliates are good marketers, as long as there's a lot of them. On the other hand, if you don't screen your affiliates, you may end up with some unethical people spamming in the name of YOUR COMPANY. Be sure to make your marketing guidelines clear. Don't send unsolicited email, and don't allow anyone else to do it on your company's behalf. It will upset more people than it will attract. I think it is by far better to think of affiliates as accomplished business people with related websites who may be willing to refer their clients to your website for a small fee. Potential visitors are already becoming wary (not to mention weary) of websites set up just to take advantage of affiliate programs. Affiliates must offer more, like links to the best priced items. Who can benefit from starting their own affiliate program? Anyone, but especially those who offer a good general interest product. If you offer a service, products with appeal to a limited audience, or have a personal (or family) website, you might benefit more from a good reciprocal link program (not to mention reciprocal links are cheaper), but if you do start an affiliate program, screen your applicants carefully and only allow a few websites to join. The better you can monitor your affiliates and the way they are promoting your website, the more your program will pay off. Additionally, affiliate programs are difficult to set up, so (though I encourage you to look into it) small businesses may find affiliate programs too expensive. What about signing up for one or more affiliate programs? Who should do that? First of all, promoting your own website is difficult enough. Promoting a website dozens, or even hundreds, of other people are also trying to promote is next to impossible, unless you have unique content which will naturally make people interested in the website you want to affiliate with. If you want to join some affiliate programs, don't just affiliate with websites that offer you the most money. Look for quality websites which will improve your visitors' experience at your website. Make sure the affiliate programs you wish to join are reputable and offer reasonable amounts of money. Most of all, don't destroy your visitors' experience with flashy affiliate-program banners which increase the load time of your website. If you want money, and don't mind the banners, sell advertising space. Give text links for affiliate programs, working them into the content of your website naturally. More visitors will click on text links (especially if you offer testimonials). Unless your website IS your business, and advertising is the way you make money, the less advertising and affiliates you have, the better. Adding an affiliate program can be a wonderful way to increase traffic, and joining one can help you make money from your website, but they are like other types of advertising. Don't get carried away. Always do what's best for the design and content of your website. About the Author Dawn Gray can help you drive more traffic to your website. For other great articles on website promotion and a free email newsletter, visit her website at http://www.busymarketing.com. All articles published on EthanCote.com are copyrighted by their respective author. They are not to be taken without the consent of the author. |
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