Ecommerce Trends
The goal of an affiliate is simply to
function as an online sales agent and develop pre-sell materials addressed to qualified
traffic at their site and then redirect it to the storefronts of partnering merchants. The
merchants responsibility is then to close the shoppers with detailed product/service
information and an attractive price. Merchants then reward the affiliate with a commission
for facilitating the deal. With enough traffic and marketing savvy, it's possible to turn
empty web space into a lucrative affiliate enterprise. |
Affiliate Programs: Effective or a real waste of time?
Re:What is the 'TRUE' opportunity for success with such
programs
Affiliate Programs: The Simple Truth
get-in2's webmaster has spent the past four years evaluating the
incredible proliferation of affiliate programs. Hey we build and run CyberMalls like
get-in2 for a living. They go by many different names such as associate programs, web
sponsors, affiliate programs and dozens more. If people believe that these programs have
been developed so that website owners can generate revenue for their sites, they are
completely wrong. Their sole purpose is to generate sales, leads or branded traffic for
the network of participating merchant sites. They all are stacked up in favor of the
merchant and only Commission junction rewards the low volume affiliate with a guaranteed
monthly check!
Are they effective? The answer to this question depends
upon who you ask. For the web merchants, like some of our clients, they are amazingly
effective as these sites can 'employ' virtual sales forces that number in the hundreds of
thousands. Even more importantly, these merchant sites pay their affiliate sites NOTHING
unless a sales is made or a qualified lead has been generated. Website owners use their
valuable site 'real estate' displaying banners ads, search engines, and text links in the
hopes of earning a few bucks. Let's take a look at why affiliate programs are maybe not
for you!
Here are some key points to be aware of when evaluating affiliate programs:
Only enter into these types of arrangements with companies that offer a
legitimate "affiliate agreement" and always read the fine print. If they do not
offer a Terms & Conditions page, then do not do business with the company. Affiliate
enabled merchants do not start their program giving affiliates a fighting chance at making
money. These are DEFERRED REVENUE programs and the merchants do not have paying affiliates
as their main motivator. ..FREE traffic..EYEBALLS.. is what their really after! Many can't
afford conventional advertising.
Make sure that you make a print out a copy of the Terms & Conditions
as many companies will quickly switch their program rules on the fly. It is not unheard of
for companies to spontaneously lower their commission rates overnight after reaching
traffic goals and remove or change their agreement page when deciding NOT to pay out the
commissions..
Beware that many companies will only pay their affiliate sites after the
affiliate has generated over $50.00 or $100.00 in commission and over 98% of their
affiliates will never see a check for the traffic they send these guys. For many of the
smaller traffic sites, this commission level may never be reached. Another red flag is
quarterly payments since it takes a minimum of 6 months for even high traffic sites like
this one to get your first check. Also the return day "cookie" is very important
since it determines the amount of time that referral has to purchase for you to get a
commission.
Never sign up with sites that are going to charge you for becoming an
affiliate. This is an absolute scam! Make sure the underlying management isn't from a MLM
background and most all "how to" Info -peddlers and e-book sales are scams. Also
be sure to pass on a program that looks to good to be true. CyberRebates conned millions
out of consumers using affiliates as cannon fodder.
Always ask for references to other affiliates and follow-up with those
affiliates to hear their comments. Never post a banner that you haven't first visited the
site and checked the pricing and product displays and overall appeal to shoppers.
Basically shop the site as a buyer not an advertiser and if the commissions rates sound
too good to pass up ...definitely pass them up!
If you have questions and decide to e-mail the company, you should
receive a personal reply within several days. If you have to wait a long time, beware!
Also checkout every site for a professional look, competitive pricing and secure
server/cart/e-catalog and a clear privacy policy. Watch out for 800#'s on every page since
those sales bypass your commissions.
Finally, make sure of what you are being paid for...read the contract!
Many companies will only pay you a commission if a customer makes a purchase within a
certain amount of time, and some companies make you establish links to a particular
product and only pay you a commission if the customer buys that product (i.e. - you
receive nothing if that customer buys other things from the site)...a old Amazon trick.
If you don't know the site owner offering the program..then only use the
established affiliate aggregrators to be sure you get paid! The recommended listing and
evaluation services are often outdated and bias. They just want you to sign up under them
for 2 tier commission programs....I constantly get e-mails giving top ratings to merchants
that no longer even have a web site or program.
With over 257 prominent e-tailers like Pets.com, eToys, Garden.com,
Furniture.com etc. having gone belly up in the last few months.. be sure that you get paid
commissions on time. Over 82 active merchants have never bothered to pay our Cybermall any
of the back commissions they owed us. Those sites without a traffic count above 2000
unique visitors a day should probably not count on affiliate sales to even pay the hosting
bills.
The #1 high conversion affiliate merchant program over
the last 5 years is operated by Holdup Suspender company. They average 1 sale per every 20
referred shopopers for the patented suspenders and Sloops blue jeans. This is a private
program and you can apply at www.suspenders.com/affiliate.htm and see if your site gets
accepted. No BHO parasites ( those browsers popup
incnet spammers)-no SE or e-mail spammers are allowed into this one.
Above all REVIEW EVERY SITE - and
don't expect to quit your day job to make money through affiliate sales! You'll need a
million banner, product and text link impressions a month to make it!!
Affiliate Programs: The Simple Truth
 your mentor -IMS webmaster -Mike
 |
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The 2008 campaigning for Presidentual election candidates is in full
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  ..   .. 
Be careful your merchant
choices aren't infested with peckerwood parasites.
Just when your sailing along in your commission ship, with a
varied load of trusted merchants, some peckerwoods come forth and put holes in your boat.
Moral of these 2 storyboards:
1. It's easier for dishonest affiliates to stuff commission
cookies, then Elephants, into the commission ship.
2.Catch & kill the peckerwoods before they sink your commission ship.
| *** It's
about time someone remodeled the existing Affiliate Marketing Networks, so corrupted by an
advertising mindset, into a model that works for both Affiliates and merchants. I
therefore have formulated all the pieces necessary to migrate the easily abused
advertising based model into a sales based model I dubbed The Safe Haven Network in early
2004. Read all about this revolutionary Affiliate Sales
Network model which might launch in 2005. |
PS: the FTC is now seriously
talking about muzzling the adware/spyware commission thieves via new legislation, like
they did with the Telemarketers with the "do not call list". Browser popup
spammers hijack systems with drive-by and hidden bundling installs and cause damage
exceeding that coming from e-mail viruses. Read more on this at www.get-in2.com/news.htm and get no-nonsense
links to free anti-adware/malware/spyware cures to make your surfing and shopping
experience trouble free.
If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing I'd recommend joins the active
community forums at www.Abestweb.com home to 16,000
affiliates-merchants and affiliate managers.
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