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Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a revenue-sharing arrangement between online merchants and distributors (affiliates) in which the affiliate earns a commission.

 

 

PopShops and RevenueWire: Two Services to Watch

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While prowling the exhibit hall with Anik Singal from AffiliateClassroom, I discovered 2 exciting new services.

PopShops is a GoldenCan competitor which claims to be “the first and only searchable collection of affiliate products (over 10 million and growing) that spans all of the major networks”.

With their Shopbuilder tool, you can create customized storefronts and widgets to earn commissions. Affiliates ID's are embedded into the links and prices and product info is kept fresh through dynamic links. [Read more…]

“I Don’t Believe in Affiliate Programs”

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While trying to clear the fog from the darned red-eye flight that I took on the way down to Affiliate Summit in Miami, I spent a little time in my hotel room on Monday going back through through some of the older notes that we'd received on our RosalindGardner.com support desk.

Having spent 4 hours on Sunday at the jam-packed Meet Market and having just come up from the Exhibit Hall, where throngs of people were ccrowding around merchant and affiliate network booths, the following letter struck me (for the second time) as completely ridiculous.

Hi Rosalind,

In the ad about your book, you talk about your financial achievements online mainly between 1998 and 2002/2003.

But, being an e-business professional myself, I am skeptical about one's success potential nowadays through affiliate programs as the Internet has now become saturated with e-businesses and dominated by some major ones (like eBay.com. Amazon.com, and a few others).

It's now very difficult to have the kind of success that you had in the late 90s and early 2000s.

I tried affiliate programs, myself, last year and was totally unsuccessful. I don't believe in affiliate programs at all.

For example, why would someone buy an airline ticket from my unknown travel site when everyone knows about Expedia.com or Travelocity.com? People prefer to go to the big names (which are considered more reliable and safer) than the unknown ones (which are often considered unreliable and potentially unsafe). Your success was possible when the Internet was relatively new and e-business/e-commerce was a big buzz-word, but that's no longer the case.

I wish you could prove me wrong but I don't think you can!

Regards,

K.

P.S. I hold a B.S. and a M.B.A. degrees in marketing and e-business/e-commerce.

Well, here's what I have to say about that!

SHEESH!

No one will ever convince the well-educated, yet extremely cynical ‘K' wrong. He calls himself an e-business professional, however, his closed mind and bad attitude precludes any possibility of success in affiliate marketing – regardless of what anyone could say to him.

For the semi-skeptical out there, (which is a healthy approach to any new venture) I'll talk about my recent experience at Affiliate Summit 2007 East to help alleviate some doubt.

OK, so if there's no possibility of success in affiliate marketing now, why the heck does the show get bigger and bigger and bigger? Why would merchants and affiliate networks flock to drop big coin to exhibit at Affiliate Summit if there were no affiliates promoting their programs? Huh?

Affiliates of every stripe go to Affiliate Summit – from Super Duper affiliates (the big coupon site folks), to plain ole Super Affiliates like me, Jeremy Palmer and Scott Jangro; and newbie affiliate marketers just starting out.

Right up there with seeing old friends again, my favorite thing to do at the Summit is to meet other affiliates who have become successful and new affiliates who are bringing their well-thought-out plans and site strategies to the Summit for review and to meet potential merchants.

The first affiliate I ran into at the Summit was Ajay Kandala, an affiliate marketer and CJ Performer who introduced himself to me in the elevator. He told me he'd been in the business for just 3 years and had recently quit his job.

There were ‘kids' who, like Anik Singal of Affiliate Classroom, never really had a ‘job' other than the affiliate marketing business they created to help put themselves through college. Now they're laughing their millions all the way to the bank.

I heard one story about a merchant and affiliate who connected on a more personal level to discuss how they'd started their now BIG businesses. They were shocked to learn that one had started from a basement bedroom while the other had worked from his bathroom.

I met people who, realizing that they loved affiliate marketing but learned they weren't ready to start their own business, had become successful top-dollar affiliate managers for major merchants and networks in the last year or two.

I also met with a few merchants with whom I'd consulted as recently as 6 months ago – just as they were getting into using affiliate marketing to promote their business – and now they have successful, growing businesses that get exceptional press and affiliates lining up at their Affiliate Summit booths to join their programs.

So, what do all these people have in common?

Belief.

Contrary to K's implied suggestion that a B.S. or an MBA is the best predictor of success potential, it's obvious that won't get him anywhere so long as he doesn't believe in himself or the channel.

Sheesh again.

That's all affiliate marketing is… an online sales channel in which merchants (stores) pay their affiliates (sales people) commissions based on performance.

So then, what's not to believe?

Imagine what would have happened if Mel and Patricia Ziegler of Banana Replublic said ‘why would someone buy clothing from my unknown clothes store when everyone knows about Gap and Old Navy?'

There'd be no Banana Republic, right? But they believed in what they wanted to sell, and lo and behold, their empire grew so big that Gap actually bought the company in 1983.

Anyway, the whole notion that someone doesn't believe in a marketing model based on existing competition strikes me as completely bizarre.

I see proof each and every day that this channel is still very much in its infancy, is growing by leaps and bounds and that existing competition within a niche means little or nothing to those who have a unique plan in which they believe.

Bottom line – Success has no room for cynicism.

By the way, the other thing that the successful affiliates, managers and merchants had in common, was that they'd ALL read the Super Affiliate Handbook – the industry's standard training manual for affiliate marketers. Isn't it time you got your copy of the Handbook?

Online Shoppers Want MORE Information and Follow-Up

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A survey sponsored by RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) and conducted by Harris Interactive(R) underscores a significant opportunity for online retailers. Nearly 50 percent of consumers (48%) say they have increased shopping online “a great deal” or “somewhat” in the past five years. With a continued influx of shoppers moving to the Internet, retailers need to develop new strategies to meet the unique needs of online shoppers.

According to the Online Retail Report, turning browsers into buyers requires immediate access to information throughout the entire purchase process. When customers can quickly and easily find answers to their questions, their satisfaction goes up and retailer's costs go down. 42 percent of consumers said they would prefer to be able to find the answers they need online by themselves if they had a question or needed help during an online shopping experience.

The Online Retail Report also reveals that segmented and tailored e-mail messages can be a key driver for sales and personalized follow up can turn a one-time customer into a loyal repeat customer. 68 percent of consumers said they were prompted to browse a Web site after receiving an email from a retailer. 73 percent of consumers said they would appreciate any post-purchase follow up.

“Providing shoppers with easy access to relevant information is critical to the success of any online retailer,” said Greg Gianforte CEO of RightNow. “RightNow helps retailers provide consistently exceptional customer experiences and drive conversion rates by delivering tailored messages to the right shoppers at the right time.”

A complete copy of the Online Retail Report can be found at Online Retail Report.

To Link or Not to Link: The Grocery Store Analogy

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I wrote a review about the Project Black Mask. Although I summarily denounced the basic tactics espoused by its authors, I commended the work on its keyword research and generation section.

Although most of the comments posted about my review were supportive, I got an earful from a few who took great exception to the fact that I linked to Project Black Mask with my affiliate link.

Ooops! I did it again!

Some suggested that despite my warnings, readers may have be persuaded by the sales letter to buy the product for the wrong reasons – and that I was wrong to facilitate their purchase through my link.

Another – apparently without access to Dictionary.com – accused me of ‘profiteering' which is defined as ‘To make excessive profits on goods in short supply.'

Ya right.

Trust me on this – I turned far more people away from that product and saved my visitors considerably more money than I earned from that review.

THAT was my intention.

As to affiliate linking… here's what I think about that… [Read more…]

New at Clickbank: Recurring Billing

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On June 19th, Clickbank announced that it will offer a recurring billing option to merchants that sell subscription services and/or have membership sites.

This is great news for merchants and affiliates alike.

As an affiliate marketer, I've always specifically sought out those affiliate programs that pay recurring monthly commissions on product sales, such as for dating site memberships and web hosting services.

So, the next time you're in Clickbank looking for a recurring product to promote, do a search sorted by “Future $” which is the average total rebill revenue earned by the affiliate due to sales from a site. Generally this equates to the average sum of all rebills.

Granted, it may be awhile before anything shows up in this category, but well worthwhile to keep checking Clickbank to see who comes on board to offer recurring commissions.

[tags]Clickbank, affiliate, recurring, commissions[/tags]

The Art of Wooing Affiliates

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Spam“You spammed me” I said with a smile to the affiliate network manager standing next to me as we posed for a picture together at the last Affiliate Summit. Her smile suddenly disappeared.

Kind, compassionate and understanding person that I am, I fervently hoped to hear an honest, if not apologetic reply that would give me the slightest reason to consider ever doing business with her network's merchants.

Despite tripping over herself with admissions of having been “horrified” when she realized that she'd spammed me, she left me in the dark as to why she would try to solicit my attention through the email address that I use only for domain registrations.

Affiliate Tip

Creating a unique email address for individual functions such as domain registrations is an effective way to ferret out spammers. Filter email sent to that address into a separate folder and check it occasionally to see who is operating on the dark side. Delete the address to which the spam was sent and make a note never to do business with that company.

OK, it should be fairly obvious that I have almost no compassion for spammers. I was simply curious to see what excuse she could come up with on the fly. However, there was no excuse because there simply is no excuse.

First of all, spamming is illegal, which makes it a lousy way to try and recruit super-affiliates for anyone who cares about their reputation as a trustworthy business partner.

Secondly, I am hardly an under-the-radar affiliate. My contact information is almost too easy to find. Google my name with or without quotes and my affiliate marketing “how-to” site floats to the top of the natural search results. In the upper right-hand corner of every page on that site there is a link to my Support Desk, at which my virtual assistant, Joel, is eagerly standing by to field questions from affiliates, managers and merchants alike. Our Support Desk is open to anyone and everyone. No proof of purchase is necessary and the only skill required is the ability to correctly enter an email address.

If a not-so-savvy surfer somehow misses the listing for that site in the search results, the vast majority of the other 999 results which Google serves on a query for my name are affiliates who link to another of my sites, which also includes a clearly labeled link to my Support Desk.

Regardless of how one chooses to get to the Support Desk, the manner in which a solicitation is worded determines the response (or lack thereof) that it receives.

Authors of generic blasts that do not include my name or are addressed to some variation of “Dear Affiliate” or “Future JV Partner” are sent a canned but friendly TYBNTY (Thank-You-But-NO-Thank-You) note. And they should consider themselves lucky that we take the time to do them the courtesy of a reply.

Those who address their request appropriately but then hype the offer receive the same note, as do merchants and managers who provide insufficient or incomplete details.

The number of correspondents that fail to show basic courtesy by including their real name and full contact details is staggering. I used to try making the point by addressing replies to “Dear ___” or “Dear Your Affiliate Team,” but I am not in the business of teaching basic email etiquette, so they too now get a canned TYBNTY.

I'm also not in business to research offers that are not only unsolicited, but which are also apparently a secret. I don't really care if you have a “ground-breaking opportunity which will make affiliates a lot of money.” So does every other merchant, and Sherlock Holmes I am not.

Tell me what the product is, and include a link to the specific offer's sales page. Also, if the offer is restricted to a U.S. audience, please provide a link that does not redirect my Canadian IP address to Classmates.com. Please apply the same technology within your network interface so that non-U.S. affiliates can view all merchant landing pages. I asked for that feature at MaxBounty and they were only too happy to oblige, so we know it's doable.

Then there are those pitches for products that are completely irrelevant to my audience. If I find those before Joel has a chance to send a TYBNTY reply, they are summarily deleted. Seriously, why waste your time trying to get me to promote George Foreman grills on my dating service review site?

Do your homework and check out my sites before you contact me with your offer. Find the page on my site where your offer should be placed for the greatest impact and don't bother to suggest that it should be placed on my home page.

Answer the question, “What's in it for Ros?” If the offer is available on several other networks or directly through the merchant's own affiliate program, the commission rate you offer has to beat them all, or any chance of further discussion will stop right there. Furthermore, be specific about how much more you can offer than each of the other guys.

Better yet, if the product is an online service or piece of software, kindly provide me with a username and password so that I can assess the product for review purposes. Doing so costs next to nothing, and if I really like the product and continue to use it, your product will receive a stellar review and subsequently many more sales. On the other hand, you could provide me with time-limited access, but then there is no guarantee that I will make time to review the product by your deadline.

Best of all, if you have a real product and are inclined to send samples, hit me up for my mailing address. It's unlikely that such a request will be denied. You can be sure that affiliate Colin Mc- Dougall promoted the heck out of the inflatable boat that he was paddling around Vaseux Lake last summer.

We super-affiliates also work harder for merchants and managers who go the extra mile to get to know their affiliates. For example, while attending a conference in Los Angeles, two of my Australian- based merchants went 1,568 miles out of their way just to take me out for dinner. By result, I have been promoting their product for almost nine years and don't intend to stop anytime soon.

If you're not inclined to visit Beautiful British Columbia, then chat me up at a conference. Make it your job to learn that the super-affiliate you wish to recruit prefers beer over wine and dark beer over light. Super-affiliates eat too; so an invitation to lunch is always a good segue to doing business.

Having shared a belly laugh or two over lunch, you by now have my business card and telephone number. Do a follow-up call. Propose your best offer and have the name or number handy of the offer that you want me to look at.

Next, follow the call up with an email (yes, by now you also have my private email address) and include a link to the offer along with a list of keyword suggestions. Consider sending unique copy targeted to my audience and which I am allowed to edit. Barring long copy, a bullet list of product benefits and features is also very much appreciated. At this point, your job is done. Now just sit back, relax and watch for the sales spike.

There are many ways to get my attention and me working for you as a super-affiliate. Plaguing me with spam, however, is not one of them – especially when I'm already affiliated with your network!

This article by Rosalind Gardner was originally published in the May/June 2007 Issue of Revenue Magazine.

Affiliates: What Do YOU Want?

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Jeremy Palmer, Scott Jango, Vinny Lingham and I are ramping up for our panel discussion at the next Affiliate Summit called “What SUPER Affiliates Want” to be held on July 9th in Classroom C at 11:30am.

We've built a BIG list of all the things that we, as affiliate marketers, would like to see improved in relation to affiliate programs, merchant site conversions, communication between managers and affiliates, and more.

But we don't want to miss anything at all, so you're invited to add to that list. Please leave a comment and share what affiliate program aspects you really appreciate and/or those that absolutely peeve you the most.

Go ahead, don't be shy – you'll be helping to improve our industry. 🙂

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