subject: Affiliate Marketing Strategy | Affiliate Marketing [print this page] Affiliate marketing programs are suitable for all businesses and website owners who are looking for an efficient way to gain new prospects, customers or members. Not every program creates a win-win situation.
In particular, commerce sites, but also providers of information, such as Portals, search engines, web directories and online communities offer almost every company the possibility of partner, and by linking up with small and large partner sites the Internet in an organized commerce community to transform. Affiliate marketing works only truly successful when a win-win situation for suppliers and partners are available. Companies using an affiliate program as a cost-effective replacement for advertising banners away, at least 80% of the marketing potential. Here are the seven most important factors in building a profitable and successful affiliate program:
It starts with the goal
Without a goal, you arrive anywhere. This also applies to the introduction of an affiliate program. The more precisely you define what you want to achieve with your affiliate program (qualitative and quantitative), which target groups you talk about which to contact you and what support measures you want to use, the more accurate you can then measure your success and strategies if necessary change or improve A carefully planned and well supervised affiliate can do for your business a huge influx of new prospective visitors, members and customers and help your online business huge growth.
Focus on the right partners
In affiliate marketing, it is not the quantity but the quality of the partners. Choosing your partner is dependent on the products and services you offer and the goals you have defined for your program. Find partner sites that address similar target groups and offer complementary themes and content.
In addition to high traffic sites, its particular niche sites with very special offers and interesting partner groups. Use search engines and directories for partner acquisition. Put yourself in the position of your customers. Enter search terms that your customers would type to look for context-content to your listings. Focus mainly on Web sites that are relevant to the keywords in the top spots. This way you ensure that these sites are found by your target audience. The major affiliate partners who can really bring you traffic and sales, you should personally invite to the program. Only motivated and convinced partners will generate significant long-term sales.
Do not save on commissions
Your partner will give you the most valuable commodity on the Internet: They bring you qualified visitors and prospective new customers to possible low cost. Affiliate marketing is only successful if it benefits both parties. Develop a premium program for your major partners or for partners who bring you the most money. Offer your premium partners higher commissions, bonuses or special bonuses. Or, develop a tiered commission model in terms of sales volume. To create an additional incentive for all partners, keep in the calculation of commissions always the result of transactions in the eye. The longer you pay your sales partners, the more motivated you will be to sell your products and services.
Quenching your partner not only for direct sales. Few visitors buy directly from the first visit a site, many of them even until the third or fourth visit. An affiliate program that paid only direct sales can lead to your partner you gets through valuable customers, go out in most cases, however, empty. Affiliate marketing is only successful if both partners win.
Support your partner
Your affiliate partner is your virtual sales! Statistics show that on average only about 10-20% of the partner of an affiliate program are really active. According to a study by Revenues in October 2000, 59% of affiliates are dissatisfied with the service. 41% of Affiliates said they already signed up for programs, however, have never added a link to their website. Make it easy for your partners. Give your partners all the information about your company and your products that you need. Ask your partners of different advertising media and link options, which they can adapt to the circumstances of their website. Motivate your partners to make recommendations or personal experiences added. The latest information, useful tools and valuable resources, practical tips and examples of success are a good basis to create confidence and motivation to participate.
Maintain your partner relationships
"Coming together is a beginning. Working together is progress's Success." (Henry Ford)
A personal relationship with partners is the key to success of your affiliate program. According to a survey of affiliate marketing consultant Joel Gehman, to care only about 8% of the companies operating an affiliate program that actually your partner. About 43% do not even respond to the notification of a new partner. Of the 57% of the company, write a welcome email, give only about 5% of a contact person with full e-mail address and telephone number. Only about 7% of companies respond to requests from affiliates (source: AffiliateHandbook.com). A shocking result, given the potential that lies in a well-managed affiliate program.
Affiliate program heralds a new era of online marketing: the so-called performance marketing. Since the transactions are registered on the partner sites by the first visit to the sale, it also offers an excellent opportunity to make your marketing efforts directly measurable and easier to control. A good affiliate technology not only offers a click-and short registration, but also reports of click-through rates and conversion rates, so a summary of the ratio of visitors to actual customers, and an analysis of advertising effectiveness of individual advertising media and partners. A well thought out strategy and a sophisticated partner compensation model allow us to control the performance of each partner to optimize marketing and commissions, according to media motivating deploy and manage. Take advantage of these opportunities for continuous evaluation of results. Testing, review and optimize your strategies regularly.
The right technology
For the technical implementation of an affiliate program, there are several options: you can develop project with its own software or you can use a so-called ASP software solution (hosted technology) or select a network provider (Affiliate Network Provider) which gives you the technology within an affiliate network provides. Which solution is right for your company depends on the goals that you pursue with your affiliate program. A network provider gives you the advantage of an existing partner pool access. The disadvantage that these partners do not belong to you, but the network provider "is". All partners that you win by their own acquisition activities (e.g. through a link on your website) are automatically members of the network and are available to other providers, at worst, your competition, are available.
If you want to focus on qualified partner or existing customers, partners and community members of your affiliate program integrated, you should own a hosted software solution or individually considered. Many companies go both ways. You use a qualified partner for your own solution and also take part in one or more networks to address the many smaller sites. The technology also should give you maximum flexibility in creating the different partner categories, individual commission models and refund periods. The more automatic and comfort you, the technology, the less you have to worry about technical and administrative details. Time you should not invest in the technology, but only in the relationship with your partners.
Get your success in your affiliate marketing business with some tips above. Improving your own strategy is the best way to get the success always in your side. Good luck!
