Reimplementing affiliate program - Questions for affiliate marketers

Reimplementing an affiliate program that would be effective

[ishans]

We have had our affiliate program, on the back burner for some time (understatement) and have very few affiliates but they all are earners - still. We have been managing it entirely in-house with only a dedicated link that the affiliate can use in their own ad-links to drive traffic. As it has been managed in-house we have had to keep the number of affiliates very small, but we have good relationships with each of our affiliates but are now looking to expand in a big push this year.

My question is actualy open ended and targeted towards affiliate marketers to get a sort of best practices idea of what an affiliate marketer is looking for in selecting an affiliate program. I have randomly listed a few specific questions that come to mind below . . .

For instance would you go directly to an independent affiliate program managed by the company itself or a lesser known affiliate manager or prefer dealing through a LinkShare or CJ?

In the case of the big boys like CJ and Link Share who do you prefer (I have read the horror stories about publisher account cancellations) etc.

In selecting your affiliate programs, what information do you look for to make your selection - do you want site stats like conversion rates, popular products etc. or about how many and how frequent incentive (discount) offers are made available through affiliates etc.

Do you prefer links, product feeds, banners or all three.

What about service, what do you hope you received in terms of support - frequent updated banners, incentives, new products, account balance updates?

Thank you for your input in advance, I also hope this thread gives insight to other affiliate program mangers as well.

[gamiziuk]

For instance would you go directly to an independent affiliate program managed by the company itself or a lesser known affiliate manager or prefer dealing through a LinkShare or CJ?

I prefer a place named "Shareasale". Make certain you have a "database" of products available for affilates, not just banners.

[skibum]

LinkShare or Performics are probably our two best best for "big networks" at moving forward. CJ IMHO is the best at the moment, but with their switch to JavaScript only links due to come out in Q1 07, that seems like a major drawback.

Most important thing when choosing a program is if it looks like it can be profitable and the biggest things there are flexible linking options, abiity to modify text links to fit in with the content of a website and payout/conversion rate.

[ishans]

Apparently, the all important "profitability" factor plays a big part in deciding whether or not an affiliate program is worth the effort of a marketer to incorporate into his or her site. Pondering this point, I put myself into the position of an affiliate marketer who might be thinking of how to determine profitability before sign-up.

In scouring several affiliate program sign-up offers from companies the profitability expectations are vague at best and range from giving you the old "you could make a bucket-load like Joe Blo who made $#*$!,#*$!.xx in only 30 days . . . but his results aren't typical" etc. to the very straightforward "you can earn $x.xx on the sale of every widget or xx% on every sale.

Obviously the later inspires greater confidence, but my question is . . . is that line of bare bones information enough for a marketer to make a decision in order to invest time and web space to that merchant? Again one tends to wonder what factors or indicators can justify potential profitability to an affiliate marketer?

[vite_rts]

CJ

Answers your question very well indeed, it has a ranking system based on earnings in the entire network, i.e the better you affiliate do, the higher you are in the marketeers/advertisers list :)

I am new at all this, an hardly know CJ, but if you ask one of the silent "afiliating" giants here, they might explain better"

Perhaps, they might tell me too, more about making money with CJ thatis

[bkirsch]

Hi,

WebmasterWorld is a great resource for asking that question and getting affiliate feedback is really important. You might also want to ask affiliate managers which network helps them build a program best. The networks are very different and some are better than others for different products.

Good luck!

[edited by: eljefe3 at 6:30 am (utc) on July 26, 2006]

[pinkstor]

I prefer LinkShare (the interface at Performics is frustrating to use, CJ's switch to JavaScript is just annoying). When looking for who I want to promote, if the products are applicable to my sites I mostly look at conversion rates - but I check out the site closely, as I don't want the products or the checkout process to be crap. I have my customers to look out for! I prefer links/product feeds, coupons or other promotions, and any incentives are icing on the cake!

[QualityNonsense]

would you go directly to an independent affiliate program managed by the company itself or a lesser known affiliate manager or prefer dealing through a LinkShare or CJ?

From bitter experience, I know that independent networks often lack decent tech support, a full time affiliate manager, proper tracking, right of appeal in the event of problems etc. However, I am happy to work for in house programmes for the right product and company. Without the network override commission and overheads, merchants can afford to offer more competitive commission, for example. But trust is critical; I look for a named affiliate contact, reliable payments, reliable tracking etc. Having said that, not all the big networks oblige here, either.

Some of the companise I work with offer both an in house programme and a network programme. If you offer a few extra dollars/sale on the in house programme, you may persuade affilaites to accept the higher level of risk associated with independent programmes and you'll save on network override commission.

In selecting your affiliate programs, what information do you look for to make your selection.

Many of the independent programmes I've worked with lack decent reporting, even basics like tagging creatives to compare conversion. This is key to attract serious affiliates.

[edited by: QualityNonsense at 12:41 pm (utc) on Aug. 6, 2006]