A site at top of all serps in its industry

Will affiliate program help?

[web_india]

A client of mine who is at top of all serps in its industry (medium competitive one) in google, yahoo and msn, also enjoys good directory listings - comes out in first page results for major keywords (mostly 1, 2 and 3 positions), does ppc as well and is also listed with shopping engines has asked me to explore further online avenues for more sales.

1. The client has got some of the lowest product prices compared to its competitors and a good product.

2. They have a very good online customer support and this helps with great conversions and good repeat orders.

I suggested starting an affiliate program but the client told me that running and maintaining a good affiliate program would increase their costs and they would have to increase their products cost to accomodate the revenue share. This may decrease their competitive advantage as far as the pricing is concerned and also since they already occupy the top slots in serps - they might not see major increase in sales and increasing the product prices might affect their conversions too.

Though I still think that they should start an affiliate program but honestly can't come up with convincing answers to their question.

Anyone have been in this situation before? If yes - what would they recommend in this scenario?

[chrisnrae]

I guess you could try a select recruitment as a test. You can get an affiliate program set up pretty darn cheaply (provided you stay away from the big networks). Hit your affiliate contacts (or go to some conferences and make them) and get a few on board. See how it goes. If they make the profit, they can open it up to all affiliates or keep it on an invite only basis. If not, you tried.

The only thing is - in order for an affiliate to build a site for your program, especially one that is being tested - is there will need to be other affiliate programs in that industry for them to replace yours with should the company decide to cancel it. Otherwise, you may not find anyone willing to put forth the effort for a "trial run".

[anallawalla]

Sometimes, the only way to overcome this is to create a new brand that has some minor changes but which is priced higher. Use this for the affiliate program. If you are lucky, the premium pricing might attract a new segment of customers who think that higher prices equate to better quality.

The analogy is tap water to bottled water.

[Shak]

Sometimes, the only way to overcome this is to create a new brand that has some minor changes but which is priced higher. Use this for the affiliate program. If you are lucky, the premium pricing might attract a new segment of customers who think that higher prices equate to better quality.

thats what i would have said.

use existing knowledge and add some spice to create a unique offering at a slightly higher price.

another thing I would do is a survey of some form of form of existing clients, amazing what information can be gained this way, along with offering them an incentive for completing it.

Shak

[web_india]

survey is a good idea, shak.

great point anallawalla!
- thanks

[web_india]

In addition to the useful tips, so it also adds up that there is no need to add affiliate program to the existing site / brand?

[anallawalla]

No, do both affiliate and brand splitting. My client sells a service with many features because it seemed like a good idea to offer more features at the same price. A year on we have looked at competitors who sell products with just one of those features and their prices are lower. We assume that they are doing well because the customer who only wants that single feature will go to the competitor. So the original service has been kept, but we created three new brands and split the features, so that the customers now have four brands to choose from.

There is also a SEO benefit here. Now we have four home pages that will rank (eventually) for four different terms, which was not possible with an all-in-one product.