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Internet Marketing Strategy!
With the right internet marketing strategy designed specifically for your site, your traffic will grow now, and in the future.

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Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best forms of e-marketing. This type of advertising is very cost effective as you only pay for the results that you receive. Your affiliates send you traffic using banners, text links or even offline methods such as flyers. In return you reward your affiliates by either giving them a small amount per click (PPC), or more popularly, giving them a percentage commission (PPS). If a visitor an affiliate sends to your site makes a purchase, then the affiliate get's a small percentage of that sale. Building up a strong team of affiliates can become one of the main traffic sources to your site.

Starting an affiliate program

When setting up an affiliate program you have two main options. You can either setup in house and run the affiliate program yourself. Or you can join an affiliate network. Each has it's own advantages and disadvantages. The table below outlines some of the key points:-

Affiliate Networks

Advantages
Disadvantages
? · Affiliate pool to tap into
? · Hands off affiliate payment
? · No software to maintain
? · Network branding can increase trust
? · They deal with affiliate requests
? · Affiliates are not your own
? · You do not have full Affiliate contact details (if any)
? · A lot of competition on the network
? · High monthly fees
? · Large % takings from affiliate earnings
? · Affiliate links do not go through your site
? · Affiliate program must conform to often inflexible affiliate network commission structures
? · Any affiliate program promotions are on behalf of the network, not your program individually
? · Leaving an affiliate network usually means loosing all your affiliates
? · Your promotions promote the network

In-House Affiliate Programs

Advantages
Disadvantages
? · You are in complete control of the program
? · Affiliates are your own
? · You have Affiliate contact details
? · No commissions taken from Affiliate earnings allowing you to offer a higher %
? · Small or no monthly fees
? · Versatile and adaptable to your specific website needs
? · Integrates with virtually any type of order system
? · Offline affiliate tracking
? · Affiliate links count towards link popularity
? · Potentially greater tracking accuracy
? · Private affiliate networks
? · Affiliate program only advertises your sites
? · Any affiliate program promotions are specifically for your affiliate program, not for the benefit of an affiliate network as a whole
? · Can be fully scripted into dynamic sites
? · You receive all affiliate requests and feedback
? · You must find your own affiliates
? · Hands on Affiliate Payments
? · Administration time
? · Some affiliates prefer networks


Either option, you get out of affiliate marketing what you put in. If you do the minimum to promote your affiliate program yourself, then you'll get the minimum out of it. If you put a lot of time in gathering new affiliates, updating linking options, monitoring results and contacting affiliates, you'll get a lot out of affiliate marketing. We recommend setting up an In House affiliate program. Whether you want to join a network or not, having your own affiliate program has many advantages. Running the program and dealing with affiliates will give you a closer view of your market. Also, if you purchase affiliate software to run off your own server there are no monthly fees. So you can afford to take your time to learn about affiliate management and how to get the most out of your affiliate program. Getting an affiliate program setup early is vital. An affiliate program is like a money tree, the longer you have it and feed it, the more it'll grow and generate you traffic and revenue.

Step 1. Setting up your affiliate program

Let's start by setting up your in house affiliate program. You'll need to get your hands on some affiliate software. If you want to run the software on your own server then you won't have to worry about any monthly fees. There are lots of affiliate software packages out there, in varying quality. Out advice is, if the deal looks to good to be true, then it probably is. There is a good chance you'll need a bit of support to get your affiliate program setup properly. If you've found some very cheap software then you're not going to get much in the way of support when you hit a problem. It's worth spending a bit more to get a quality system in place. Don't forget this is a one off cost, and you stand to make a lot of money from your affiliate program in the years to come. Some feature rich affiliate software will also help you attract new affiliates, and get the most out of current affiliates. The only affiliate software we recommend and use is AllAffiliatePro. It's by far the most feature rich affiliate software you can get for the price they charge, making it the best value for money. Visit their site to order your affiliate software. Our members get a 10% discount. They'll give you documentation and free support to get your affiliate program setup and running. Once your affiliate program is setup follow the steps below get the most out of your affiliate program. Don't forget that you'll also need to create banners and text links for your affiliate to use to promote your site. It is possible to get free banners designed by companies such as Ad Designer, so long as you keep their logo intact (the design company usually state that their logo must be kept on the banner in their terms and conditions of use). Although this creates the impression that your site is cheap and cannot afford professional designs. Avoid free banners if at all possible. It only costs a few dollars to get personalized banners made, which will indicate to people that your site is professional. CosmicSiteDesign.com offer banner design services.

Step 2. The affiliate directories

Now you have your affiliate program in place you need to launch your program to the internet community. The first place to do this is to list yourself on the affiliate directories. We have comprised a list of affiliate directories, including their Alexa traffic rank (correct at time of creation). You need to visit each directory and submit your affiliate program to be listed. This can be time consuming, so we also offer a service where we will do this for you. Check out our submission services.

UK Directories
Name Alexa
Affiliates4u 58,484
Income Max 78,822
Affiliate Seek 88,032
Affiliate Scheme 131,554
UK4Profit 171,414
Webmaster Opportunities 242,200
PWD net 345,240
Affiliate Knowledge 356,727
500 Ways 491,120
UK Affiliates 803,716
Affiliate Host List 1,324,849
iUK Affiliates 1,446,269
IBO Shopper Unknown

 

US Directories
Name Alexa

Associate Programs

1,632
Affiliate Showcase 6,971
Affiliate First 8,209
Affiliates Directory 9,411
Simply the Best Affiliates 9,624
Affiliate Match 10,649
Dan's Best 15,371
Refer-It 21,130
Affiliate Guide 23,906
2 Tier Affiliate Program 27,886
Click Quick 30,063
Adbility 31,414
Clicks Link 32,672
Lifetime Commissions 37,069
GR 1 Innovations 45,107
Affiliate Programs 46,479
Niche Affiliate Marketing Program Directory 49,754
Sponsor Directory 53,008
5 Star Affiliate Programs 55,864
Affiliate Screen 56,781
Affiliate World 57,757
Which Affiliate 69,059
Affiliate Hangout 73,389
Affiliate Programs 75,475
100 Best Affiliate Programs 77,966
Animation Central 84,586
Click Affiliate 84,827
Webmaster Programmes 97,703
Esponsors 107,456
Home Business Search 112,550
BBL Internet Media 113,471
Web Success Central 120,420
Affiliate Seeking 126,087
On line Business 133,898
Global Highway 136,851
Affiliate Advisor 137,186
Web Improvement 138,625
Associate Cash 165,420
Affiliate Forum 174,914
Easy Cash Maker 197,798
Home Business 202,033
Associate Search 210,296
Global Affiliate Programs 211,470
Make Money Now 212,528
Profits to Go 223,223
Affiliate Programs Guide 223,365
Affiliate Options 224,290
Geld Verdienen 232,491
Sites at Work 238,174
Affiliate Answers 260,963
Become An Affiliate 261,591
Refer Me 263,132
Partner Programme 266,597
Affiliate Trade Links 278,242
Web Worker 280,753
Recurring Commissions 281,828
Affiliate Programs Directory 318,678
Sponsor Plus 335,730
Affiliate Base 352,974
Top 10 Affiliates 378,267
Certified Affiliate Programs 426,410
Affiliate Programs 437,524
Referral Madness 521,588
Global 24/24 560,498
Start Earning 589,029
Webmaster Help Center 615,362
Affiliate Directory Info 729,560
Click 2 Lead 731,212
New Affiliates 790,783
Web Promotion Depot 868,587
Slash Cash 1,267,223
Affiliate Promoter 1,513,556
Sponsor Guide 1,635,587
Affiliate Mantra 1,894,942
Affiliate Advertisers 2,026,227
#1 Casino Affiliate Programs 2,516,929
1-Z Affiliate Programs Unknown

 

Step 3. Searching out affiliates

There are software packages designed to help you search out affiliates. One of which is a program called Super Affiliate Tracker, you can purchase a discounted copy of Super Affiliate Tracker from AllAffiliatePro. Otherwise you can search out affiliates using Google and the other search engines advanced lookup features. Run searches on your keywords and look at every site, not all of them will be competitors. Look several pages into results. Do reverse search lookups for your competitors. Type 'link:competitorsdomain.com' (no spaces). See who is linking to your competitors and tempt them over as an affiliate. You need to take caution when contacting people for an affiliate opportunity, make sure each email is individual, do not bulk email. If you can use a contact form from their site. This shows that you were on their site and didn't just buy an email list. Another great place to find affiliates are on affiliate marketing forums. We have comprised a list of affiliate marketing forums, complete with Alexa traffic rank. Many of the forums will allow you to post your affiliate program details. But check the forums rules first, and always check your post a few days after to see if there any any questions or replies.

UK Forums
Name Alexa
Affiliates4u 4,435
UK Affiliate Marketing Forum
?

 

US Forums
Name Alexa

Webmaster World

1,632
Associate Programs 6,971
WebProNews 8,209
Affiliate talk forum 9,411
Affiliate marketing Forum 9,624
Self Starter weekly tips forum 10,649
Affiliate marketing 101 15,371
Affiliate Boards.com 21,130
Top affiliate forums 23,906
Revenue source 27,886
Mommy's helper community 30,063
Mommys place 31,414

 

Step 4. Getting more from your affiliates

It's always good to signup new affiliates. But once you have an affiliate pool it's more important to make sure your getting the most out of your affiliates. There are techniques you can adopt to make sure your affiliates are performing as well as they could. These are:-

  • Keeping affiliates up to date with monthly bulletins.
  • Keeping banners and linking methods fresh.
  • Checking to make sure affiliates are actually linking.
  • Phoning affiliates that have high traffic.
  • Negotiating better link/banner placement.
  • Requesting feedback on what linking methods are wanted.

If your affiliate program is powered by AllAffiliatePro then you'll have a very useful function for PageRank and SiteMatch reporting. Running this report will let you know exactly which affiliates have high traffic and best match your products or services. These are the affiliates that it's worth going that extra mile for, as they could potentially be sending you a lot more traffic.

Step 5. Considering affiliate networks

Affiliate networks can become tempting. With lot's of promises of higher numbers of affiliates waiting to join your program. But be careful. There are often high setup fees, and high monthly fees. It may well be several months before your network affiliate program comes in to profitability, in the mean time you'll still have the monthly fees. We recommend that before joining a network you check what contact details you will have for your affiliates, and how long the contract will be for. Make sure you have an in house program setup first which offers a slightly higher percentage than the network. If you get some high performing affiliates on the network lure them over to your in house program. That way when you leave the affiliate network for whatever reason you'll still have the affiliates, and won't have lost everything.

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