Showing posts with label affiliate marketing for merchants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affiliate marketing for merchants. Show all posts

Friday, August 28, 2009

Affiliate Marketing 101: Tips For Merchants

By Luis Galarza - Free Internet Marketing.

As An Online Merchant or Marketer You Should Know That A Well Manage Affiliate Program Is One Of The Best Free Internet Marketing Strategies You Can Use!





Understanding affiliate marketing strategies when you are the marketer is all about make it easy to for web publishers and entrepreneurs to know about it, easy to sign up, to promote, and easy to get support. Specially when your affiliate program is open to all type of online marketers. I said this because there are times when a merchant will hand pick the publishers to partners with, and this can be done in-house or by becoming part of an exclusive associate network, for more information about this read my post title: Affiliate Marketing For Merchants: Affiliate Network Success Elements.

So, you can said that when a Internet merchant wants to integrate affiliate marketing as another medium of web exposure, it comes down to the understanding of three imperative elements:

  1. How to start a program successfully.
  2. How to set it up so it works automatically and follow your marketing goals.
  3. How to manage it to increase program productivity and effectiveness, and..
  4. How to promote it to the right audience of active web publishers.


Now, this type of online referral or associate systems can cost little to no money to implement, but if you compare the same type of system in the real world or offline, which will be a franchise or vendor opportunity like Avon can cost you way more money, time, and resources to build a similar program. Thank God with have the Internet, which makes this process very easy for small businesses and even home based businesses.



The Tips!

OK, let me go directly to some of the most important factors I learn about running a successful performance based system:


1. - Expose Originality.

What I mean with this is that you need to have a brand, product or service that is easy to market. And for something to have a good marketing response from your audience needs to be unique, so focus on creating an USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that have that special benefit that is different from what your competitors are offering. Sometimes a word or even a letter is good enough to make you original, think Google Nemesis which is a PPC training course, and iPhone which is the mobile phone by Apple that turn very popular starting from the name!


2. - Offer Good Commissions.

This is a big one, because most publishers "beginners and advanced" will pick a partnership with the merchant that offers the highest revenues, specially if the associate is going to invest in pay-per-click advertising to market your goods. Many top online retailers like Amazon or Dell offer commissions of 2 to 10% depending on the product sold. But, when it comes to digital goods like ebooks or software marketers expect to get paid more, usually 40 to 80% of the sales.

So, when it comes to commissions you need to also think about what is the right amount that will keep your online sales force strong and active.


3. - Gain Trust.

One of the best ways to build credibility is by using some good PR, article marketing, and social media strategies. Simply, keep your company on the news by submitting at least one press release per month, write one article per day and submit it to some top directories, contribute to high traffic forums, and keep a constant activity in some the top social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc., this can help you build trust and become an authority in your niche.


4. - Set Up A System That Works.

Make sure you create a program that works automatically, and provide supporting tips right at from, this will reduce your customer service giving you more time to work on other important areas. You need to have a good set of pre-selling and advertising material your partners can use to promote your products. Also, remember to offer as much information about your company and services, because a good salesperson is the one that is the most knowledgeable.


This type of Internet marketing strategy can be put to work on any type of market or niche, of course there a few hot trends right now, but any online business should have a referral system in place.

To get unlimited advice about "Effective Affiliate Management Techniques" visit the IE Club. Yes, is all about having a good management process!


Recommended Resources.



Like I said before in this post, implementing an affiliate program to have other marketers promote your products or services can cost little or a lot of money. But, if your programs is profitable, is almost like having a complete free Internet marketing system in place. So, focus on managing it effectively.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant In Massachusetts.


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Friday, October 10, 2008

Affiliate Marketing For Mechants: Affiliate Network Success Elements

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing Tips.

Running An Affiliate Program For Your Own Website or Product Can Be A Difficult Task For New Internet Business Owners, Learning The Secrets Of Affiliate Marketing For Merchant Is A Journey... Here Are The Affiliate Network Success Elements You Need To Know About!

Learning affiliate marketing is a must for any online merchant, without this knowledge you will be missing out a big chance to increase your web traffic, your sales, and your branding. Applying affiliate marketing to boost revenues is not just for big name companies like Amazon or eBay, providing your own affiliate program is an nonsense Internet marketing strategy that must be use by any entrepreneur who want to build a strong presence on the web, and one way to do this is by using the services of an already establish affiliate network.

There are many type of partnership networks that you can use to build a strong online sales force, the good thing about using a good network is that instead of investing more time and money to fine publishers and Internet marketers to become part of your program, which by the way can take some time specially if you are new in the online marketplace, because when you are new nobody knows who you are, if you are reliable, if they can trust you, if you are in business for the long term, etc..

As you can see building trust and credibility on the Internet is a must to have people engage with your brand and marketing message. But when you use an affiliate network you will leverage their huge list of publishers and marketers that are ready to promote your product or services, is just like having an instant online sales force ready to go out and sell your products to their list of contacts.


Your Marketing Benefits.

Just imaging the benefit of such sales force, which for many top marketers is one of the best Internet marketing strategies that you can use to grow your business faster for free, or for a little cost, or for a percentage of the sales generated by affiliate partners. Let's analyze the situation for a minute:
  1. You sign up with an establish network.
  2. Then automatically your business and product is expose to thousands or even millions of publishers.
  3. Then you get thousands of partners that want to sell your products.
  4. And in less than what you can expect you start getting sales from different sources without moving one finger or spending money on advertising.
  5. You get a full sales force team that is advertising your product all over the web using paid and free marketing channels, and you are growing your Internet business and generating an passive income on autopilot.

A few other things that you can benefit from such partnership is that you can leverage their technology, leverage the trust power of their brand specially if the network is recognize as a leader in the field, and just mentioning this partnership in your site can develop instant trust with you visitors.


Top Affiliate Networks for Merchants.

Affiliate marketing can work excellent for any merchant specially if is one that already have an strong brand in the online marketplace like:
For Internet marketing beginners selling digital products or physical training materials:

If you starting an eBay business you don't have to worry about using affiliate marketing to promote you store because to can leverage the affiliate program that is already being use by thousands of eBay associates, that can also promote your store without any extra sign-up or anything like it.


Affiliate Network Success Elements Every Merchant Need To Know.

Affiliate marketing for merchants is like looking to this industry upside down. One of the thing should know about before deciding if a network is right for you is what to look in it that will help you run a successful program. There is more than just program management and tracking systems... A good network should have the following success element:
1. - Needs to be flexible with technology so it can be able to develop customize tracking solutions that are specific to your company's needs.

2. - Their technology should let you automatically send your best offers through your affiliates main virtual real estate.

3. - If you are concern about the use of your brand by associates the network should work closely with you to help you protect your brand in paid search advertising or PPC.

4. - It also needs to apply constant innovations that will help you maximize your current sales at a lower cost.

5. - Another thing that is very important is to protect yourself from sales partners using spyware as marketing tools, for that reason the network should have a spyware lab design to protect your program.

6. - Another new strategy is the use of "open network" solutions to help you build a stronger relationship with your online sales force, if th network offers this is ahead of the game.

7. - They also should help you improve you affiliate marketing strategies so you can achieve your monthly sales volume goals and help you stay on a budget.


Good affiliate networks should have every one of these success elements or at least some of the most important ones. The companies a listed for beginners don't provide every single element but they still good partners that you can use to start implementing your own sales force marketing campaigns.

To get more advice about affiliate marketing for merchants visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


Recommended Resources.

- Insider Secrets To Selling On eBay. Top eBay Business training.
- Affiliate Marketing For Merchants. Learn that and more.


In Conclusion: Merchant can really increase sales, traffic, and grow their business faster with the right affiliate marketing networks and strategies, so analyze your current marketing plan and see if this approach can benefit your company. Personally I think that in the etailing marketplace is a must. If you have an offline local small business trying to use Internet promotions you can start with this type of partnerships.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant In Massachusetts.

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Success Quote

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.

2. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.

3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.

6. Be generous.

7. Have a grateful heart.

8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.

9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.

10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.

11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.

12. Commit yourself to quality.

13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationship with people you love and respect.

14. Be loyal.

15. Be honest.

16. Be a self-starter.

17. Be decisive even it it means you'll sometimes be wrong.

18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.

19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.

20. Take good care of those you love.

21. Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.


By H. Jackson Brown Jr.