YourMarketingStaff.com

Internet Marketing Strategy for your Business

Professional Affiliate Program Management

Affiliate Marketing Programs

Affiliate Marketing Programs are based around the premise of revenue sharing. Simply put, a website with something to sell (the merchant) has other websites (the affiliates) promote their product via banner links or text links, and when a sale or lead results from a click-through from the affiliates site, the affiliate is paid a commission. Commissions are generally paid as a percentage of the sale, or as a flat rate.

Who can participate in Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a very cost effective way of creating a huge sales force willing to promote your product. Anyone with a website can participate in affiliate marketing. Merchants are webmasters who have a product to sell and want to broaden their ability to market their product. Affiliates are websites that have their own product to sell and supplement their income with affiliate links, or often affiliates have a site made up entirely of affiliate links and this is their main source of income.

How are Affiliate Programs administered?

The best way to administer an affiliate program is by using one of the many independent affiliate management companies. These companies source both affiliates and merchants and put them together. Not only will you have to pay your affiliate in this scenario, but the affiliate management company also, usually for each sale that is made. Some may charge a monthly fee and or a set-up fee on top of this per transaction charge. Whilst it may seem that you are outlaying alot in commission just for someone to market your product, you are saving as you no longer have to market your product to your affiliates customers.

YourMarketingStaff.com have administered a range of affiliate programs through a number of independent affiliate management companies. The management company is chosen based on 2 factors; their set-up and on-going charges, and the geographic internet population they serve. As an example, if you sell insurance to UK and Australian residents, you would want an affiliate management company that serves this market, not one that has a base of American affiliates.

How are Affiliate commissions paid?

There are 3 types of affiliate commissions. These are:

Pay-Per-Sale - When a customer purchases a product as result of a click-through from the affiliates site, the merchant pays the affiliate a commission. This commission is usually a percentage of the sale, or a flat fee.

Pay-Per-Lead - Merchants pay their affiliates based on the number of people referred through to them from the affiliates site. The customer would fill out a form on the merchants site and this information would be used at a later stage by the merchant to contact the customer. This type of commission is usually used by companies who have a product to sell but who do not operate an e-commerce website (for example motor vehicle website).

Pay-Per-Click - In this case, the merchant pays the affiliate a commission for each and every visitor that comes through to the merchant site as a result of a click-through from the affiliate site, regardless of whether a sale is made or not.

Assistance with Affiliate Programs

YourMarketingStaff.com have the knowledge and intelligence to get your affiliate program up and running. The management of such a program can take valuable time away from the important day-to-day running of your business that is your main concern, so let us manage it for you. We develop and implement affiliate programs as part of our overall Internet Marketing Strategy, or we can develop yours as a independent online marketing tool. Please contact us today to find out more.