Affiliated to Good Page Rank Sites
The power of the affiliate channel, is in its self perpetuating nature. Merchants get coverage, increased traffic and form relationships with leading sites. Of course, from a merchant’s point of view, it is important not to underestimate the value of each and every affiliate to your programme.
Make each affiliate aware of content relevant to their site, and scrutinise their performance over a period, to suggest alternative ways of displaying links.
Then we have the oldest tricksters, the voucher advertisers, who would do just about every trick, just to reach out and grab every last voucher code out there.
But what about those who make referrals that don#t lead to a sale, where do they get valued ? It isn’t possible for Google nor affiliate network tracking cookies to attribute the referall to the site generating the original sale……meaning your ‘Longer tail’ is likely to grow rather than feel affiliated to your programme.
Will Innovation in Affiliates be rewarded ?
If the hard work is to go unnoticed, then a recent innovation in affiliate marketing caught my eye, with cutting edge technology they promised to track searchers on site, and then issue tracking cookie, with Post Impressions(PI) which gives unique tracking for 48 hours after visitors leave the site. A novel idea, and could theoretically, add the valued visitor to your site, who has been on site and had the opportunity to come back as an informed buyer.
There’ll Be No Cheating on My Watch
Affiliates and merchants have a bit of a mutual agreement that they must always moan about each other. One for how little the other does to help it and the other because they believe there’s some sneaky behaviour taking place.
Now, we all know there are a few affiliates out there who – while driving many genuine sales – have one or two little tricks up their sleeves to claim a few additional sales that they didn’t work very hard to generate.
It’s very annoying and can leave the merchant in a bit of a dilemma – do you continue to work with the affiliate because of the hit you’ll take in affiliate sales or do you take a moral stance and strike them off your list (or at least threaten to if they don’t change their ways) giving your affiliates who genuinely drive quality traffic and sales the opportunity to claim a bigger stake in your programme?
Save the channel from cheating affiliates
I’m a firm believer that all affiliates who ask to be on a programme should make the effort to promote the brand. Don’t ask if you don’t want to do it or are going to cheat your way through it! I’m very firm in my belief and won’t stand for other affiliates losing out because of a few individuals who want to make an easy buck.
That said I can’t, unfortunately, overrule my clients decision to keep an affiliate on the programme – only advise the client and make affiliates aware that I’m fully aware of what they’re doing and will start to refuse those commissions where I can prove they’re cheating!
I do fully believe in the power of affiliates – I wouldn’t be an affiliate manager otherwise – but I’m also aware that like every other industry there are a few bad eggs and I will do everything in my power to weed them out and make them known.
Christmas is Coming, Whether you Like it or Not!
We’re not even a stone’s throw away from November which means Christmas is quite literally just around the corner.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly Christmas comes round once you’ve passed the age of receiving toys and when you actually have to start buying gifts for family members, who soon start to produce more members!
Christmas is paramount for every retailer that’s when the majority of them take the bulk of cash for the year and that’s when they need to sell the most. That’s why they have to use every part of the retail mix to ensure they maximise their revenue.
One of the easiest and most cost effective ways is through their affiliate marketing programmes and planning for Christmas means knowing what your key products are for the season – both in terms of gift buying and personal shopping for the party season – understanding who is buying them and giving them the help and encouragement to buy from you and ensuring your affiliates want to help you do well.
Here are a few tips, they’re not mind blowingly groundbreaking just common-sense tips which we all should be following.
What are your top products?
You must know what your top sellers are, or at least what you expect them to be. Tell your affiliates. They aren’t working just for you and they don’t have access to all your stock information. Tell your affiliates why these are your top products and tell them what accessories, additional items they may want to push alongside these products. Affiliates aren’t stupid but they’re not mind readers either – give them the info they need to push your products.
What promotions are you running for customers?
Not everyone’s cup of tea but if you’re doing any promotions or offering special services for Christmas such as free delivery or returns or a special courier service which will allow them to order right up until the day before Christmas eve tell you affiliates. These guys give your brand and products so much more reach and will have new customers who might just try your product because of the service you are offering. If you want people to buy you have to tell them what you’re offering and this extends much further than your own site!
What are you doing to encourage your affiliates to push your site?
As we’ve said before, affiliates are working for more than just you and just like anything else they will work harder for the people that offer them the best deal. That doesn’t just mean the highest commission but the highest conversion, additional incentives such as competitions where they can win a prize or extra commission for improving their sales, or just giving them the tools they need to push your products as simply and easily as possible!
The point of all this – use all your channels effectively otherwise you are just wasting the money you spend on setting them up. As with everything in life, you only get out what you put in!