Implementation options:

Some merchants run their own, in-house affiliate programs using popular software while others use third-party services provided by intermediaries to track traffic or sales that are referred from affiliates (see outsourced program management). Merchants can choose from two different types of affiliate management solutions: standalone software or hosted services, typically called affiliate networks. Payouts to affiliates or publishers are either made by the networks on behalf of the merchant, by the network, consolidated across all merchants where the publisher has a relationship with and earned commissions or directly by the merchant itself.

Affiliate management and program management outsourcing:

Successful affiliate programs require significant work and maintenance. Having a successful affiliate program is more difficult than when such programs were just emerging. With the exception of some vertical markets, it is rare for an affiliate program to generate considerable revenue with poor management or no management such as “auto-drive”.

Uncontrolled affiliate programs did—and continue to do so today—aid rogue affiliates, who use spamming,trademark infringement, false advertising, “cookie cutting”, typosquatting and other unethical methods that have given affiliate marketing a negative reputation.

The increased number of Internet businesses and the increased number of people that trust the current technology enough to shop and do business online allows further maturation of affiliate marketing. The opportunity to generate a considerable amount of profit combined with a crowded marketplace filled with competitors of equal quality and size makes it more difficult for merchants to be noticed. In this environment, however, being noticed can yield greater rewards.

Recently, the Internet marketing industry has become more advanced. In some areas online media has been rising to the sophistication of offline media, in which advertising has been largely professional and competitive. There are significantly more requirements that merchants must meet to be successful, and those requirements are becoming too burdensome for the merchant to manage successfully in-house. An increasing number of merchants are seeking alternative options found in relatively new outsourced (affiliate) program management (OPM) companies, which are often founded by veteran affiliate managers and network program managers.[19] OPM companies perform affiliate program management for the merchants as a service, similar to advertising agencies promoting a brand or product as done in offline marketing.

The Next time I meet with you on this blog I will present more info on affiliate marketing.

Till the next time,
Anthony,
Your Website Marketing Partner and Friend at ProNetUSA WebSite Marketing

As defined by Wikipedia; Affiliate marketing is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. Examples include rewards sites, where users are rewarded with cash or gifts, for the completion of an offer, and the referral of others to the site. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as ‘retailer’ or ‘brand’), the network, the publisher (also known as ‘the affiliate’), and the customer. The market has grown in complexity to warrant a secondary tier of players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third parties vendors.

Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner.

Affiliate marketing—using one website to drive traffic to another—is a form of online marketing, which is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers’ marketing strategies.

Historic development

Affiliate marketing has grown quickly since its inception. The e-commerce website, viewed as a marketing toy in the early days of the Internet, became an integrated part of the overall business plan and in some cases grew to a bigger business than the existing offline business. According to one report, the total sales amount generated through affiliate networks in 2006 was £2.16 billion in the United Kingdom alone. The estimates were £1.35 billion in sales in 2005. MarketingSherpa’s research team estimated that, in 2006, affiliates worldwide earned US$6.5 billion in bounty and commissions from a variety of sources in retail, personal finance, gaming and gambling, travel, telecom, education, publishing, and forms of lead generation other than contextual advertising programs.

Currently the most active sectors for affiliate marketing are the adult, gambling, retail industries and file-sharing services. The three sectors expected to experience the greatest growth are the mobile phone, finance, and travel sectors. Soon after these sectors came the entertainment (particularly gaming) and Internet-related services (particularly broadband) sectors. Also several of the affiliate solution providers expect to see increased interest from business-to-business marketers and advertisers in using affiliate marketing as part of their mix.

The Next time I meet with you on this blog I will discuss compensation methods, pros and cons etc.

Till the next time,
Anthony,
Your Website Marketing Partner and Friend at ProNetUSA WebSite Marketing

Marketing is a confusing world for most small businesspeople. Where twenty years ago you had about four options for reaching out to your market niche, in the 21st Century you have a confusing mash of choices. Once, your biggest challenge was finding the money to test four basic channels of TV/Radio, print, direct mail and outdoor. No one talked about having a “conversation” with your customer: You got their attention, and delivered your benefit message enough times to get them to take action.

Guess what? That last part has not changed. You still need to find the most efficient way to build awareness, deliver your value proposition and motivate your target to take action.

You just have a lot more places where you can place your messages, and fighting through the hype and energy coming from vendors selling solutions to find the handful that you can manage successfully is the biggest issue.

Here is my marketing mantra for small businesspeople:

You can’t do everything, so don’t try
You have to do something, so start testing
Stop worrying about being active in every possible channel where your target customer might be.

Select a few likely candidates. Use your fellow merchants, customers and competitive insights for guidance on which to select.
Prioritize that list based on the expense and time required to work each channel. (Here is where you can rely on those hyperactive vendors for input, spiced with many pinches of salt.)
Focus on the three most promising until they work out or fail.
Track results relentlessly. This you MUST DO every day.
Replace a failed channel with a fresh one from your priority list.
A lot goes into these simple bullet points, and future blog posts will delve into the details, but don’t panic if you don’t see the value of Twitter or are daunted by mobile marketing. You may not need them to run a profitable business!

Till the next time,
Anthony,
Your Website Marketing Partner and Friend at ProNetUSA WebSite Marketing