There are many ways you can make your Web site stand out, all of which involve an investment in time and money. It is understandably hard to commit money to a campaign without the assurance of success. However, a double edged sword exists where if you don’t create buzz, you can’t grow, but you need to grow to afford a marketing campaign. A great way to introduce yourself to marketing without breaking the bank is adding an affiliate program to your site. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get your name out there on the web. Gaining affiliates is like adding partners to your business, with incentives for both sides of the alliance. Finding the right affiliates offers greater legitimacy to your site and business while increasing sales and traffic. This is a great way to test the waters and see results before jumping into the marketing pool.
Many start-up Web sites incorporate contextual ad networks such as Google AdSense to generate income on their site. The ads are generated based on particular keywords on your site. This ultimately draws traffic away from your site to other sites related to your product in a sense weakening your brand image. An affiliate program puts you on the other side of advertising. You create a campaign with banner ads so that other Web sites can promote you. With an affiliate program you have the power to screen who you want to promote your product as well as create the reward schedule. In 2006 affiliate networks worldwide earned $6.5 billion in commissions from a variety of different sources including retail, personal, finance, gaming and gambling, travel, telecom, education, and publishing. Obviously there is a market out there for a wide array of businesses but it is difficult to decipher which scheme works best for your company and Web site.
One of the important variables in an affiliate programs is the pay system. There are several different methods of pay out options for affiliate programs. Today, about 80 percent of affiliate programs use cost per sale (CPS) as their commission payment method, 19 percent use cost per action (CPA), and the remaining 1 percent use other methods including cost per click (CPC) or cost per mille (CPM). These last two forms have lost their popularity due to click fraud issues. CPC and CPM fail to create an incentive for advertisers to promote the product in question because they are already paid for its presence. CPA and CPS require that the referred visitor do more than just visit the advertiser’s Web site in order to receive a commission. Performance based systems creates motivation for partners in the form of monetary rewards for successful lead generation.
Implementing an affiliate program involves a lot of research and work in the beginning stages to ensure an effective campaign. Amateurs jumping in to catch the wave tend to produce uncontrolled programs which often fail due to spamming, trademark infringement and false advertising. To take advantage of the benefits of affiliate programs many merchants use affiliate program management and veteran affiliate managers to improve the success of their site.
Working with an experienced affiliate creator like Vantage Internet Services, Inc can alleviate the pressures of a start up program and create the most potential for growth. Already have an affiliate program? Vantage can help you gain affiliates and effective co-branding campaigns to build upon your success. Contact our marketing department to learn more.
