Once you have determined how you will first venture into the ecommerce affiliate world, be it through a website, PPC or other means, it will be important to choose affiliate programs that will best complement your efforts.
What’s your Marketing Profile? Finding Merchants that Match
Will you have an informational website? Will you be using PPC? Email marketing? This information will be the key to selecting the right merchants. Some affiliate programs don’t allow PPC or email marketing, while others both encourage and support these marketing practices. Also, certain verticals convert much better using specific methods – for example, education merchants such as eLearners have a history of converting well using email marketing techniques.
Quality is Key
While searching for products to promote, make certain to include testing the products or services you will be promoting. You’ll be far more convincing to potential consumers if you can provide a genuine testimonial about the products you promote. If that’s not possible, research the reputation that your products/merchants have. If your merchant’s positive reputation precedes it, you will be much more likely to convert and receive your commission on a timely basis.
Reputation Testing
A reputation can be tested by investigating:
• Where else the merchant is advertising (PPC, paid banner placements and email).
• Who is linking to the merchant through reverse lookup on the search engines.
• Press Release activity.
• Forum participation and/or comments from fellow affiliates;
• Signing up to the merchant’s customer newsletter to get a gauge for how well they are treating your traffic.
• Using free tools such as Google PageRank, Alexa and Whois information lookup. This can give you an idea of age, longevity and current traffic levels.
• Knowing the affiliate and ad networks the merchant is signed up to.
Commission Structure
Commissions can come in various formats, from a percentage of a sale to a flat rate per lead. While it is not recommended to select your ecommerce affiliate programs solely on commission structure, it is naturally an important aspect of your business. Do some research to see what commission range is standard in the industry you are looking to promote, as the range of commission offerings can be vast from one product to the next. The best source for this information is affiliate directories that have multiple listings of merchants in the same industry vertical.
Affiliate Platform
What kind of an affiliate platform or network is your selected program operating on? Are they using proprietary software or running through an established, reputable network such as Share Results? Proprietary software can be difficult to work with, as it can have limits reporting statistics in comparison to a network’s record of performance. Networks have their benefits, but make certain to research your networks before making your final decision. You may find that the same program operates on multiple networks, giving you the chance to choose the network of your choice.
Creative Offerings
Without a decent selection of marketing tools, it will be difficult to successfully promote your merchant. Be sure that your merchant has at least 5-10 banners in popular sizes such as 125x125, 468x60, 250x250 and 728x90, for example. They should also have a vast selection of text links, and additional offerings such as datafeeds, flash creatives and landing pages where applicable.
Affiliate Support
Perhaps most importantly, does this ecommerce affiliate program offer proactive and responsive affiliate support? Is the program’s affiliate manager or team actively promoting in affiliate industry forums? Do they welcome you to the network, offering phone and email contact with a quick turnover? Are they responsive to your requests for creatives? At Joe Bucks, we pride ourselves on having the highest quality of affiliate support, combined with in-depth reporting and a quality roster of merchants.