The 4’Cs of Affiliate Marketing

by: Jason Hulott

If you currently run or are thinking about running your own affiliate program, then this article is for you.

There are 4 major things that each and every affiliate program needs to have if it is to be a success. Luckily for me they all begin with C so it is easy to remember.

Commission, Creative, Consistency, and Communication

Let's take a look at each one in turn. To the affiliate this is the correct order of importance when joining a program. However, as the affiliate program manager this needs to be slightly altered but we will get to that later!

Commission

The biggest differentiator to the affiliate is money. How much will they get paid for selling your product or service? How you structure this is really dependent on the type of product or service you are offering but really you have 3 options. Pay Per Sale, Pay per Lead or Pay Per Click. There are other options but to be honest these are the main ones.

When deciding on what commissions to pay, be realistic. If you don't really know how much you can afford to pay out then air on the side of caution. You want to pay out what you can afford to. Running a program for 2 months and then realise you have to reduce your commission payments to affiliates can be a program killer.

Creative

How many times have you joined an affiliate program only to find there are no creative to promote the program? How are they going to promote your product or service if you do not help them. You must provide the affiliates with everything they need to sell your product. If you had a real sales force, you would give them marketing materials in order to sell the customer, so the affiliate program is no different.

Banners, buttons, text links, HTML email, text email, classified ads copy, content, articles, and product reviews are all things that you can us to give the affiliate the creative they need to sell or pre-sell your product or service.

Consistency

Whenever you commit to running an affiliate program, be consistent, if you are sending out updates or updating creative on a regular basis make sure you remain consistent. If you want make it a certain day of the month. Affiliates will then get used to expecting things from you at a given time of the month. They can then almost factor that into their workloads. Remember affiliates can have two jobs, two hundred websites to manage so try to accommodate that in your thinking.

If you lose consistency, it will show the affiliate that you don't care about there efforts. They will switch off you like a shot. Remember there will always be someone else out there running an affiliate program in a similar space to you. An affiliate will show loyalty if you treat them right.

Communication

Perhaps last but no means least is Communication. You need to communicate to affiliates for two main reasons. Firstly, to update them on any new product changes, new creative, new commission structures. So in effect , to keep them informed with what's going on with you and your business that will help them drive more sales.

Secondly, you need to keep in touch will affiliates to make them feel important and to help train them. If you stay in touch on a regular basis and provide them with tools and training materials, they will learn more about driving traffic and sales to your products. They will be much more switched on to you for helping them.

Now I know some of you will be thinking that they will take your knowledge and help and use it elsewhere. Yes they will. But there will be lots of affiliates out there that will be joining an affiliate program for the first time or do not know who to do certain things and will feel loyal to you.

This is the most important C for Affiliate Program managers, building relationships and loyalty with affiliates through Communication. Think of it as an insurance policy so when a competitor comes along with the same product and offers the same commission or even in some instances a higher commission you will find you will keep your affiliates.

Running an affiliate program is a hugely rewarding project, get it right and you make a large sum of money for not just you but your affiliates too. Always remember the 4 C's when constructing a program or revisiting a program which isn't working that well.

Good Luck!


About The Author
Jason Hulott is an Author, Affiliate Program Manager, and creator of “Affiliate Communicator”, a new tool which allows the user to create Affiliate Marketing newsletters at the push of a button. Auto loaded with articles, products tips and useful Resources, Affiliate Communicator is THE tool affiliate marketing managers can’t live without! Visit http://www.affiliatecommunicator.com.

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Benefits of Having a Web Site

by: Wan Assad Aziz

Many have heard countless news of the downfall of Internet era that caused millions of loss to big companies. However, there are lots of advantages when it comes of having own web site. Think of having a business. Having a website will give a business the ability to reach thousands of potential customers through out the world, with a fraction of cost. These are but a few key benefits of owning a website:

Improve business image with online presence.

Many people today believe that businesses with websites provide superior products or services to those that don't. Think of a website as an online brochure where person can show examples or products and services. Websites provide companies with large customer bases the ability to communicate more effectively. Properly planned, designed and implemented a website should pay for itself and providing a return on investment.

Cost-saving to your business expenditure.

Buying advertising space, whether it's a newspaper ad, billboard, or radio spot, can be very expensive. Adding to the burden are the hours spent trying to figure out the perfect set of words to say everything needed within the constraints of an ad. By advertising business through a website, potential customers have the opportunity to learn more about products and services. A person can instantly publish that same information: new product announcements, employment opportunities, contact information, job openings, surveys, coupons, and investor’s information, almost anything, without material or delivery costs. The customers are able to learn about it instantly just by visiting the related web site.

Unless a company has a very large advertising budget, there's a limit to how much a person can say in the print ads. By including a website address in these ads, potential customers can easily look into the business up on the net. Think of a business card as a print ad.

Unlimited geographic market.

With a web site, a person can easily attract new customers not only locally, but nationally and internationally. By implementing online presence, the person can reach to a market that may have been difficult or expensive to reach through traditional advertising. A website provides these opportunities by allowing him/her to publish who and what is the business all about in a powerful and attractive manner.

24/7/365 Business Hours.

There is no other medium for being available 24/7/365 that even compares to a website. With the modest cost of developing a website and making it available on the Internet, there is nothing even close to being as cost effective. In addition, printed materials are easily misplaced. Television and radio commercials air at preset times. A website can be visited at a time that is convenient for the visitor, and they will have more interest because they want to be there on that particular website.

About The Author
Wan Assad Aziz - Administrator and editor for online presence. More articles related web site creation can be found at http://www.directpins.com

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10 Web Site Design Tips Guaranteed To Attract Visitors And Get Them To Spend More Time On Your Site

 
by: Anthony Hamill

Marketing through a website is different in some ways from other forms of marketing yet there are many aspects which are virtually identical.

It's different in that the technical requirements of the medium itself are different but that's where most of the differences end. The basic principles of marketing remain the same and, of course, the objective is the same – to entice people to buy your product or service.

What Every Web Site Needs To Do

When Marketing through the Web you should remember these five words: Attraction, Interest, Desire, Action and Satisfaction. Your website should be able to fulfill each of these concepts in order to not only entice visitors to your site but to keep them there and turn them into customers.

Web site design is more than simply finding a cool photo you like and a color that works with your company's logo. It also incorporates readability, functionality, and usability - all of which lead to your most desired outcome: making your website work for your business.

Burn These 10 Tips Into Your Brain

It's impossible to compile a list of 10 web site design tips without mentioning at the beginning that it's only a partial list of the things you need to do to make your online business succeed. There are literally scores of important web design considerations, and we'll talk about them later in this article but, first, we need to explore some basic principles of good design without which none of the others will matter.

1. Aesthetics-only May Not Click With Your Visitors

When people search the Internet they are looking for information, not beautiful web sites. Unfortunately, too many web designers are preoccupied with aesthetics, or "coolness". They forget that effective web site design requires that you incorporate certain fundamental elements that will make your web site work for your visitors.

So keep this fact in mind: Fancy graphics and the latest cool animations, sound, etc, most likely will annoy your visitors.

2. It's All About Readability

Make "readability" a fundamental part of your web site design. If you want a professional-looking web site that encourages visitors to read about your business, products, or services, the first thing to do is make sure visitors can, in fact, read what's on your pages easily.

Stay away from all capitals in your writing and use common fonts that are easy to read. The standard fonts that most web surfers are used to are Arial and Verdana. Don't try to be different.

3. Let Logic Prevail

Organize your content into logical sections. This takes some planning but it's key to a successful website. Make it a snap for visitors to find the information they're looking for.

4. Browsing Is Not The Same As Reading

Incorporate headlines into your web site design. Web users will browse more often than read. Because of this it's important to use headings and subheadings to give visitors a quick idea of what your page has to offer.

Someone in a hurry should be able to scan your headings and subheadings to quickly understand what products, services, benefits, or other information they will find on the page. Put your most important phrases in bold letters, too.

5. Use Bullets To Hit The Mark

Grab your visitors' attention by including:Bold Words

Bullet Points

Section Titles and

Short Paragraphs

The visual experience on a web site is quite different than on a printed page.

6. Eliminate Background Noise

Never, repeat, never use patterned or distracting background images as part of your web site design. Your content will be "lost" in the noise.

7. Easy on the Eyes

Don't use bright text with bright background colors. Make reading easy on your visitors' eyes. Basic text colors (read "black") and a white background work best with the many different ways your pages will look on different monitors and with different browsers.

8. Consider Color-blind Visitors

Approximately one in ten people (95 percent are men) have some form of color-vision impairment. Effective web site design, therefore, considers color-blind visitors. Certain combinations of colors, usually shades of red and green, may be invisible to some of your most potentially valuable customers.

9. "No Graphics" Mode

Always bear in mind that some of your visitors may have "graphics" turned off (yes, they can do that to your beautiful web site design). Therefore, always use ALT tags to label graphics with descriptive text.

10. Use An Appropriate Font Size

Find a happy medium between too big and too small. Typically 10-12 pt fonts work the best.

What Else Do I Need To Consider?

These 10 web site design tips are implemented in all effective web sites but they are by no means the only ones you need to consider. At Web-Host-Watch we've compiled a list of 100 web site design tips that go well beyond the basics and provide insight into the design secrets used by the pros who make their livings from web marketing.

We provide this comprehensive list of web design tips for free to all visitors of Web-Host-Watch.Com because everyone benefits from web sites that work!

About The Author

Anthony Hamill is the founder of http://Web-Host-Watch.Com which helps online business owners master the basics of web hosting. Get all the facts you need to find affordable web hosting plans including tutorials, tips on avoiding common mistakes, a glossary of web hosting terms, and a web hosting review that profiles the web hosts who provide the best overall value in each hosting category. 

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