The bit you have all been waiting for, my gripes, groans, and comments on affiliate marketing, the youth of today and life in general.
Full of thoughts but few answers, it will hopefully be an entertaining read.
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A welcome trend this Christmas |
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Written by Affiliate Guru
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Sunday, 05 November 2006 |
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This Christmas has seen a very welcome trend in the UK affiliate marketing arena.
While we have the usual round of seasonal competitions (very welcome they are too and I will return to these in another post later this week) - we also have more and more merchants actually INCREASING their commission rates on the run up to Christmas.
This is a very welcome move - not only because it represents more pound in the affiliate purse, but also because it means that merchants recognise that a) this is the quarter of the year where most of us make most of our money and b) the cost to market at this time of year for both PPC and SEO affiliates is higher as there is increased noise in the marketplace..
So yes please, keep the bonuses coming......... and a great big thank you to all of those merchants who have seen the light.
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Written by Affiliate Guru
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Tuesday, 03 October 2006 |
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One of the questions I'm regularly asked by merchants (other than "Who are you?") is What are the benefits of being with more than 1 affiliate network, and if we should be with more than 1 how many should we be with?
It's a good question - there is only one major benefit of being with more than one network - and that is resilience. All affiliate networks have tracking which fails from time to time - it's bound to happen - tracking relies on two things, technology and human intervention to install / test / re-install tracking after site updates etc - and once technology AND human intervention is involved, occassional failure is an inevitable outcome. Some will call me a cynic but when you have worked in IT as long as I have, cynic becomes part of your name...
The other benefit touted by networks but with little foundation in reality is that "it exposes you to a wider audience of affiliates" - well, yes, maybe a teensy weensy teensy weensy little bit, but not enough to make a difference, you see 20% of affiliates do 80% of the sales and that top 20% of affiliates will be signed up to all of the networks of significance anyway.
That said, signing with more than one network as a merchant does give your affiliates choice - we all have favourite or preferred networks, so if you sign with two I can at least choose which network I use to promote you.
Once you get onto more than two networks though you are definitely into the law of diminishing returns - because your admin effort and cost increases exponentially - many merchants struggle to keep their creative and offers up to date on one or two networks, so why do some merchants insist on putting themselves through a momentous struggle to have out of date creative on five networks or even more - it's crazy, don't do it, it's not a contest - there are no prizes for being on the highest number of affiliate networks - so don't be tempted - even by 'free signup to this network deals' - there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Typically, a merchant appearing on an additional network every couple of months starts alarm bells ringing in my mind - the only reason they are doing it is because their affiliate programme is not making the returns they expected - so they try to buy that success - when in reality either
a) they have not communicated their offer very well
and/or
b) their commission offer is not competitive for their market sector
and/or
c) their site does not convert
and/or
d) their product is simply too niche to work effectively as an affiliate programme with any more than a handful of affiliates who operate within the desired niche
and/or
e) the terms of their programme are so restrictive it is impossible for affiliates to operate effectively.
So to conclude, how many networks should you use - well you can get away with 1, but 2 is probably a sensible option.
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Early adoption can be a kick in the teeth |
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Written by Affiliate Guru
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Friday, 22 September 2006 |
I often sign up to new merchant programmes on the day they are announced - ok I might not always do something with them straight away (in fact probably more often than not it's several weeks or months before I do something with them) - but nonetheless - I'll sign up to them straight away and if they're good, unique or just give me that indescribable 'buzz', I'll add them to my sites straight away.
This approach makes me an 'early adopter' - to coin some marketing parlance.
Generally being an early adopter is a good thing, but there have been a few occasions lately where merchants have made me feel this approach is a bit of a mistake - as they have started to offer increased commissions for 'new affiliates only' - maybe they have been watching too many adverts for a high street building society.
I can appreciate merchants wanting to recruit additional affiliates on to their programme, but offering commission rates to new affiliates way in excess of what you are offering your affiliates who have been with you since day 1 is in my opinion detrimental to the long term well being of your affiliate relationship. |
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Written by Affiliate Guru
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Thursday, 21 September 2006 |
While DGMPRO 1.2 is a vast improvement on DGMPOO v1, one thing it does do which I find really irritating is still continue to show Suspended merchants, both in the list of campaigns and when I choose to see only my approved campaigns.
OK, having looked hard I can now see that their is a red Ludo counter with an 'S' in it which presumably means Suspended, but would it not be much easier not to show me suspended merchants at all unless I specifically ask for them - that way I wouldn't waste half an hour looking for Auto Trader banners just to find that Auto Trader were suspended weeks ago... |
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Keith's ramblings 
