Setting up an Associate Program
Following articles are all written by Corey Rudl. I am a big fan
of Corey. He knows things and how to explain them with simple and direct words.
As you may expect, he wrote them with the purpose of selling some of his
products. Don't care about it, you don't have to buy anything... just read on
and take the best out of it!
(Click
on the subjects to go directly to the article – have also a
look to our related FAQ)
1. How to Easily Set Up your Own
Associate Program
3. The 8 Keys to Making Your
Associate Program Successful!
5. Why Selling Your Product or
Service Through an Associate Program is Such a Powerful Marketing Tool!
6. Learn How to Choose the
"Right" Associate Program Software
Setting Up Your Own
Affiliate Program FAQ
Compare
Associate Program Software and Networks
1. How to Easily Set Up your Own Associate Program
There are several ways
you can set up your Associate Program or compensate your associates.
The first is basically a click-through program... whereby
anyone who clicks-through on the link is paid a referral or click through fee.
It is pretty simple, if an associate displays your banner, text link, or button
and someone clicks through that link, you pay your associate a small fee
(usually between $0.05 to $1.00 depending on your product and your margins).
The second method is a pay-per lead program. The associate is paid for each
"lead" they send you. The associate can post a form at his site for
you, and for anyone who fills out the form and submits it, you pay a referral
fee to the associate for that lead. Or your associates display a banner, text
link or button to your site and if someone clicks through they are presented
with a form they can fill out. That form can be anything… a request for more
information about a product, a request for a quote, or do something like
downloading a trial version of a software program. Regardless of what the
visitor is asked to do... your associates are paid for each lead they send you
(or each time a form is submitted).
The third method is a revenue sharing program. This is by far the most
popular type of Associate Program. Basically you are offering your associates a
portion of the profits on everything that is sold.
This is the way I recommend
you do an Associate Program. With this kind of program...
you are guaranteed to make
money because you only pay for sales which are generated.
For example, if you set up a
click through program you could potentially bring in 50,000 visitors... and
even with that level of traffic, you are not guaranteed any sales! You could be
paying out tons of money in click throughs but if you don't have a good visitor
to sale conversion you could end up not making any money in sales.
It is also possible that someone can "cheat" with
a click-through or pay-per lead program as they could have software that
automatically clicks through the link generating them a referral fee when no
real human being has actually visited your site.
If instead, you set up a
revenue sharing program... you are guaranteed a profit because you are only
paying associates when your product is sold. So in the example above, if you
brought in the same 50,000 visitors and didn't make any sales... it would mean
you had a very serious problem with your sales copy or your website... but at
least you are not in the hole thousand of dollars that you owe associates for
the visitors they have sent you… and you have no money to pay them!
When it comes right down to
the "nitty-gritty", the only real drawback of having Associate
Programs for your product is the cost of installing the software to keep track
of all your associates, traffic, and sales generated. There are a few other
expenses… but they are mostly minor costs (i.e. taking care of your associates
by helping them make sales, answering their questions via email, and sending
your associates their checks in a timely manner).
There are three ways
of setting up how you keep track of associates and sales. The first is setting
up "mirror" pages, the second is hiring an Associate Program service,
and the third is to purchase your own associate managing software. We will go
through all the pros and cons of each in detail.
Method #1
The first method is to set up
a "mirror page"... or even a mirror site.
Basically you set up a
separate page... or a separate site, for each associate. This is a VERY time
consuming way of doing things, but there is almost no cost involved other than
your time. Here's how it works...
Using marketingtips.com as an
example. You'd set up a page for your 1st associate called
http://www.marketingtips.com/info1.html. Then, as you got more associates you'd
add pages... i.e. www.marketingtips.com/info2.html and .../info3.html
.../info4.html and so on.
These would all be identical
pages. The only difference between.../info1.html .../info2.html .../info3.html
etc. is that it has a different tracking number. You actually hard code in the
associates tracking number (i.e. info5.html would have the tracking number or
associate number of "5") so that when you get an order, a hidden code
in the order form prints the code. This allows you to manually track and give
your associate credit for the sale.
Now this does work and is
great for doing a joint venture or two with a few people… however it has MANY
drawbacks.
First of all you can only
sell one product. So if you have one sales letter which sells one product,
doing it this can work initially… but having multiple products at your website
or having multiple pages will cause you nothing but havoc.
But say I get 100 associates
(and it's pretty easy to get 100 associates… in fact it's very easy to get 100+
associates in a matter of 30 days)... now if I want to change something like
the price, or I have found a better way to sell my product so I want to change
the sales copy, or I want to add in a graphic, or whatever; I have to go to
every single webpage and change them all manually, all 100+ of them. It's a
HUGE job!
Trust me, I used to do it
this way back in 1995 when associate/affiliate software was not available.
Updating the pages ate up days of my time.
There is also the fact that
you can't offer any of your associates real time statistics. They can't tell
how much they've earned until the end of the month when you
"manually" calculate it (which can take you a couple of days if you
have 100+ associates). They don't even know how many visitors they are getting
or how many sales they are generating... they have no way of tracking it on
this type of system. And on top of all that, they have to have 100% trust in me
that I'm not ripping them off because I am the only one who has the
"true" visitor and sales numbers… they have no idea if they are
selling the numbers as I report it to them.
It's a pretty primitive way
of doing it. It was a very old way of doing Associate Programs and you can
"shoot yourself in the foot" because most people will not sign up
with you if they don't feel comfortable that you are reporting to them in
real-time, all the time, about how they are doing with sales. Heck some of the
Associate Program directories (which I will mention later) won't even list your
site on their list if you do not have real time tracking software.
Now the other problem could
occur if you had a site selling four products, and wanted people to roam around
your site, read articles and all that kind of stuff; but still tracking the
associates visitors and sales. It's almost impossible to set up a reliable
system using this method. There would be no way to track your visitors or
associates from webpage to webpage. The only way to do this is to set up a
whole separate individual site for every associate within your main website (a
VERY big job!).
It would take HUGE amounts of
room on your web server and there is no way you could manage it. And if you
ever wanted to change one small thing it would literally take you weeks to
complete. It's totally unrealistic!
In our case, with thousands
of associates, this would be an impossible amount of work!
Ok, I know I have stated a
lot of negative things about this method… so you may be asking, "What is
the benefit to this method?" The answer, unfortunately, is only one
benefit… it is really cheap for those who have no money and lots of time on
their hands… as setting up takes only your time and knowledge of HTML. But
remember, you may do more damage than good as many associates will not join
because they can't see their stats or have no confidence in you. Also you will
get a low rating from many associate related directories as you will look like
a "basement operation". But I guess having this system is better than
having no system.
Method #2
Let's move on to #2, hiring
an Associate Program service.
You can hire a service such
as Safe-Audit or ClickTrade. They handle all the details as far as tracking
your associates, tracking the sales, handling the money and basically charge
you a healthy percentage of each sale (sometimes up to 30% of the money you are
paying out to your associates) to organize all this and keep track of it. For
example there is ClickTrade (mentioned above)... they don't have a high set-up
fee but charge you 30% as your payment to take care of all the tracking,
reporting, handling of money and so on.
This is a very large chunk of
your profit!
It may make sense at first as
there are no set-up costs, but realize that if you do your Associate Program right,
you can be paying out thousands of dollars in referral fees very quickly. This
can translate into hundreds and usually thousands of dollars in fees you have
to pay them… each month. I am not trying to talk you out of it, I am just
saying that you want to look at the big picture. If you plan to stay small,
they may be for you, but if you start with them and grow, it is extremely
difficult to "dump" them and move on to a more cost-effective way of
managing your associates. To a certain extent, you are married to them, so be
aware of that.
There are a few companies
(i.e. LinkShare)
which don't charge you such a large percentage for each sale but do charge you
a couple thousand dollars to get established... and then take a smaller
percentage of your sales as their "management fee".
This is not a preferred way
to do it as far as I'm concerned because for less than $1000 I can show you how
to do this yourself from scratch. How to get your own software program and run
your own system and never pay a dime of your sales to anyone but yourself,
(which in my opinion, is the way to do it)! The reason you get involved in
setting up an Associate Program is to make more money; you shouldn't be paying
all of it to another company!
The companies mentioned above
are great for people who don't know any better and see it as a more cost
effective method compared to the $10,000+ associate software that is available
on the market. But to be blunt, there are ways to get the same functionality
for a fraction of the cost (for under $1000) as I mentioned before… if you know
where to look and what to look for. We will discuss the differences between the
software out there in the next few articles.
Method #3
Purchasing your own
associate/affiliate software
As far as purchasing your own
software goes... some of the Associate Program software packages I've seen
selling for under $1000 are very hoaky. They don't have the proper tracking
mechanisms and aren't flexible enough to handle a variety of situations. What I
mean by that is that they may:
- Not track and display stats to their
associates in real-time.
- Or don't work with shopping carts.
- Or they're not 100% reliable to track
"all" orders.
- Or they don't have any means of tracking
off-line orders.
- Or they won't track visitors who come back
and buy at a later date and don't give the associate credit for that sale.
-
Generally speaking, almost
everything I have seen (about 20 different pieces of software which sell for
under $1000) is mostly garbage! There are a few exceptions to the rule, but
even those pieces have their problems (i.e. a few charge a set up fee of $500
and then a $1.00 per associate you sign up - which can be thousands of dollars
as you sign up associates… or software that only tracks certain types of
orders, etc.).
The good stuff that I've seen
sells for $5000 and even $7000 and more. And some of them are pretty slick. However
they are not cheap... and represent a significant investment for most small
businesses!
Don't worry, you don't have
to spend this kind of money.
Many of you are aware that we
designed and developed our own software from scratch when we started up our
Associate Programs many years ago... basically because there wasn't any
software out there that did what we wanted and how we wanted... we really
didn't have a choice!
To make a long story short,
we have spent over $32,000 to develop our software (it has been costly) and we
have put in features from a "marketing" point of view, not a
"programmers" point of view. We have seen the need to get software
out there that has the same features and functionality as the $5000+ software,
but at a reasonable price tag which most small business owners can afford.
We have modified our software
and made it "generic" so it will work with nearly any product or
service our clients have (not just our products anymore). We've hacked through
all the pros and cons, the problems we encountered, and done the "learning
curve" for you. We've developed this associate/affiliate software which we
call AssocTRAC… and we are going to offer it to our clients for only
$677.
Click here if you
want to know more about the AssocTRAC software,
what it does, and how it works.
In my opinion this is
extremely underpriced for what we are giving... but we wanted to make a
fantastic program available to our customers at a reasonable price.
We're actually quite excited
about it, as it will be the first time this quality of software has been
available at such a drastically low price (as I mentioned we have spent over
$32,000 developing this software to make it a VERY powerful marketing tool). In
order to give all our customers the best service we can, our AssocTRAC software
will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis!
Associate Programs are a
powerful and really cost effective way to market your products. In fact, I
can't think of a better way to market your products or services with such a low
risk! It is absolutely fantastic.
Do you want to know how much
impact it can have on your business?
I am aware of two clients who
started up a reseller program… and then had to shut it down because they got so
many orders!
They had to suspend marketing
because they were so far behind getting the orders fulfilled and keeping up
with customer service requirements. So it is a very, very, very powerful way of
marketing!
2. How to Get Thousands of Resellers/Associates to Join Your Associate
Program and Sell Your Product or Service
I will warn you even before
you read this article that it is going to be a blatant plug - I have no way
around that... and let me explain why.
The reason I titled this
article "How to Get Thousands of Resellers/Associates to Join Your Associate
Program and Sell Your Product or Service" is because this is probably one
of the most popular questions I get (and a very complicated one to answer)...
and if I didn't give you some answers in this article, there would be hundreds
of people emailing us asking this exact question.
To be very frank, other than
the important steps you must take to make your associates program successful
(i.e. good automated associate software, a website that has a great sales
conversion ratio, paying out high commission, etc), all that effort is
worthless unless you can get a whole lot of people selling your product or
service online. So getting resellers/associates to join your program and sell
your product or service is probably the most critical key ingredient to making
your associate program wildly successful (and putting hundreds of thousands of
dollars in your pocket).
You see, you can have the
best software, you can have the best product, the best customer service, the
best commissions... but if you cannot reach hundreds if not thousands of people
online that have the potential to represent your product and drive traffic to
your site, all your effort was for nothing.
Okay, let's move on.
I have techniques that we use
to generate hundreds of associates in just a few days after you start your own
associates program... and thousands of associates within just a couple of
months. It is actually quite easy... if you know what to do and how to do it
(which I will show you).
But my problem is that my
clients pay me very good money to give them all the "insider"
techniques and tips that makes a fortune online (they pay me $640/hour and I am
booked weeks in advance!). I better have information for them that gives them
an unfair advantage over their competitors wouldn't you say?
I save my "killer"
information, tips, and techniques for my paying customers... the ones that
purchase my course (where I reveal EXACTLY how I made millions of dollars
online), clients that hire me for consultations at $640/hr, and people that purchase
specialty software or products from me like my new Cutting Edge Newsletter,
etc.
Wouldn't you do the same for
your clients?
Heck, if you hired me for
$640/hr and I could not give you ideas to make 10 times that amount in our hour
consultation, I would feel extremely guilty. If you bought my 500+ page Internet Marketing Course,
wouldn't you expect to get information that is not available anywhere else?
Wouldn't you expect that information to help you make 10 times, if not 100
times what you paid for it?
Of course you would!
And that is my point here.
I have to save my real
"killer" stuff (in this case "how to get thousands of associates
to joining your associate program and sell your products online")... the
information and tips that make my clients a fortune online... I have to save it
for my courses and manuals.
What I am trying to get to
here is that the question that I always get "How do I get hundreds, if not
thousands of people to join my associate program and promote my products and
services?" is answered in my new course that comes free of charge with our
new AssocTRAC software
(you cannot purchase the course separately).
This will give my AssocTRAC software
clients an unfair advantage over the other associate programs out there. The
course is called, "The 12 Secrets and Tools to an Outrageously Successful
Associate Program". The AssocTRAC software
without this course is a fantastic bargain on its own. Click here for more
details on AssocTRAC
and the course that comes with it free of charge.
I my opinion, the course
alone (without the AssocTRAC)
software is worth $677 as it will give you the keys to making an insane amount
of money with Associate Programs.
The manual makes running a
phenomenally successful associate program and earning hundreds of thousands of
dollars... a total "no-brainer".
This manual will give you my
few guarded secrets that will explode your sales and show you EXACTLY how to
bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in business in as short as 30 days
from when you start. I have done it, and I will show you how you can easily
follow in my footsteps to do the same.
If you own my Internet Marketing Course,
you know that I preach that the Internet is one of the most powerful business
opportunities in the world right now, but it is hard work at first. The
advantage is that once you set it up and do all the initial work, you just automate
the business... then you sit back and enjoy the profits for years to come.
In the course I talk about how there is not "one" magical marketing
technique that will make you rich... it is a combination of many promotions
that will create sales for you (and create wealth for you).
Well, for the first time, I
am going to say something that is against that statement.
Associate programs are the
one marketing technique that can make you very successful and very wealthy in
an extreme short period of time. Even if you screw it up somehow (which is hard
to do), you will still make money (although not as much as you could have). It
is that powerful!... and that easy if you know what you are doing (which I
teach you in my new course that comes with AssocTRAC).
So what makes us experts in
Associate Programs?
We have been doing associate
programs since 1995 (when Amazon.com
starting doing it)... and we do over 1 million dollars in sales ($1,000,000)
from our associates program EVERY YEAR (and that is not even including the
backend sales!). So we know what we are talking about when it comes to getting
associates to join and make you money!
Like I have always taught,
model someone that is successful. I am giving you the key here, it is your job
to unlock the door and let the money flow in.
If you don't get on the
Associate Program "bandwagon" now, you are going to be left behind.
They are really hot right now, but still in the infancy stage. If you get on
now, you will make a ton of money and crush your competitors… if you don't,
they will crush you. This is the next business revolution of the Internet… I am
not kidding! Be prepared, in the next 12 months, to see even more of the
biggest names on the Internet get heavily involved in Associate Programs
because they are going to realize finally what they are missing.
3. The 8 Keys to Making Your Associate Program Successful!
1) You must have a quality product
and fantastic customer service.
I'm not going to pull the
wool over your eyes...to start off with, you must have a great product, and
fantastic customer service. You MUST have these before you can develop an
Associate Program that will build loyalty with your associates.
This is critically important!
To build a successful Associate Program your associates must know that you have
a great product, that you offer great value, and that you give fantastic
customer service (so that when they recommend you or send people your way they
KNOW you have a quality company). If you provide all of this, they are going to
feel proud of the program. They have to be able to trust you with their
customers. They have to be able to trust that you know what you are doing and
that you will treat them fairly and honestly. Your Associate Program won't last
very long if you get a bad reputation.
Given that you DO have a
great product or service and fantastic customer service...there are dozens and
dozens of things you can do to make your Associate Program a successful one!
I'll discuss some of them here.
2) Choose
your associate program software wisely!
The first, of course, is your
choice of Associate Program software. The software you use is going to
determine how you set up your program. It's going to determine where you spend
your time (on marketing or on administrative trivia)... and it will be a factor
which some of your potential associates will use to determine whether or not
they will sign up with you! I am not going to spend a huge amount of time
discussing software in this article... because I am going to discuss it in
DETAIL in the articles that follow.
3) Your
Associates can also be your customers.
They join your affiliate program
to earn some money, but you can actually sell your products TO them also. They
get a discount through the kickback they receive from their own sale. It's a
great way to actually generate some new customers AND once your associates use
your products or service they can use their own testimonials, increasing the
effectiveness of their marketing efforts!
If you have a situation in
which you sell a lot of products, you can actually get associates to sign up
with you solely for the purpose of buying your products at a discount. They buy
at regular price but at the end of the month they get a referral fee on their
own purchases, so basically they are getting a discount. This might work for
example if you are selling something like vitamins. MLM companies have been
using this sales technique since the beginning of time! It works!
So it's a natural thing to
actually sell products to your associates because if they buy from you they are
getting a kickback (i.e. they are buying at a discount) and you are supporting
your associates. It is a natural thing to do, don't fight it!
Some Associate Program owners
say, "NO, you can't buy through your own Associate Program" and they
fight it. They're losing out! Don't fight it! This is a great way to get new
customers, new business. Let it happen. Encourage your associates not only to
sell your product but to buy from you.
There's another benefit...it
generates a lot of customer loyalty. You allow them to save money by buying
from you through their associate membership. And you make them money when they
sell for you. This is a fantastic way to build customer and associate loyalty.
4) Pay
out excellent commissions and realize the backend sale.
You have to pay out good associate
commissions as referral fees. The more room you have or the more profit you
have, the more you should be giving to your associate. There's one reason most
of your associates have joined your program... to make money! The more money
they make, the more motivated they will be to market your product or service in
a variety of ways. The more money they make, the more work they will put in on
your behalf.
What it comes down to, and
what most associate program owners do not understand… is that most of your real
profit is on the "backend". Don't be afraid to give away a lot of
your profit on the "front-end"… it is the customer who is worth the
money. Once you have the customer, if you have quality products and services
that are great value, you will generate a lifetime customer from whom you can
profit for years. This is why you, as an Associate Program owner, can afford to
give an associate a lot of money. You're not looking at immediate profits...
but at the potential of repeat sales or potential back-end sales. If you give
your customers good value, a lot of them are going to come back and buy and buy
again. Over 50% of my net income is made through back-end products. So -
realize it is very important!
So don't look just for the
money made today, look for the money you can make over the next 6 months... or
the next year, or even 5 years! You may only be mailing your customer something
which is worth $50 or $100 today, but they may buy $2000 worth of merchandise
over the next two years! Understand and realize that the purpose of building
your Associate Program is not only just to make money today, it is about
getting that customer, holding on to them and making a sale 6 months from now
or a year or 2 years from now!
5) Do
business with your competitors.
You will be surprised to know
that you may end up doing business with some of your competitors! And that
people you originally thought were competitors really aren't... in fact they
can be someone you actually do joint ventures with (especially if your
product/service is similar but still different)!
This may sound corny, but you
will not believe how many times we do business with our competitors. When it
comes down to it, many of the people who purchase our information or software
will also purchase our competitors'. So why not work together and both profit
from that?
For example, I do business
with companies people consider to be my competitors. But we actually have
established good working relationships. We sell each other's products! If I believe
someone has a good service selling great copywriting skills... and they have a
manual on copywriting, I will recommend them and I am sure that in return,
referrals and recommendations come back in my direction.
Be prepared to look at your
"perceived competitors" products... and if they would be of value to
your customers... negotiate a deal, become part of their Associate Program.
Look at what you can offer your competitors' customer based on what they would
want and on what you both could profit from. Yes, you may find that you
actually can be partners with some of your competitors and it can be very
interesting. So, be prepared for this to happen.
6) You
must have a great visitor to sale conversion ratio.
To have a good Associate
Program you must have a good visitor to sales conversion ratio.... This is one
of the things you should look for before you really ramp up your associate
program. You need to be able to convert visitors into sales in order to keep
your sales associates happy. If they send thousands of visitors your way and
after a month or so realize you are not converting the visitors into sales,
they will not be very pleased with the results.
Test, test, TEST, TEST, TEST, test!
Test everything! Don't be
afraid to test!
If you don't have a site
which converts enough customers into sales… or maybe you have a site which
doesn't even generate enough visitors to check this… or maybe you want to do
this associate program, but don't have a product or service to sell… then you need
a copy of my #1 best selling Internet Marketing course called, "The Insider Secrets to
Marketing Your Business on the Internet". It guides you through
the fastest way to make a business successful online and put cash in your
pocket (it even gives away some of my best ideas for a product or service you
can do online). The course also includes a special 6 month subscription to my
private newsletter called, "The Cutting Edge" which only my
course purchasers get, keeping them up to date on the newest and hottest
techniques we are using to make hundreds of thousands of dollars online. This
is the stuff that I don't give away in my free newsletter, instead it is
reserved for my clients to give them an unfair advantage against everyone else
online - the true "gems" in online marketing secrets.
A great thing about the
Internet is that you can test very quickly. So if you have ad copy which isn't
doing very well, or a banner which isn't selling well, you can put a new one up
and get the results in minutes or hours, depending on how much traffic you
have.
With traditional forms of
advertising you had to wait weeks or even months to get the ad in, wait for it
to come out and then get the results in, in order to tabulate it. It would take
months and months to test for one thing.
On the Internet you can put
up a banner and test it. Then only a few days put up another one to see the
differences in results and find out which banners pull really well for you. You
can also do different sales letters and different site designs to find out what
is producing the best conversion ratio for you… all in a matter of days, not
months as in traditional advertising.
For example if your banner
says, "FREE gardening newsletter".... and what you want to do is sell
them a gardening product... your visitors may not be very qualified because
they may not be willing or interested in buying anything... they are looking
for something free.
You may have a very low sales
conversion ratio (1 out of every 400 to 600 visitors buys, which is not good).
If you have quality visitors
coming in, people who want to buy what you are selling, then your conversion
ratio should be better. Your banner might read, "INCREASE THE GROWTH OF
YOUR PLANTS BY 30% ALMOST OVERNIGHT FOR ONLY $25.00". You'll bring in less
visitors, but very qualified visitors. You will probably get a conversion ratio
of one out of every 50 visitors… a lot better than having lots of unqualified
visitors.
But you may have had to test
20 different banners to find the one that really pulls! A key to marketing
success is to test everything! And then tell your associates the results of
your tests. Tell them what works. Get them to use what works!
As mentioned before, in my
Internet Marketing Course, I teach exactly how to make a successful website,
drive traffic to that website and reap the profits… all with the least amount
of work… and how to automate it so you are only spending minutes a day at it
once it is set up… plus hundreds of other things on how to make money online
(over 500 pages of information). Learn simple things like how to design banners
which pull double or triple your competitors' banners… wouldn't that be worth
something to you?
Your associates are actually
working for you for nothing until they make a sale... you can not lose money!
The plain fact is that this
is the most advantageous way of marketing there is right now online, because
you are not paying them per hour or per ad... only for sales made!
7) The 12 Secrets and Tools
to an Outrageously Successful Associate Program.
Ok, to be very
straightforward, there are real "killer" ideas on how to
instantaneously guarantee your associate program makes you money, but I have
saved these for a special course which only comes with my AssocTRAC software.
Why?
Because my clients pay me
$640 per hour and I can't give away everything for free. I am sure you
understand. By putting this information into my special manual, many people who
purchase my software are guaranteed to make their associate program so
successful, that it will blow their minds, and blow their competition out of
the water… just like I have done with my associates program. In the manual, I
reveal all of the "nitty gritty" on EXACTLY what you have to do to
make hundreds of thousands of dollars with your associates program… and exactly
what I have done with my associate program to make it so successful so you can
model your success after my success.
It is a
"no-brainer".
You will learn how to easily
get thousands of people to join your associates program and sell incredible
amounts of your product or service. You simply have to read the manual and
follow my steps, and you are on your way to adding hundreds of thousands of
dollars to your bottom line. I just can't give that away… I have to save that
for my special clients… like you… who believe in me and want to invest in my AssocTRAC software.
I want to give them an edge that they can't get anywhere else - I am sure you
would do the same for your clients.
The beauty of Associate
Programs is that you have hundreds or even thousands of people out there
promoting your product for you.
This manual will give you my
few guarded secrets that will explode your sales and show you EXACTLY how to
bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in business in as short as 30 days
from when you start. I have done it, and I will show you how you can easily
follow in my footsteps to do the same. Click here to get
details on the manual, The 12 Secrets and Tools to an Outrageously
Successful Associate Program and our new AssocTRAC associate
software. These are the only two things you need to start your own associate
program right away and be on your way to having hundreds (if not thousands) of
people on the Internet selling your product for you.
8) Find
the "right" associates that can sell thousands of dollars of your
product or service easily.
To be very blunt, this is
what really MAKES OR BREAKS AND ASSOCIATE PROGRAM. And as I was just telling
you in the last point, I am going to save this really killer stuff for my
special clients that use my AssocTRAC software.
These "gems" of information will give my special clients an unfair
advantage over other associate programs out there (including their
competitors!). I am sure you would do the same for your clients. If you are
interested in what I think is one of the best associate program software
packages out there on the market, Click here for more
details and how the software works.
Associate Programs are
"hands down" the hottest and fastest way to sell your product and
make a fortune online right now! Don't take that lightly, we have been doing
this for over 4 years and it has just EXPLODED in the last 8 months. Ride the
wave before it is over (or before your competitors beat you to it).
4. How Associate Program Tracking Software Works And
Why It's One Of The Most Important Ingredients In Running An Associate Program.
Technology has really
progressed rapidly when it comes to Associate Program software! Let's take a look
at what it does... how it works and why it is so important.
There are many packages of
software out there… and you literally have to be a programming expert to figure
out the differences, specifically the advantages and disadvantages of each.
What is even more confusing…
the prices for this type of software range from...
$300 to over $12,000!
Yes, I am not kidding… there
is that much of a fluctuation. Over the next two articles, we will go over the
pros and cons of each and show you the most economical solution.
The main purpose of Associate Program software is... tracking!
Visitor tracking, associate tracking, sales tracking. In other words, you need
to be able to track your associates, and the visitors they send to your site -
and the visitors who buy.
There are a number of ways
this can be done.
There are many, many ways,
but the most common are:
- CGI tracking
- Cookie tracking
- Hard-coded HTML tracking (this is a very
old fashioned way of doing things at this point because technology has really
progressed)
Please note that these
systems have one of the following:
- An "offline" database where all
of the information is stored offline, which means the associate cannot
view their statistics but it is easy to manage for the company.
- An online database, where all statistics
and associate information can be viewed by associates, in real-time.
- Neither database, if they are really
"Mickey Mouse" and manually calculate what they owe their
associates by hand (this is the way we used to do it back in 1995 as the
software and technology didn't exist for doing this without a major
investment).
Just to refresh, in case you
have forgotten, all associate programs assign an associate a special URL, which
is specific to them so when someone links to their site, they know who sent
them the visitors and if that visitor buys. For example, with our Internet
Marketing Course, the URL may look like http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/44233.
If someone posts this URL at their page, with a text link or banner, anytime
someone clicks through that link to our site, we know associate #44233 sent us
that visitor. If that visitor buys, we will give that associate a referral fee
as a "thank you" for sending us the customer.
It sounds very simple, but
the software is very complicated, as it has to account for many different types
of situations, which we will go over in this article.
Tracking through HTML pages
This basically means you are
setting up mirror pages or mirror sites. I've already described how this works
in one of my previous articles (click
here in case you didn't read it)
Cookie Tracking
This method of tracking the
visitor and sale offers some MAJOR advantages… but a few disadvantages as well.
Let's use an example here. If
you had an associate promoting your products and you were using cookies to
track that URL, you may give them a URL which looks like
www.yourdomain.com/?12345 or www.yourdomain.com/track.x/12345/.
The associate number in the
URL is a unique number, which is used to track an associate whether they use
banner ads, graphics or text links.
In this case, if a visitor
comes through an associate's link to my site, a "cookie" is placed in
their browser called "12345". A cookie is a piece of information
which stays with their browser so if they come back to the site at anytime, we
can ask them if they have a "cookie" for our site, and the browser
will tell us it is "12345". I will get to the importance of this in a
moment.
We track them as a visitor
through our site. If that visitor places an order we know which associate
number gets credit for the order and they get a commission for the sale.
In other words, the cookie,
which is placed in the visitor's browser, is the associate number... allowing
us to keep track of which associate sent the visitor to us.
Let's go over it in a little
more detail (and in "laymen's terms" so everyone understands it).
When a visitor clicks through
on a banner or text link from an associate's site to your site... the first
thing that happens is our software asks the visitor's computer... "Do you
have a cookie for our site?" If this is the first time the visitor has
come to our site the answer would be "NO" from the visitors
browser... and our website would give them a cookie which is encoded with the
associate's number (in the case above, that would be a cookie which reads
"12345"). If the visitor leaves, that "cookie" (or
associate number) will stay with them. If they come back a few days later to
our main URL or any webpage on our website, our software will ask if the
browser has a "cookie" set. The browser would say "YES" and
give our software that cookie. Then underneath all of the webpages it
"remembers" the number "12345", as the visitor surfs
through the site and if that visitor orders something, our website records the
"12345" as the person who referred the visitors to us and that
associate (associate #12345) gets a referral fee for the sale.
Still with me?
The beauty of cookies is that
it makes it very easy to track, because no matter how many products a visitor
orders... no matter how many times they come back, it gets tracked. This is not
possible in any other method of tracking… which makes it a very powerful way to
track visitors and orders. If a visitor visits the site today, but does not
order… but then returns a few weeks later (or years for that matter) the
software still tracks the "cookie" in the person's browser and the
associate who initially sent him to the site gets credit for the order. If the
person orders more than one product over a few days or a few weeks period,
using the cookie method, it is super easy for the software to track all of
this... and the associate gets credit for all sales generated, in a timely
manner, whether he orders today, tomorrow, next week, or next year.
As of this printing, places
like Amazon.com don't do that. If you are an associate of Amazon.com and have
their icon on your site... if someone clicks through and buys right away you
get credit. However if they leave Amazon.com and come back three seconds later
by typing in amazon.com and not linking through the special URL they linked
from in the first place to visit Amazon.com,
and then place an order, you as an associate will not get credit for the sale.
Amazon.com takes credit for the whole thing. That's the problem with those
types of Associate programs. In other words, the only way to get credit for
that was to type in the long URL like
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1571200207/planetpatchworkA/
Now, who is going to type in
that?
But with cookies, if you
first link through to a site and the cookie gets set, you can just type in the
main URL and the cookie is still there… and the associate gets credit for the
sale without the visitor ever knowing. Let's use my Internet Marketing Center
as an example. If an associate has a banner or text link to the site and we
assign him http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/44233
and someone goes there, a cookie of 44233 is set in the visitor's browser and
they get redirected to http://www.marketingtips.com so nothing looks out of the
ordinary. If the visitor does not buy, but later (days, weeks, or even years
later) types in http://www.marketingtips.com, that "44233" cookie is
still in the customer's browser and associate number 44233 will get credit for
the sale even though they just went back to the main domain name, not the URL
with the "…t.cgi/44233/" in it. Cookies are the only tracking method
that can do this efficiently and easily.
You actually want to use
cookies because the main benefit to your associate is that he will get credit
for the sale six months from now, a year from now... whenever the potential
customer visits the site again. And even if a visitor doesn't buy the first
time, if you offer good information they will come back... and buy!
You can set the cookie to
expire after a certain period of time, after 2 weeks, after 2 months, after 2
years... the cookie becomes obsolete. After a certain period of time the
associate doesn't get credit for that sale anymore. The time period in which
the cookie is active is really your choice, and depends on how much you want to
reward your associate for referring their customer to you. Personally I set our
cookies at 3 years… so if the customer comes back and buys within three years,
the associate who originally sent them gets credit for the sale.
Okay... so now you have a
visitor at your site, and they want to buy... let's go into more detail on how
cookies work.
Now if she click through to
the online order form, the associate software program calls the cookie back
from the visitor's browser and the associate number is placed in a hidden field
in the order form... so that you can track the sale. When the sale actually
goes through, the associate's sale counter is increased by one so that the
associate can see in real time exactly when she has a sale (assuming you have
good associate software, which displays these stats for the associates).
I won't get into the gory
details, but "good" software, like that which we use at our marketingtips.com
site, will track the number of visitors and the amount of sales coming in
through each individual associate (so you can see which associates are sending
you the majority of your visitors and making the majority of the sales. This
allows you and your associates to check and see if they are converting enough
visitors into sales. If you notice that they aren't, they can change their
banners, text link, etc. to be more effective.
Okay, what about offline
orders (800#, mail, fax)… how do you track those?
Off-line orders do happen, as
some people don't trust the online ordering process even if secure servers are
used. So you will get orders via fax, mail and through your 1-800 number... and
you want to give your associates credit for these orders too! Not that many
associate programs DO… so features like these will separate you from the
competitors.
This can be a very important
factor to get associates to join your associate program as they have to feel
confident that they are getting credit for ALL sales generated (not just online
sales). So make sure you know how to do this.
Okay… we've talked about how
powerful and useful cookies are... but there is a downside.
Some people turn off cookies
on their browser, or they may have older browsers which don't accept cookies.
Additionally we have encountered some cookie bugs with older versions of
Netscape... and we don't want to place cookies on those browsers.
About 20% of the people
online either don't have a browser which accepts cookies, have cookies
acceptance "turned off" on their browser, or have an older version of
Netscape with cookie "bugs" in it.
So when these 20% come to the
site... if the software you are using only operates on cookies (which many do)
your associates would lose these sales because their visitors can't be tracked.
This is not good and will not only make associates lose faith in you, but it
can create a lot of "explaining" to associates if they don't get
credit for sales. This may even stop many people from signing up if they know
how you are tracking and have experienced difficulties with similar software.
But the good news is I have a
solution to the problem (we will get to that a few minutes!).
CGI Tracking
Tracking programs that utilize
CGI scripting actually put the associate's code right in the URL as he is
surfing through the site.
Note: I categorize this type
of tracking as "CGI Tracking", but it can be done through JAVA script
or another programming language. It has virtually the same functionality as I
am describing here, but I use "CGI" as an example as it is by far the
most commonly used.
Basically the URL is hard
coded into the appropriate pages so that the associate can still get credit for
the sale.
The code is visible to the
visitor because it becomes part of the URL. For example, if the visitor
bookmarks the site... they wouldn't just bookmark the URL www.yourdomain.com,
but they would bookmark something like www.yourdomain.com/index.cgi?54321 or
www.yourdomain.com/tracking/reseller.cgi/home/54321.html, the possibilities are
endless as to what the URL could look like… depending on how they set up their
scripts.
The point is the URL is VERY
long and it has the associate's ID in it.
The associate code is not
hidden, it's still in the URL and it still puts the code on the appropriate
pages so that the associate gets credit for the sales.
However, if someone leaves
that page and remembers the main domain name (i.e. www.yourdomain.com) and they
type that in later to revisit the site, the associate will not get credit as
there is no way to track the visitor or sale if he does not re-type in the full
long URL (which is almost impossible most of the time).
This is the down side to CGI
scripts.
You will also find some people
will notice the long URL with a lot of "codes" in it and erase the
extra codes in the URL and just go back to the root domain (www.yourdomain.com)
to see if something is different there. If they do this, the tracking is lost
and the associate will not get credit for the sale.
Many associate software
programs use this method, so be careful which associate program software you
choose.
It is a "messy" way
to do associate tracking. It is clear that you are tracking something and many
people are curious as to why the URL on the webpage is so long and full of
funny numbers/names.
A Solution - The best of both worlds!
From the article above you
can see why each system has faults by themselves.
However the power is in using
them TOGETHER!
I highly recommend using a
combination of both cookies... and CGI scripting for backup.
Let's use the associate
software we use for Internet Marketing Center and our Internet Marketing
Course.
Why do we want to use a
combination of both methods of tracking?
We want our associates to get
credit for every single sale they are entitled to. We want our associates to
have confidence in knowing we track everything, no matter what happens.
So what do we do?
We use the power of
"cookie tracking" and have a backup CGI system, just in case a
visitor's cookies are turned off, they are using an old browser which doesn't
accept cookies, or they are using a version of Netscape which has a
"cookie bug" in it (this is a little secret we learned from experience
and hard knocks).
If we cannot put a cookie on
their browser for some reason (remember, I said that about 20% of all people
online cannot accept cookies in their browser), our software automatically
backs up to CGI and puts the code right in the URL through CGI scripting. So it
still tracks the visitor and sale. In other words, we track all the visitors
and sales to the best of what technology will provide us to make sure every
associate gets credit for the sales to which they are due.
Probably the most common
method of tracking out there on the Internet is through cookies. But by using
this system in many Associate Program sites, the 20% of visitors who cannot
accept cookies get defaulted to the program owner's associate number and the
associate who actually sent the visitors doesn't get credit for their sales.
This is a poor way of running
Associate Programs because you have no idea how much the owner of the Associate
Program is essentially skimming off the top.
That's why we use backup
systems like CGI to make sure that our associates get credit no matter what.
Every single person who comes into our site is tracked and our associates have
a great belief and trust in us because we take so much effort to make sure that
no sale goes into "limbo"… all associates get referral fees for every
customer they send us.
This is one of the reasons we
are so successful... we go out of our way to make sure our associates get
credit for ALL of their sales. To be successful with your own associate
program, you too must be super-reliable. If you don't come across that way you
will not get the associates joining with you and you will not be looked upon as
a quality Associate Program. We have been consistently rated as one of the top
Associate Programs on the net so we know what we are talking about!
So why is all of this
"software talk" so incredibly important?
The software your Associate
Program owner uses is important because you want to receive credit and
commissions for every sale you send their way!
If your Associate Program is
utilizing mirror pages or sites... they are using very old-fashioned
technology! Your associates are totally reliant on your ability to keep good
records and to be totally honest in calculating their commissions. They can't
get real time statistics... and have no way of knowing what works or what
doesn't work unless you tell them (they can't track it themselves).
If your Associate Program
utilizes only cookies, your associates are potentially losing 20% of their
sales and referral fees (and if they are tracking offline orders… they may be
losing more).
Would you join an associate
program that had these problems?
Of course you wouldn't… and
you can't expect associates to join yours if you have these problems.
You would want to look for
associate programs which give you FULL CREDIT for ALL of your sales! And expect
your associates to do the same!
Additionally having good
tracking systems is a fantastic selling point when you are recruiting
associates. You can assure them that they will get credit for all sales... and
you can provide them with real time tracking so that they can test banners,
text links, etc. to find out what works best for their site, in a matter of
days!
If you are setting up an
Associate Program, the software you choose will determine how automated you can
get with your program. The more automated the better... instead of focusing on
administrative trivia you can focus on helping your associates become wildly
successful! Which means that you will be wildly successful!
To finish up this article, I
would like to go over some important points, which have not been mentioned yet.
One is the importance of
tracking the number of visitors from each associate, not just sales.
Your software program has to
track visitors; as it has to track sales. If it doesn't track visitors neither
you nor your associates can tell how many visitors are converting into sales.
It's very good for your
associates because they can see how many visitors they brought in and how many
sales have come from them. If they are only converting one out of every 700
visitors, they will get a little upset and will call you to go over the details
on what they are doing wrong. This is a good thing! It gives you a good
advantage because you are also seeing what associates are pulling really
well... and you can call them up and find out what they are doing. Then you can
help your other associates improve their sites, how they are marketing... and
help them improve their conversion ratios to get them more money! And you want
to do this because the more money they make, the more products you sell and the
more money you make!
Another important requirement
in setting up an Associate Program is to make sure that your Associate Program
software can track through all of your order mechanisms. This means that you
can easily track any orders you get by fax, by mail, over your 800#, and all of
your online orders, including secure and non-secure orders. This is not a
problem with the right software!
I just want to make sure that
you are aware of how important this is... because some Associate Program
software systems cannot handle this! Your associates aren't going to be very
happy if you only track online orders but don't give them credit for any phone,
fax or snail mail orders... so make sure you are tracking through all of them!
From the very beginning you
are going to want to set up your Associate Program so that it is as automatic
as possible. You don't want to be spending your time and efforts on looking
after administrative trivia! Your time should be spent on testing and
improving your marketing and on helping your associates become successful...
not on filling out manual forms and dealing with manual tracking procedures.
It's also very important to
make your Associate Program easy to join, and easy to use. You want to guide
your new associate through the sign up process step-by-step. Make it very easy
for them… all automated so that they can join your Associate Program within
seconds and get all the information they need so they can become a part of it
right away.
5. Why Selling
Your Product or Service Through an Associate Program is Such a Powerful
Marketing Tool!
(Want Proof? Our own Associate Program generates us
over 1 million dollars in sales, and I will show you how)
I am constantly asked...
"I am selling a product, should I develop an Associate Program for
it?"
The answer: Absolutely!
With the exception of a few products, almost every product or service online
will be MUCH more successful if you offer an Associate Program for it.
That is a pretty bold
statement, isn't it? I'm probably a tad prejudice here because we generate over
a million dollars every year just from our Associate Programs!
However, the plain fact of
the matter is that I have never seen a business, which invested in an Associate
Program, that did not make money with it! Yes, read that again, I was not
exaggerating… I said that every business I have seen introduce an Associate
Program has made more sales, and generated more money!
In my opinion, developing an
Associate Program for your own product or service is one of the most powerful
ways there is to market online today!
But first let's get to the
heart of things.
So, why can an Associate
Program make you so much money?
If you have read my course,
"The Insider Secrets to
Marketing Your Business on the Internet" (if you haven't click here now to check it
out), you know how I love joint ventures and how they can be your easiest path
to success in any business (they have been mine, so I am living proof).
Basically, an Associate Program is the ultimate "electronic" joint
venture!
Just in case there a few of
you who don't understand, let's go through an example.
Let's say you have a protein
powder (that you mix in with your drinks) which reduces cholesterol and also
improves a person's health and vitality. It's a great product and your
customers love it! Now, if you can team up with someone else who has an email
list of past customers who are interested in improving their cholesterol, and
interested in health and eating properly... you would make a boatload of money
(the perfect joint venture)! So much that you would be willing to give them a
healthy portion of the profits from all the sales generated from their list
(called a "referral fee"). You sell YOUR product to THEIR list of
customers and you both profit. You use Your product and his list.
It doesn't end there. What
about websites, which are health and nutrition oriented. What if you got them
to post a banner at their site about your product, or even got them to endorse
it to their visitors because they liked the product so much. Many of their
visitors would see the recommendation and visit your site… you sell them the
product, then give the website which sent the visitor to me a "referral
fee" for the business.
Do you see the power in that?
You don't have to go out and
spend money on advertising... there is NO COST in doing this joint venture. You
only pay them per sale. So if you don't make any sales you don't pay them a
dime… but if you make a thousand sales, you give them a lot of money. They are
motivated to make it work and you are motivated to make it work… as the more
you sell, the more money you both make.
This is an Associate Program
in a nutshell. The person who is promoting your products to his customer or at
their website is the "associate" and you are the Associate Program
owner.
In traditional marketing,
joint ventures of this nature were complicated and time consuming and it was
difficult to track every order. But with electronic marketing, software can
track EVERY customer sent from someone's website, from someone's newsletter,
from someone's promotions, from someone's personal email to his customer
database, or from any associate … to determine who gets credit for the sale.
Basically, an associate is an
independent representative of your company. They try to sell your product and
they take a "referral" fee for all the products sold. They just send
people to your site (using a variety of methods discussed later). You track
those visitors and sales, and give them a "referral" fee for all
sales generated from those visitors.
Isn't that beautiful? I love
the Internet!
And it gets even better. By
using the technology of the Internet, it is virtually the same amount of work
to track "1" associate as it is to track "10000"
associates...
Can you imagine
having hundreds or even thousands of people out there, selling your product or
service for you?
Can you imagine how many
sales that would generate for you?
I think you get the picture.
Are you excited yet?
So how do you get hundreds or
even thousands of "associates" (otherwise known as
"resellers") to join your program?
Sometimes people will
"ask" to be a reseller for your product/service (usually customers
who have bought your product, are quite happy with it, and want to represent
it), or you can actively seek resellers (associates) who would be perfect for
your products/services.
The only way to be successful
with Associate Programs is to do #2 (search for resellers who have the perfect
exposure to your target clientele in order to sell your product or service).
Let me give you an example.
If you were selling gardening equipment, your perfect associates would be
people who own gardening related sites or newsletters, or those who own other
related businesses with a large database, selling products/services which are
complementary (but not competitive) to yours.
These are the people who
would be your perfect "joint venture" partners, therefore your
perfect "associates".
When you set up an Associate
Program you are deliberately going out and finding joint venture partners! Your
associates put a banner or text link to you on their sites... and they will
send their customers and/or visitors to your site.
In order to do this you must
have an accurate and reliable way of keeping track of your associates and the
visitors they bring to your site (and which visitors come from which associate
so you know who to credit when there are sales). This is where Associate
Program software comes into the picture (more about that in one of the
following articles).
Okay, the beauty of all this
is that you benefit from the traffic of OTHER sites… and your associates
benefit too by getting a cut of the profit. It is a win-win situation for both
of you. It costs them nothing to join your Associate Program and resell your
goods, and you don't pay them a dime until they generate a sale… it just
doesn't get any better than that in marketing.
The power behind Associate
Programs is that "there is nothing to lose" (other than a few hours
of your time).
For example, the associate
joins your Associate Program for free. They invest 30-60 minutes to post the
banner or links to your site from theirs (or emails their customer base or
newsletter base about your product/service)… and if it doesn't produce as many
sales as they expected, they simply remove the banners or links.
What did they lose?
An hour of their time, at the
most! That is not much of a risk considering there was a potential to make
thousands of dollars over a few hours of work.
What is the verdict? It is
and offer them next to impossible to lose money by offering your products
through an Associate Program if you have the right associates.
Just in case you didn't get
it yet, let me put it in plain English:
With an online Associate
Program you can have hundreds and even thousands of websites online selling
your product or service. In turn, they receive a commission for every sale
generated by their links.
This is a fantastic deal for
you, as you are not paying a dime for advertising! You only pay for results.
Think about it. How can you
lose money? If you are not paying a dime until a sale is produced, you can do
nothing but make money!
It is a very low risk method
of advertising. You are always going to make money!
Let's say that you are
selling a product for $100 and you offer a $20 referral fee per sale. If an
associate has your banner up for an entire year before he makes a sale, you
don't pay them a cent until that sale is produced… there is no way you can
lose! It doesn't matter what kind of traffic your associate's site has...
whether the site gets 10 visitors a day or 10,000 visitors a day... you are
paying on a per result basis... and you will make money every single time!
That's the power of Associate
Programs. If you have the right contacts... it is basically a "no
risk" form of advertising. You are only paying your advertising dollars
(in this case a referral fee or commission) for sales which are made. You
always make money!
In the past, this kind of
advertising was laughed at. If you phoned up the New York Times and asked them
to publish a full page ad and then told them that you would pay them only a
percentage of the sales that were made from that ad... they'd laugh at you!
They charge $25,000+ for an ad.
If you advertised on TV
during the Super Bowl you'd be paying a million dollars for airing a 30-second
commercial. But instead, say you approached them and asked them to place the ad
for free and you would pay them a percentage of the sales that were
generated... they'd laugh at you as well!
On the Internet this type of
joint venture deal is commonly accepted! In fact, it is taking the Internet by
storm. The technology of the Internet has made this type of arrangement very
easy to do and quite profitable for both parties involved (the associate and
the owner of the Associate Program).
I should mention that
Associate Programs are becoming more and more popular... even with the big
sites using extensive prepaid banner advertising, which would have never
considered this type of advertising. They are accepting some
associate/affiliate arrangement to increase their profits and eat up their
available banner space. The reason they are turning to these methods of revenue
is that a lot of people are getting sick and tired of paying for banner
advertising which doesn't produce sales. Advertisers want results and many are
not getting them!
Now, I should also mention
that another reason why Affiliate Programs are becoming popular is because the
marketing is done not just though banner ads but through a variety of other
methods! Associate Programs are marketed though graphic links, text links, autoresponders,
ezines, letters of referral, etc. This is advantageous for the following
reasons.
There are software programs
that can actually filter out and basically eliminate banner ads... so visitors
who use this software don't even see them! So if you were only using banner ads
to advertise your products or services... some prospects would never even see
your offer.
However if an associate
recommends your services through a text link or writes an endorsement letter...
this can't be filtered out... it exposes a prospective customer to your service
or product in spite of the fact that they filter out banner ads!
And it's not just the
filtering software... there are lots of people out there who are
"immune" to banner ads! They don't need filtering software... they
simply ignore all banner ads. In other words they automatically filter out the
ads before it hits their eyeballs! So one of the BIG advantages of Associate
Programs is that the information gets to prospective customers in a variety of
ways, circumventing human and software filters.
You aren't relying on one
method of advertising... and you only pay for results!
In closing, let me state one
rule. With only a few exceptions, the only products or services which will not
do well in an Associate Program are those that do not have a high margin to
work with. If you are only making 10% profit on an item or service it is very
difficult to give an associate a large piece of the selling price as "motivation"
or incentive to sell your product or service.
So, as long as you have a
product to sell and as long as you have some kind of margin to work with so
that you can offer a reasonable referral fee, you'll make money with an
Associate Program.
Generally speaking, with a
good product or good service and a reasonable margin... I cannot think of a
company that should not have an Associate Program!
6. Learn How to Choose the "Right" Associate Program Software
The whole point behind
setting up an Associate Program is to make it really easy for the associate to
join and to bring you qualified visitors. For the associate, the beauty is that
there are no orders to fill, no credit cards to charge, no inventory to stock,
no returns or shipping or handling problems, no customer service, no questions,
no in-person or over the phone selling of the product.
It is all "clean and
easy" for them... which is one of the main benefits of joining an
Associate Program.
They don't have to worry
about maintaining a website (although many associates DO have a website, some
just sell to their newsletter lists, or use other sales techniques not
requiring a website). It basically makes it really easy for them to make money.
They link to you, you track everything and you give them a referral fee for
every sale they generate. This is the heart of Associate Programs, and the
whole beauty of them!
What you want as an associate
program owner, is software that not only takes a lot of work out of your hands,
but makes it really easy for your associates to join and get all of the
information they need to become successful.
Most small businesses should
not be concentrating on how the software works and on how to get it working.
Your time is better spent on developing products and on marketing them not on
dealing with the technology behind your software, because the technology can be
very sophisticated.
As an example, our software
is very sophisticated. We've spent over $32,000+ developing it and another
$30,000+ time and labor, testing it, modifying it, and learning what works and
what doesn't work the hard way.
We run a number of associate
programs and so we know what's necessary because we are dealing with the same
issues and problems you will be facing, every single day!
To repeat myself (because it
is so important), you, as an Associate Program owner, want to have software
which is easy to use and provides all of the information for associates to
become successful (which means that you become successful). You want to spend
time on marketing and improving your product, building a better website,
converting more visitors into sales and supporting your associates to make sure
they are doing well, giving them more ideas and making sure you have great
customer service. You don't want to be worrying about all the hardware and
software technology, which goes on behind the Associate Program.
BUT... you should know what Associate
Program software is capable of... what features to look for and ask about...
what works and what doesn't work! You need to know enough about Associate
Program software to choose wisely.
There's lots of software out
there right now for Associate Programs. To be very straightforward (and I'm not
going to point fingers at anyone in particular), there's a lot of garbage out
there. Some of them have different ideas on how to track associates (i.e. CGI
scripts, hidden form fields, through cookies, through Java scripts, through
database management, through ASP management). It goes on and on and on. You
have to really watch this, because you must get quality software. You don't
want to set up your whole Associate Program and then find out 3 months later that
the software is lacking and your associates are complaining that the software
isn't reliable… not to mention the multitude of other problems, which may arise
with poor software.
So what software is
available?
What if I told you that it
ranges from $300 to $12,000?
Pretty crazy isn't it?
There is software which goes
by such names as Site Sponsor, NetTracker 2000, E Comm Works, Affiliate Shop, Commission
Junction, ClickTrade, BeFree, etc. The list just goes on and on. As I just
mentioned, some of this software is available from as low as $300.00 to a high
of $12,000.00.
What can throw you off is the
pricing structure for the different software. Some companies give you the
software and you have to figure out how to install it and incorporate it in
your system. Others install it for you, some run the software from their
servers and charge you a set up fee (in the thousands of dollars!), and some
charge you "per affiliate" you sign up (which can really get
expensive if you get a lot of affiliates). The list just goes on and on. It
seems like everyone has their own price structure and it gets quite confusing
as some can have semi-hidden charges and it becomes hard to compare accurately
between the different pieces of software.
I am not a great believer in
giving a portion of my profits to the affiliate software owner, or having them
charging me a fee per associate. As with any of these methods I can end up
paying a large sum of money every month to them as I get bigger and bigger. My
preferred choice is to pay for the software up-front, to know exactly what is
involved and to know that there will be no charges in the future.
As far as buying associate
software, I personally haven't found any software that I would use for MY
clientele that is under $7000. Generally the software over $7000 has some great
features. It is very intricate and complicated software designed to make it
easy for the buyer to use and easy for the affiliate to use. But it is very
expensive!
Generally speaking, a lot of
the cheaper software is less sophisticated, might require a lot of custom
modifications, doesn't track all the sales, doesn't make it easy for associates
to sign-up, or is not sufficiently automated.
All these things are problems
not only for you but for your associates as well. Associates don't want to join
you if you don't offer stats in real-time. They won't join you if they don't
feel confident that they are going to get credit for every single sale they
generate. They won't join you if you don't have software which makes it easy to
join and helps them become successful associates. They won't join you if you
don't have a successful website which converts visitors into sales.
It's important to have good
software in order to make associates feel comfortable that you have a
legitimate program, that your tracking methods are reliable, that they can
trust you, and that you have a great opportunity for them.
In addition to the cost of
the Associate Program software, there are additional out of pocket costs
involved in setting up an Associate Program. This includes the cost of hosting
fees (usually included in your website hosting fee unless you are a very large
site), costs for any kind of modifications, maintenance, or updates, or
anything special that you want to do with the software.
The only extra cost involved
would be your time to write the checks every month (which if you have the right
software can be done automatically!), answering email which comes in, and your
extra customer service costs. But if you are making the extra sales, these
costs are inconsequential as you have much more profit coming in.
Before I go on, I will
mention that you do have one other option... that is buying the services of a
company which will administer your Associate Program for you. Some of them have
huge set up fees and a smaller per sale fee... while others waive the set up fee
but charge as much as 30% for each sale you make.
ClickTrade, SafeAudit and LinkShare
are all examples of Associate Program service companies. Services like these
charge a percentage of sales per associate you sign up, or a multitude of other
ways… some even have set up fees that are $2000+. If your associate program
gets big (which it had better) and you are paying a percentage of your sales or
per new associate to have them manage your software... the costs can get pretty
hefty! As high as thousands of dollars a month if you get really big… which we
all hope you do. In my opinion, it is much more advantageous to actually buy
your own software (and generally much less expensive).
Now, if you are looking at
software that is $10,000, then you may want to reconsider looking at the
companies above… but don't worry… I will show you how to get software that will
cost you less than $700 and have the same features and value as the $7000+
software.
It is much more cost
effective to have your own Associate Program software, control all your own
systems, and be able to make special modifications to it if you want to add
specific features or customize it for your business.
Even though the service
companies charge you hefty fees of up to 30% of each sale, they can't do any
customization! If you have your own software you can customize it and make it exactly
how you need it for your Program, for your system!
Here are some of the features
you should look for:
The associate
sign-up process should be fully automated.
It should make it super clean
and super easy for affiliates to join up. When your prospective associate fills
out the form, they should quickly be assigned an associate code. They should
automatically be sent an email giving them the details on banners or text
links, how to install them and recommendations for using them. You should be able
to automatically send them a FAQ sheet.... everything they need to get started
right away… all automatically so it happens without you lifting a finger.
If your associates want to
make changes... their passwords... their email address... the address their
checks are sent to, their phone numbers... they should be able to do that at
any point in time themselves. Having this process fully automated makes it easy
for them... and for you (so you are not changing their information and eating
up your valuable time when you could be out marketing your company and making
money)!
For example, if you go to my Internet Marketing Center
Associate Program, you can see how my program works. It is super automated,
so when someone signs up, instantaneously they are assigned an associate code,
we email them and give them the details on all the banners they want to use,
how to use them and where to place them. We give them recommendations and a FAQ
sheet. We have a FAQ which answers all the questions they may have; we go into
detail on how the commissions work, how the tracking works, so they understand
it all. The easier you make it for them, the more they understand, and the more
they will get involved in your associate program to make you (and themselves)
money.
Automated Contact System
Make sure that you can
automatically email all your associates if you want (i.e. a special webpage
that allows you to queue a mailing, press a button, and walk away). All it
should take is a click of a button to email all of your associates and give
them an update on what is happening and how they can improve their associate
referral fees.
Flexible Administrative Functions
Your administrative functions
should work for you... not against you! Can you call up a web page and check
all your associates? Can you go into the software and make adjustments? For
instance, if refunds come in, we will simply make adjustments for that refund
and take the referral fee off the appropriate associates' commission checks
(VERY Important!). Does the program give you monthly commission reports? Can
you make instant changes to all your associate sites? For example, if you
change a price, or want to put up a different offer, or change headlines. The
software has to have the ability to do all of this for every associate with the
push of a few buttons.
Automatic Tracking
Top-notch software will track
through all the different types of browsers, set ups, and visitor types. It
will track orders whether it's an 800 number order, a fax order, an order via
mail, or an online order.
Your software should be able
to track visitors whether they order today, tomorrow or a year from now... and
no matter how many products or services they order. The associate who
originally sent the visitor to the site should get credit for all sales, no
matter when those sales take place.
Variable Payouts
It's very important that you
have software that allows you to choose to pay a fixed amount (per click
through), a fixed amount per sale, or a percentage of the sale. YOU need to be
in charge of determining your payout… your software shouldn't limit you, or
decide this for you!
Real Time Statistics
You definitely want real time
statistics. Your associates should be able to go and check all the stats
anytime they want to. They should be able to see how many visitors they are
sending over, and how many sales they are making. This allows them to test
various sales techniques at their site to see what works well for them! It also
motivates them by seeing what they are making currently and encourages them to
do better.
Counting Visitors and Sales
Make sure you have software,
which will count the number of visitors and the number of sales for each
associate separately. That way you can see which associates are sending you
quality visitors, and which are not. It will also let the associate know if
his/her customers are converting into sales and if they are not, he/she has a
chance to improve that by reading the stats. You will be surprise how useful
this is and how many associate software programs do not count the visitors,
only the sales per associate. Wouldn't it be interesting to find an associate
who sends you 500 visitors and sells 50 products, compared to an associate who
sends you 5000 visitors and only sells 5 products? This information is
INVALUABLE and helps you identify successful associates and not-so-successful
associates (so can help them improve to make you both more money).
Minimum Pay Out Settings
You should be able to preset
your pay out levels. For example if you are selling a product that pays out
$10.00 per sale, you might want to set your minimum pay out level at $30.00 (3
sales) in order to cut down on checking and administrative costs.
Automated Check Paying
This is very important and
gets necessary as you become more successful! Your software program should have
some kind of system in place, which writes the checks for you to your associates.
This may not matter the first month, but as you get bigger and start having to
write 100, 200 or 500 checks a month, it can get really tedious. It could take
days of simply writing checks if you had to do it manually (also there is a lot
of room for error this way).
For example, in our associate
software we use for the Internet Marketing Center, the software automatically
downloads all of the information of payee name and amount owed in a QuickBooks
format. We simply upload that file into QuickBooks Accounting software and
QuickBooks automatically prints the checks for us! There are no hassles, as it
is done in a few minutes and makes the whole process very easy because it is
fully automated. If we didn't have this, we would be looking at days of work
just to write the checks every month.
We only spend less than a few
hours a month doing month end, whereas before we were fully automated, we were
spending 3-4 solid days doing it! In other words make sure you have a fully
automated system.
There are dozens of small
things that will take a lot of time, which you probably never thought of...
like actually having to write out and sign all those checks... and then having
to print out all the stats for every associate… then print out all the labels
for every associate, etc. Why do it by hand when you can have it done
automatically for you?
Here is the good news!
We have developed our
MarketingTips.com Associate Program software from scratch and been using
variations of it for the last 3 years (we call it AssocTRAC). We
have developed it from the point of view of a marketer, not from a programmers
point of view... there is a big difference!
We have learned a lot over
the years we have invested in this. The problems we have run into, dealing with
thousands of associates have introduced us personally to all the ups and downs,
ins and outs of running an Associate Program! We have developed software, which
meets all of your associate program needs, whatever you can imagine, from a
marketer's standpoint.
In my opinion it is probably
the ultimate associate software available out there! AND, we are adding
features to it all the time, little modules that you will be able to purchase
that will have extra toys and features that will make things even more
automated! It blows me away every day we do this, as it is just incredible, and
it saves a lot of time (and makes a lot of money!).
Click here to get a
list of how it works and how you can use it to start your own associate program
for your product or service.
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*Corey Rudl is author of the top selling online marketing course, "Insider Secrets to Marketing
Your Business on the Internet".
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Compare Associate Program Software and Networks
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