Setting up an Associate Program

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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