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Online Affiliate Marketing Programs, Part I
03/ 14/ 2002


Let Someone Else Handle the Inventory and Shipping

Affiliate programs are booming on the net. And little wonder, they allow Web sites to sell products that someone else stocks and ships. How does this work? In today's and next week's Workshop's, Jeffrey Moses tells you all about it.

Amazon.com started the affiliate marketing boom. It works like this: Say your web site sells gardening tools and supplies, and provides a lot of information about gardening in general. It's obvious that some of your customers might be interested in books about gardening, but rather than stock and ship these books yourself, you might want to consider simply describing them on your site and then giving your online customers the option of purchasing any or all of the books through Amazon.com. A button placed near a description of the book on your site could simply say: Buy This Book. When a customer clicks on the button, they're transferred to the book's page on Amazon. If the customer purchases the book, Amazon pays you 15% of the sales price. For any additional products the customer orders from Amazon during that visit, you get 5%. Other products Amazon sells include CDs, videos, DVDs, toys, consumer electronics, and more.

Affiliate marketing can allow your site to sell almost any product imaginable. If you feel that visitors to your site would be interested in particular products, simply set up an affiliate relationship with sites that handle those products. Then, when you direct customers to that site (or to particular products on the site), you receive a percentage of sales. The following are only a few of the thousands of types of sites that offer affiliate programs: CD, DVD and videotape sales; baby and infant supplies; clothing and accessories; florists; hunting and fishing supplies; pet supplies.

There are pros and cons of every affiliate relationship. One very strong positive is that you don't have to pay for inventory, take orders or ship. One negative is that usually you'll make a lower percentage on the sale than if you offered the product through your site. For instance, the 15% you receive from Amazon.com for the sale of a particular book is considerably less than the 40-45% you could receive if you ordered the book from a book distributor and sold it directly through your own site.

One very large con is that placing too many links on your site can result in customers simply clicking and going someplace else, never to return to your site. Work with all affiliates to ensure that after customers browse or order, they are returned to your site.

The important thing with affiliate marketing is to offer your customers products that are a natural mix with information or products provided on your site. Be selective, and don't cram your site with affiliate links. They can overwhelm visitors.

In next week's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses describes practical steps about getting started in affiliate marketing.

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