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Online Affiliate Marketing Programs, Part II
04/ 02/ 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. In last week's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses described the basics of affiliate marketing. In today's Workshop, he continues the discussion with practical steps to getting started in affiliate marketing.

As a brief review for readers who missed last week's Workshop, affiliate marketing enables your site to offer products that are sold on another site or sites, simply by giving your customers a button to click so that they can be transferred to particular products on the other sites. The other sites then pay you a percentage of any resulting sales.

The example used was Amazon.com, which started the affiliate marketing boom. An affiliate program with Amazon.com works like this: Say your web site sells gardening tools and supplies, and you feel that some of your customers would be interested in books about gardening. Rather than stock, sell and ship these books yourself, you become an affiliate with Amazon.com, sending customers to their site in an arrangement whereby you receive a commission of sales generated.

There are thousands of types of sites that offer affiliate programs. To name only a few: CD, DVD and videotape sales; baby and infant supplies; clothing and accessories; florists; hunting and fishing supplies; pet supplies; etc., etc.

To begin learning about affiliate programs, visit one of the following sites for information:www.refer-it.com;www.associateprograms.com;orwww.top-affiliate-programs.com.

You can set up affiliate programs yourself, simply by contacting the sites that have products you would like to sell. For instance, by clicking on "Join Associates" at the bottom of Amazon.com's home page, you'll learn all about their excellent affiliate program. If your affiliate sales take off, and you decide to expand your web site to include a large number of affiliate links, you may have to ramp up your staff infrastructure to handle the additional coordination, paperwork, and assorted details.

Payments on affiliate sales are usually made quarterly or semi-annually. Amazon's payment policy, in particular, is as follows: "We (Amazon) will pay you referral fees on a quarterly basis. Approximately 30 days following the end of each calendar quarter (March 31, June 30, September 30, December31), we will send you a quarterly report and a check for the referral fees on earned products that were shipped during that quarter, less any taxes that we are required by law to withhold." Each site has its own payment schedule and methods, so check carefully to make sure you understand the policies before signing up.

You can discuss your particular situation with some of the huge online affiliate networks, many of which offer full-service packages, including setting up affiliate links, monitoring and reporting sales activity, and distributing revenue and commission payments. Some of the largest affiliate networks are:www.befree.com;www.commission-junction.com (now located atwww.cj.com); orwww.linkshare.com.

The most common complaints about affiliated programs are that affiliate companies don't provide information about actual sales and sometimes don't even pay when sales are made. If you stick with reliable companies, or go through the large established affiliate networks, you'll minimize these problems.

Since it's estimated that the number of households with Internet connection will increase dramatically during the next 5-10 years, setting up an affiliate network on your site in the near future could prove timely. Don't expect immediate results. Let your affiliate relationships grow gradually and naturally. And choose your affiliates wisely. By using the best companies, many of which will be recognizable names to your customers, you'll give them the security of knowing their orders will be delivered quickly and securely. And you'll ensure that your commission checks will be forthcoming as promised.

Two very helpful book on this subject:
The Complete Guide to Associate & ; Affiliate Programs
on the Net, by Daniel Gray and Dan Gray, about $18.

Affiliate Selling: Building Revenue on the Web, by
Greg Helmstetter and Pamela Metivier, about $24.

workshops.technology.thur
9.07.00

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